Lou Cassara is a Top of the Table producer with Northwestern Mutual. His sales philosophy has four principal tenets:
- Be clear that you make the difference in every life.
- Be confident that your process of relating to another person is your real "product."
- Be capable of honoring your agreements.
- Stop asking yourself what someone else needs and start asking yourself what makes you come alive and stay committed.
He believes that all relationships are simply a reflection of the one that you have yourself. He espouses that sales professionals have an "authentic mindset", i.e. they are clear about who they are and confident about what they will and will not do. They align their intentions and actions to produce results that have an impact upon other person's lives.
Lou Cassara begins his sales relationships with a "CORE Conversation." His first question is deceptively simple, "What can I help you accomplish in the next 12 months that would make you feel happy with your progress?"
Consider why this question works. It assumes that a partnership between the salesperson and the client will occur. It focuses on the next 12 months, a time period that we all can grasp. It focuses on the client's goals...and the client's happiness.
If the client shares this answer with him, here are the follow-ups:
- What are the biggest challenges that you face?
- What opportunities in life would you like to capture?
- What are the most important relationships in your life?
- In your experience, what has, and has not, worked for you?
Lou Cassara believes that successful advisors help clients convert onerous tasks to powerful intentions. An intention is the direction of your life, the purpose and the fuel that propels you. A goal is something that would make you feel happy if it was achieved. A task is something that makes you feel relieved when it is done. A task is undertaken grudgingly, often through goals that are imposed upon someone from an outside influence. In contrast, intentions are internally generated, and are much more likely to be sustained.
"The starting point of all achievement is desire."...Napoleon Hill
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