The Clock: A Great Sales Idea to Overcome Irrational Pessimism
You may have heard me talk before about my good friend and successful Advisor, Mark Dick. He once said to me that ‘dividends are tangible evidence that good companies don’t use smoke and mirrors because dividend checks don’t bounce.’ That is a strong power phrase that gave me a great sales idea.
This great sales idea has to do with the fact that back in 1996, Alan Greenspan used the phrase “irrational exuberance”. In retrospect, he was right. I think today, however, we can say there’s “irrational pessimism”.
So here’s my sales idea for people who don’t want to get off the fence.
You have them draw a circle on a piece of paper and equate that circle to being a face of a clock. Ask your clients to write ‘market top’ at 12 o’clock, and ‘market bottom’ at 6 o’clock, ‘market decline’ at 3 o’clock, and ‘market rally’ at 9 o’clock. So you will have:
- 12 o’clock – market high
- 3 o’clock – market decline
- 6 o’clock – market low
- 9 o’clock – market rally
Say, “Mr. and Mrs. Prospect, where do you think we are in this clock?”
They’ll probably say somewhere around 3 or 4 o’clock, and you tell them you think you’re close to the 5:30. But what’s more important –
It doesn’t really matter where on the clock you are.
You draw a line between 7 o’clock and 5 o’clock, it doesn’t matter if I’m right or you’re right. The fact is this is the bottom 10% of the market.
Even Warren Buffet doesn’t get the bottom 10% of the market. The money in America’s made by investing in the 90% in between.
If these are the kinds of conversations you want to handle more confidently, this is the work I do with advisors in coaching. You can learn more here.
