We’ve all been, unpleasantly, “sold” something. Whether it was the F and I guy at the car dealer telling you that everyone puts paint protection on their car or an insurance agent telling you that permanent insurance is the Swiss Army knife of financial products, the pressure is uncomfortable. You want to own the decision. That does not come from a sales process. That comes from a collaborative discovery process. A true “sale” is mutually beneficial.
“You Sell Money”
Recently, I met someone for the first time. Both of us own a business (this gentleman owns a successful furniture and home furnishings business), and he asked me what I do for a living. I find it difficult to succinctly describe what how we serve clients and said that I own and operate a financial advisory business. His rather casual, denigrative response? “Oh, you sell money”. My initial reaction was to attack, as I find this an offensive way to describe my business. The problem here is that there are people in this profession that do exactly this. They are selling some product that purports to do something financially spectacular for you and spend their time trying to convince you that you just have to own it.
This person, in a typical sales scenario, would have been pursued by the advisor. Why? Well, given what my team does and is good at, and given their particular situation (successful small business owner), this person is theoretically a good fit ( we serve a number of small business owners quite well) and ought to be a great client. And the typical advisor at the typical firm, especially the larger firms (in my experience), is incented to sell, to find new clients. So a sales process would have ensued, with the advisor calling the next day and making some sort of offer.
The issue for me was mindset. This person was clearly thinking that I sell stuff in my own best interest and therefore formed a negative initial impression - before they’ve even had a chance to see how our team works. We think we are exceptionally good, maybe great, but we are not arrogant enough to believe we have something unique that no one can replicate.
We put forth intense effort to do great work for great people and help our clients achieve their best lives. It’s just that our expertise is financial. That is where we focus (hey, did I just succinctly describe our business? I think I did - but you tell me if this registers).
Why Not Correct The Inaccuracy?
Changing someone’s mind is not in my skillset, nor do I want to push something on someone. I have found that proper relationships, where we can really add value, are based on openness and trust, and we would not be starting from that point. Further, our active brains deploy significant horsepower to convincing us that we are right and do not need to change our minds. We have to consciously fight this if we are to be truly open-minded. The fact that we experience, all of us, cognitive dissonance, is proof.
As far as this particular individual goes, I said nothing. Had we been in a private setting, I might have said: “It feels like you have had a poor experience with a financial advisor. If you want to share, tell me more about that.” I would guess this person met a financial sales person, not a real adviser who acts in the client’s best interest. If someone were to accurately describe what I “sell”, it is this: Every person in this country needs a financial education and should have a financial plan. You should know what you spend, what you can save, how much you would need to save to achieve your desired outcomes (understanding that this is an inaccurate science and mostly art), what action you ought to take, and what your progress is over time.
Here is the cognitive dissonance. This person, who started and created a successful business, has sold often and generated revenue for their own business. And yet, “sales” has a negative connotation, to the extent that he framed my entire business as “selling money”. Their sales, however? All legit, for the right reasons. For sure.
Mutually Beneficial
As we run our business and serve clients each day, we do not discuss how to sell anything. There are no sales meetings. We do discuss how to attract folks who will benefit from our advice. Since every one of our clients comes from another client’s introduction, we talk about how to effectively communicate to what we do to current clients (at those times when we have capacity for new clients). We take the time, for those who want to hear from us, to describe what we do, how we have helped others, and how we are compensated. We never talk about products when we first meet you (this happens later, when we implement your plan). We want to hear your concerns. We want to know why you came to see us. If we can find a place whereby your concerns are aligned with our skills and you want us to help, then we will make an offer to do so.
We believe we do this the right way, for the right reasons, and always in our clients’ best interest. Do we constantly look at other ways of doing business and of improving every single thing? We do. Relentless improvement is how you become outstanding in your field, and we know that there is always something we can make better - evolution being the nature of the world.
All businesses need revenue, and the sales process is the way they create revenue. It is a natural thing - at least, it should be. Then humans get engaged. Not everyone has your best interest in mind. Incentives can have a positive or negative effect. Incentives (if any) should result from outstanding client outcomes, not how much revenue an advisor generates or the number of new clients acquired.
How are we sure we are acting in your best interest? The foundation of a mutually beneficial, true best interest process (in this industry, it is called being a fiduciary) is mindset:
Contracts, disclosures, web pages, and the like are all interesting and matter not at all if the mindset is flawed. What matters is what we do. If we are doing our utmost to benefit you at every turn, without regard to our own compensation, that is “best interests”. We have no need for 1,200 pages, or 50 pages, of definition to behave like this. We need the right mindset. We need to be aware of our own biases. And we need to be constantly learning and improving.
Having the right mindset, we can then have an open conversation with you regarding your needs and why you came to see us. In that process, should we find a match of our capabilities and your needs, we can offer to help. We can create a transparent agreement that defines what we expect from you and what can expect from us, including our fee. It should not and does not have to be combative, adversarial, or taking advantage of either side.
That’s a collaborative, mutually beneficial discovery process. It is sales. I just don’t like to call it that due to the connotation associated with sales.
Sundry:
Spencer Jakab’s “The Revolution That Wasn’t” is fun and informative. Definitely worth the read. So is “Number Go Up”, by Zeke Faux.
Moving song of the week