The Problem with Best Practices - Why They Don't Work (Part I) September 2010

Capitalizing on Credibility - What's the Biggest Payoff? August 2010

The Myth of Client-Focus July 2010

Marketing Therapy - Just lie back and relax... June 2010

The Producer's Guide to Asking Questions May 2010

Questions - The Shortest Path from Prospect to Client April 2010

How to Build Your Credibility March 2010

Credibility's Impact on YOUR Bottom Line February 2010

How to Use Social Media in Your Business December 2009

Psychological Analysis of Your Marketing September 2009

How Contrarian Logic Makes Sales for You August 2009

Words that Sell - How to Use Psychology in Your Marketing and Selling July 2009

The Secrets of Marketing Psychology (Part I) June 2009

You've been replaced by a cartoon! May 2009

8 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in a Challenging Market (Part II) April 2009

8 Ways to Distinguish Yourself in a Challenging Market (Part I) March 2009

The Worst Mistake in Selling Financial Services January 2009

Fighting for Success! The “Special Forces” Approach December 2008

Yours - Free! November 2008

First-Impressions of Credibility - Part One October 2008

Article Index

Finding Gold

All Questions Answered - What's the value of values to your clients?

By Michael Lovas
October 1, 2006

QUESTION: "Hi Michael, I'm in the business of selling financial products. I guess I need help screening people and to stop wasting time on people who are not interested in buying my products."

LOVAS: This is a very common problem, but it has a very simple solution. Just ask about their values. What’s important to them? There are two issues here. 1) It could be that you’re not building rapport and trust, thus they see you as the lowest common denominator and can’t wait to hit the door. Or, 2) you’re placing the highest value on your products, rather than on what’s important to your prospects. If you push products, you’re building your business on your own values. Not good. You should be focusing intently on helping your prospects satisfy their values.

Speaking of values…

QUESTION: "I try to find out how my prospects value money, but more often than not, the conversation irritates them. How can I find out how they feel about money?"

LOVAS: Values about money are severely misunderstood by financial advisors. Someone who values money assumes that other people do, too. The truth is, people rarely ever list money as one of their top four values. Instead, here’s what the research discovered:

In 2001, Kennon Sheldon, of the University of Missouri at Columbia, and his colleagues wanted to know America’s top ten values. They asked hundreds of American university students to recall their most satisfying event of the last week, month or semester. The students rated self-esteem, relatedness (feeling connected with people), autonomy (feeling in control) and competence (feeling effective) as the top four emotions that accompanied feeling satisfied. Their findings were reported in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

Money was on the list. Want to know where? At the bottom, with popularity, influence and luxury. So, when you think about asking your prospects to tell you how they value money, get ready for a surprise — they don’t really value it. What that means to you is serious to how you proceed. Gathering values around money gives you answers that are next to meaningless.

My first response to that research was doubt. Perhaps Sheldon and is colleagues questioned philosophy or music students, rather than MBAs. In the end, it doesn’t matter, because there are over a hundred other studies which conclude that people are more motivated by internal emotions than by external rewards such as money.

For example, in an academically pure way, Edward Deci, of the University of Rochester in New York, recently illustrated the point by showing that people are typically happy to work through puzzles without getting any money, whereas those paid to do the puzzles are inclined to stop once the money is withdrawn. That research was published in 1971 in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.

From the psychological perspective, the benefit to you from asking about money is that you ask a "you-focused" question and listen. For many consumers, that’s the first time a financial advisor actually listened to them.

Again, from the psychological perspective, there are several other questions to learn someone’s values, and what you really want to learn is their actual values, not their sub-values associated to something they actually do not value. If you were to gather those, you’d be collecting smoke and illusion.

In conclusion. Our research (and that of others) shows clearly that the advisors who build strong relationships make more money. Of those, the most successful are the ones who put their clients’ values first. If you want to give your clients the best service possible, focus on helping them secure or protect their self-esteem, relatedness (feeling connected with people), autonomy (feeling in control) and competence (feeling effective). What do your prospects really want? Heck, what do your future prospects really want?

In order to even begin to make a meaningful connection with people and build meaningful relationships, you absolutely must succeed at the following:

1. Learn how to "read" people.
2. Use that knowledge to build purposeful rapport.
3. Learn and develop the specific skills for communicating with each individual person with great clarity.
4. Stop thinking of yourself as a "salesperson."
5. Begin to think of yourself as a counselor/consultant.

This whole topic of values is a pivotal point that could easily determine if you will still be in this business in a year or two. Now, that’s a statement that should scare the bajeebers out of you. But, how could I make such a wild statement? How could I substantiate it? Actually, it’s easy.

In Conclusion. Asking questions is the essence of consulting. Who needs a financial consultant? Boomers — the people who are your future prospects. What are you NOT getting taught to do? Consult with Boomers. How can you get more Boomer clients? Learn how to take the consultative approach. What would force you out of this industry? Trying to push products on Boomers, and that would be the result of NOT taking the initiative to learn the consultative approach.

Your Reward. My firm specializes in teaching sales teams how to succeed with Boomers and consultative selling. If you want to learn the skills that are absolutely essential to consultative selling, send me an email containing this paragraph. One of my partners or I will "read" you and determine what skills you need to succeed with Boomers and consultative selling. Then, if you decide to follow our advice, I’ll give you a $200 discount on coaching! So, it’s up to you now. * This offer expires on December 1, 2006.

MICHAEL LOVAS is co-founder of AboutPeople. He is a psychological communication expert specializing in the financial services industry. He is respected throughout the US and Canada as a credibility coach, trainer and writer.

As an expert in consultative selling, Michael can teach you how to: "read" your prospects and connect with them in a relevant (profitable) way.

Michael holds three prestigious certifications: Licensed Master Practitioner of Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP), Licensed Trainer of NLP; and Clinical Hypnotherapist. Since they all focus on reading people and using language to inspire their decisions, they make Michael the perfect trainer and coach for financial professionals. Call Michael and learn how to use those tools to improve your own business performance and profits.

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:

1. (NEW) Questions Are the Answer! - A guide for using questions effectively in sales conversations
2. (NEW) Axis of Influence! - How credibility & likeability intersect to drive success!
3. (NEW) Words that Sell - The language of psychological marketing & selling
4. Face Values - How to read people and connect with them in less than 3 minutes!
5. The Boomer Report - The financial advisor's guide to understanding the boomer mind
6. Presentation Magic - How to gain a psychological advantage in your seminars and sales presentations
7. The 5 Levels of Rapport - How to create a meaningful connection with people who are important to you
8. Magnetic Connections - Consultative selling for financial professionals
9. IDENTITY - How to create and deliver the most important statement of your business life
10. Inside the Mind of the Senior Market
11. Beyond Wave Marketing - How to add credibility to your relationship marketing