For decades, the advisory profession has been wedded to the notion that you should provide free information in your initial meeting with your prospects.
Free information = giving value = trust = new client
That was the “success” formula for years and it worked incredibly well.
Why?
Because as an expert, you had knowledge that couldn’t be accessed anywhere else.
So when you shared your expertise, they couldn’t help but be impressed with your depth of knowledge.
Fast forward to today.
Free information has now been commoditized, it can easily be found online and it continues to be dispensed by your industry peers – everyone is doing it.
Information and knowledge has officially been democratized.
Isn’t that wonderful?
Great for everyone, except for you, the paid expert advisor.
Not only has giving away information in your sales process lost its effectiveness, but it’s also become a major obstacle to building trust.
Why?
Because providing free information is now perceived as persuasion.
They are hearing and absorbing your information, but do they believe it’s true?
In most cases, they hear it, but they often don’t believe you completely.
Goes in one ear, out the other ear, that’s confirmed with: “I need to think about it”.
What’s to think about if what you just told them is true!!??
When someone has something of true value, they don’t just give it away.
Here’s the shift you need to understand, when your prospect decides to hire you, a switch happens in their mind, and they start believing you 100%.
Before that, as your attempting to build trust with them by delivering free information about their situation, they only believe you 50%.
How do you close that gap?
You need to become a trusted authority so you can use a problem-centric approach to trust building, instead of a solution-centric approach.
A trust-based problem-centric approach allows for the psychological switch in value perception to occur in your first meeting.
By doing a deep dive into their issues, deeper than you have ever gone before, and not emerging from their world until they are ready to hire you – that’s how you replace “free information selling” with a trust-based approach.
Providing information and advice during your sales process breaks trust, and a shift to a non-industry norm is not for the faint-hearted.
To learn how to shift from a solution-based information model, to a problem-centric model that creates trust, order your complimentary book and free consultation below.