Re-establish trust with four effective sales tactics

Your clients are still stinging from the bite of a spiraling economy. But there are ways to restore their waning confidence and, at the same time, emphasize your role as a trusted advisor –as well as helping you seal the deal.

1. Catch prospects’ attention with a story. First, define your target market, then build a story around you and your practice that intrigues prospects enough that they want to hear more. Write your narrative down and refine it until it’s exactly how you want it and then integrate it into every aspect of your practice, including your Web site and marketing materials, to give a consistent impression.
2. Build your credentials. Show people you are affiliated with a group such as the National Ethics Bureau, the Better Business Bureau or an industry organization such as the Million Dollar Round Table. Or that you have spent significant time studying to receive the credential or license that best fits your area of financial specialization. Having those credentials makes consumers take you and your firm more seriously because those licensures don’t come easily.
3. Inform first, sell later. Advisors who too hastily cut to the sales pitch are destined to lose deals they might have closed had they first made an effort to empower prospects with knowledge. Offer materials intended to educate your clients beyond your personal sales pitch. Being willing to share information increases trust, which will serve you well when it’s time to close the deal.
4. Give prospects a quick reality check. With new advances in scenario-based software, you can give a prospect a clear glimpse of their options. Showing them certain scenarios, such as how quickly an extended long term care event can eat into a retirement nest egg, may open the door to a discussion of long term care insurance, for example.