Recently, an advisor who was taking our course on prospecting, “The Art of Acquiring Female Clients” told us he was struggling with the notion of calling a woman to congratulate her on a promotion and, he asked us when, in that conversation, should he tell her what he did for a living.
This is what we told him – “the first conversation isn’t the time to talk about yourself. It’s an opportunity to show off your relationship-building skills and listen. There will be plenty of time later to ask for her business.”
Still not convinced, we did a bit of quasi roll-playing with him. We suggested he could say something like, “Congrats on the promotion! No doubt well deserved -- XYZ Company is lucky to have you. I saw/heard about the announcement [on LinkedIn, in the paper, from a colleague} Sounds really interesting, I would love to ...
He stopped us right there and said, “a man would think this is stupid, to reach out in this way and not get down to the business of why I’m really calling – which, of course, is to get business.”
We realized immediately that his having so much trouble with this was a perfect example of the differences between men and women and how they interact.
He was surprised that a woman would feel flattered that he was interested and took the time to call her to congratulate her on a promotion. We told him, this was an excellent first step in building a relationship with a potential female client – what he does for a living would eventually come up organically. To talk about himself and turn it into a sales pitch would defeat the purpose. We went on to say that, if he shows interest in her life, she will certainly reciprocate and ask about his at some point.
This way, by the time she learns that he is a financial advisor she will trust him and will either recommend him to friends or reach out to him when she needs something.
Related: Don’t Let Your Female Clients Turn to Another Advisor
In the end, he understood but it didn’t come easily – he continued to be a bit skeptical. It’s hard for some male advisors to internalize that women do not think or behave like them and what they may think is weird isn’t to the women they are reaching.
What’s the lesson?
To succeed in attracting female investors, advisors have to learn a new language. It won’t happen in one day. They have to take the necessary steps to learn how to interact with female investors in a way that resonates with them – because the rewards are huge! Today women have unparalleled assets and they are looking for advisors who “get them.”
In the courses we offer financial advisors, Retaining Female Clients, How Women Make Financial Decisions, How to Evaluate the Risk of Female Clients Leaving You, Four Steps to Succeeding With Female Clients and The Art of Acquiring Female Clients, we talk extensively about the differences between men and women in their approach to finances and how to understand and change your advisor behaviors in order to succeed with female investors.
We understand that changing behaviors is not easy – for anyone, let alone busy financial advisors who have established a successful process, which has worked well for them…at least this far. Understanding how difficult it is, our courses offer tools, case studies, scenarios, dialogues, even “cheat sheets” to help you learn the language that women speak.
The feedback has been excellent – those taking our courses have raved about it – several saying that not only did it help them understand and connect more effectively with women but it helped with male clients too. Almost without exception, advisors who took the course indicated they had signed new business as a result – that they wouldn’t have gotten otherwise.
Related: How I Converted Men To My Women's Practice
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We invite you to leverage the power you’ll gain when you learn the language of women who are expected to control almost 70% of all financial assets by 2020. Being prepared to speak this new dialect is your first step to become the financial advisor of choice for the women with money who are and will be looking for advice.
Visit our website at www.strategymarketing.ca and see which course best suits your needs.