Marketing

What common presentation mistakes lose clients?

 |  Adam Slonim

For some financial advisors, pitching to a prospect is like a fashion show. They put on a splashy presentation about how many clients and credentials they have, and make it all about them. It’s meant to impress, but the client is left out of the presentation.

The splashy presentation problem

What does a prospect really hear when a pitch starts off with, “Let me tell you about what we do and how we go about it.” They may hear that the financial advisor cares more about growing their client list than the client. They might also hear that you as a financial advisor have so many clients that you won’t be able to give that much attention to them.

How to fix the problem

It’s very common to think that it’s about credentials. When you pitch to prospects, remember that they only want to hear how important they are.

Presentation before rapport problem

A second common mistake is that it’s all about the presentation. We think a 45-minute or an hour presentation is going to knock them over. In the years I’ve been doing this, there are few presentations that are so brilliant and incredible that they can replace weeks of rapport building.

How to fix the problem

Build rapport with the prospect by learning about them and their boundary conditions. It’s the environment in which they operate and includes their needs, challenges and opportunities they have.

There’s a fundamental difference between presentation and pitch. Pitching is a process that includes rapport.

Adam Slonim, of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, is a business coach and founder of the Blended Learning Group, which assists organizations with leadership through emotional intelligence, communicating with purpose and sales capability. For more, watch “The ability to pitch, the confidence to win.” (MDRT member exclusive)

Discover more ideas for client meetings and presentations with these MDRT member exclusive presentations:

Verified by ExactMetrics