Are you looking to revamp your sales tactics? Is it time to revisit how you present yourself and your services to prospective clients? Keep reading to check out some helpful tips so you can make sure you’re selling yourself with confidence, ease, and authenticity. 

Take time to understand your client and their specific needs before your first meeting

This doesn’t mean you have to spend hours preparing for every meeting with each prospective client. However, you should know some background information about who you are meeting with and the specific pain points they are looking to solve through working with you. Think of 4-5 good questions you can have them answer in a form before you meet so you can be prepared to dive right in and show your prospects what you can do for them and how you can help them achieve their financial goals. This can be as easy as inputting these questions into your scheduling software so that when a prospect books a meeting, they are automatically prompted to answer these questions.

Check out our Client Communication Prep Sheet that can be used as a guide in crafting the best questions and preparing for your first meeting. Take 15-20 minutes to review their answers and use this information to create an outline for your first meeting. It is crucial that your client feels comfortable with you and sees you as an expert who can easily understand their financial situation. When you come to the meeting with a solid understanding of their situation and specific examples of what you can do for them, the decision for your client to choose you as their advisor will be easy! Make sure to actively listen and take notes while you are meeting with the client. Do they have an upcoming vacation planned? Did they recently move or get a new pet? Jot these details down so you can make future communication with the client more personal and show them that you care.

Create a clear value proposition 

A strong value proposition will help your client clearly engage with you and appreciate the services you can provide for them. Ensure the value proposition you present to the client fits their persona and is relevant to where they stand financially. Take some time to write down a value proposition statement for the different types of clients you might work with. When you have a new prospect, you can easily pull one of these value props and adjust it to the specific client as necessary. Even if you work with a niche clientele, it is still crucial to have a variety of value props as everyone’s needs are different!

Another helpful practice to get into is writing out all the possible objections a client might have to working with you. Think back on past clients who you didn’t “win” over or some common objections you might hear on the day-to-day. When you can quickly, gracefully, and intelligently address these objections, a client is way more likely to choose you as their financial advisor.

Confidently close the deal

At the end of the meeting with your prospect, take 5 or 10 minutes to recap the information reviewed, whether that be your processes, costs, or what it will take for them to begin to engage in your services. Don’t leave the next steps up to the client. If they seem eager to engage with you, match their enthusiasm and send them the materials needed to get the ball rolling! If a client seems hesitant or needs to think things over, then clearly state that you will follow up in X amount of days (a best practice is typically 3 days) to see where things are. If it makes sense for that specific person, you could even schedule a 2nd follow-up meeting right then and there to make sure things are locked down. 

While this might seem obvious, the most important part of selling yourself as a financial advisor is conveying genuine excitement about what you can do for the client and about the clients themselves. Using stories or having testimonials from past clients can be a great additional tool here. Following these tactics will bring you all the sales success you need to thrive as a financial advisor!

Check out this blog from our friends at XY Planning Network covering the SEC's new rules regarding testimonials.