Before we dive into this topic, let me ask you, how do you currently build trust with your prospects and clients? Financial advisors have many different answers and methods to create trust. Is any one way better than another?
I work with advisors and agents daily on how to build and create a repeatable, duplicable process that can be used 100% of the time with 100% of their prospects and clients. You might be asking yourself, why would a process have anything to do with building trust? Great question! Allow me to explain...
Make Them Feel Prepared
Your prospect walks into your office for the very first time since the workshop event that you held. In your prospect's hands is an 9 x 11 envelope that contains an appointment letter, a copy of your planning process, a copy of your professional bio, and a copy of your firm bio that your office staff put together and mailed out to the prospect prior to the appointment. The prospect feels good because they completely understand what is going to happen during each and every meeting that you have with them. They trust that you are not going to try to hard sell them on something in the first appointment just to make a commission. They trust you have their best interest in heart, because you have shared with them your planning process and your company's philosophy.
Remind Them of the Goals of Each Meeting
You should start out the meeting by sharing a copy of the meeting agenda with your prospect. The prospect will be more comfortable if you have a formal agenda and it’s on paper - the prospect then can begin to open up to you more and more and trust you as an advisor. You should ask your prospect “Mr. and Mrs. Smith, before we start today’s appointment, do you have any questions for me?” Mr. and Mrs. Smith may have several questions and you should answer those first before doing anything else, because it will make them more comfortable.
Reduce Stress By Providing Next Steps
At the end of the first meeting you should let Mr. and Mrs. Smith know that you have taken a lot of notes, collected a lot of data, and you have a lot of information to analyze before your next meeting. You explain to them it will take you several days to thoroughly go through everything and that they can expect a member of your office staff to be contacting them in the next 5-6 days to set-up a second meeting. The Smith’s will be very pleased with their first experience with you and their trust in you will continue to build.
When an advisor has a planning process in place, prospects know what to expect at each and every step of the way. The prospects who follow your process are the prospects who become clients, because they trust in you as a professional and your process. Because you have built so much trust in your new client, they may know three or four people who might need your services and may refer you. You should hand them a referral packet to give to their friends and they'll be blown away by your level of preparation and professionalism. Trust takes time, but with the right processes in place, it will come easier and often times much more quickly.
Sending out information and meeting reminders to each client can help reduce their stress, but may be adding to yours. Learn how a nurturing system like Prospecting 365 can automate these notifications for you.
