sales skills Archives

The 5 Essential Soft Skills For Professional Advisers

by Tony Vidler Technical knowledge will only take you so far, and sometimes (like when the world is in lockdown and there are no rational markets) they won’t tyake you anywhere at all. There are times when what you know just doesn’t matter. Knowing how to deal with people is all that matters sometimes. They […]

The Words We Choose To Use Have Power

by Tony Vidler If we want to give ourselves the best chance possible of influencing clients and prospects to change course, which is what professional advice is all about really, then there is no doubt that the words we choose to use can make an enormous difference. Enough experts have done enough research over […]

Prospecting: Reconnect to Create New Opportunities

by Tony Vidler A simple prospecting idea which usually pays off is simply re-connecting with those who you have spent time with, but did not do any business with. I am talking about “prospects” from 6 months ago…or 12 months ago. There are always people we are seeing who are potentially great customers, but […]

The Right Way To Present An Advice Recommendation

by Tony Vidler When you are presenting quotes or recommending product solutions, are you still giving the prospect a few choices, like 3 perhaps? Don’t do it. Consumers are onto it, so as a “sales technique” it loses impact…and it was never fabulous technique to begin with. More importantly, it undermines your professional […]

Compliant Advice: Paper Beats Scissors Every Time

by Tony Vidler When it comes to compliant advice Advisers really need to grasp that they are playing a game of “Rock, Paper, Scissors” with every client engagement now. There almost certainly will be an instance where a client throws the Rock…. We try to beat it with Paper. Complaints authority or regulator takes to […]

If you need more clients then you probably need different skills

by Tony Vidler Financial advisers who need more clients need to be better marketers than salespeople in todays environment. For most that means they probably need new, or more, skills. Not more technical skills; more commercial skills. While financial advisers have been figuring out how to get ever-more-compliant and deliver yet-more-paper over the […]

Should you give a sly kickback to referrers?

by Tony Vidler One of the ethical challenges for professionals is how to appropriately recognise the value of a great referrer or Centre-Of-Influence. A little kickback on the sly? Hardly professional. Don’t talk about it and pretend there is no commercial significance? Not great for maintaining trust long term. It doesn’t have to become […]

Becoming Elite Comes From Being Just 1% Better

by Tony Vidler Becoming an elite adviser, or building an elite practice doesn’t come about by chance. It takes graft and grit…and help. Building a great business is rarely the result of a single champion taking on the world. The champion business owner is usually the captain of a team that has taken on the […]

How to Position For The Right Referrals

by Tony Vidler Getting referrals is difficult enough for many, but getting the right referrals is even tougher. It’s always nice to get a referral of course, but it doesn’t help if we do get a referral and it is someone that we just can’t deliver great value to. So we do want to […]

If you want people to buy your advice, then dumb it down!

by Tony Vidler When it comes to getting someone to buy your advice one of the best tips I can give is “dumb it down- but don’t treat them like dummies“. There is a big difference between “dumbing it down” and treating people like dummies. The first is about simplifying the message in order […]

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