product sales Archives

The Essential Soft Skills Needed To Influence

by Tony Vidler To influence others requires softs skills rather than hard core sales skills and techniques. The financial adviser is supposed to be an influencer…our role is to influence others to make better decisions than they would otherwise have made. In order to become a more effective adviser the ongoing development of the […]

Sales Technique Is The Key To Opening Minds

by Tony Vidler “Sales Technique”…the very phrase sends shudders down the spines of professionals today it seems. Despite the focus on our increased technical knowledge and the emphasis upon good process, financial advisers do actually have to “sell” – even if they don’t want to face up to that. A large problem for many newer […]

Sales Activity Can Be Gamified

by Tony Vidler Some things are timeless simply because they have stood the test of time, and focusing upon sales activity is one of them. “Sales activity” as a concept is probably abhorrent to many professionals today, but it is simply about managing the inputs which provide the outputs that your business wants. It […]

Improve your sales results with a quick “Kerbside Review”

by Tony Vidler One of the most effective ways to improve sales results is to spend 2 minutes on a reflective process after each client meeting – whether it was a good or bad one. It is the “kerbside review” (I know…USA spelling, but this concept did originate in America I believe!) If we […]

Client Engagement: The WIIFM Question Is Really 3 Questions

by Tony Vidler WIIFM. What’s In It For Me? No sale is ever made, no client ever signs on, until you’ve clearly addressed the WIIFM question as it is THE dominant question running through every prospects mind. Most of us know this….and despite knowing it, most people in professional services struggle to address […]

Understanding why people buy…anything.

by Tony Vidler When it comes to advising clients to change course or do something new we should remember the reasons why people buy anything, including “advice”. If we want our advice to be effective (and lead the client to do something better than they are currently doing) then it is best to make […]

How To Present Adverse Insurance Decisions

by Tony Vidler That sinking feeling you get when an insurer comes back with terms and you have to present an adverse insurance decision…basically telling the client that actually, they are a higher risk of something bad happening….it is an unpleasant and stressful time for a financial adviser. Not great for the client usually […]

The Words We Use Can Break Or Make The Sale

by Tony Vidler We can break a probable sale or make the sale in an instant. It can turn on a phrase or sometimes even a single word. The words we use matter. When it comes to the words we use in conversation we all have our own idiosyncracies and quirks of speech, and […]

How To “Up-Sell” Your Advisory Services

by Tony Vidler There are many advisory services which most professionals can provide to clients and a distinct area of opportunity is to look at combining those services where it makes sense to do so, and up-sell a higher value package of service to clients. Up-selling is not the same as cross-selling however, and […]

When Your Sales Numbers Suck…

by Tony Vidler Sometimes the best thing an adviser can do is admit to themselves that their sales numbers just suck. It’s the age-old “you can’t improve something until you admit that there is something wrong with it“. The reason for pointing out the obvious here is that there are plenty of […]

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