Part 2 of 4<\/i>
To effectively sell financial products, advisors must understand the sales process from the perspective of the client, according to Guy Baker, a CLU advisor and president of the Million Dollar Round Table.
Baker encourages financial advisors to establish a step-by-step sales process developed with a basis on the client\u2019s point of view. In order to do so, advisors must first determine the type of client they are targeting, and develop a strategy around that type of client specifically, Baker said at a conference organized by Advocis on Friday.
When trying to sell an insurance policy or other product, he said advisors need to convey themselves as problem-solvers, rather than salespeople. To do this, he said it\u2019s important to help clients realize that they have a problem that needs solving.
In contrast, by taking the approach of simply trying to sell a product for its benefits, the cost will seem too large to clients, Baker said.
\u201cWhat ends up happening, is we become adversarial,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s not the type of relationship consultants want to have with their clients.\u201d
If clients are first convinced that they have a problem which needs to be solved, the cost of the product will seem small compared to the benefit they are receiving, Baker explained.
\u201cOur job is to help people understand their problem, and understand the pain that\u2019s associated with that problem, and make that pain so great that they\u2019re willing to take action with us,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s where the sale takes place.\u201d
Added Baker: \u201cWe must be known by the problems we solve; not the solutions we sell.\u201d
Baker also gave advisors at the conference advice on gaining clients and maintaining long-term relationships with clients. He recommends establishing and practicing a daily activity that contributes to building your book of business. For example, Baker established a goal for himself of adding two names per day to a list of prospective clients. Each name that he adds to the list is someone who has agreed to sit down with him at a later date to discuss their insurance coverage.
He considers this activity the basis of all his success. \u201cThat one simple thing has made a huge difference,\u201d he said.
Another strategy Baker recommends is generating \u201creverse referrals.\u201d This involves identifying the type of prospective client you would like to meet, and finding a way to get introduced to them.
\u201cThe types of referrals you get are a direct result of the types of referrals you ask for,\u201d he said. \u201cFind the people that people trust, and get them to introduce you to your reverse referral.\u201d
IE<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Advocis Day of Inspiration<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2312,2318],"tags":[2948],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280237"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280237"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280237\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280237"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.investmentexecutive.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=280237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}