What Every Financial Professional Needs to Know from Politicians

There are lessons that financial professionals can learn by watching the debates with our 2016 political hopefuls. You can see that the messages which resonate most with voters are those messages where the candidate seems to have his/her finger on the pulse of the pain that voters are feeling (e.g., the threats of ISIS, terror in the U.S., the economy, etc.).  Once the politicians show that they recognize the pain and offer their “solution” to that pain, the message resonates very well with voters.

Other candidates spend their time touting themselves and their experience or comparing themselves to their competitors.  These politicians usually fall behind and do not resonate with voters.

In much the same way, many financial services professionals spend the bulk of their time with prospects touting their knowledge and experience and putting down the competition, rather than carefully listening to the prospect to find out her/his fears, needs, and “pain.”  Only when a genuine relationship is first established by listening and understanding the pain points, is the professional in the best position to make the sale with products specifically designed to address the prospects’ fears, needs and “pain”.