While this is not an all-encompassing discussion of your first visit with a prospect, you will find that these ideas can make a tremendous difference in how confident and positive the prospects will be when leaving and setting their second visit with you.
To begin
You should open with something attention-grabbing like, “I have some questions I would like to ask you that will help me determine the best ways that I can help you have a better and more secure future.” Engage your prospect on their big-picture goals. Ask them why they are here today. “How are you hoping I can be of help to you?” I would advise you not to accept their first answer and move on. Drive down. Ask again, “Why is that important?” Or, what would that mean to them.
The Response
Let’s say your potential client says something like, “Well, we are about to retire and we want to make sure we can afford to.” Tell them that you understand. Ask, “What would it mean to you if the numbers all added up and you suddenly had that confidence to retire?” They may say that they would have peace of mind and confidence to turn in their retirement papers. Here is where you can start leading into the nitty-gritty. “Once you have the peace of mind and go ahead and retire what would your retirement look like? What might it consist of?”
Rapid Fire
Here are some of the questions that cascade from this initial interaction that you need to ask.
- “What financial firm or company are most of your investments held at?”
- “How long have you had your current financial advisor?”
- “Who was your advisor before that?”
- If the previous advisor was at the same firm:
- “Oh, so you are an orphan client!?”
- If a different firm now:
- “Why then did you leave your previous advisor?”
- If the previous advisor was at the same firm:
- When asking about their investments:
- “How has this particular investment done?”
- If they say anything other than “amazingly:”
- “Presumably then that means you would like to do better than OK with this investment?”
- When you see that $700,000 of their $1 million invested is IRA:
- “You have a partner in your IRA called the IRS to the tune of X% My goal is to make all of this money your money!”
- If they say anything other than “amazingly:”
- “How has this particular investment done?”
- When asking about bank accounts
- Joint or individual NQ account:
- “Ok, so that money will all someday end up in probate!”
- Mention need in this or second visit of putting a “Transfer on Death” (TOD) on all NQ accounts and the value of that (avoiding probate)
- Joint or individual NQ account:
- “If I could help you be confident in retiring now—be thrilled instead of just OK with your investments all while most likely paying less in taxes and fees—would it be possible for you to consider being part of our family of clients?”
Finally, when talking about other advisors or financial firms be honest. If you have never heard of the firm, say so. If you have heard of them then say something like; “I have high regard for “Merrill Lynch” and what they do for people.” NEVER SPEAK POORLY OF THE COMPETITION!
Remember these questions and the general flow of this conversation and you can start looking forward to a lot more second visits.
