October 10, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Every initial meeting with a prospect is crucial. It took a lot to get them to finally agree to meet with you, and, in most cases, you only have one shot at making the right impression. If a prospect leaves the meeting still wanting critical information, you will not likely see them again. So, you carefully craft your initial meeting to ensure you check all the boxes, including:
– Your background and experience
– Understand your prospect’s needs and concerns
– Your process
– Your firm’s strengths and why you’re different
– Customer service expectations
– How you get paid
– Next Steps
As far as key information your prospect needs, that covers all the bases. It should also give you plenty of opportunities to demonstrate your competence and capacity to address your prospect’s needs and concerns.
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Transitioning Conversations: How to Change the Subject without Offending Your Client
October 17, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
In a recent post, we highlighted the importance of maintaining control over conversations with prospects and clients—that your value as a financial advisor diminishes without it. Part and parcel of maintaining control of a conversation is being able to switch gears when a client takes it in a direction you don’t want to go. Getting trapped in a tangent is a time waster, but how do you change the subject without making it awkward or alienating your client?
People go off topic for many reasons. Whatever the reason, they feel that what they have to say is important, so if you’re going to try to change the conversation, it needs to be done delicately and gracefully to not make them feel as if what they have to say is not important.
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5 Things Prospects Need to Know About You from the First Meeting
October 10, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Every initial meeting with a prospect is crucial. It took a lot to get them to finally agree to meet with you, and, in most cases, you only have one shot at making the right impression. If a prospect leaves the meeting still wanting critical information, you will not likely see them again. So, you carefully craft your initial meeting to ensure you check all the boxes, including:
– Your background and experience
– Understand your prospect’s needs and concerns
– Your process
– Your firm’s strengths and why you’re different
– Customer service expectations
– How you get paid
– Next Steps
As far as key information your prospect needs, that covers all the bases. It should also give you plenty of opportunities to demonstrate your competence and capacity to address your prospect’s needs and concerns.
Read more