Do Your Designations Actually Create Trust?
A fiduciary is a designation many advisors assume creates instant trust with their prospects.
“I’m a fiduciary, other advisors are not, you can trust me”.
If you have a specific designation, and you assume that’s all you need to create trust in your sales process, you might be in for a rude awakening.
Here’s the rub: trust isn’t automatically built into your initial prospect conversation just because you have multiple designations next to your name.
Why?
Because you’re not the only advisor that has those same designations.
Trust can only be created, human-to-human, in your initial conversation, regardless of the professional titles or accreditations you might have.
This is especially true in a saturated and commoditized industry like advisory — where from the potential client’s point of view, almost everyone has an accreditation of some kind.
To your prospects, titles are ubiquitous, to be expected, no big deal – they have little power in their decision-making process.
And it doesn’t matter if you’re actually a trustworthy person – they can’t get to appreciate that about you until after they’re a paying client.
Just having integrity and bringing that to the table, isn’t enough for them to commit to working with you at the end of your initial meeting.
You need to demonstrate your trustworthiness directly in the conversation itself.
And that demonstration should never be based on information about your knowledge, expertise or the pre-sale education you provide them.
That free information can be perceived as persuasion.
This can be a hard pill to swallow, given the industry norm of providing your prospects with free information and value upfront.
Consider these mindset shifts:
1.) Don’t assume your designations gives you “category-of-one” differentiation
Your prospect already knows you’re an advisor, and they expect you to know what you’re doing. You won’t lose anything in taking the focus off yourself and putting it on them. In fact, that’s the key to creating trust often missed by advisors.
2.) Be diagnostic in the sales conversation like a doctor
A doctor who precisely and efficiently (with bedside manner and empathy) diagnoses problems, is more sought after than a doctor with plaques on their wall who isn’t as good. If you don’t have a thorough “x-ray” process that get’s underneath their surface level issues, you’ll be stuck filling the void with information.
3.) Be patient and wait for your prospect to own their problems
Unless your prospect first owns their problems, they won’t agree to commit to fixing them with you. Helping your prospect own the gravity and urgency of their issues, is the first step towards creating deep trust. Once that’s established, they’ll be ready to onboard with you in the first meeting. (Like in therapy, if a patient doesn’t fully own their own issues and commit to fixing them, they never make it through therapy).
Only an advisor who is a Trusted Authority is the “doctor” every patient wants to see.
Being a Trusted Authority is an internal mindset and status that results in completely differentiating you from the other advisors your prospects are also interviewing.
To learn how you can become a Trusted Authority advisor and create real trust in your sales process, order the complimentary book and consultation below.
If you're an ambitious advisor, with a defiant streak (following the crowd isn't your thing), who is overly reliant on referrals, with limited time and resources, but willing to grow and challenge your own thinking -- and you'd be happy with 1 – 2 new high-net-worth clients per month...
Get Your Free Book & Free "Get New Clients" Sales & Lead Generation Consultation ASAP!
Order the new book “Trusted Authority” below and get a free “Get New Clients” sales & lead generation consultation (value $995.00).
In this ground-breaking new book, you’ll discover:
- How to create a flow of high-quality leads in the next 90-days by becoming the Trusted Authority in your market
- How to differentiate yourself from other advisors so that your ideal client says “He/she is the one for me…”
- How to re-position yourself to create inbound demand for your ideal clients only becoming a “category-of-one”
- How to create a “by-appointment-only” business so you stop lowering your authority by "chasing” leads
- How to onboard new clients in one single meeting or zoom conversation… yes this is possible!
Meet The Author
Ari Galper is the world’s number one authority on trust-based selling and is one the most sought-after sales conversion experts for Financial Advisors.
He is the creator of Unlock The Game®, a completely new revolutionary sales approach that overturns the notion of selling as we know it today.
Ari has been featured in CEO Magazine, SkyNews, Forbes, INC Magazine and Financial Advisor Magazine – and has been a featured speaker at the Financial Planning Association’s national conference.
His newest book, “Trusted Authority”, has become an instant best-seller among Financial Advisors worldwide.
With clients in over 35 countries, his global sales systems have become the most successful Trust-Based Selling systems of our time.
In a day and age where technology rules the selling world, for many growth-oriented advisors, deep trust has taken a “back seat” to the sales process.
Ari’s personal insights on how to build trust between buyers and sellers continue to break new ground in the financial services industry.
Ari has been on a mission for the last two decades to change the financial services world through trust.
Through his sold-out talks all over the world and his in-house trainings for high-producing advisors, Ari has become the global ambassador to businesses all over the world.
He regularly connects with global business icons and leaders of industries seeking his counsel on how to infuse trust in their organisations and across their teams.
Ari is a true “disruptor” in the financial services industry. He has been endorsed by legendary sales mentors like Brian Tracy who said: “Ari Galper’s trust-based selling approach is the greatest sales breakthrough in the last 20 years”.
Ari’s sales growth consulting firm has a growing waiting list of financial advisors wanting access to his unique Trusted Authority lead generation models and sales conversion strategy advice.
Ari is also the author of “Lessons From Toby”, a special book about his son Toby who has Down’s Syndrome, who has made a major impact on Ari’s approach to teaching authenticity and trust in his Trust-Based Selling approach.