What You Need to Know About Being a Financial Advisor

at Ascension Advising

Contents

1. Helpful Definitions 2. Ascend To Success: Sales Process Model 3. Ascend To Success: Client Acquisition Strategies 4. Telephone & Email Solicitation Guidelines 5. Profiles of Success

Helpful Definitions

529 Education Savings Plan – A tax-advantaged higher education savings plan that allows investors to save for allowed educational expenses (generally includes tuition, room & board, books, equipment such as computer technology, related equipment and/or related services such as Internet access and fees) using tax-deferred dollars Active Account – A client account in which there has been activity within the past 12 months Affluent Investors – Investors with investable assets of $300,000 or more Assets Under Management (AUM) – A client’s portfolio of investable assets that are held in a client’s accounts at a financial services firm BOA – Branch Office Administrator Book of Business – Your clients and their accounts and prospective clients Client – A prospect who has opened an account with you Core Affluent Investors – Investors with investable assets of $575,000 or more Emerging Affluent Investors – Investors with investable assets of $130,000 or more Investable Assets – The assets that an individual or business has available to invest IPO – Initial Public Offering of stock in a formerly privately owned company Prospect – A potential buyer of services or potential client Prospecting – Contacting leads to begin to develop relationships with them and turn them into prospects Qualified Leads – Individuals who meet Ascension’s target client criteria Roth IRAs – a tax-advantaged retirement savings plan that individuals can use for retirement savings using post-tax dollars Warm Leads – Individuals who have expressed some interest in the products and services that Ascension offers

Ascend to Success: Sales Process Model

GENERATE ATTENTION

→ EDUCATE AND RECOMMEND

→ GAIN COMMITMENT

→ • Establish a reason for the

call/meeting

• Build rapport and establish a professional relationship that feels personal

• Capture the prospect’s/client’s interest

• Show the value you bring immediately

• Provide compelling reasons to continue talking to you

• Share recommendations that match prospect/client needs

• Emphasize the added value of working with you

• Listen for obstacles and address concerns

• Give prospect/client the information needed to make decisions

• Ask for a commitment to the next step

• Resolve questions and concerns

• Reaffirm the prospect’s/client’s decision to act

© Ascension Advising, Inc. ®All Rights Reserved

Ascend to Success: Client Acquisition Strategies

Listening Asking Questions Handling Concerns Conveying Information Telephone Skills

Understand each prospect’s/client’s message and the meaning behind it. This is the basic ingredient in building rapport. You cannot build a personal relationship without listening and building rapport.

Use different types of questions to profile a prospect/client and to uncover what is important to each prospect/client. Understanding each prospect/client as individuals builds a personal relationship.

Address each prospect’s/ client’s questions, misconceptions, and concerns in ways that enhance your long-term relationship.

Develop telephone talking points, in compliance with Ascension’s Solicitation Guidelines Use your communication skills to position yourself as a consultant for clients and prospects

SIX ELEMENTS OF ACTIVE LISTENING:

PRINCIPLE OF CONSULTATIVE QUESTIONING:

EFFECTIVELY ADDRESS CONCERNS:

MAKING A RECOMMENDATION: KEY FACTORS:

1. Focus 2. Resist filtering 3. Hear what is said 4. Note prospect’s/ client’s

emotions 5. Take notes 6. Confirm your understanding

People respond better to being asked than they do to being told. FIVE REASONS TO ASK QUESTIONS: 1. Introduce a new topic 2. Get background or profile

information 3. Expand on the information

provided 4. Test for understanding 5. Gain agreement

To effectively address the concerns of a prospect/ client you need to be able to differentiate among: • Questions • Misconceptions • Concerns Most importantly, questions, misconceptions, and concerns all share one thing in common – they represent opportunities to continue the conversation.

Once you have determined the solution you intend to recommend to a prospect/client, you should convey appropriate information about that recommendation in a convincing fashion. FOUR ELEMENTS OF CONVEYING INFORMATION: 1. Be clear and concise 2. Paint a picture 3. Avoid jargon 4. Express enthusiasm,

confidence, and sincerity

Seek in-depth information about the prospect/client so you can structure a differentiated recommendation. PAY ATTENTION TO: • Tone and pacing • How you address the

prospect/client • Your consultative attitude EXAMPLES OF TELEPHONE BUY SIGNALS: • “Uh-huh,” “yes,” or “I agree.” • ”When should we meet

again?” • “When can we move ahead

with this?” • “What’s the process for

opening an account?” • Questions about the products

or services you are proposing When confronted with a buy signal, ask for the business—but do not oversell.

Copyright © Ascension Advising, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Provide the prospect/client with information about the wealth management solutions you recommend. Remember that prospects and clients respond to your relationship with them, not just information by itself.

Telephone and Email Solicitation Guidelines

Anyone making a telephone call or email solicitation call must provide his or her name, the name of the person or entity on whose behalf the call or email is being made/sent, and a telephone number, email address and/or physical address at which that person or entity may be contacted. This means you must provide a telephone number, email address and/or physical address for yourself and/or the Firm.

A "telephone solicitation" is a telephone call that acts as an advertisement or an attempt to contact a potential client. If a lead has an unlisted, non-listed, or non-published telephone number, you may still be able to contact the lead if they have requested information or have given the lead source permission to provide you with their phone number.

It is the policy of Ascension Advising, Inc. that:

• Random or sequential number generators (i.e., auto-dialers), pre-recorded messages, fax machines, or computers may not be used to make telephone calls.

• All presentations should be fair, balanced, and truthful. • Aggressive or high-pressure tactics should not be used.

Email communication is limited to brief correspondence. Orders are not to be communicated via email.

Violators of Ascension’s Telephone and Email Solicitation Guidelines are subject to disciplinary action, including dismissal at the discretion of Ascension Advising, Inc. ®

FA Profiles of Success Why? What? How?

What does success look like?

How did they do it?

Could this work for me?

The Ascension Roadmap is a time-tested approach to building a successful business that serves the best interests of your clients.

Why?

It is very simple, at Ascension we want FAs to achieve their goals while enabling clients to achieve theirs. Whether we call them goals, objectives, needs, aspirations, hopes, dreams, desires, or something else, the attainment brings a level of satisfaction that is the clearest demonstration of the Ascension value of Helping you Succeed.

What?

The recipe for success at Ascension includes several necessary ingredients with options for individual tastes. Focusing on clients, one at a time is a necessary ingredient. What a particular client needs is an individual taste option. A long term view of investing is a necessary ingredient. Whether a client has $500 to invest each month or more than $2 million to transfer in is an individual taste option. Satisfied clients is a necessary ingredient. What satisfies your clients is an individual taste option. Individualizing the recipe is what success looks like. No secret ingredients are involved.

How?

How do successful FAs do it? Can I do it? Let’s hear about 3 relatively new FAs and how they were able to include all the necessary ingredients.

Zorion Solarz

“Natural affinity markets allowed me to build relationship in my community that led to success.”

Zorion became a high school Spanish teacher by default. After college Zor returned to the small city in the middle of the country that was home and was quickly hired to replace a retiring foreign language teacher. A few years later Zor was restless, looked in the mirror and said, “Being a teacher is fine but I want to work autonomously in a highly collaborative, entrepreneurial environment, while forming meaningful relationships with people in my community.” One day while sharing a coffee in the teacher’s lounge, a colleague said, “You remind me of my sister. She is a Financial Advisor with Ascension Advising. You should talk with her.”

Let’s jump ahead. Zor is one of our most successful new FAs with almost 18 months on the job. How did Zor do it? Persistence and diligence? Yes! Prioritization? Yes! Confidence? Yes! Good communication skills? Yes! But most important building relationships in a somewhat insular community meant making 25 contacts a day.

Zor was connected to many people through what we call a natural affinity group. Being part of a community of people who share a common background provided Zor with visibility and recognition. Zor loved to listen to people talk about themselves, their families, their work, their businesses, their goals, their dreams and their futures. And people loved to talk and be heard. They also needed the kind of professional financial services Zor and Ascension could bring to help them achieve their financial goals.

Zor learned through training that building and maintaining relationships with others in the community, whether they were clients or not, would contribute to being successful as an Ascension FA. Members of the community would tell their friends and family members to call Zor and tell Zor to call them. Zor hung a sign in the office: Have you followed up today? AND Zor was always prospecting and calling people- each and every day!

Zor’s book of business grew each month BUT most importantly Zor’s clients knew they were being taken care of and they can count on Zor to follow-through.

Ollie Smythe

“When it comes to success, the sky’s the limit.”

Since 6th grade Ollie wanted to be successful but learned about discipline, inner confidence and persistence in the military. Discipline, confidence and persistence were not words that anyone would use to describe Ollie in high school or for many years afterwards. In fact Ollie was somewhat shy and would not say much unless asked, believing few people were really interested. Ollie became a leader in the military not by rank but by peer recognition; Ollie was the person everyone trusted to listen to them and counted on to quietly make sure they would succeed despite all odds.

While home on leave, shortly before discharge, Ollie met a Recruiter from Ascension Advising and they hit it off. Ollie’s career goals and drive for success suggested that a career as an Ascension FA were aligned. Oliie’s success in the military ensured discipline, however, Ollie was highly doubtful about having the confidence and persistence necessary to be successful in a sales-type career. Ollie learned through the recruitment and hiring process that being an Ascension FA does not mean selling investments or products, it means delivering Ascension’s and Ollie’s value proposition to clients as they pursue their financial goals. What Ollie did not realize is that discipline, confidence and persistence were 3 sides of the same coin. Having the discipline to follow through on personal commitments (i.e., things you tell yourself you will do) equaled confidence and persistence. The discipline to follow through on prospecting plans = confidence and persistence. The discipline to pick up the phone to call number 11 after being told NO by the previous 10 people = confidence and persistence. The discipline to reach out the next 5 people after 5 great meetings in a row rather than kick back = confidence and persistence. The discipline to ask for referrals from everyone one you know = confidence and persistence. The discipline to delay gratification = confidence and persistence. The discipline to avoid distractions and focus on what is important when it is important = confidence and persistence. The discipline to thoroughly prepare for every meeting and review all available information = confidence and persistence.

Having discipline gave Ollie the confidence and persistence to willingly go out and make contact with leads, prospects and clients day in and day out. Contacting at least 25 people a day is part of Ollie’s success.

Ollie regularly uses Ascension’s client satisfaction surveys to gather feedback from clients and the words most commonly used to describe Ollie: confident, persistent and caring = success.

Joelle Duchamp

Joelle routinely shares 1 tip with new FAs: “Make at least 25 calls a day. And make them good calls.”

Joelle Duchamp grew up knowing that everyone can be successful. The bigger question is would Joelle be willing to do what it takes to become successful? As a passionate and enthusiastic musician Joelle admired Marc Anthony and continuously quoted him: If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life. Joelle’s bandmates thought it meant they did not have to work hard and after a few years of limited success the band split up. A few months later Joelle was talking with an aunt who had just met with her Ascension Financial Advisor, Jeff Chimenti. Joelle’s aunt described the passion and enthusiasm of Jeff. She also said that Jeff reminded her of Joelle.

One thing led to another and Joelle met Jeff. Aunt Regina was spot on about Jeff and Joelle. Jeff recruited Joelle to Ascension and helped Joelle translate passion and enthusiasm into success.

Joelle was an excellent student and lists these tips for success:

• Average Financial Advisors often procrastinate and find excuses for their inaction. Top performing Financial Advisors roll up their sleeves and just do what they have to do to succeed, and they don’t ever stop. It’s that straightforward.

• Successful Financial Advisors tell stories that tap into their clients’ “emotional space.” Clients want to connect emotionally first and then justify their decision to work with you. For Joelle that meant finding common ground, the easiest way of demonstrating and communicating understanding.

• Successful Financial Advisors ask the right questions. Asking good questions establishes credibility. Enthusiastically learning about people and having a genuine interest in them took Joelle from being a typical salesperson to being a consultant and partner able to provide value to clients. The answer to every question led to many follow-up questions to deepen Joelle understanding and the client’s emotional commitment.

• Top performing Financial Advisors are persistent. Whether it’s prospecting, sales, networking or building stronger client relations, successful financial advisors are “Persistent” in every effort. Joelle decided to achieve written goals by creating an action plan, not merely a business plan, and then never stop working towards achieving the goals. No matter how bleak the chances of success seemed to be at times, Joelle did not give up or lose enthusiasm.

• Successful Financial Advisors listen – they talk WITH clients, not AT clients. Joelle always remembers something Aunt Regina said: You have two ears and one mouth so you have to listen twice as much as you talk.

• Successful Financial Advisors never stop learning. Two things separate successful people from also-rans: 1) Don’t dwell on failures but rather, move on; 2) Learn from your failings and try hard not to make the same mistake again. Joelle, personalized these messages as follows: I am an avid and quick learner. I am committed to personal and professional development, and start my day by learning at least one new thing. By following trustworthy resources, I stay up-to-date with all matters related to Ascension, client service, financial services, solutions, processes, technology, etc. And most importantly, I practice and test new ideas to better understand the results and continuously improve.

© Ascension Advising, Inc. ®All Rights Reserved.