4 reasons your friends don’t want to be your clients

By Bryce Sanders

In theory, you already talked to all of the people closest to you when you were building your business.

If you have, in fact, had these conversations and wondered why some of your friends have not moved forward with working with you as their advisor, these are five possible reasons, and the message you can offer to adjust their perspective:

1.    Confidentiality

They think you name-drop to win business. They don’t know you are bound by confidentiality.

Your message: One advisor would get a friend to stop by the office before heading out for drinks. He would mention to the friend that they won’t see a client name on a binder or report anywhere in sight and then add, “If you ever do business with me and another friend visits, they won’t see your name on reports either.”

2.    They don’t understand what you do

It’s human nature to pigeonhole people. They know you sell insurance. They don’t need life insurance, end of story. They have no clue you offer investment advice or retirement plans.

Your message: Realize you are guilty of making the same assumptions. Ask what they do, mentioning you have a vague idea. Take a sincere interest in their explanation. This lays the groundwork for you to follow by briefly telling your story.

3.    Risk to the friendship

People worry if the business relationship turns sour, the friendship is lost too.

Your message: Early on, provide a way to unwind the relationship. “If we work together, you will get a report card. If I’m doing a lousy job, you will be able to fire me.”

4.    What size accounts do you handle?

High-net-worth sounds like “More money than you’ve got.”

Your message: “We find we can be of the most value to people with a combined net worth of $2 million or more.” This gets them adding up retirement accounts, home equity, fully paid-up life insurance policies, annuities, securities accounts and more. They suddenly feel wealthy. You have subtly introduced nontraditional product lines.

Read more in the Round the Table article “Expanding your client base close to home.”