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| SALES 10 LAWS OF SUCCESSFUL SALES At the end of the day, even with all of the good reasons you have given your clients to follow your advice and invest, even after your very best client has referred them to you and even after you have shown them what they'll need to do to reach their goals and how they'll have to do things differently if they expect to make it there, even after you've given them a written plan worthy of a Pulitzer, you'll still have to close them, and that will take at least some degree of salesmanship. For some reason, people need to be closed. Sales need to be closed, and they just don't close themselves. Never have, never will, despite what you are selling. At the end of the day, if you're not a good closer, you'll be doing something else for a living, sooner or later. It's not investment product knowledge, nor a massive IQ that gets the job done; it's the ability to close. It's the one and only thing that separates those who have a long career as a financial planner/advisor or wholesaler, and those who go on to doing something else with their professional lives. Closing; it takes guts, determination and courage. But there is good news: Clients expect to be closed and they know that they are going to be closed at some point, sooner or later. One of my favorite sayings comes from the film "Any Given Sunday." It's in the final inspirational speech that football coach Al Pacino gives to his team before they go out to play their fictional version of the Super Bowl (the Pantheon Cup - or something). You could call it "Life's a game of inches" and basically it's that life is a game of inches and once you add up all those inches, that are all around you, that's what makes the difference between winning and losing, between living and dieing. Well, these are the 'inches' that are all around you that are going to add up to a successful close - ignore them at your own peril. You don't do these things listed below and you may be wondering why, after you've presented a great plan and/or investment, and closed, that you didn't get the sale. A great sale is like a successful trip; you need to follow a map if you're going to get where you're going. The 10 Laws of Successful Sales 1. Don't just talk - listen. You must allow your prospects to tell you about themselves, what they like, what they don't, what's important to them, what's not, and ultimately, what they want. You'll never know if you do all of the talking. A lot of planners get caught up with giving a flawless presentation, but let me let you in on something; the perfect presentation has a lot more to do with listening than it does with talking. How do you get them talking? Ask open-ended questions, or rather, questions that cannot be answered with a simple 'yes' or 'no'. 2. Get them into the sale with questions and not answers. This goes hand-in-hand with number one. Questions are the only way you'll allow them to sell themselves on whatever it is that ultimately you'll be recommending. 3. Look at a first appointment as though it was a first date. Learn everything you can about them. There's an old adage that a person's most popular topic to talk about is themselves. In fact it's so important, that no one has ever written about whatever the second most popular topic is that people want to talk about. You can court them in this way because the most pleasant sound to a lot of people is the sound oftheir own voice. 4. Avoid 'Salesmen-Speak'. In the feature film "Wall Street", Gordon Gekko tells Bud Fox to "save the cheap salesman talk, it's obvious". That's good advice for everyone. The moment that your prospect thinks they are being pitched is the minute that they tune you out, and it's over. So, just like Bud Fox, avoid phrases like "you're with a winner" or "this investment is the greatest thing since sliced bread", or "more money is lost through indecision than through the wrong decision" (everyone says that and it drives me nuts. What does that even mean? Indecision is a decision, and it's probably wrong, but not always - its just a way of saying no). Or, my favorite, which is anything having to do with how much money they are going to make. Best piece of advice I ever got - over 20 years ago - was to never, ever close on greed. If you are closing on greed it'll never work out - or even worse, they will invest, you'll get them as a client and they will be a problem from that day forward. A goal and a plan that helps them get somewhere is good - promising high returns? That's so bad on so many levels that I know you understand, that I don't even have to go into it. Save the lines and the pitches and focus on the situation and developing a need. You practice that, rather than a pitch, and you'll be good to go. Remember, financial advice is arguably as neccessary as the advice given to a client by their accountant and it comes in third to the advice of a doctor or lawyer. Another way of looking at it is that medical and legal advice is pretty much always taken because it comes at a time of acute need; you're sick and you need help, or you're getting sued (or need to sue someone), or you have been (hopefully, unjustly) incarcerated and you require a doctor, or a lawyer to get you better, or get you out of a legal jam. With those two out of the way, financial advice is as important in someones life as any other thing not involving a medical or legal need. It's not like trying to sell a car or a boat or a condo or anything else. You can take the high-road other sales professionals cannot take. These people do, in fact, really need you. Without you their kid is not going to the college they want to go to, or they are not going to retire when or how they want to, or they are going to wind-up paying unnecessary taxes. WIthout you there is a good chance that their hopes and dreams will not come to pass. 5. Pay close attention to what they are not saying. I used to tell people that I was in management and that meant that I spent 50% of my day on what I was supposed to be doing and the other half reading between the lines. And that's a fair assessment. Pay attention to what your client's non-verbal communication is telling you. Experts will tell you that that's at least half the battle, if not more. People will use subterfuge a lot - they'll mis-lead you, and usually it comes from a good place - usually a compassionate place. They don't want you to feel bad and they want to let you down easy, and so they lead you on, or fib to you and figure that they'll get out of this whole thing later. Always remember that regardless of how much they need you, their objective is to get out of the meeting without signing anything and so they are not above a little decpetion to help bring that about. But, they can't hide their non-verbal signals. There isn't space to go into that here, but I'd go to Amazon.com and I'd find a book on non-verbal, even subliminal communications, and what various phyiscal human mannerisms mean (otherwise known as body language) and I'd become an expert at recognizing various signs. That will tell you all you'll ever need to know. The non-verbal communications never lie. Don't overemphasize the importance of reading between the lines and use their body language to determine if you are all still on the same page. 6. Don't over-answer a question, or objection. Get to the heart of it and get it answered. Remember, repeat (for clarity - make sure you understand the question, and let them hear it repeated, so they know they are asking the right question), empathize (show you understand that particular concern, and that it makes sense - but don't sound patronizing), make sure that the question is answered (ask "Does that answer your question?" - and don't move on until you're sure that it does), re-introduce the topic (get back on point), and continue. Don't be afraid of questins and objections, they are indications of interest on behalf of the prospect, so welcome them. If they object or ask questions after you have initially closed, always end by re-closing. But learn to be tactful; there are lots of ways to re-close without seeming 'pushy', which is what none of us want to be perceived as, by the prosepct. Here is a hint on that point - relax. Closing is stressful. If you're stressed when you are trying to close them, you'll make them nervous and that's taking a big step towards being seen as 'pushy'. 7. Only after you have a need developed do you go into your presentation. Especially in financial services, until you know what they want and need, you can't possibly recommend a mutual fund or variable annuity or a managed account or anything else. Don't go into anything without a real goal, or you are in trouble (see "greed", as in avoiding it, in number 4 above). Young advisors. especially have this problem. They learn a thing or two about investments and it really opens their eyes as to what's possible. They go out into the world feeling like they're Gandhi, really and truely believing so much in what they've got in their briefcase, that they forget to find a need before springing on the prospect the investment that is going to solve all of their problems. So young folks, beware, and develop the need. It's not as sexy, but without it, you can forget your really cool investment products. 8. Try to keep it moving, but not too fast. There is a point where even the best game has gone on too long, and you need to let it go, for now. Some old-school sales people rely on wearing down the prospect until they are so weak that they sign out of exhaustion, just to get the guy out of their house. Back in the old days I knew guys like that - they saw it as an endurance test between themselves and the prospect. I don't need to write anymore, you can see the ways that that's no way to approach things. Those guys are probably selling cars today (they still appreciate that sort of tactic in the autoworld). 9. "Is there anything else that would prevent you from going forward with this?" This one is huge, so pay attention - this takes a little tact, a little practice, and some real know-how and feel as to just when to do it, but it really pays off to ask if, once you return with your proposal, that if it makes sense, if there are any other barriers that would prevent them from following your advice. In other words, is there anything else that can get in the way of your sale. It's a great question to ask, and perfectly fair - after all, they are probably going to automatically grasp at any sort of straw that they can find to put off a decision, no matter how much sense it makes (remember from above, people are resistance to change, regardless of whether or not it's in their best interests). Getting any remaining road-blocks out of the way is good for you and good for them. It solidifies in their mind that the next time you all get together, that they are probably going to be signing something. Once they tell you that there is nothing else that will get in the way, they're telling themselves that they're ready to do something. It's good stuff, so don't be afraid to ask. 10. Close, close, close. Follow the steps above and recommend (never, ever, suggest anything; you are a professional, you recommend) that they take action. Ask for the order, assume the close by (if you still use paper apps) sliding the new account app across the table to the client with your pen right on the signature line and tell them "now, in order to get started I just need your signature right here" - and then shut-up. The next thing that is said is whatever they say next. You don't say a word, you wait or just start getting the rest of the paperwork ready for their additional signatures that no doubt you'll need signed. That's powerful. If you can keep yourself from intervening and you let them make the next move, you are going to see good things happen. So, hold yourself back, and resist the urge to keep selling. Many times I have seen excellent, knowledgeable, truly caring reps and advisors blow sales because they just couldn't stop talking and get out of their own way. As I mentioned in number six above, being nervous at the close is natural, but it's something you must learn to control. Talking, and talking, and talking, right through when you should have closed and stopped talking is just a nervous reaction. So, slow down, take a deep breath, try to control your heart rate, and close; smoothly, slowly, confidently and matter-of-factly. You may have a mortgage payment riding on that sale, but you can never, ever let the the prospect have a sense of that. How would you feel if you thought your doctor was ordering tests for you because he needed to cover the costs of his office overhead? You'd be out of there in two seconds. Same thing here. The prospect is always the center of attention - its all about them, and you must keep the focus there if you are to succeed. Whatever you have going on doesn't matter, so don't let them see it. Whatever you are going to recommend is going to be a lot better that whatever it is that they are doing on their own. They'll thank you for it later when they are inviting you to their daughter's wedding or their Christmas party - and they will be. One of the most gratifying things of all is when they stop being just clients and become your friends. As always, you have my best wishes for your continued success and I promise that if you follow these steps, you'll have it. | |
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