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Finding Gold
Consultative Selling and Baby Boomers
By Michael Lovas
March 1, 2006
If you read the industry publications, you'll see that two terms are ubiquitous: "Consultative Selling" and "Baby Boomers." Let's put them together and see why they are inseparable. In addition, we'll look at how to make the consultative approach work with Boomers.
Consultative Selling.
Let's look at a few distinctions - what consultative selling is not:
- It's not about making a sale. It's about helping the client overcome a problem or achieve a goal. A sale or a continuing relationship might become appropriate, but that's not the purpose.
- It's not a stock set of questions. The main consultative medium is questions, but a real consultant is an expert at asking follow-up questions — then listening intently to the answers.
- It's not a presentation. A consultative approach can include a presentation of your advice, but that's one of the very last elements. Think of it as a conversation that you facilitate.
It's About Helping! Consultative selling must be about helping and consulting to identify and solve problems — even if the solution does not include your product. In my office, we often reject the term "consultative selling," and call it the "consultative conversation. " And, we teach our coaching clients how to facilitate the consultative conversation. See the difference?
It's About People! Remember, if it's consultative, it's about people. And, if it's about people, then you need to devote your attention to building trust, otherwise you won't get good answers to your questions.
Trust is based on rapport and relevance. Relevance is based on your ability to add value, and rapport is based on likeability. Likeability is based on your ability to capture the person's attention and connect with him. Capturing attention and connection are based on your "read" of the prospect. If you begin your consultative conversation knowing zero about the prospect, you will be at a disadvantage. But, if you know the prospect's personality type, values and communication style — you'll have a distinct head start on how to gain trust.
In other words, if you don't know the specific psychology of how to read and connect with people, you will probably fail at the consultative approach. The good news for you is, learning that psychology is simple and easy.
To begin — read the person. That's where you'll find the first stumbling block. Between DISC and True Colors and Social Styles and the other personality type programs, many financial advisors have learned a lot of unusable information. Bottom line — if you can't figure out what your prospect's personality, values and communication style is in a matter of seconds, you're going into the game with your head tied behind your back.
Here is how this disadvantage affects your consultative conversation. Let's say you get an appointment with Bill, the owner of a local technology firm:
You: (as you shake hands) Hello Bill, thanks for agreeing to see me. How did you get into this business?
Bill: I managed a software firm in Silicon Valley until 2003. Was asked to come in as a third partner and in 2005 I bought out the other two.
You: Are you married?
Already, you are heading down the wrong path because you failed to notice the big red flags announcing what Bill is interested in. You are now beginning to waste his time. The red flags are:
- His title — owner
- His use of short sentences
- That he's been a manager
- That he bought out his former partners
Those things tell you that Bill is a Driver. That his mission in life is to control things. He is a bottom-line thinker and he gets things done. He does not care about relationships, and he doesn't want to talk about his family. Unless he indicates otherwise, he wants you to get to the point and to prove your credibility early.
If you're a keen observer of people, you could determine those things in the first half minute of conversation. But — you should have known those things before you finished shaking hands, simply by reading the lines (or lack of lines) on Bill's face. By reading his face, you would have seen that he is a bottom-line Driver. It also would have told you how to ask questions, what kinds of references to use and how to appeal to Bill. (The only resource for this skill set is our book Face Values.)
In the consultative conversation, the value you bring is in the appropriateness and relevance of your questions. If you always ask the same questions, you risk failing with 75% of the people you talk to. If you can't read your prospect quickly and accurately, you risk failing with 75% of the people you talk to. In other words, if you can't read your prospect, you could quickly show yourself as inappropriate and irrelevant.
Bottom line — if you can't read your prospect, you can't succeed at the consultative conversation. Now, how does this relate to the Boomer market?
The Boomer Market Boomers are the perfect target audience for the consultative conversation. They reject most sales approaches and appreciate true consulting. They love talking about themselves and their values because they see their lives as having purpose and value. So, if you can get their attention and effectively build rapport, you'll be on solid ground.
However, be forewarned — if you attempt to force-feed stock questions to them, you will see it backfire and blow up in your face. Bottom line — want to work with Boomers, learn everything you can about them. That does not mean their demographics. It means how they think, what they value, their prejudices, how they are different from their parents.
Word of warning. As you look around the industry, you'll see new publications and conferences on marketing and selling to Boomers. Just for fun scrutinize the credibility of the people speaking. I fear that you'll find a lot of speakers eager to repurpose old content and call it marketing and selling to Boomers. As a result, you'll probably find that too much of the information is vacuous or irrelevant. Personally, I find that offensive. This is a group of people unlike any that has come before.
Perhaps in a future article I'll explain the process of how their "sub personalities" developed and how that made them who they are today.
Think of everything you know about Boomers and see if it's going to help you by taking this little quiz.
| Boomer Quiz
True or False:
|
See "Your Reward" for the answers.
In Conclusion. That little quiz will indicate what you know about Boomers. What about Consultative Selling?
- Success at depends on your ability to quickly and accurately read the person in front of you.
- It is based on appropriate and relevant questions.
- Asking stock questions will alienate you from 75% of the people you talk to.
- It's not a selling system — it's a consulting conversation.
- It's the best way to engage Boomers.
- It is perfect for people who want to develop long-term, loyal clients.
- It's also perfect for people selling products or services with a high value.
Your Reward! Look back above at the box with the Boomer Quiz. All the answers are False. How did you do? The information on Boomers comes from our book titled Inside the Mind of the 50+ Senior Market. If you want to learn how to use consultative conversations with Boomers, hit the link to my personal email address (michael@aboutpeople.com). I will give you a $15 discount on either our book Face Values or our new book on consultative selling Magnetic Connections. *This offer expires on May 1, 2006.
MICHAEL LOVAS is the author of ten books, three columns, and a thousand articles on Professional Credibility and the Psychology of Communication in the financial industry. He's the co-founder of AboutPeople and the founder of Credibility Marketing.
Michael speaks at conferences and seminars in Canada and the US. He is an inspiring trainer and coach who helps advisors improve their businesses. He holds three prestigious certifications: Licensed Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Licensed Trainer of NLP; and Clinical Hypnotherapist. They make Michael an expert at helping financial professionals succeed at a higher level by building more meaningful business relationships.
AboutPeople Books:
- (NEW) Questions Are the Answer! - A guide for using questions effectively in sales conversations
- (NEW) Axis of Influence! - How credibility & likeability intersect to drive success!
- (NEW) Words that Sell - The language of psychological marketing & selling
- Face Values - How to read people and connect with them in less than 3 minutes!
- The Boomer Report - The financial advisor's guide to understanding the boomer mind
- Presentation Magic - How to gain a psychological advantage in your seminars and sales presentations
- The 5 Levels of Rapport - How to create a meaningful connection with people who are important to you
- Magnetic Connections - Consultative selling for financial professionals
- IDENTITY - How to create and deliver the most important statement of your business life
- Inside the Mind of the Senior Market
- Beyond Wave Marketing - How to add credibility to your relationship marketing
Find AboutPeople books at: www.aboutpeople.com
Michael Lovas, C.Ht.
AboutPeople
(509) 465-5599
1503 E. Riverview Dr.
Colbert, WA 99005
www.aboutpeople.com
