Is "the close" pass??

When asked many years ago how he won an important game, then-Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight famously (or infamously) told the intrepid reporter, “We scored more points than they did.” When the reporter wouldn’t accept that most basic – and, ultimately, true – answer, Knight went into detail about the reasons his team won the contest.

Most coaches, either out of respect for the reporters and fans or due to their understanding of the intricacies of the game, won’t give the Bobby Knight answer to the question of how they won the game. Basketball coaches will talk about their team’s smothering defense in the first half, or about the team’s second-half free-throw shooting, or about the difference in turnovers. Baseball coaches will highlight how their pitcher got out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning, or a sacrifice bunt that advanced a runner to third base who was then brought home on a sacrifice fly. Golfers will talk about a save from the sand on the front nine, or about a streak of four one-putt holes, or about hitting 12 of 14 fairways with their drives.

Coaches and athletes talk about the importance of the things that earned them the win. The player who hit the three-point shot at the buzzer will make the highlight reel, but his coach understands it was the player who blocked a shot three minutes earlier, and the player who dove to save the ball from going out of bounds, and the player who set the screen to get the shooter open who paved the way for the game winner. The final shot, home run, goal, touchdown or putt doesn’t happen in a vacuum; it usually is the natural extension of the things that preceded it.

The same holds true for financial advisors and planners. When asked how they managed to close a certain client, many advisors can give the SportsCenter version, talking about a home run script they use to close the sale. Others, however, will give the coach’s version; they’ll talk about a great opening, about the fact-finding they did in the first meeting, about the tax break they found the prospect simply by asking questions no other advisor had asked. These advisors will say the close isn’t about the close at all. The close, they’ll say, is a natural extension of a relationship-building process, something that can’t be rushed and should never be faked. Ultimately, such a process can render the word “close” pass? because advisors won’t have to think about it like that – it’ll just happen.

In the beginning…

Baseball pitchers can make millions of dollars if they can throw hard and get batters out – they’re the closers. But they don’t even get in the game if the starting pitcher and the relief pitchers – not to mention the batters – don’t get ahead and stay ahead of the other team. The first inning is as important as the ninth.

“It begins with the opening and continues all the way to the end,” Wayne Peterson says. “It should never be about rushing to the close.”

Peterson, IAR, CSA, and president of W.B. Peterson Associates (www.wbpetersonassociates.com) in Charlottesville, Va., doesn’t like the word “close.” He prefers to fill a need as opposed to closing a prospect. “You have to find out what the person wants, what his needs are. [The opening] is about getting to know the person, looking at him as a human being.”

Creating a connection is how Peterson and other advisors describe the first part of the process.

“It is important to bond with the client,” says Dr. Harry Olson, president and CEO of Owings Mills, Md.-based Maximum Potential Inc., a company that specializes in executive coaching and training in peak performance (www.harryolson.com). “It’s about creating an emotional connection.” And that connection is built by asking affirmative questions and listening to the responses.

Listening for the sake of getting a step closer to a close is not going to cut it. Advisors need to be able to repeat things prospects and clients say. They need to be able to follow up on certain points if it will help them better understand what the client wants out of life and from their money. If they can say things like, “It seems your grandchildren’s college education is important to you,” or, “Giving back appears to be a big goal of yours,” or, “Building up your collection of classic cars looks to be a top priority,” the person across the table knows the advisor is listening.

“The more you can get clients to say, ‘That’s right,’ the deeper the connection you are building,” Olson says.

A great way for advisors to ensure they are asking the right questions is by doing their homework. Pre-appointment planning can be the difference between creating the connection and walking away from the appointment wondering how it went. According to Bill Brooks, CEO and founder of The Brooks Group (www.thebrooksgroup.com) in Greensboro, N.C., advisors should “have some idea of what they are getting into. They should get as much information as possible ahead of time.”

The more prepared an advisor is when heading into an initial meeting, the more attuned he can be to the prospect’s answers. Being prepared aids in listening, which furthers the emotional connection.

Another way to begin building that connection with clients-to-be is to surprise them. Do something other advisors overlook.

“One thing to do is bring things up nobody else has covered,” says Tom Gau, a retirement distribution specialist and a CPA with Million Dollar Producers in Ashland, Ore. Gau uses his expertise as an accountant to bring up tax issues other advisors may not be as comfortable addressing. But to get there, Gau institutes a process. He gathers all the data he can at the first meeting; then, Gau puts that information through a thorough analysis, picking it apart for ways to save money on taxes and make the money last longer.

Only then will he think about the close, but he doesn’t view it as a close. He gives advice based on the data and his analysis of it. If the prospect sees his advice as valid and decides to implement the plan, then Gau has closed that person, but it wasn’t due to any scripted finale – it’s simply Close No. 16 on the list of top 50 closes.