It’s important to understand the big picture and how to make money as a financial advisor.
Your goal is to have face to face meetings with prospects who meet two criteria:
1. The prospect has money in their control (i.e. not tied up in a 401k)
2. The prospect is interested in opportunities to do better with their money
If you have any additional criteria, you will lose money as an advisor. For example, if you have a third criteria that the prospect have interest in annuities because you sell annuities, this will cost you a lot of sales because there is NO PROSPECT who cares about annuities. Prospects care about their objectives such as
1. Safety of principal
2. Tax relief
3. Liquidity
IT’S YOUR JOB TO SHOW PROSPECTS HOW THEIR OBJECTIVES ARE CONSISTENT WITH YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICES. THEY DON’T COME TO YOU INTERESTED IN ANNUITIES OR MANAGED ACCOUNTS OR ANYTHING ELSE OTHER THAN THEIR OBJECTIVES.
Most advisors miss this concept and rather than focusing on the maximum number of appointments with prospects who meet the two criteria above, the advisor will call the prospect to determine their interest in annuities, managed money, life insurance , etc. But such a call makes it obvious to the prospect that your interest is in YOUR PRODUCTS AND SERVICE and not their objectives. That’s why you don’t get the number of appointments you should.
Let’s provide an example. We run a lot of ads on the Internet to find consumers interested in financial topics. The ad which got the all time best response was for a booklet about ways to increase social security income. This is a HOT TOPIC for seniors. But every advisor told us “I don’t want those leads. I can’t make any money talking to people about social security.”
This is unfortunately a near sighted view that keeps most advisors poor. Many of these prospects meet the two criteria above but because the advisor is SO FOCUSED ON THEIR OWN AGENDA, THEIR OWN PRODUCTS AND SERVICES, they will never have an appointment with viable prospects who could become good clients.
Focus on the big picture–meet with people you can help and don’t focus on your products and services. They are merely tools to help people accomplish their objectives, tools that don’t need to be discussed until the last 10% of your conversation.
