January 31, 2022 / by Russell Collins / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
I am of the opinion that one of the major stumbling blocks for new (and, surprisingly, even more experienced) Financial Advisers in conducting successful initial meetings with prospective clients (as well as review meetings with existing clients) is the lack of proper preparation.
In recent years Dealer Groups have introduced a one-size-fits-all templated fact finder document to be used by their advisers in both initial and ongoing discussions with prospective or existing clients. In terms of compliance requirements, the dealer group needed to protect itself from possible future litigation down the road and therefore many participated in designing the questions that their advisers could ask.
From my experience, I believed that there were two problems with this approach.
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Presenting the Strategy Paper to Turn Prospects into Clients
November 28, 2022 / by Russell Collins / Connelly Corner, Prospecting / 0 comments
In my previous guest blog post, I explained how I dissected the confirmed file note by dividing it into four separate quadrants in order to create a strategy to take to my next meeting – the Strategy Paper Meeting (SPM), It should lead to a “yes”, the prospect agreeing to do business with me.
In summary, the primary purpose of the SPM is to highlight a problem; get their agreement to the problem; that they want to solve it; and then involve them in the decision-making process. That way the decision becomes theirs and all I had to do was the numbers based on their ability to pay. In relation to the latter, I found the best time to do that was after I had proceeded through the strategy paper up to the point of discussing the shortfall with them. More on that later. Now let’s focus on the strategy paper itself.
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The File Note: How to Increase Your Closing Rates to 9 out of 10 in Life Insurance Sales
May 2, 2022 / by Russell Collins / Connelly Corner, Presentation Skills / 0 comments
At the conclusion of my previous guest post – “Making Every Initial Meeting with a Prospect Successful” – I mentioned that if I could point to one thing that increased my closing rate to 9 out of 10, it was the file note. This in effect acted as a pre-presentation vehicle and I believe it motivated people to really look forward to our next meeting and my eventual recommendations.
Here’s how to start using the file note to increase your life insurance sales.
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How to Increase Your Life Insurance Sales Making Every Initial Meeting with a Prospect Successful
March 21, 2022 / by Russell Collins / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
When people meet with you for the first time, subconsciously they have four questions that need to be answered. They haven’t thought about these questions in advance but they cross their mind during that meeting. If they are answered, this will ensure that there is not only a second follow-up meeting, but also presents the immediate opportunity to develop a long-term relationship:
Do I like you?
Do I trust you?
Are you competent?
Are you the sort of person who will put my best interests before your own?
In addition to these four questions, I believe that a person would also have to be thinking to themselves “this adviser makes sense!” if there is going to be an ongoing relationship.
How to make every fact-finding meeting a success
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How to Increase Your Life Insurance Sales through Preparation
January 31, 2022 / by Russell Collins / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
I am of the opinion that one of the major stumbling blocks for new (and, surprisingly, even more experienced) Financial Advisers in conducting successful initial meetings with prospective clients (as well as review meetings with existing clients) is the lack of proper preparation.
In recent years Dealer Groups have introduced a one-size-fits-all templated fact finder document to be used by their advisers in both initial and ongoing discussions with prospective or existing clients. In terms of compliance requirements, the dealer group needed to protect itself from possible future litigation down the road and therefore many participated in designing the questions that their advisers could ask.
From my experience, I believed that there were two problems with this approach.
Read more