Originally published on Advisor Perspectives, October 16, 2017

The perfect meeting with a prospect is one that maximizes the possibility of converting that prospect into a client.  Here’s the ideal scenario.

Chapter and verse

You meet with the prospect alone.  The two of you are in a conference room, sitting across from each other.  You do not sit at the head of the table. You do not take notes.  You are just having a conversation with a new acquaintance.

You: Tell me what’s on your mind.

Prospect: [Responds]

You:  [Nodding where appropriate, indicating you are listening intently].  When the prospect concludes, you ask very open follow-up questions like:  Then what happened?  How did that make you feel?  How did you get from there to here?

Prospect: [Continues to responds.  The process repeats].

At some point, one of these two scenarios will occur.

Scenario #1

The prospect will ask you a question or a series of questions.  This is where the train often comes off the rails.

I have yet to meet an advisor who can answer a direct question directly.  Instead, many advisors misuse this opportunity to steer the conversation where they want it to go and to provide elaborate responses.

Here’s an example.  The answer to the question, How do you charge? is: We charge a percentage of your assets under management.  Nothing more.  If the prospect wants you to compute the fee for managing a portfolio of a specific size, wait for that question and then answer it directly.  

After you answer the first question, there will likely be others.  If so, answer them as briefly as possible.

Scenario #2

In this scenario, either the prospect never asks any questions (which is rare) or the prospect has run out of questions.

You then state: Is there anything else you would like to discuss?  If the prospect says no (even if no questions were asked), you conclude the meeting by asking:  How would you like to proceed?

When the prospect replies, you say, fine and the meeting concludes.

Follow the script

Following this script is a critical part of the Solin Process℠.  While it’s easy to understand, it’s difficult to implement because it’s so counter-intuitive.

You may feel frustrated if you didn’t have an opportunity to demonstrate your expertise or explain why your advisory firm is a perfect fit.  I’ve heard this lament countless times.  

In each instance, I tell my client that I have a high degree of confidence they will land the business.  I’m usually right.

Advisors often make the fatal error of assuming they know what’s of interest to the prospect.  

If you follow my process, you won’t be guessing about what the prospect wants to know.  Instead, you’ll learn with 100% confidence what’s on the prospect’s mind, because you’ll wait for a question to be asked.  When you hear a question, this is what you should be thinking:  Aha.  So that’s what’s top of mind for this prospect.  Great.  I’m going to respond directly and briefly to that inquiry.

The biggest barrier to converting prospects into clients is persuading you to get out of your own way.

Trust the process.  It works.