Of the top financial advisors we’ve studied, about one-third of the prospects they meet with become their clients. That, of course, means around two-thirds don’t become clients.
Ask yourself what your business might look like if 80%—or even 100%—of the prospects who you want to work with said yes to you.
That conversion rate is entirely within your reach. The key is to take one step: Create a total client profile for every ideal prospect with whom you meet.
Here’s a look at how a total client profile can turn a prospective client into a raving, loyal fan of you and your practice—and how to create compelling profiles that will drive prospects to work with you instead of your competitors.
Benefits Of A Total Client Profile
A total client profile is the end result of you getting to know a prospective client on a deep, meaningful level. You gain that insight by taking the prospect through a discovery process, during which you ask a series of questions designed to help you understand the person sitting across from you better than any other financial advisor out there.
These questions cover financial information, of course—but they go much, much deeper than simply looking at the numbers. Armed with that information, you can help the prospect recognize and articulate the things in life that are truly important to them. What’s more, you’ll be in an ideal position to recommend financial solutions that truly address their most vital wants and needs.
By crafting a total client profile, you realize several important benefits to your business:
1. You connect emotionally to prospects. When you ask prospective clients about themselves on a deep level and make that conversation all about them, they immediately see you as someone who cares about them as people (or as parents, and so on.) This emotional connection is crucial in getting prospects to become clients.
2. You can deliver on clients’ key concerns. Just as a doctor can’t effectively treat patients without knowing their full symptoms, advisors can’t address clients’ key concerns until they understand everything that’s important to those clients—their families, the causes they care about, and their values.
Ultimately, taking prospects through a discovery process and creating this profile for them typically enables advisors to double their conversion rate.
How It Works
The total client profile that results from discovery with a prospect covers seven key areas of importance—only one of which is focused on financials.
1) Values. What is truly important to you about your money and your desire for success, and what are the key, deep-seated values underlying the decisions you make to attain them? When you think about your money, what concerns, needs or feelings come to mind?
2) Goals. What are you most proud of achieving in the past and, going forward, what do you want to achieve with your money over the long run—personally and professionally, from the most practical to your biggest dreams?