THE CLIENT-FOCUSED PRACTICE — IT’S ALL ABOUT PEOPLE
by Michael Lovas
During months of extensive research into what makes an advisor succeed, we’re discovering several significant facts and some fundamental conclusions about — about your business. In the end, your business is only as successful as your people skills. That’s what this article is all about — people.
Why spend time learning warm and fuzzy techniques? What could possibly gain when you improve your relationship-building skills? In numbers, what’s the pay off in bottom-line terms? Consider this: when one of the financial advisors we serve decided to change companies, his manager predicted that very few of his clients would make the change with him. Wrong. Our client moved 97% of his clients – and he credited his relationships as the determining factor.
Consider these facts.
- Selling is a relationship business
- Whether your business thrives or wilts, depends on your ability to strengthen relationships
- People like people who like them
- You can’t build trust with someone who doesn’t like you
Conclusion: To thrive as a salesperson, you must learn how to do three things:
- Attract people you want to work with
- Read people to learn how to connect with them
- Make a meaningful and relevant connection with them
The research categorically proves that all A-level business takes place within a relationship. It should be obvious that relationships don’t take root until you can read people quickly and effectively and build rapport with them —Your business is all about people. (That’s why we chose that name for our firm.) Let’s look at how this relates to you.
The Problems
American investors are frightened. Those might be your clients, but they’re certainly your prospects. They don’t know who to trust and for good reason. They’re confused – and can you blame them?
They project those problems onto you. That is simply how the human mind works. This it will hurt you — unless you take action to protect yourself. Until then, everything you do or say that doesn’t communicate clearly to the other person adds to the wall of mistrust and confusion between you two. In other words, you’re stepping up to the plate with two strikes and a broken bat.
To break through this wall of mistrust, agents need better relationship-building skills, better communication skills, better people-reading skills, and better credibility. In other words, every time you mis-communicate with a client or prospect, you invite mistrust. Every time you use a standard presentation, you invite mistrust.
The sad fact is that most salespeople learn about products, not about people. Our industry’s professional organizations focus on deeper and deeper levels of product knowledge. However, since this business is all about people you have a major people problem that will keep growing – until you take steps that improve your abilities to read people and communicate with them effectively.
After coaching professionals in writing and public speaking for many years, I can give you some inside information about the problem:
- The fact that you can read and write does not mean that you can communicate purposefully and effectively;
- Just because can talk does not equip you to deliver effective presentations or to connect with people
- Although you can get along with some people, this does not mean that you can get along with most people. In fact, most people get along well with only about 25% of the people you meet. Until you learn how to read people and adjust your communication style to meet theirs, you limit your level of success by as much as 75%.
How can you break through that wall?
The Solutions
Chances are that your business will improve when you improve your relationship-building skills to meet three goals: (1) attract more A-level clients by initiating a full-tilt marketing program; (2) read people quickly and accurately – history has shown again and again that the people who can read people become more successful; and. (3) connect with people in a meaningful and relevant way..
The Payoff
If you relate to people’s problems and provide solutions that they value, the payoff for you can be outstanding! Better people skills lead to better business, which leads to a more fulfilled life and less stress, which leads to less disease. Improving your people skills could literally save your life. When you improve your abilities to attract and inspire people, your business will improve —as will your family and community – all because you jumped at the chance to take action and improve.
Let’s look at each element of this Client-focused Strategy:
1. Attract. You can’t attract A-level clients until you don’t know who they are – and, that means learning how they think – “reading” people. Once you’ve “read” your current A-level clients, you can create a profile of the people you most want to work with and used it in specific marketing programs that will lure these people like bears to honey. We call this “Magnetic Marketing.”
Magnetic Marketing relies on psychology and a high level of proficiency in using psychological language patterns. Few (if any) advertising and marketing writers possess this level of training or expertise in psychology. The flip side of this is that few psychologists or counselors possess the writing and design skills required to produce these marketing programs. So, “who ya gonna call?”
Magnetic Marketing makes you irresistible to your specific chosen target market because, instead of talking about products, it uses the target market’s psychological language patterns. If this element is weak or missing, the marketing is no longer magnetic. The farther away marketing gets from magnetic, the more it attracts C-level clients — people who focus on ROI and investment performance.
2. Read. Your success at causing someone to like you in a business situation usually depends on how quickly and accurately you can “read” that person. When you can determine primary personality types, core values, and communication style in about five seconds, you have a distinct advantage. This knowledge allows you to engage in a conversation that the other person will find compelling, fascinating, and — magnetic! When you can lure the other person, you control the relationship.
Here’s an example: One of our clients (Chuck Hansen) works with seniors and boomers, marketing through seminars. He averaged twenty-five appointments at each seminar. After we taught Chuck how to read the people at his seminars and use this knowledge to connect with them in meaningful and relevant ways, he immediately doubled his appointments. What’s more, because Chuck began building the relationships so early, his appointments produced twice as much new business.
3. Connect. Chuck could see just how much this is a relationship business. It’s simple — the better your relationships, the better your business. Your relationships depend on your ability to read people and build purposeful rapport with them on multiple levels. When you know who’s in front of you, it’s easy to deliver presentations in a way that connects with the emotions of this person or audience. In the end, you will establish a strong Emotional Connection with your A-level prospects — who are then inspired to become A-level clients!
Here’s a real-life example: When Steve Neff, a principal with ICM Asset Management, called us to ask for help with a presentation, we gave him a five-minute summary on using basic psychology to improve the connection power of his time on stage. Steve reported that his presentation was the most successful he’d ever given. Perhaps the most intriguing aspect was that even though he never mentioned his firm the exact type of clients he preferred mobbed him at the end. They wanted to know more about this fascinating person and how he could help them!
Michael Lovas is president of AboutPeople (Colbert, WA), a firm that uses Psychological Language Patterns to develop marketing programs. A Master Practitioner of Neuro-Linguistic Programming, he teaches financial advisors how to use common-sense psychology to help build trust with A-level target markets. Michael has written twelve books, mainly on professional communication in the financial industry He also holds the distinction of creating “Credibility Marketing” in 1991. For more information, call (509) 465-5599, e-mail [email protected], or visit www.aboutpeople.com.