Four words should frame the perfect presentation speech for financial advisors, according to Pat Quinn, chief product officer for Advance Your Reach: Connect, help, direct, and inspire.
Advisors who follow and fulfill that formula will have the most effective signature speech for converting strangers into clients that they have ever developed, Quinn said Wednesday during a presentation at the Invest in Women Conference sponsored by Financial Advisor magazine.
“Your signature talk tells people who you are and what you do and is the most effective tool to build your business,” the business consultant said, “and it can work for one person or 50 people or 100 people. It will affect your social media site and can be used in person or online. My measure of success is whether the audience wants to take the next step with you, not whether people praise your presentation at the end.”
Each exceptional signature speech begins with a personal story that connects the advisor to the audience. “Do not start with what makes you extraordinary; start with something you have in common with the audience.” State a problem the audience has and tell them the solution. Do not just tell them what you do, he advised.
In stating the problem, use words the audience would use, not the words of an expert. “If you get those words right, and the audience will want to do business with you. A lot of presenters want to rush through this part of the presentation, but many in the audience will decide whether to do business with you in the first five minutes.”
Quinn advised people making a signature speech to watch the audience, not themselves, in order to tell when the audience is actually engaged with the speaker. “The opening story has to be one where the speaker can say, ‘Like many of you, I….’ Call yourself by your fist name a couple of times during the presentation, which will increase the number of people who approach you after the speech.”
Then use a bridge statement about what you believe as an advisor in order to begin the teaching part of the presentation, he advised, such as, “I believe every person needs a good retirement plan or needs to be able to educate their children.”
The teaching part of the presentation should tell the audience how you can help them. “I want you to give away your best stuff before the audience members are clients, or else why should they become clients? Your signature speech is the best selling tool you have and should tell them how you can help them, not what you do.”