the best approach for advisors

The Best Sales Approach for

Financial Advisors

Killer Questions That Will Bond Your

Clients to You for Life I have a personal request. Read this short report from cover to cover. The elements toward the end of the report will make a huge impact on your business and on the lives of your clients. There’s a new frontier in financial services. I want to make sure you’re leading the way. Reading this may be the most important 20 minutes you invest in your career this year. Enjoy! Roxanne Emmerich CSP,CMC

Copyright 2003, Roxanne Emmerich, 1-800-236-5885, [email protected] 1

Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC is listed in the May 2000 Sales and Marketing Management magazine as

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one of the 12 most requested speakers in the nation today. She is the author of 4 books including, “Thank God It’s Monday: How to Build a Motivating Workplace” that’s in its 8th printing, and “Profit-Growth Banking: 7 Strategies of the Top Performing Banks” released May 2002 by Banner Press. Twice voted Entrepreneur of the Year, Roxanne built a seven-figure company and led one of the fastest growth, fastest-to-profit banks in the country in 1987. Her Breakthrough Banking® video education training system is the most used sales and service training system for banks all across the U.S and Canada. She is

he author of “Thank God It’s Monday: How to Build a Motivating Workplace.”

ased on her experience of starting one of the fastest growing and fastest-to-profit banks in the ountry in 1987, she has advised hundreds of banks on how to grow their top line and help their eople dramatically improve their production. She is one of the most in-demand speakers at bank EO meetings in the country today and Successful Meetings lists her as one of the top experts in

he country on managing organizational change.

She has been nominated for the National Speakers Association Speaker Hall of Fame.

Interviewed with CNN, CBS, and over one hundred radio and television stations. Some of her articles and interviews include CEO Report, Woman’s Day, The Wall Street

Journal, Ticker, Info World, HR Executive magazine, ABA Banking Journal, AirTran Arrivals, Continental magazine, and Business Week.

Past state president of the American Society for Training and Development and director of the YWCA.

She is a co-owner of North American Banking Company, a bank holding company is St. Paul, MN, and had been a key advisor to Tommy Thompson when he was Governor of the State of Wisconsin.

Some of her licenses and certifications include: Certified Management Consultant, Certified Speaking Professional, Financial Planning, Business Taxation, Series 7, Accelerated Training, Myers-Briggs, Insurance, Counselor Selling

University of Wisconsin Distinguished Alumnus

The Emmerich Group 8500 Normandale Lake Blvd., Suite 180

Minneapolis, MN 55437 800-236-5885 952-820-0360

www.EmmerichGroup.com and www.EmmerichFinancial.com

opyright 2003, Roxanne Emmerich, 1-800-236-5885, [email protected] 2

http://www.emmerichgroup.com/

http://www.emmerichfinancial.com/

In this report:

A. How to compete in the highly competitive financial services world B. How to build a high-results profiling system C. The 10 best questions to get new customers and keep them for life D. Positioning: Getting them begging to do business with you E. Questions that don’t work made into power questions F. The 100 best questions submitted by your colleagues G. Creating your questioning template

A. How to compete in the highly competitive financial

services world The world of financial advising has changed—and changed significantly. The Internet provides mechanisms and information that make clients question whether they really need your services at all! In most cases, they don’t. And yet, in March 2001 when the market dipped dramatically, more than $20 billion left the American stock market in one month, and there were similar results in Canada. Now, I don’t know anyone who has asked for the “buy-high-sell-low investment plan.” Yet, when client emotions are not managed, that’s exactly what they get. That’s where you come in. In this new world of financial advising, your job now is to manage the emotions and discover the deep-seated needs and desires of your clients. This is something they cannot get from the Internet, but it is something they will always need—and demand. More than 60 percent of clients who leave a financial advisor do so because they feel their advisor was not a good communicator or didn’t care about them. Thirty-five percent of them feel their advisors are not good communicators. Clearly, they’re not talking about your grammar or diction. Rather, they feel you just plain don’t understand them. Humans have the insatiable need to be understood at a core level. Clients divulge secrets about their money that sometimes even their loved ones don’t know. To disclose that type of information, clients must sense that there is an implied reciprocity—they want to know their information is held sacred and safe and that the person hearing this information understands the “why.” They want you to know what makes them tick. Most advisors operate by rote, repeating questions over and over again, never realizing that their questions are not beneficial in helping their clients, or in strengthening their business relations. Surface-level questions like “What’s your risk level tolerance?” or “What are your financial goals?” are asked by thousands of advisors. The problem with rote questions is that they inspire rote answers. Typical answers like “I want my kids to go to college” or “I want to retire with financial independence” are heard by thousands of advisors each day.


The problem is, investing is an emotional game. Logic only explains the emotions. But unless you understand the root of those emotions, you have gained nothing. To make this clear, think of Pete, the owner of my car service garage. He’s nearly 60 and has smoked all his life. When I was at the garage recently, I asked him what was new. He said, “My triple bypass surgery.” Wow! That was more answer than I expected. Then I noticed that he didn’t smell like smoke the way he usually did, so I asked him if he quit. “For 40 years I’ve tried to quit, but somehow, when they gave me that 3-to-6-months-to-live prognosis and showed me the oxygen tank I could strap on, I suddenly quit.” The difference was that this time, Pete threw his heart over the bar. Once he decided emotionally to quit, he was able to do all the logical things that were necessary to change his behavior. The new job for financial advisors is to find out where “the bar” is for each client and what it will take to help them jump over it. The premise of this program is to first ask really good questions in order to get the good answers you’ll need to make great recommendations. This requires helping your clients feel completely understood, which will help them make and keep commitments so they can meet their REAL priorities. That’s it! B. How to build a high-results profiling system Sales skills are necessary for those who have not captured the trust of their clients and prospects. If you have trust, there is no need for dealing with objections or asking corny closing questions like, “Would you like to sign papers on Tuesday, or would Wednesday be better for you?” I realize this approach, based on gaining the client’s trust, will require a tremendous amount of unlearning for many. I attended the “old school” sales training programs where we learned how to find objections, overcome objections, and then begin the wrestling match called the “close.” It never made sense to me, and in this age of instant availability of all information and a plethora of choices, it makes even less sense now. The objective of the profiling system is to help people discover what they REALLY want and need. Often they don’t know this on a conscious level, but their unrest, caused by you not reaching their expectations, is very real. The financial services industry is one to which people can return over and over again to purchase additional services as well as refer their friends. When an advisor uses the used car salesman approach, clients are inclined to not want to come back—and they sure don’t want to send their friends. If you ask surface-level questions, you will receive surface-level answers. For example, the question, “What is your risk level tolerance?” often receives this response: “Medium.” Medium compared to what? The client hasn’t told you anything. At what point would she jump out? Why would she jump out?


Another favorite is “What are your financial goals?” And of course clients respond with the same old things based on what they think they should say. The usuals are “Retirement” and “A college education for my children”. See Section G. for the step-by-step template to make the process simple and easy for you. C. The 10 best questions to get new customers and keep them for life

1. If you won 10 million dollars today, how would your life change? (By putting people in the mindset of a future possibility, their values and

priorities become apparent to them. In addition to encouraging practical information to come through, this question allows people to dream bigger dreams—which could inspire an even more profound commitment to investing.)

2. How important is it to work with a specialist to organize your financial

details? (The one consistent overwhelming need in peoples’ lives is to have more

simplicity and time. This question plants the seed of what life could be like having someone to simplify their financial details.)

3. How important is it to you to have a customized and personal strategy to

lead you to financial independence? (Of course! I might even add more to the question based on the person’s current

situation. For example, “How important is it to you to have a personal and customized strategy to lead you to financial independence and other goals that are important to you?”If the person had already mentioned those goals, I’d specify them. For example, “How important is it to you to have a personal and customized strategy to maximize your tax and estate savings?”)

4. What in our business relationship would you feel so strongly about that it

would be the basis for recommending me to your friends? (Powerful! You find out about the client’s needs for your relationship while you strongly suggest that you want him or her to be an advocate and marketer for your business.)

5. What suggestions could you make to help me become the best possible

advisor for you? (This amazingly effective question shows them that you intend to keep growing

and getting better and that you welcome the client’s input. It clearly differentiates your professionalism from the competitors who are asking, “Wanna buy a stock?”)

6. When you look at people around you, what values do you most admire? (This question allows you to find out two things: (1) what the client values and

why and (2) what the client expects from you.)


7. In what ways and how often do you want me to keep you informed? (This question will reveal a wide variation in the degree and approaches with which your clients want to be contacted. Customizing your communication based on their expectations will save you time and dramatically improve their perception of you.)

8. If I had a financial magic wand, what would you have me do for you? (This

well-rounded question will lead clients to share their thoughts from many angles—from taxation to estate matters to needs for security. It magically puts clients in a future place looking back, and the view is always more clear from that vantage point.)

9. If we were meeting three years from today, what would we have had to

accomplish for you to be happy about our accomplishments? (This leads clients to think about tangible results. The answers will cover both

their personal goals and their expectations of you regarding how you should do business with them.)

How important is it to you to work with someone who plans to be in this profession, with this firm and in this community 20 years from now?

10.

(Whatever your special niche, always put it in the form of a question to help prospects tell you why it would be important for them to work with you. Perhaps the person developing this question had no history, had nothing unusual about his firm, and couldn’t think of any special niche, but he had a commitment to stay. Way to go! Sell that. The positioning question or questions should always be last, following the information-gathering questions.)

D. Positioning: Getting them begging to do business with you Think of the last time you bought a VCR. Did you have any idea of the quality of the components in the VCR? Did you even know what components should be in it or what functions they had? Chances are, when you chose your last VCR, physician, dentist, lawyer, or microwave oven, you didn’t have even a remote understanding of the elements to evaluate or the evaluation criteria. You made a leap of faith based on the feel of the “brand” or positioning you thought would make it a right fit. Well, the reality is that financial advisors vary in quality, specialty, education, and style as much as any other product. Unfortunately, financial advisors are clueless about what makes them unique, and their clients are equally confused. When I asked hundreds of financial advisors what made them unique, more than 90 percent shrugged their shoulders and mumbled either “I don’t know” or “good service.” Unfortunately, neither of those is a good answer. Good service is never a brand. It is an expectation. The world doesn’t need more financial advisors. The marketplace is cluttered with those who hang out a shingle, but those who distinguish themselves are few and far between.


How do you get seen and heard in an overcrowded marketplace? How would a consumer know how to choose among the plethora of choices of financial advisors in a “me too” selection process? We’ve all lost business to someone when it was clear to us that we were a better choice. When we go back to analyze those instances of lost business, it’s usually a loss to someone who APPEARED to be the specialist who would understand the client and give that client more of what he or she needed. The power of brand perception always wins in a world where details are impossible for a buyer to analyze. All things being equal, people want to work with someone they assume will fully understand their needs. They are drawn to brand. Your brand needs to be clear and so distinctive that they feel like they “finally” found the right person. Think of having a brand as being a “pull” marketer. Without a brand you are constantly in “push” mode. “Smile and dial” is a way of life for those who have not established their brand because they’ve made it difficult for their clients to refer them. In their clients’ minds, they are just a commodity—yet another financial advisor. Yawn. However, when you have a brand, you want clients to be so clear about it that they can explain to you why it’s important that they work with you. No matter what makes you different, use it to your advantage. Here are some examples: A tax specialist: How important is it to you to work with a firm that specializes in

maximizing your tax savings through your investment program? A small firm: How important is it to you to work with a small organization where,

if you call with a concern, you will always talk to a real person without ever having to get stuck in the voice mail loop?

A specialty boutique: How important is it to you to work with a firm that will provide an extremely detailed plan for you to realize your goals based on all your special and unique circumstances?

A large firm: How important is it to you to do business with a large firm that has all the cutting-edge technologies and products to help you accomplish your goals?

A unique financial planning approach: How important is it to you to do work with a firm that will show you how to accomplish your goals via the path of least risk?

A bank financial planning department: How important is it to you to do business in a place where you can handle ALL of your financial needs in one convenient stop?

An estate planner with trust services: How important is it to you to work with an organization that has all the tools to help you shelter your investments from taxation?

A retirement plan specialist: How important is it to you to work with a firm that specializes in working with company retirement plans so you can be assured we’re up on all the new trends and have the administrative background to make sure your plan is handled accurately?


Remember, your last question should always be the one that prompts clients to start telling you why they want to do business with you. E. Questions that don’t work made into power questions (Oops. Did I say that? What I meant was, “Questions that will get you kicked and how to make them into really great questions.”) If you’ve been selling for more than a day, you’ve had your own version of hoof-and-mouth disease. Once in your mouth, your hoof will choke you faster than a backwoods mosquito will suck your blood. On the fly, we’re all capable of those brain lapses that get us into a tremendous amount of trouble. Immediately after those “stupid words,” inspired by some demonic intervention, come out of our mouths, we know we’ve lost all credibility in such a way that we’ll never gain full respect again. Scripted questions are the only way around those moments. But to make sure you don’t script bad questions, let me share some well-intentioned scripted questions that some planners recommended and show you how they are sure to get you into trouble. Following are submitted questions that sound good until you really see how much chaos they could create—and the rewrites that make them great questions. Are you interested in hearing about how you can provide for your retirement? (What

if they say no? How about asking them what their ideal retirement week looks like?)

What are the reasons you make deals with me? (Oh dear. What if they can’t think of

one reason? You may solidify a bad feeling that may prompt them to leave. Instead, why not ask, “What is important to you in our business relationship?”)

Why would you stop doing business with me? (Know that if that were to happen,

you are sure to lose them or make them a liar. You WILL make mistakes. Try framing the question as a positive. For example, “What are your expectations of me if I were to be your sole advisor for the rest of your life?”)

What rate of return do you expect? (I’d be very careful about this one. Unless you

have supernatural powers, you can’t guarantee this. So, by asking this question, it stirs up unrealistic expectations. Instead you could ask, “Besides returns, what is important to you in our relationship so that you would feel comfortable recommending me to all your friends?”)

How much knowledge do you have about investments? (People don’t buy when they

feel stupid. Many people don’t know much about investments, and that’s why they came to you. Others assume they know more and are in the stage of unconscious incompetence, so the answer won’t be meaningful. Regardless, the answer could spell trouble. Instead you could ask, “What level of involvement would you want to have with your investment approach?”)


Have you fulfilled your childhood dreams? (It’s always a bummer to see people sob, and it usually isn’t good for the direction of your business relationship. Seriously, I’d shift the question to, “What childhood dreams have you accomplished and which are still at large?”)

If you could invest today in a tax-sheltered portfolio that would ultimately provide

you a substantial flow of tax-free retirement income, would that interest you?” (This one feels a little manipulative. Of course, this is exactly what the old school of sales training focused on for years. I’d make the question less imposing by changing it to a “how important is it to you” question: “How important is it to you to have a substantial flow of tax-free income when you retire?”)

How can I improve? (I’d couch this one by saying, “I want to make sure I’m always

improving and that our business relationship is always improving. What recommendations do you have about how I could better serve you?”)

Would you be willing to seriously consider my advice? (Oh boy! This one scares me.

It sounds threatening. Perhaps the point was to find out if the client will commit to a plan. I’d change it to, “How committed are you to following a plan, during good times and bad, to improve your chances of having all the things you dream of?”)

How important is it to you that I am available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? (There

will come a day in everyone’s life—probably after the eighth divorce—when they no longer want to be available every minute of every day. Realize that this assurance is sure to make you lose productivity, as it doesn’t allow time for you to restore your creative energies. Perhaps a better question would be, “How important is it for you to have flexibility in reaching me far beyond the traditional business hours?”)

If a woman tells me, “I let my husband look after my money,” I ask her to name

other things that he is better at than she is. (I’m afraid she might want to cry due to feelings of ineptness when she leaves the office. Since most women outlive their husbands, you may want to tell her that investing isn’t really that difficult and that you want her learning along with her husband and are committed to helping her learn the basics. Consider saying, “If something would happen to your husband that would require you to handle these matters, I’d like to make sure you are comfortable with the basics. What do you think of the idea of spending five minutes right now to go over the essential basics in easy-to-understand language so you can see how easily you could handle this too?”)

How important is it to have a plan customized to your needs? (I’d add a little more

here to give it more power: “How important is it to you to have a plan customized to your current situation and your specific goals and priorities?”)

How much contact do you need to maintain a relationship? (This could be

misconstrued. How about, “Different people have different expectations. How often do you want to hear from me and by what means?”)

What’s most important to you: saving or making money? (This is confusing, as both

are important. You could say, “Many people are good at making money but have


nothing to show for their hard efforts. How important is it to you to save money for things such as retirement to protect yourself in times when you can’t make money?”)

Did you have help from an interior designer or did you do this on your own? (I

believe the point here is the assumption that they had help and therefore they should have help from you. The risk is if they say, “I like to do things myself.” It solidifies their sense of competence and perhaps energy they get from the creative part of doing things themselves. I’d be careful with this one.”)

How important is it to you to have a financial plan that will allow you to make your

financial dreams come true? (Not bad. I’d revamp it to, “How important is it to you to have a road map that will steer you and redirect you throughout your life to make sure you can accomplish your financial dreams?”)

What do you trust with your financial advisor? (This question assumes and

maintains the assumption that they’ll never allow an advisor to go more in depth. How about, “Tell me about the parts of your financial life that are working well and those that you have concerns about.”)

How comfortable are you with a relationship with me? (Oh boy, this one could be

trouble. How about, “What would you say you would want to have happen with our business relationship to make sure it’s the best it could be?”)

What was it about your past financial relationship that you did not like? (I’d change

the wording to, “What did you dislike about past financial services relationships?” Also, I would have this follow a positive question such as, “What elements of past financial services relationships did you like?”)

As we build this relationship, I expect to receive from you one referral a year so that

I may continue to strengthen my business with quality clients like you. (My heart jumped in fear just reading this one. It sounds too much like pressure. How about, “It’s important to me that you sing my praises from the mountains. What would have to happen in our relationship for you to feel so good about the value I brought to you that you would send your friends and family year in and year out?”)

What do you do on Saturdays? (This could be good and serve a purpose, but it could

also sound invasive. How about cushioning it: “There are reasons why we work that usually show themselves in our off time. What do you like to do in your free time that gives you energy and restores you?”)

How important is leaving behind an inheritance versus letting children work for their

money like you have? (I can’t believe this question would always get you the result you’re looking for. Many would say, “You’re right. I’m going to spend every dime and leave the undertaker with an unpaid bill.” Perhaps you could ask, “What would you like your investments to do for your children?” If they are the type who specifically feel that inheritance is a bad thing, you’ll find out. If they don’t, you won’t be seeding that thought. )


What is your risk level tolerance? (This question assumes that people can and will

lose money. It conditions them to want to pull out when the market is down 20, 30, or 40 percent because they assume they will just LOSE more. A better question would be, “What is your tolerance for volatility?” I would mention first that the markets go up and down, but historically, during a three-year market cycle the market has consistently been up, except during the Depression, when it took five years to make a profit. Let them know that typically a more volatile portfolio has the possibility of higher gains, but it’s not worth it if they want to pull out as soon as the market is down. Ask them how much volatility (not risk) they are comfortable assuming in an effort for better gains.)


F. The 100 best questions Decision Making:

1. If you had six months to live, what are the first three things you would do? 2. What is the most important thing to you in your life right now? 3. Who impacts your decisions? Spouse? Children? Friends? 4. How do you make your final decisions? 5. What would you do with a financial windfall? 6. How much volatility are you willing to accept? 7. If after leaving this meeting you feel something concrete has been accomplished,

what would that be? Direction:

8. What is your dream and how can I help? 9. If we were having this conversation three years from now, what will we have had

to accomplish to make you happy? 10. Where do you see your financial situation over the next 5, 10, 15 years? 11. Do you feel you are on track to achieving your financial independence? 12. What do you want to do with your life? 13. What are your top three financial priorities? 14. What would you say is your number one financial priority? 15. What do you see as obstacles to reaching your priorities?

Family:

16. How might I help you with your goals for your children? 17. What do you hope doesn’t happen to you or your family? 18. Tell me about your family. 19. What kinds of plans and dreams do you have for your family? 20. How important is it to see your children receive a quality education? 21. Is it important for your family members to be involved? 22. How important is it to you to have saved enough money to pay for your

grandchildren’s education? 23. What legacy do you want to leave your kids and friends?

Money:

24. How important is money to success toward your dreams? 25. Tell me what current investments you have and why you chose those. 26. What is your return over the last five years? Average? 27. What would you like your money to do for you? 28. Do you prefer stocks? Bonds? 29. How important to you is preservation of capital versus return of capital? 30. How would it feel to be debt free? 31. On a scale of 1 to 10, how would you rate your desire to be financially

independent? Why? 32. How would you define financial success? 33. What are your concerns about investing your money? 34. What would your reaction be if your portfolio lost 30 percent? 40 percent? 50

percent?


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35. What money messages did you get growing up? 36. What would you be doing now if you didn’t have to worry about money? 37. What’s your worst financial experience? 38. What is your worst fear regarding your money? 39. What is the most productive thing you would do with additional wealth? 40. On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is freedom from debt? 41. What’s your idea of financial independence?

Retirement:

42. Tell me your vision for your retirement. 43. When you retire, what do you dream of doing? 44. How are you planning on replacing the 40 hours/week you presently spend

working? 45. How important is it to you to maintain your standard of living when you retire? 46. How important is it to you to leave an estate? 47. What do you enjoy doing now that you would like to continue into retirement? 48. What does a successful retirement mean to you? 49. How important is it to you to be totally carefree about your future monthly

income? 50. How important is it to you to be financially independent at retirement? Why is it

important? 51. How important is a comfortable retirement to you? 52. How would you describe a perfect day in your retirement? 53. What does it mean to you to have integrity in retirement, especially in your last

years? 54. How would you feel if you couldn’t retire until you were 75?

Business Relationship:

55. How can you help me in servicing you better? 56. What can I do that would be special enough for you to refer me to your friends? 57. As your financial advisor, how much involvement do you want me to take in your

financial affairs? 58. What do you like most about your financial plan? 59. Other than returns, what’s important to you about our relationship? 60. What do you look for when recommending an advisor to others? 61. If you could pick the best attribute for a financial advisor, what would it be? 62. What brought you here? 63. What can I do that other advisors have not? 64. What expectations do you have from our visit today? 65. How do you feel about your first financial advisor and why? 66. If I were the only financial advisor that you would want to work with for the rest

of your life, how would you want me to manage your money? 67. How often do you want to hear from me and by what means? 68. What suggestions could you make to help me become the best advisor I can be? 69. How can I keep you best informed? 70. What have we not discussed that is important to you? 71. If you were a financial planner, what would you ask me? 72. What can I do for you to help you achieve your goals? 73. What forms of contact best meet your needs?


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74. What are your expectations of me? 75. What is your biggest question today? 76. What qualities in a financial advisor are important to you? 77. What will it take, three years from now, to have judged our relationship as a

success? Values:

78. How will you know when you are successful? 79. What is important to you besides wealth? 80. Why do you invest? 81. On a scale of 1 to 10, how serious about your financial situation are you? 82. How did you use your allowance as a child? 83. How important is it to you to achieve and maintain a financially dignified

existence? 84. What things would you do if money were no object? 85. What is your single biggest goal or challenge? 86. Is your current path supporting or sabotaging your vision? 87. What is troubling you most right now? 88. What is happening in your life right now? 89. How would you feel if the market dropped 50 percent? 90. How important is it to feel in control? 91. What do you do in your spare time? 92. When you were 10 years old, where did you want to travel? 93. How important is it to you to repossess some of your time? 94. What is the worst experience you’ve ever had? 95. What are the three most exciting things in your life? 96. What would you want your eulogy to say? 97. What makes you happy? 98. What is it you would like to accomplish in life? 99. Tell me about the last time you really enjoyed yourself. 100. What is the one thing you worry about most regularly?

Miscellaneous Bonus Questions: Do you have any special things you wish to plan for? What do you expect from your investments? How happy are you with the assets you’ve built up so far? What is the one step you could take that would change your life? How important to you is it to have a customized and personal strategy to lead you to financial independence? How important to you is it to integrate your money decisions with estate and tax issues? What does it mean to you when you hear that the stock market is down? Is it significant for you to obtain tax deductions on your placements? What are your fears in regards to money? What is your personal definition of success? How do you feel? When you look at people around you, whose values do you most admire? What do you have the most fun doing?


What is your happiest memory? What goals and dreams are important to you? Do you have any special needs for your family? What is it about money that’s important to you? If money were no object, what would you be doing right now? Describe your security blanket. If you won 10 million dollars today, what would change in your life? How do you see yourself in retirement? How can I help you free up your time? What can I do to make our relationship successful? What made you call a financial planner? What can I do for you to better solidify our working relationship? What do you want from me? Please list the 2 most important benefits from dealing with me as your financial advisor. How important is it to you that I make house calls? What keeps you awake at night? How can I help you sleep better at night? What is the most significant event in your life? What do you want to be remembered for? How is your family doing? How important is it to you to work with a specialist to organize your financial details? How do you feel knowing that you have someone available to call on at anytime who can answer your financial concerns? G. Creating your questioning template The only way to be consistently powerful in getting to the root of your prospects’ and clients’ needs, wants, and desires is to follow a well-thought-through process. Questions asked on the fly are hardly ever powerful. The words of every great movie script are chosen meticulously for emotional effect. Your questions should be thought through just as thoroughly. Construct a one-page form that lists your best questions and allows space for you to record each client’s responses. Pilot a template and notice which questions get the response, “Wow, that’s a really great question.” You will soon get a feel for which questions your clients respond to best. When drafting your form, consider these rules:

1. Keep it simple. Script up to 10 questions, but resist the temptation to script more. The quality of those 10 questions will impact the meeting far more than adding additional ideas. Each question should be as short as it can be without losing meaning and should always include the word you.

2. Review the questions in this report from the top 10 list, the bad questions made

better, and the total list of submissions. Highlight those that resonate with YOU and the way you do business. Your questions should be a reflection of who you


are. The more your questions align with your value system, the more you’ll attract clients who understand you and appreciate you and your style. Don’t we all want to have clients we are in sync with? After highlighting your favorite questions, narrow your selection to no more than 10 and begin piloting your template.

3. Follow a logical order in the questioning:

a. Start with a surface-level question that will let clients and prospects start

slowly in divulging what’s important to them. Questions like, “So, how’d you hear about me?” or “Tell me what brought you here today” are examples that allow them to talk easily and build rapport with you before they start sharing deeper information that often makes them feel vulnerable.

b. Next, ask several values questions that get to the heart of what matters. Lead those questions with an analogy that helps clients and prospects understand why it’s important that you understand them well, such as, “If your doctor handed out the same prescription to every patient, you’d probably not feel you were getting the best care. I want to make sure I help you as fully as possible, and to do that, I must understand what you value.”

c. Next, ask questions about the business relationship so that you know exactly what their expectations of you are. There are many great questions in this report to choose from.

d. Finally, ask some positioning questions that will prompt the client or prospect to begin telling you why they want to do business with you. Start this part by saying something like, “I want to make sure that if we decide to go forward with this relationship that we’ll be doing business for many years to come, and that you’ll be telling all your friends about the value I’ve brought you. To do that, I need to make sure we’re a good fit. Let me ask you….” Then ask the question or questions that specify your uniqueness and the benefit to the client. An example could be, “How important is it to you to do business with someone who has over 20 years of experience in helping people retire by maximizing their tax savings?” Notice in this case, the question spells out the uniqueness (20 years of experience) and the benefit (maximizing tax savings). There are a million different ways to construct this question and it should reflect your uniqueness.

After you recite back to the client or prospect a synopsis of your understanding of their values and expectations and ask if you are missing anything, you can then move on to product questions. You may want to practice scripting questions about certain products. These won’t be on your inquiry form, but they will be good to have stashed away. Here are a few examples:

• How important is it to you to achieve returns similar to those the market can receive while reducing your risk?

• How important is receiving tax-advantaged income with minimal risk to your



capital? • How important is it to you to receive a fixed monthly income from your

investments that’s guaranteed until your death? You’ll never have another client objection again! If a client tells you he or she doesn’t want that benefit, you know not to recommend the product it ties into. You save face. No objection. No lost credibility. You simply move on to find out what it is the client does want and make a recommendation based on that. Conclusion Your practice will thrive when your clients feel that you understand them at a whole different level. Keep this e-report handy as a reference for years to come as your clients come back for future appointments. It will supply you with a plethora of additional questions to explore with them. Probably the most profound benefit of applying this process goes far beyond the growth level. The gratification you feel, as a result of their joy from better understanding themselves, will be fulfilling beyond measure. There’s nothing wrong with money, but when you look back at your life and the difference you made in this world, you can know you did more than your part in making the world a better place. Enjoy the journey.

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Transforming Visionary Thinking Into Positive Results

Roxanne Emmerich, CSP, CMC President

The Emmerich Group, Inc. 8500 Normandale Blvd., Suite 180

Minneapolis, MN 55437 800-236-5885

The Emmerich Group, for business consulting, strategy, training and motivational speaking.

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