Many financial planners act as if they cannot be trusted. Because they only appeal to the left side of the client’s brain. Are you this kind of financial planner? Check this article if you are.
People seek to do business with individuals they trust and have a good feeling about. So the question is: how can you engage your client? The answer to this question can be found in the brain of your client. Maybe you know that the brain has a left and a right side. The left side is where the logic, number crunching and rationale are. While the right side of the brain is about emotions, visualizing and connection.
The right side of the brain is also in charge of risk and decision. This side of your brain is not looking at credentials; it’s observing body language. It is nog caught up in you impressive recitation of facts and figures in your financial plan; it’s reading between the lines. The right side of the brain is putting together what it observes in your eyes, your mannerisms, your tone and demeanor and is going to render an intuïtive verdict that clients will follow even without logical reasons. “I just have a feeling”, people will tell you. And they usually follow that feeling or are haunted by ignoring its ominous voice.
How can you make sure that people get the right feeling about you?
Learn to read and trust the intuïtive sirens and caution lights you pick up in your client presentations. And pay careful attention to the impression you are giving others. Also possess the humility to ask other how you are doing and how you can improve.
It doesn’t seem to matter what sort of decision we are making – a purchase, a career, a move or a negotiation – we all instinctively rely on this gut feeling for guidance. Logic and rationale, although held in the highest esteem in our society, are not the trusted linchpins of our most important decisions. In fact, we almost always seem to make decisions based on our gut feelings and then align the necessary logic behind that feeling. The intuïtive gut feeling is the engine of the decision train and logic and rationale are the cars it pulls behind.
Yet in many of our presentations to clients we spend too much time filling the rationale boxcars with facts and figures and not enough time trying to influence the engine that pulls the train: the gut feeling. A powerful presentation or financial plan first influences the emotion that drives the decision and then adds logic as the client asks for it.
Recognize this simple fact: Buying decisions hinge more on feeling that they do on fact. Even when this decision is about important wealth issues. Does this mean your client ignores the facts? Absolutely not. The facts simply become a part of the story, but not the story. Facts and numbers alone make for a dull story simply because they appeal largely to the side of our brain that acts like a computer. You want to appeal to this side to a degree, but to get to a decision you need to appeal to the side of the brain that acts like a movie screen. You want to ignite belief, trust, assurance, hope and even passion for the ideas and advice you are selling.
Why not first focus on getting the right feelings across. Right feelings lead to positive perceptions and positive perceptions are the reason people buy and any service from you as a financial planner. You must focus on influencing how clients feel to become a successful presenter.
How great relationships start
Now think how great relationships start. Think about the beginning of the relationship with your spouse. Did you fell in love because it was logic to fall in love? Or was it just a feeling you had? Guess it’s obvious right?
If you want to know more about how to influence the right brain of your clients, you’ll receive the 17 left and right brain views of the world. In this PDF you’ll find the clues necessary to effectively speak the language of the right brain and influence your client’s decisions. All you have to do is to answer this question:
What is your biggest problem in persuading your client to do business with you?
Please, leave your answer here below in the comment field. You’ll receive the 17 left and right brain views of the world.
To your success,
Ronald Sier
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