How did you first meet your spouse/mate/partner?
- Was it through a seminar?
- Or maybe through a direct-mail letter?
- Or did you meet the tried-and-true, old-fashioned way...an unsolicited phone call off of a cold list?
No? You didn't?
Then why are you prospecting for clients this way? Do you think that a logical, sane, well-adjusted person is going to respond well to an unsolicited phone call from a complete stranger?
Think of it this way. Your best clients will share intimate details about their life (financial life and all else)...that is akin to the intimacies that you would expect to hear from a prospective mate. So why are you prospecting for affluent investors in a manner where the likelihood of engaging in a financially intimate dialogue...is infinitesimal?
Look...it's not all your fault. The prospecting paradigm of the financial services industry has never been very good. But that doesn't mean you have to mimic all of these bad prospecting behaviors...monkey-see, monkey do.
I don't have all of the answers. Yet I do believe that all good financial prospects demand a modicum of respect...and are attracted to advisors who engage them in an interesting, empathic manner.
When you are prospecting, be yourself. Don't be a lemming. You know what happens to lemmings, don't you?
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