Journal of Financial Planning: August 2024
J.J. Peller is a Carson Coaching executive business coach. He holds an economics degree from Wabash College and spent the first five years of his career at Merrill Lynch before finding his calling to help other financial advisers grow their businesses. Carson Coaching is the official coaching partner of the Financial Planning Association. For more information, visit www.carsongroup.com/coaching.
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How do you define “sales”? One definition I found was, “Operations and activities involved in promoting and selling goods or services.”1 When you drill further down into the definition of “promote,” it’s to “further the progress of (something, especially a cause, venture, or aim); support; or actively encourage.”2
Now let’s take those definitions and merge elements of them to highlight what’s important when developing the sales skills next-gen and G2 advisers need to be successful: It’s about the mindset you need to have about sales and the methods you can use to promote and sell your services as a financial adviser.
In our profession, you’ve got to be able to promote the good and the services.
The good is you—whether you’re a new employee to a firm or an established employee who wants to step up and ask for more responsibilities or a leadership role. You’ve got to be able to show people and promote yourself and your skills in a way that gets people to buy in to what you’re asking them for—whether it’s a promotion, a new position, or shifting roles.
The service is communication. My definition of selling is effective communication that gets someone to make a decision that is in the best interest of everyone involved. In your case, it’s getting a prospective ideal client to work with you so you can help them find their financial freedom and build the life they want.
“Selling” isn’t just about getting someone to do something—whether it’s good for them or not—it’s about being able to communicate any message, idea, concept, or belief in a way that helps someone make a decision that will genuinely benefit the people impacted by that decision.
In this article, I offer you a framework for how to assess and develop your sales skills so you can help your prospective and current clients make the best decisions for them.
Assessing and Closing Your Skills Gaps
One of the hardest—but most important—things is answering the question: What are my strengths and weaknesses when it comes to sales skills? We do this all the time in our businesses when we do a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis in order to devise a strategic plan for growth. Business.com reports that a SWOT analysis can help you figure out what your business is doing well and what you can improve, so you can pinpoint new ways your firm can grow.3
The same type of analysis is helpful for your own sales skills.
For example, I know of an adviser who does not want to ask for referrals. I tell him, “It’s OK. That’s not your strength and you need to do something that you’re good at that you actually enjoy doing.”
But it can be hard to assess your own skills. I’ll lay out a quick framework you can use.
Step one: Do a simple gut check. Be honest with yourself. What are the actual activities you enjoy doing that are related to selling?
Step two: Identify role models and observe them in action. Specifically, if you are a G2, or an up-and-coming potential G2, get feedback from role models or advisers with more experience who you’d like to emulate. It is critical to pinpoint a professional who you want to model, not just someone you think you should be modeling.
One way to do that is to find people within your firm—or even outside your firm—who you can observe in some way. You can even choose someone who does an excellent job selling services who is not in the profession or industry, so long as you perceive them to be effective in “selling.”
Step three: Emulate your role models. Watch how those role models do what they do and try to emulate that. You can see how this person is selling and identify what you’re not doing that they’re doing well that you’d like to start doing.
Step four: Conduct a self-assessment and do some reflection. For many people, step three is a great place to start the self-assessment and reflection. For example, you can see that your role model pauses to actively listen to their potential clients, whereas you keep talking and miss the opportunity for the other person to bring something up.
Most people don’t do a self-assessment and reflection. Block an hour on your calendar one day to sit down and jot down the things you think you do well and the things you could improve on in your communication.
Some examples of skills you’re good at or that you could work on include being able to ask questions, to listen, to communicate the work that you do and the value that your firm provides, and having the confidence to be direct. Being direct can encompass making the ask, giving advice, or sharing your opinion in a way that someone needs to hear it.
Step five: Ask for and receive feedback. This can be done either through your peers, a mastermind group, or with a coach. You can also solicit feedback from the role models you identified in step three, if that is an option.
If you’re asking for feedback, ensure you’re asking for it from people whose opinion you value and who you actually want feedback from, otherwise you might not be inspired to implement it.
If you’re nervous about asking for feedback, a simple script to do so can be: “I’m genuinely passionate about becoming the best adviser I can be, and I admire and respect the way you do things. I am currently modeling your approach, but I know there’s so much more I can learn and get feedback on from you. So I’m curious if you’d be open to sitting down for 30 minutes or an hour—or any time you’d be willing to invest—to share your thoughts and feedback on what I could do better?”
And if you’re someone for whom feedback feels like a critique, use my mantra: “I’m here to learn, learn, learn, learn.” Keep in mind that feedback isn’t criticism—it’s to help you learn and be a better professional.
The Big Three Skills to Focus On
So many people who want to get great at selling think it’s only about tactics. But the best salespeople on the face of the planet are the ones who just believe so much in what they do that it comes across that way, and people feel it.
For example, not many people would describe Ron Carson, founder and chairman of the board for Carson Group, as a pushy salesperson. He just has so much conviction in the value of what he does that it comes through, and people feel it.
That’s the case with most outstanding salespeople—they just deeply believe in the value they can deliver and that their firm can deliver.
The second skill is the ability to ask questions in a genuinely curious way. There is a difference between asking a genuinely curious question to understand who someone is and their view on the world, and asking a question in a leading, salesy way. If you only know how to ask leading questions, that’s OK, but don’t end there. Get better at asking questions.
If advisers did coach training or took a few courses on coaching, they would vastly improve their questioning. I feel that asking powerful questions was the biggest thing I learned and developed when I did my coach training years ago. Coaching is really just about asking powerful questions and listening well to understand people and help them improve. Isn’t that what you want to do with your clients?
Investopedia notes that when you ask curious questions, you can build stronger and more trusting relationships with your clients and potential clients.4 Plus, you can better understand the specific value you can provide based on their individual situation.
Some questions we recommend include:
- Tell me a little bit about your background: Where are you from? How did you get into your present career?
- Tell me about the people (and animals) you care most about.
- Tell me what you enjoy doing in your free time.
- Tell me about a few of the things you value most in life.
- What is your vision for your future?
Asking questions like these in a curious way can help you build trust, connection, and rapport to help your prospects and clients feel seen and heard.
Lastly, listening is critically important. When you listen, clients feel heard. For this, I like to recommend the power of silence. Forbes notes that silence allows others to express themselves more fully.5 And I tell new advisers that it is in these silences that the prospect or client will share more things that will help you better understand them.
The Last Word: Not Everybody Is a Fit
Earlier in the article I mentioned that selling is about communicating to get someone to make a decision that is in the best interest of everyone involved. One thing to keep in mind is that sometimes moving forward with a prospect isn’t the best decision for you.
I remember the very first prospect meeting I ever had as an adviser. This guy reached out to talk to us about his portfolio because he wasn’t happy with his adviser. He sat down with me and basically yelled at me. He was just mean, and it was awful.
While this first experience wasn’t a positive one, it is an anecdote that comes in handy to illustrate that not everybody you’re selling to is a good fit for you. At the time and in that moment, I developed the mindset that you don’t want to work with everybody just because they’re willing to pay.
Remember that you are the good and your advice is the service. Developing your sales skills isn’t just about closing deals; it’s about fostering meaningful relationships through curious questions, active listening, and genuine communication. And those meaningful relationships have to be meaningful for both parties. Seek feedback, identify mentors, and focus on clients who align with your values and whom you’ll genuinely enjoy working with. By following this framework, you can promote yourself and your services more effectively, ensuring both personal and professional growth.
Endnotes
- See the definition of “sales” from Merriam-Webster at www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sale.
- See the definition of “promote” from Grant Cardone at www.linkedin.com/pulse/promoting-your-business-grant-cardone#:~:text=Promote%20defined%3B%20further%20the%20progress,)%3B%20support%20or%20actively%20encourage.
- Kuligowski, Kiely. 2023, November 6. “Why You Need a SWOT Analysis for Your Business.” Business.com. www.business.com/articles/swot-analysis-for-small-business-planning/.
- Jarrell, Matthew. 2024, May 16. “10 Questions All Financial Advisers Should Ask.” Investopedia. www.investopedia.com/articles/financial-advisers/080415/7-questions-all-financial-advisers-need-ask.asp.
- Laker, Benjamin. 2023, Dec 18. “The Art of Listening: Silent Communication in Leadership.” Forbes. www.forbes.com/tes/benjaminlaker/2023/12/18/the-art-of-listening-silent-communication-in-leadership/?sh=230bb0e3331c.