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5 Essential Elements of an Effective Client Conversion Process for Financial Advisors
Mark Little highlights the importance of client conversion skills for financial advisors, detailing five of the 15 essential elements for effective client engagement. These include starting meetings promptly with focus, creating an emotionally charged experience, ensuring the meeting is inherently valuable, charging for initial interviews to reflect their worth, and requiring both spouses to attend meetings to maximize effectiveness.
Video Transcription
in this video I’m going to cover five of
the believe it or not 15 essential
elements of an effective client
conversion process so uh let let me give
you a little context as to what this is
I’m Mark little and I have been saying
for a quarter of a century that there
are three skills that if you are a
professional retail financial adviser
that’s a financial advisor that
coordinates the Affairs for individuals
and
families uh that that there are three
skills you must Master if you’re going
to be successful the first skill is what
I call client acquisition skills that
includes lead generation uh let’s face
it you have to be able to fill your
calendar with enough people who want to
sit down with you and explore whether
whether or not working together with you
is a good idea so I call that client
acquisition skills that’s not what we’re
talking about today what we’re talking
about today is the next skill it’s
called client conversion skills so what
are we talking about with this well if
if if you are good at lead generation
then you find yourself sitting across
from people quite often who who want to
explore doing business with you and the
client conversion skill
it means that if you find yourself
sitting in front of someone who actually
does meet the profile of the client that
you serve vest how skilled are you at
being able to convert that individual
from a non-paying client in you know a
non-client into an actual paying client
it’s a skill to be able to make the case
that that your skills in your service
model is precisely what they’re looking
for that’s what I’m calling client
acquis position uh client conversion
skills now what does it amount to it is
the initial client
interview mostly now some of you may
have a multi- meting uh client
conversion process that’s fine what I’m
going to cover today is the initial
client interview as a part of your
client conversion process and what’s the
third skill just to complete the set
client service you have to be skilled at
being able to consistently
exceed your client’s expectations over
time over many many years and so those
are the three skills let’s talk about
the five uh five of the 15 essential
elements of an effective client
conversion process and uh and we’re
going to talk about the initial client
interview so the first uh effect
essential element is that you need to
get straight to business and less than
in a minute so you start the initial
client interview the question is do you
do a little Rapport building first do
you talk about sports do you talk about
weather do you try to find some common
ground with this individual or this
couple on a on a personal level and yuck
it up about that for a minute in an
attempt to become friends first H or do
you get straight to business you you
immediately State the purpose of the
meeting and get right to it well um
the data shows that that uh clients
prefer that you get straight to business
so we we tested this uh many years ago I
would initiate an an initial client
interview with uh both ways I I would I
would do a dozen where I open doing
Rapport building talking about sports
and weather and things we have in common
first for about a minute or two and then
uh and then I did another dozen meetings
or or so where I got straight to
business and what we discovered was uh
depends on the potential client
primarily but I will say this what we
learned was the more affluent the
potential client and the more successful
the affluent client the more they
appreciated getting straight to business
just stating the purpose of the meeting
immediately getting right into it uh
they truly appreciated that so I’ll I’ll
I’ll say it this way uh the more an
individual fits your ideal client
profile the more they appreciate getting
straight to business and really don’t
enjoy the uh Rapport building at the
beginning of the meeting okay number
two is your initial client interview a
compelling experience for them let me
explain when you sit down for for the
very first time with a potential client
to explore whe explore whether or not
you’re going to do business together is
it a is it a positive emotionally
charged
meeting have you designed the meeting so
that when they walk out the door at the
end of the meeting they have more than
just a an
intellectual uh appreciation for all
that got accomplished in that first
meeting but it’s emotional as well they
feel like they’ve really been elevated
and that the meeting was uh so valuable
that they would tell other people about
it so if not then you need to explore
that uh when we implemented that single
essential element uh 24 years ago uh
into our
methodology that changed everything so
it takes some thought um there are
systems around if you’re curious of the
system I used for that I’m be happy to
share it with you uh just contact us and
I’m happy to explain what we ended up
doing to create an emotionally charged
experience for the client but um I
didn’t invent it it was created by a uh
a skilled trainer in our financial
services industry a guy named Bill
backrack so it doesn’t have to be
something you design
it can already exist but the point is
you will be have a more effective uh
initial client interview and you will
have a much more success uh successful
experience making the case to people
that actually do fit your profile if you
can create an emotionally as well as an
intellectually charged meeting agenda
okay that’s number two number three the
the the number three essential element
is
that the people attending your meeting
walk out the door feeling it was
valuable so we’ve talked about getting
down to business right away creating an
agenda that is emotionally as well as
intellectually charging now we’re
talking about
value um the third essential element is
if let’s say somebody does not meet the
profile of the client that you serve
best
so you find yourself in the middle of an
initial client interview with somebody
who does not fit your client profile so
therefore in your head you’re thinking
well we’re not going to do business
together the question is even if you’re
not going to do business together do
they walk out of this meeting with some
work product where they think wow this
meeting was valuable you know I’m I am
so glad I attended this meeting because
it created some work product that I can
use even if I don’t work with this
financial advisor okay so is your
meeting content valuable here’s the
litmus test for
Value can you charge for that
meeting now that’s what that’s what I do
and and I started doing that a quarter
of a century ago I charged $500 for that
initial client interview so just think
about that for a minute if you charged
and I’m not saying charge $500
necessarily that’s just what I charge
but even if you charged any amount like
$250 or $100 if you charged for that
initial client interview is there enough
meat and intellectual value in that
meeting and do you create something that
when they walk out the door they go wow
this is this was worth whatever you’re
charging for the meeting so stop to
consider if you’re not charging is it
because the the meeting itself is not
valuable enough and so I think that
number three you know are are the are
the potential clients leaving your
meeting with something truly of value is
is a critical component here and the the
final essential element element number
five is yes you need to have some ground
rules around the initial client
interview uh that involve both spouses
so in the case where you’re dealing with
a couple rather than an individual and
and I’m talking about even if you’re
dealing with an individual that you come
to find out they’re married and
therefore they’re a
couple um make the ground rule that both
spouses must be
present and uh if you don’t It Won’t Be
an Effective uh process because and and
if you’ve tried it you know exactly what
I mean if you have a meeting an initial
client interview with one but not both
of the
spouses and it’s and you get straight to
business it’s an emotionally charged
positively emotionally charged uh
meeting that is valuable that the work
product created is ex as of
extraordinary value and they bring it
home to their spouse but the other
spouse wasn’t present you know I I’m
saying that you have a less good
chance of
of of persuading both spouses that this
is the best for them than if you just
require both spouses be present which
means you may have some percentage of
people that just say yeah yeah well if
both of us have to to be there then you
know I guess we’re just going to have to
count us out well that’s fine cuz your
your chances weren’t High to begin with
and uh and and the way I deal with this
is I I I ask them because they’ll use
all these excuses they’ll they’ll say oh
I handle all the mdy or my spouse hates
all this money stuff or they might say
oh this is this is a uh second marriage
we both have adult children and and my
spouse has their assets and I have my my
assets they’ll come up with all kinds of
seemingly legitimate reasons to meet
with you one on-one to which I always
just say well let me ask you this you’re
married right yes we are do you consider
marriage to be a a team
effort
now 99% will say yes yes yes marriage is
a team effort uh if they say know and
it’s a very small percentage I think
I’ve only encountered this maybe three
times in 40 years um if they say no it’s
not well then you have a
dysfunctional situation and I do ask are
you are you talking about divorce and if
they’re talking about divorce then of
course obviously I will meet with them
oneon-one they are trying to plan out
the separation from a marriage and of
course I would sit down in that case but
if they are married and uh not planning
to divorce and they claim that marriage
is not a team
effort you can believe me or not just
take it as a dysfunctional situation
that is unlikely to become a client a
good client for you so just give it up
make it a rule both spouses must be
present the vast majority of people and
and they may run an attempt on you to
say oh I handle all the money or
whatever the case Cas and you say well
is marriage a team effort and they say
yes say well I’m going to be asking
questions that involve both of you and I
I just don’t it wouldn’t be right for
you to answer on your spouse’s behalf
right and and when your spouse finds out
that you were in a meeting like kind of
speaking on their behalf uh most people
would rather speak for themselves and
especially when it comes to envisioning
your ideal future both spouses have a
stake in that and U you know it’s just
the way we do things here uh both
spouses must be present or it’s just not
worth the effort so uh that’s how you
handle that and and so if you’ll do
these five things and you’ll redesign
your initial client interview around
this you will have great success at once
you’ve mastered client acquisition which
is lead generation and now your calendar
is filled with lots of people who want
to sit down with you to explore whether
or not not they want to do business with
you or not and now you have five of
these 15 Essential
Elements uh for an effective client
conversion process by just ensuring
those first five things are are in place
and fully functional uh you will
increase the likelihood uh that you’ll
that you’ll acquire clients as long as
they fit your client profile uh than
anything else that you could do we have
the data on this not to mention fact
that I experimented with this enough
just to make sure that it works uh so I
can tell you with authority that this is
the way to design your client conversion
process so until next time I leave you
with that and wish you every future
success I’m Mark little
the believe it or not 15 essential
elements of an effective client
conversion process so uh let let me give
you a little context as to what this is
I’m Mark little and I have been saying
for a quarter of a century that there
are three skills that if you are a
professional retail financial adviser
that’s a financial advisor that
coordinates the Affairs for individuals
and
families uh that that there are three
skills you must Master if you’re going
to be successful the first skill is what
I call client acquisition skills that
includes lead generation uh let’s face
it you have to be able to fill your
calendar with enough people who want to
sit down with you and explore whether
whether or not working together with you
is a good idea so I call that client
acquisition skills that’s not what we’re
talking about today what we’re talking
about today is the next skill it’s
called client conversion skills so what
are we talking about with this well if
if if you are good at lead generation
then you find yourself sitting across
from people quite often who who want to
explore doing business with you and the
client conversion skill
it means that if you find yourself
sitting in front of someone who actually
does meet the profile of the client that
you serve vest how skilled are you at
being able to convert that individual
from a non-paying client in you know a
non-client into an actual paying client
it’s a skill to be able to make the case
that that your skills in your service
model is precisely what they’re looking
for that’s what I’m calling client
acquis position uh client conversion
skills now what does it amount to it is
the initial client
interview mostly now some of you may
have a multi- meting uh client
conversion process that’s fine what I’m
going to cover today is the initial
client interview as a part of your
client conversion process and what’s the
third skill just to complete the set
client service you have to be skilled at
being able to consistently
exceed your client’s expectations over
time over many many years and so those
are the three skills let’s talk about
the five uh five of the 15 essential
elements of an effective client
conversion process and uh and we’re
going to talk about the initial client
interview so the first uh effect
essential element is that you need to
get straight to business and less than
in a minute so you start the initial
client interview the question is do you
do a little Rapport building first do
you talk about sports do you talk about
weather do you try to find some common
ground with this individual or this
couple on a on a personal level and yuck
it up about that for a minute in an
attempt to become friends first H or do
you get straight to business you you
immediately State the purpose of the
meeting and get right to it well um
the data shows that that uh clients
prefer that you get straight to business
so we we tested this uh many years ago I
would initiate an an initial client
interview with uh both ways I I would I
would do a dozen where I open doing
Rapport building talking about sports
and weather and things we have in common
first for about a minute or two and then
uh and then I did another dozen meetings
or or so where I got straight to
business and what we discovered was uh
depends on the potential client
primarily but I will say this what we
learned was the more affluent the
potential client and the more successful
the affluent client the more they
appreciated getting straight to business
just stating the purpose of the meeting
immediately getting right into it uh
they truly appreciated that so I’ll I’ll
I’ll say it this way uh the more an
individual fits your ideal client
profile the more they appreciate getting
straight to business and really don’t
enjoy the uh Rapport building at the
beginning of the meeting okay number
two is your initial client interview a
compelling experience for them let me
explain when you sit down for for the
very first time with a potential client
to explore whe explore whether or not
you’re going to do business together is
it a is it a positive emotionally
charged
meeting have you designed the meeting so
that when they walk out the door at the
end of the meeting they have more than
just a an
intellectual uh appreciation for all
that got accomplished in that first
meeting but it’s emotional as well they
feel like they’ve really been elevated
and that the meeting was uh so valuable
that they would tell other people about
it so if not then you need to explore
that uh when we implemented that single
essential element uh 24 years ago uh
into our
methodology that changed everything so
it takes some thought um there are
systems around if you’re curious of the
system I used for that I’m be happy to
share it with you uh just contact us and
I’m happy to explain what we ended up
doing to create an emotionally charged
experience for the client but um I
didn’t invent it it was created by a uh
a skilled trainer in our financial
services industry a guy named Bill
backrack so it doesn’t have to be
something you design
it can already exist but the point is
you will be have a more effective uh
initial client interview and you will
have a much more success uh successful
experience making the case to people
that actually do fit your profile if you
can create an emotionally as well as an
intellectually charged meeting agenda
okay that’s number two number three the
the the number three essential element
is
that the people attending your meeting
walk out the door feeling it was
valuable so we’ve talked about getting
down to business right away creating an
agenda that is emotionally as well as
intellectually charging now we’re
talking about
value um the third essential element is
if let’s say somebody does not meet the
profile of the client that you serve
best
so you find yourself in the middle of an
initial client interview with somebody
who does not fit your client profile so
therefore in your head you’re thinking
well we’re not going to do business
together the question is even if you’re
not going to do business together do
they walk out of this meeting with some
work product where they think wow this
meeting was valuable you know I’m I am
so glad I attended this meeting because
it created some work product that I can
use even if I don’t work with this
financial advisor okay so is your
meeting content valuable here’s the
litmus test for
Value can you charge for that
meeting now that’s what that’s what I do
and and I started doing that a quarter
of a century ago I charged $500 for that
initial client interview so just think
about that for a minute if you charged
and I’m not saying charge $500
necessarily that’s just what I charge
but even if you charged any amount like
$250 or $100 if you charged for that
initial client interview is there enough
meat and intellectual value in that
meeting and do you create something that
when they walk out the door they go wow
this is this was worth whatever you’re
charging for the meeting so stop to
consider if you’re not charging is it
because the the meeting itself is not
valuable enough and so I think that
number three you know are are the are
the potential clients leaving your
meeting with something truly of value is
is a critical component here and the the
final essential element element number
five is yes you need to have some ground
rules around the initial client
interview uh that involve both spouses
so in the case where you’re dealing with
a couple rather than an individual and
and I’m talking about even if you’re
dealing with an individual that you come
to find out they’re married and
therefore they’re a
couple um make the ground rule that both
spouses must be
present and uh if you don’t It Won’t Be
an Effective uh process because and and
if you’ve tried it you know exactly what
I mean if you have a meeting an initial
client interview with one but not both
of the
spouses and it’s and you get straight to
business it’s an emotionally charged
positively emotionally charged uh
meeting that is valuable that the work
product created is ex as of
extraordinary value and they bring it
home to their spouse but the other
spouse wasn’t present you know I I’m
saying that you have a less good
chance of
of of persuading both spouses that this
is the best for them than if you just
require both spouses be present which
means you may have some percentage of
people that just say yeah yeah well if
both of us have to to be there then you
know I guess we’re just going to have to
count us out well that’s fine cuz your
your chances weren’t High to begin with
and uh and and the way I deal with this
is I I I ask them because they’ll use
all these excuses they’ll they’ll say oh
I handle all the mdy or my spouse hates
all this money stuff or they might say
oh this is this is a uh second marriage
we both have adult children and and my
spouse has their assets and I have my my
assets they’ll come up with all kinds of
seemingly legitimate reasons to meet
with you one on-one to which I always
just say well let me ask you this you’re
married right yes we are do you consider
marriage to be a a team
effort
now 99% will say yes yes yes marriage is
a team effort uh if they say know and
it’s a very small percentage I think
I’ve only encountered this maybe three
times in 40 years um if they say no it’s
not well then you have a
dysfunctional situation and I do ask are
you are you talking about divorce and if
they’re talking about divorce then of
course obviously I will meet with them
oneon-one they are trying to plan out
the separation from a marriage and of
course I would sit down in that case but
if they are married and uh not planning
to divorce and they claim that marriage
is not a team
effort you can believe me or not just
take it as a dysfunctional situation
that is unlikely to become a client a
good client for you so just give it up
make it a rule both spouses must be
present the vast majority of people and
and they may run an attempt on you to
say oh I handle all the money or
whatever the case Cas and you say well
is marriage a team effort and they say
yes say well I’m going to be asking
questions that involve both of you and I
I just don’t it wouldn’t be right for
you to answer on your spouse’s behalf
right and and when your spouse finds out
that you were in a meeting like kind of
speaking on their behalf uh most people
would rather speak for themselves and
especially when it comes to envisioning
your ideal future both spouses have a
stake in that and U you know it’s just
the way we do things here uh both
spouses must be present or it’s just not
worth the effort so uh that’s how you
handle that and and so if you’ll do
these five things and you’ll redesign
your initial client interview around
this you will have great success at once
you’ve mastered client acquisition which
is lead generation and now your calendar
is filled with lots of people who want
to sit down with you to explore whether
or not not they want to do business with
you or not and now you have five of
these 15 Essential
Elements uh for an effective client
conversion process by just ensuring
those first five things are are in place
and fully functional uh you will
increase the likelihood uh that you’ll
that you’ll acquire clients as long as
they fit your client profile uh than
anything else that you could do we have
the data on this not to mention fact
that I experimented with this enough
just to make sure that it works uh so I
can tell you with authority that this is
the way to design your client conversion
process so until next time I leave you
with that and wish you every future
success I’m Mark little
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