‘Old School’ Sales Techniques Less Effective

‘Old school’ sales techniques and objection-handling have little place in the modern era of  financial advice.

So says long-established trans Tasman business coach, Tony Vidler, who suggests what advisers often fail to appreciate is the emotional journey the client is going through during the advice process, which he says is far more challenging and time consuming than the time it takes them to understand the logic and rationale behind the advice:

“What we are dealing with at the recommendation phase is often shock or avoidance behaviour,” says Vidler in an opinion piece published in Riskinfo’s sister publication, RiskinfoNZ. “It isn’t about logic or common sense,” continues Vidler. “It is about emotions and people adapting and adjusting to new information.”

Distilling many of the messages advisers share with their clients, Vidler says advisers are typically saying to a prospective client “…here is why you won’t get what you want in life,” or “…this is what you have to change to get what you want in life.”

…all the old-school objection handling sales techniques …definitely don’t help

In noting either of these messages is challenging, if not disheartening for many prospects, Vidler cautions that all the old-school objection handling sales techniques (which he adds never really worked that well) definitely don’t help at this point in today’s customer buying journey.

He says trickery, pressure and glib lines don’t assist someone grappling with the shock of finding out they are a lot further away from their goals than they imagined, or that some of today’s pleasures have to be foregone:

“‘Clever objection-handling techniques do not help people face the issues and move into acceptance of the need to change something – which is effectively what every financial advice recommendation involves,” says Vidler.

Citing challenges many advisers themselves must confront in terms of learning new technical skills or regulatory requirements, he says the same feelings of shock, anger and avoidance occur before accepting a new reality.

“Only when we get to that stage can we begin working out how to adapt and use the new information, leading us to test and try variations before finally settling upon how to implement it best.

…one of the secrets of successfully advising today’s prospective clients is understanding the emotional journey they are being asked to take

“It is the same for our clients much of the time,” says Vidler, who adds one of the secrets of successfully advising today’s prospective clients is understanding the emotional journey they are being asked to take, and more importantly, understand where they are on the journey at any given time:

Vidler advocates the value of time: “Giving customers the recommendation, and then giving them time, and then space, and then supporting information and attention, works because it matches their needs as they go through the emotional learning curve.”

He says the amount of time, and the amount of space, will vary from person to person and it is important to understand the time and space needed by each prospect.

Advisers can click here to read Vidler’s full opinion piece, published this week in RiskinfoNZ, entitled Understand The Buying Journey of Your Clients.