Dallas: “I am absolutely embarrassed,” Fred mumbled insecurely the moment we began our coaching session, “I just had a huge affluent prospect come in for a second opinion meeting and I was sweating uncontrollably. I had sweat pouring down my forehead, my shirt was drenched and I had to excuse myself multiple times. They probably thought I was either extremely nervous or trying to ‘Madoff’ them. I’ve never had anything happen to me like this in my 17 years in the business.”
In Fred’s defense, the temperature outside that day was in the mid-nineties, a real scorcher, and Jay was dressed to the nines in a wool suit and tie. In addition, the conference room in which the meeting occurred faced west with the sun directly beaming in which easily raised the temperate a few degrees. These conditions were not new to Jay, but for some reason his sweat glands decided to jump into hyper drive that day while both prospects, dressed in shorts and t-shirts, coolly watched the perspiration spectacle from the sidelines.
Fred’s bizarre prospecting experience appears to be a scene from a television sitcom. And if you chuckle to yourself at the thought of such an experience, you’re not alone; I could barely keep a straight face as he was relaying the story to me. But Jay was mortified. He had a great opportunity within his grasp and from his perspective he just blew it. But did he?
Our latest research on the affluent points out that the two most important criteria for today's affluent in selecting a financial professional are…
1. Personal Reputation
2. First Impression
Reputation is an attribute that results from doing your job well and providing superior service to your clients over time. A positive, or negative, reputation spreads through clients and centers-of-influence by word of mouth influence. (By the way, a negative reputation will spread like wildfire.)
Fred has a stellar reputation.
Adding to his reputation, this prospect was not a cold lead but actually an introduction he has asked for from one of his top clients. Fred had two important factors in his corner. If an advisor can couple an outstanding reputation with the highest impact activity that Rainmakers engage in, asking for introductions, they’ve got a dynamic one-two punch.
Even though Fred felt his perspiration had gotten the best of him, he was able to maintain a positive first impression. His dress was right out of a Brooks Brothers display window and his conference room was clean and professional. His body language and eye contact displayed confidence and he portrayed a depth and breadth of industry knowledge in the agenda he prepared for the meeting. The fact that he began to perspire excessively was incidental, the first impression had already been made.
Fred’s worry was unfounded; within a week they were clients.
Because a professional’s reputation and first impression are such a critical element in today’s economic environment, it’s essential that all advisors take these criteria very seriously. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as you try and access your own reputation and first impression.
Reputation:
- Are you providing high-level personalized (white glove) service to your best clients?
- Are you providing comprehensive wealth management services?
- Do you know enough about your clients to provide Surprise and Delight (small personal gift) touches?
- Are your client’s open and willing to give you introductions to their friends, family, and COIs?
- Have you lost any key clients over the past year?
First Impression:
- Do you always dress neat and professionally?
- Do you maintain good hygiene? (i.e. haircut, shaved, groomed)
- Do you maintain good eye contact with clients?
- Are you shoes shined?
- Do you possess a depth and breadth of industry knowledge?
It’s essential that advisors take the necessary steps to always be improving their reputation. It’s one of those intangible attributes that many advisors overlook because they think they have limited control over it. This type of thinking is completely wrong. We have the ornate ability to control our actions and therefore other’s perception of us. And you only get one chance to make a positive first impression.
As Warren Buffet says, “It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”
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