sales skills Archives

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 […]

What you should expect from good coaching

by Tony Vidler It is a peculiar thing…most of us recognize the difference that getting good coaching – or poor coaching – can make to any athlete or sports teams performance. In fact most of us have often held quite passionate views about the merits of coaches…Very few professionals however seem to make the […]

The missing ingredient in professional development: SKILLS

by Tony Vidler We are awash with recommendations on how to “improve the advice business” and enhance professional developement. Regulators, politicians, consumer groups, product manufacturers…competing business models that look to bypass advice entirely….all of them are making a lot of noise about how advice delivery can be improved and where professionals involved in the […]

6 Steps to becoming the “Go To” Adviser

by Tony Vidler “The modern sales professional doubles as an information concierge – providing the right information to the right person at the right time in the right channel. Socially surround your buyers and their “sphere of influence”…” Jill Rowley; Oracle. The phrase “information concierge” captures the essential strategy for professional positioning […]

digital marketing for financial advisors

5 basic tips for helping your next customers find you

by Tony Vidler In a perfect world customers find you, rather than you having to find them. The world is never entirely perfect of course, but certainly we can often do better in having customers find us…and the good news is that today’s customers are out there looking for the right provider. We […]

Professional Credibility & the “Trust Me…I am experienced” line

by Tony Vidler “Trust me…I’m an experienced professional…” How many times do we hear a professional claiming that a client should trust them and deal with them because they have X number of years experience? Does this “years of experience” thing really translate into professional credibility? Increasingly cynical consumers ask themselves “do you […]

Why settle for average Adviser performance when you could be outstanding?

by Tony Vidler Advisers frequently settle for being average, and it is definitely not because they want to be average but because they don’t really know what it takes to elevate their performance exponentially. Average adviser performance can be turned into outstanding adviser performance by making the changes that make the difference. The […]

How to work out who to keep on your team

by Tony Vidler One of the toughest areas of practice management is building your team and keeping the team “right for you”. So it is best to begin with an unpalatable truth: It is inevitable that at some point you will get team selections wrong. You will get hiring decisions wrong….and sometimes firing decisions […]

Are sales letters useful?

by Tony Vidler A traditional marketing practice for financial advisers has been sending “pre-approach” sales letters to prospective clients. It seems that very few still do it, and yet I wonder if they are worthwhile in todays world? There is no doubt that most prospective customers are not exactly waiting around hoping a piece […]

For Converting Prospects Patience Pays Off!

by Tony Vidler Converting prospects is no longer about sales technique, it is about patiently engaging and educating and matching their timeframe. But being a lot more patient than ever before pays off with higher value clients who stay longer. But how patient do you have to be? Research consistently shows that […]

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