New Selling Rules Of Engagement — For The New Economy

If you’ve been an advisor for at least a decade, you’re probably well aware of the unwritten rules that dictate how you’re supposed to interact with potential client’s pre-sale.

Those traditional and industry-accepted “rules of engagement” have been so imbedded into the psyche of the advisor, they’ve almost become a belief system, a religion.

Discovery meetings, fact-finding, free consulting and planning, are all part of the religious patterns followed by the flock, simply because “that’s the way it’s always been done”.

In the last few years, you may have experienced the stark reality reflected in the dramatic increase in indecisiveness when attempting to get prospects to commit to you.

The question is, why are they so resistant to trusting you to say: “I’m in, let’s do this”?.

Here’s why: the advisory industry has yet to challenge themselves by asking: “Do the same pre-sale rules of engagement apply from decades ago, to today’s commoditized economy?”

The harsh reality is, the market has shifted and the traditional industry “accepted” sales model is no longer effective in combatting the main issue you now face – commoditization.

You’re being “shopped” because your prospects find it hard to differentiate between your solution and someone else’s.

In the new economy, they no longer care about how you solve their problem, they only care about if you are the one to solve their issues – by trusting you.

To begin defying industry norms (averages), you need to starting questioning the long-held beliefs about selling preached to you by your elders, industry leaders and peers.

If you don’t upgrade your mental mindset “software”, to debunk these old myths, you’ll continually facing an uphill battle for the rest of your career.