Originally published on Advisor Perspectives, November 1, 2017

You routinely engage in some practices that on the surface make sense. But you would gather more assets if you discarded them. Here are three examples.

The use of agendas

Many advisors use an agenda to set up the topics to be covered at a meeting with a prospect or client. They believe it demonstrates preparation and professionalism.

Here’s the problem. Agendas you prepare reflect your views about topics of interest to others. Why are you so confident you’re correct?

Whenever I give a talk or conduct a workshop, I ask the sponsor to send an inquiry to attendees asking what issues they would like me to address and what format we should use. The responses always suggest topics I never considered. The views of attendees on format range from role-playing to breaking into groups and reconvening to compare notes.

When I do the session, I try to address their concerns and I always follow the format they prefer.

No one has ever indicated they want me to show up with an agenda and lecture to them for an hour or so.

Here’s my view of your agendas. Discard them. Your job is to discover your audience’s agenda (whether it’s one person or many).

The use of data

You can find support on the Internet for anything. If someone is of the view vaccinations cause autism or global warming is a hoax, they can find something that gives credence to those views.

If a parent of a small child expresses concern to a pediatrician that the vaccination recommended by the doctor could cause autism, citing hundreds of contrary scientific studies is unlikely to change the mind of the parent.

Yet, when advisors hear objections to their investment philosophy from prospects, they often do a “data dump” in an effort to demonstrate the prospect is wrong.

Unless you’re asked to provide data in support of your view, don’t do it. It’s likely to have the opposite result. Instead, try to understand the basis for their position by showing you’ve heard them. The best way to do this is by asking questions, like, “Tell me more about your concerns with risk.” If they want more information, they’ll ask you.

The fallacy of “education”

“I’m really looking forward to meeting with a new advisor who will ‘educate’ me about investing for 45 minutes or so.”

No one ever said this.

There’s an understandable desire to demonstrate your expertise and persuade the prospect that you and your firm are a good fit. Avoid this.

Although it’s counter-intuitive, the initial meeting with a prospect is not about you. Your role is not to convey information, but to elicit it.

Your prospect will make the decision whether or not hire you based on emotion, not facts. The more you “educate” the less likely you are to be retained. We don’t form emotional bonds with those who preach to us, regardless of the merit of their presentation.

The reaction you are seeking from your prospect is, “I like [the advisor]. [He or she] took the time to get to know me. I felt comfortable.”

This is different from, “These people explained investing brilliantly. They’re really smart and well qualified.”

While both reactions seem positive, the first one is more likely to result in a new client.