Shhhh! Silence on products 'could boost sales by 80%'

Advisers who avoid talking about products during client meetings improve their sales by 80% on average, according to Strategic Coach’s Dan Sullivan.

Sullivan told delegates at the Institute of Financial Planning (IFP) conference last week that the RDR will eliminate “mediocre” and “bad” advisers, leaving just “good” advisers to profit.

Good advisers compete on the level of asking questions, according to Sullivan, and succeed by disqualifying clients they can not work with early on and listening deeply to suitable potential clients to win them over.

Advisers who spend client meetings asking questions which make the client feel “profoundly understood”, instead of talking about products, end up profiting more, said Sullivan.

“Not talking about products will mean you sell more products than you’ve ever sold before. On average sales increase by 80%,” he told the conference.

“Designing a great plan with great products becomes very easy once you allow people to be free with their own future.”

He recommended advisers start client meetings with the question: “If we were meeting here three years from today, looking back over those three years, what has to have happened during that period for you to feel happy about that progress?”

The problem for many advisers is they keep trying to insert themselves into their clients’ lives, according to Sullivan.

He said his recommended question works because it lets the client know the meeting is about them, creates a relationship of trust when they reveal the answer, and disqualifies early on unsuitable clients.

“This is the future of financial advice,” he said.

“All product knowledge is useless until you have a client, whether advisers or providers. The providers who show advisers they are profoundly understood will take over the market. Same with advisers and their clients.”