sales interview Archives

When Your Sales Numbers Suck…

by Tony Vidler Sometimes the best thing an adviser can do is admit to themselves that their sales numbers 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 people who […]

The first sale you have to make…

by Tony Vidler There is a first sale that advisers have to make, before they make the sale they want to make. The first sale that has to be made is YOU. Advisers often tell me they are struggling to get potential clients to engage. The increasing compliance and documentation of advice, and the need […]

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 […]

Want Prospects To Open Up? Learn from the Pro’s who make millions doing it for a living…

by Tony Vidler We need prospects to open up if we are to to do our jobs well and help them as much as possible. That takes a bit more thought and skill than merely flicking between open and closed questions. In today’s world with it’s much greater emphasis upon individual opinion and with our […]

Lost Sales Skills: How to “get down to business” without drama

by Tony Vidler The advice industry has lost a lot of sales skills, and it needs them. If we are to help consumers make better decisions and change behaviour then we have to be able to help convince them to change. The first tension point for today’s professionals is how to transition from 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 […]

Brainstorming for fact finding financial advice

How to challenge clients thinking without being confrontational

by Tony Vidler Perhaps the toughest task any adviser faces is to challenge clients’ own thinking, but without getting into a confrontation that threatens the entire relationship. Most of us find ourselves occasionally dealing with a client who already thinks they know the answers – they haven’t come to us for advice, they have […]

How to get Clients to agree to the right cover level

by Tony Vidler It can be challenging getting clients to agree to what we know is the right cover level for their insurance needs. Whatever numbers we come up with analytically and logically are greeted with disbelief more often than not. Considering that most clients see most insurance most of the time as […]

You Deliver Value, So Why Not Promise Value Up-Front?

by Tony Vidler Why not promise value up-front if you know you can deliver that? It sems an obvious question to ask, yet I find myself continually asking it of financial advisers. Nearly every professional gives an initial “no obligation meeting” to prospective clients, and nearly everyone delivers value to those prospects during that initial […]

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 […]

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