Editor’s Note: This article is based on Steve Sanduski’s podcast interview with Dan Moisand, a principal and financial advisor at Moisand Fitzgerald Tamaya. He’s also a past national president of the Financial Planning Association. To access more than 100 interviews with industry leaders, subscribe for free to Steve’s podcast, Between Now and Success by clicking here.
Have you ever gotten someone to fall in love with you after taking them through your “5-Steps to Fall in Love with Me Process?”
I didn’t think so.
Yet many advisors persist in promoting their super-duper proprietary X-step process to blah, blah, blah, thinking it will separate them from the competition. It might seem like good marketing but it’s only half the story.
Feel More
Your process appeals to the “reason” side of the brain, the left, logical side. And people can reach a conclusion based on reason. But action won’t happen until you reach them emotionally too.
My podcast guest Dan Moisand captured this split beautifully. He said:
I try to bring the conversation back around to what they can expect from working with us and I try to put that in terms of how they will feel at the end of different parts of the process. So, instead of saying, ‘We're going to do a data gathering, construct a net-worth statement,’ you'd say, ‘Okay well, when we're done with the first portion of this where we're getting all your info together and understanding what you got going on here; You're going to come away from this feeling really well organized and on top of where every penny is and where it's going.’
This is a key point—don’t just talk about your process to clients and prospects—get them to “feel” it. Process is dry and boring. Talking about how they’re going to feel by going through your process will get them emotionally engaged from the beginning of the relationship.