WOW factor client seminars - cutting through decision conflict

So we're going to digress a little from the next step in our journey : which was planned to be centre of influence / referral source education sessions.

Why?

Well something else took our fancy today during a discussion about connecting with clients. Seems there are some pretty good sales engagement courses out there that delve into and explore client motivations and values.

That is PCEs passion. Understanding how a client makes a decision and what their motivators are - are indeed critical components in understanding how a client makes decisions and how you can positively influence them to make a decision that maximises the possibility of them reaching their goals.

But how about we aim higher?

How about thinking less about client manipulation and more about client manifestation in that you become the coach that mentors a client to make real and meaningful change in all areas of their life?

So few clients let alone professional advisers understand and I mean truly understand how to manifest peak performance. What if you had the secrets to the step by step process of how a client could plan, audit, action, review and adjust all the components of real and meaningful change?

It's possible.

And it works most brilliantly in tailored client and prospect events.

So just as we have discussed previously referral source "mixers" then a client mixer of your existing ideal clients and their ideal client friends works equally well if not better.

Content?

You need to present on peak performance on making real change and just what that requires and on self reflection, self assessment and on setting a standard for your clients to aspire to making a real positive impact on other people during their day.

You need to present on just what characteristics such leadership requires and how you can model that behaviour. You need to present on how daily stressors and how people react to those stressors takes them into substandard performance. Substandard performance at work, in relationships, in their finances.

You need to present on how your clients can defend and protect themselves against those stressors and how they can reignite positive energy.

And if you think well PCE that's a bit left of centre....think again. The daily stressors that stop peak performance, the habitual negative stories people tell themselves, the lack of time to think, reflect, express gratitude to self assess and to grow are at the core of why people have trouble making real meaningful change in their lives and causes decision conflict.

And no sales training course is going to change your ability to cut through that.

For our Australian friends : for more information on client engagement seminars that WOW and delivery of same: contact PCE.

Till next time.

6 Steps to Running a Networking Event

So in our last post we looked at how you can get refferals of the ideal client from an ideal referral source.

The idea at it's core was a meet and greet to determine which businesses have a similar raison d'etre to yours: that is a great client experience and true value and partnership and collaboration with clients. (stop reading now if you don't want that as an outcome!).

So who do you invite and how do you structure it?

Here are 6 steps that work!



1) Who to invite:

- existing referral contacts

- ask them to bring a peer

- ask them to bring key staff

Next layer of invitation:

- your local business networking group contacts : ask them to refer to the event their accountant / solicitor/ mortgage / general insurance broker

Next layer of invitation:

- any business contact who could add value in engaging on the night ie: they have a service that the attendees could utilise

Next layer of invitation:

- local businesses that you think could refer to you : check out websites to see if they offer in house services like yours

- then call them and see if they do lets say you make a discrete inquiry as if you were a potential client

Next layer of invitation:

- existing clients : who are their accountants etc? : ring your best 10 client and ask


2) Speaker: who are you going to get that will be free!!??

- local politician

- travel / lifestyle sourced from local business

Remember you are positioning yourself as a facilitator so getting a local memberof parliment is a great coup.

3) Invitation

- as per our previous post ......the key aim is "meet local businesses who face similar issues/challenges"......and secondary "our special guest(s)......."

4) Format

- no business pitch
- know who is coming
- strategically introduce people on the night
- let the evening flow

5) Location

- room / side room / adjoining area of bar/ local hotel - somewhere with atmosphere and sight and sound that does not drown you out but layers the senses


6) Follow up

- we can discuss that later in our next post

14 Steps to Sales Success in Financial Planning

Want the keys to sales success and achieve results such as 68% referral rate from you existing client bases and over a 90% close rate?

Want to find out how to write 80% of your future new business from your existing client base?

Follow these steps practised by the leading financial advice firms.

1) BE FOUND

Stand out in any search a prospective client makes.

Yellow pages, local business directories, online or word of mouth in a social circle.  

2) CREATE CLIENT CENTRED COLLATERAL TO ENGAGE CLIENTS WITH PRE FIRST APPOINTMENT

3) HAVE A WEBSITE THAT IS ENGAGING OFFERS VALUE AND CONNECTION TO YOUR CORE PROPOSITION

4) HAVE AN OFFICE SET UP THAT TELLS A POSITIVE STORY THAT YOU UNDERSTAND YOUR NICHE CLIENTS

5) BE ABLE TO SAY WHAT IT IS THAT YOU DO AND WHY

6) BE ABLE TO EXPLAIN AND DEMONSTRATE VISUALLY YOUR PROCESS

7) EXPLAIN THE STEPS IN THE PROCESS AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

8) HAVE AN ENGAGING AND DEEP CLIENT INFORMATION COLLECTION METHOD THAT COLLECTS MORE THAN JUST FINANCIAL DATA BUT COLLECTS DATA ON VALUES AND MOTIVATION

9) CHECK FOR UNDERSTANDING BEFORE MOVING FORWARD

10) FOLLOW UP POST MEETING WITH A REASSURANCE PIECE

11) BRIEF YOUR STAFF WEEKLY ON THE CLIENTS AND PROSPECTS THAT WILL VISIT YOUR OFFICE AND WHY THEY ARE COMMING IN SO THEY CAN MANAGE CLIENT PSYCHOLOGY WITH SIMPLY A WARM AND RELEVANT WELCOME

12) MAKES SURE YOUR STATEMENT OF ADVICE SPEAKS TO THE CLIENTS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS AND WANTS

13) ENHANCE THE UNDERSTANDING OF THE STATEMENT OF ADVICE BY USING VISUALS

14) CONNECT THE STRATEGY TO THE CLIENTS VALUES, BELIEFS, ATTITUDE AND MOTIVATIONS

I love financial advisers - but my mum would only do business with less than 5% of you

What?? Surely we're not discounting the service proposition and value of 95% of the industry.

No, not at all, but we are just reporting back why some clients don't do business with some of your industry peers.

Here's some reasons why.

1) She couldn't find you.

You didn't stand out in any search she made via : yellow pages, local business directories, online or word of mouth in her social circle. Just what social circle is that? Could be anything. Don't make assumptions, but rather what social circle would you want to be a topic of conversation within?

2) After making an appointment, the collateral you sent her (did you send any) was generic.

3) When she looked on your website (do you have one) she did not feel engaged or that you demonstrated that your proposition was exactly what she needed.

4) When she arrived at your office it just did not feel right. What does your office say about you?

5) Upon meeting you she did not get an understanding of why you do what you do and how you do it.

6) You didn't explain the process you use in an articulate, believable and professional manner.

7) She didn't understand what happens next.

8) The information gathering process was such that she didn't feel you understood her or that she understood you.

9) After the meeting she felt she'd agreed to something which she didn't really comprehend.

10) You didn't follow up with anything to reassure her in between the time from the first appointment to the date set for the next.

11) When she came back for the second meeting, your front of house staff did not make her feel like they realised this potential start of a significant advice relationship was a big deal for her. In fact she felt they did not remember Her at all.

12) The statement of advice looked impressive. It was in a folder! Her name was in it like maybe 40 times. She's pretty sure she knows who she is. Do you know who she is or is her name in it a lot to remind you?

13) She did not understand the statement of advice.

14) She could not make the connection between your recommendations and what she wanted to achieve.

She told you she needed to think about it.

Great Questions For Your Client Discovery Meeting

So recently we've written about initial client engagement and in particular how to engage clients with a difference even before you sit down with them.

We've also posted on YouTube at http://m.youtube.com/user/positiveclientengage

- a couple of videos about using mind maps with clients in the discovery process.

The key outcomes of course that we are looking for are:

- depth of knowledge of the clients circumstances that transcends pure numbers and data of the clients financial situation but leads you to truly understand the clients world

- which then allows you to become involved in that world and play your part

- that part is to assist the client live out what is important to them

If you can do that then that is true client engagement and service delivery. Clients will utilise your solutions and advice and pay for it and proudly refer you to their social circle because simply you have delivered with difference.

But to properly engage even using a mind map technique you need to be asking great questions.

Many people do this naturally - there is an innate and genuine curiosity that demonstrates respect and the understanding of another's point of view.

It's basic conversation. It's about the way you were brought up. It's about how you engaged your family around the dinner table. (do people do that anymore as a family??).

And therein lies the problem. Since 1992 as the internet began, we have started communicating differently.

There are some advice professionals who no nothing other than communicating via a portal rather than face to face.

So great conversations are not so natural today.

So what are the great questions?

It depends on you and if you have some of the ingredients of the above great listeners and communicators.

But essentially you need to be asking:

- what's the clients thought process around planning for their future
- what has that thought process brought up
- how do they feel about it
- how do they feel about areas of their life such as family, health, interests, hobbies, relationships, philanthropy, community, education, living circumstances, travel, over all well being, social circle, work,
- what's a life that is full look like to them
- what dreams are they missing out on
- what dreams are they living
- what dreams are they fearful of chasing
- what would they have missed out on if they don't take action
- how would they live if money was plentiful
- what would they change
- what if circumstances meant they needed to fast track plans for providing for their family
- have they done enough
- what does success look, feel, sound like
- how do you know when you're there


Great questions can not be forced or read out like a script. They need to evolve. It's a journey. Great questions are a great conversation. Great conversations start with a willingness to share and a great listener.

The Five Step Client Interview Process for Insurance and Financial Planning

So you have dazzled your prospective client with the customer experience they have just encountered when first entering your business. Now they are sitting across from you and the fun begins. What do the best businesses do to ensure what happens next: is fun, is differentiated, is highly engaging (for the client and the adviser) leads to 100% conversion from prospect to client and leads to obtaining client referrals at a rate of above 70%?

Essentially there are 5 things that these businesses do. They do them in sequence and as a part of a deliberate well thought out process. Further they advise their prospective clients sometimes well before the meeting itself that there is a defined process that they are going to take them through. Further these businesses have developed collateral be it corporate brochures or web site applications or information that defines what this process is.

The brilliance in what they are doing is first and foremost is that it is simple, second by doing this they tap into a vast array of positive client psychology techniques, third, because it is a defined process it can be taught to emerging advisers and front of house staff, fourth it can be articulated clearly and succinctly and best of all despite the simplicity the fifth point to note is that it is rare that a business works through all 5 elements and consequently it is highly differentiated.

The 5 step client interview process:

1) Engage your clients in the data collection process

This does not mean running laboriously through the fact find or similar data collection forms. This means a highly engaged genuinely curious inquisition into the clients world. This is best done using a formulaic method. Ideally visual, participative and a means to get the client talking about themselves. It's "going deep" with a client.

Best techniques and practitioners utilise mind map diagrams that go further than just assets and liabilities but cover much broader areas of a clients world.

How do you get clients to share that much information? Show them your mind map or family tree but the best practitioners start by outlining what it is that they have incorporated for themselves and then ask the prospect to reciprocate.

2) Ask great questions and set a benchmark for where the client is now and what the possibilities may be.

These are questions about lifestyle and other aspects that are non financial. It's about where else they have obtained advice and what was their experience. It's about hard questions about how they would live their life if time was limited or if money was no object.

Great questions take practice and take time to construct. PCE has created 4 questionnaires available via PCE for those interested. (yes website still under construction)

Further PCE have a benchmark tool to assess where a client sits now and where they will be after your advice.

3) Describe your methodology, for insurance sales, for choosing the right levels of cover. There are plenty of applications that work through clients scenarios, even i pad applications provided by life risk houses, and worksheets that PCE have developed. What's important is to highlight that there is a method and that all your clients go through this process and have positive results as a consequence : this is where the power of story telling about your clients comes into its own. And story telling is a critical element of step 3.

4) Use visuals to explain your suggested course of action. Be it words on a slide. A diagram about how it all fits together, what you need to do here is imprint in a clients mind the solidity of your solution. Flow charts work very well and if you can for example explain how packing insurance options works and will work for the client sitting in front of you by a visual method what stays with the client is not so much the product names and intracacies but rather that you have constructed (or will construct) something cohesive, relevant and understandable for them.

5) Describe the next steps : what is the application process / when will your recommendations be ready / what is the underwriting process and in doing so define the outcome that they will have which should be in the clients words and aligned to the objective that they want to achieve or that you have identified is a necessary component of their well being. Further provide them with an engagement pack that reassures them that they have made the right decision in choosing you. This will certainly have relevance when natural buyers remorse sets in. By having managed the psychology of the sale process during the appointment you have mitigated the natural thought process of the client and reassured them that what they experienced in your waiting room was genuine and that in a very short space of time the feeling that you understand them and are genuinely concerned about their well being. The WHY you are in business is powerful here. Make sure you tell them at this point why it is you do what you do.

Connecting with Your Clients

Some of the final check points you should be able to tick of in your client pitch involves the ability to have your client say of the interaction that you " understand them" and "answered all of my concerns".

You can only do this if you do actually understand your client, how they feel about issues facing them and then can speak with them about what it is that they truly care about.

Most financial strategy solution pitches do not resonate and cut through the audience as they are delivered in a sequential agenda driven format.

You only need to attend a presentation from an investment house to understand this. The summary is flashed before you and the speaker however articulate moves through the topics in sadly most cases without capturing the attention and recruiting the passions of the audience.

You financial strategy and insurance solution pitches face the same problems because of the way we have been taught to write and present them.

The best method of delivery encompasses:

- providing a structure without the formal method

This means it needs to be personal.

In her book "Say It Like Obama and Win", Shel Leanne, writes of the method employed to speak to the needs of people.

Recognises, Remembers, Responsive.

She emphasises that listeners want to hear that the presenter realises the issues they are facing, references those issues and is responsive to thoe issues.

By connecting your sales pitch in this way, you are able to not only demonstrate that you understand, but you transcend further your competitors by illustrating that you care.

Taking this a step further involves you demonstrating that not only have you tailored your solutions for the specific concerns of the client in front of you but that you also have experience dealing with the same situations either yourself (in you family - revisit the family tree conversation) or with other clients.

This shows the client that you "have been there yourself" or you "really get" the client through your experiences.

This is far more powerful than you brochure on all of your technical experise and the credentials on your wall.

Next time we'll look at the use of imagery in closing your pitch.

Sales Presentations That Win!

We hope you've started 2012 ready to embrace the opportunity that awaits those financial planning and insurance businesses that have developed the capabilities to positively engage clients with depth relevance and meaning.

That means you'd be familiar with the concepts around client engagement that are regular features of our writings:

- using smart questionnaires that embed communication models within them
- you have a great story
- you use a family tree in your dicussions with clients

And most of all you have developed capabilities in your business to engage the client throughout the buying process and made the financial planning and insurance strategies, relevant by using techniques that ensure the client projects and assesses the future and can see what your strategy looks, feels, even sounds like to them, thus providing compelling reasons for action.

Now you just need to make your final pitch.

In the financial planning and insurance business - you need to present your Statement of Advice.

The next phase of our writings in the coming months will be focussed on making sales presentations.

A good reference for anyone making any sort of presentation is a wonderfully engaging book by Stephen Bayley and Roger Mavity - "Life's a Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Brilliant Ideas" (2008).

As Bayley and Mavity point out, "when you are pitching to someone, you're asking them to judge the future.....their judgement won't be based on logical fctors, but on emotional factors, trust, confidence, hope, ambition, desire".

In the financial planning and insurance world this point is incredibly relevant.

If you have not engaged clients for example with an understanding of the four drive theory - then you have not engaged your client with emotion, trust, you have not inspired confidence, demonstrated the ability to deliver hope and the ambitions and desires they have.

Your sales pitch is doomed.

Re-read our previous articles for help if you have no idea what we're talking about at this point!!!

Next time we'll look at what it takes and how to write a great presentation and over the coming weeks, we'll discover:

- what to say and how to say it
- keeping things simple
- the power "slide"
- where to put your executive summary
- the power of practice
- language that resonates, is remembered and illicits a response