Financial Services Sales

Handbook

Financial Services Sales

Handbook
A Professionals Guide to Becoming
aTop Producer
Clifton T. Warren

Financial Services Sales Handbook: A Professionals Guide to Becoming a

TopProducer
Copyright Business Expert Press, LLC, 2016.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other
except for brief quotations, not to exceed 400 words, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
First published in 2016 by
Business Expert Press, LLC
222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017
www.businessexpertpress.com
ISBN-13: 978-1-63157-493-1 (paperback)
ISBN-13: 978-1-63157-494-8 (e-book)
Business Expert Press Finance and Financial Management Collection
Collection ISSN: 2331-0049 (print)
Collection ISSN: 2331-0057 (electronic)
Cover and interior design by Exeter Premedia Services Private Ltd.,
Chennai, India
First edition: 2016
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Printed in the United States of America.

This book is dedicated to my children, Nicole, Kallen, and Jordan,

threewonderful people who each have brought pride
and joy into my life!

Abstract
Acquiring, retaining, and developing clients are the major steps for any
successful business; failure to accomplish these steps is the major reason
many professionals and firms fail to achieve their full potential.
The financial services industry is currently facing its biggest c hallenge:
increased competition; smarter buyers who want to deal with p
rofessionals
instead of sales people; and the emergence of social media, including
Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google.
The Financial Sales Handbook: A Guide to Become a Top Producer is
for experienced professionals as well as for those who want to make the
transition from managing work to more effective selling. The book is
also for professionals who want to sharpen their skills. It is intended as
the nucleus for corporate training programs as well as for self-employed
professionals who must market and sell to stay in business.
This book presents techniques and tips on

Prospecting
Niche marketing
Leveraging existing clients
Developing talent
Time management
Social media marketing
Positioning and branding
Cross-selling
Warming up cold calling

Keywords
cross-selling, financial services marketing, lead generation, niche market
ing, prospecting, referral marketing, relationship management, sales
pipeline, sales tactics, selling

Contents
Acknowledgmentsxi
Introductionxiii
Part 1

Laying the Foundation................................................ 1

Chapter 1

Creating the Pathway: Where Are You Today?..................3

Chapter 2

Discovering Your Natural Prospects and Clients.............15

Chapter 3 Getting Attention: Packaging and Positioning Your

Valueand Expertise........................................................27
Part 2

Getting More from Existing Clients.......................... 37

Chapter 4

Leveraging Clients to Get New Ones.............................39

Chapter 5 Cross-Selling: Unlocking the Potential of Your

ClientBase....................................................................53
Chapter 6 Your Digital Network: Obtain Referrals from
SocialMedia..................................................................67
Part 3

Acquiring New Business............................................ 77

Chapter 7

Reach-Out Marketing: Warming-Up Cold Calls............79

Chapter 8 Attraction Marketing: Getting Them to Come

to You............................................................................89
Chapter 9 Target Marketing: Stealing Market Share from a
Competitor..................................................................103
Chapter 10 Converting Opportunities into Appointments
and Clients..................................................................115
Part 4

Accelerating Growth................................................ 129

Chapter 11 Content Marketing: Leveraging Your Knowledge

andExpertise...............................................................131
Chapter 12 Personal Planning: Making Your Plans a Reality...........143

x Contents

Resources165
Additional Articles175
Notes179
References181
Index183

Acknowledgments
This book is a synthesis and consolidation of the best ideas, techniques,
and strategies Ive learned about financial services marketing and have
practiced for over 15 years. Id like to thank those who contributed to this
book, the team at Business Expert Press for providing me the opportunity
to publish with them; Roger C. Parker for providing the inspiration for
the concept of this book; Michael McLaughlin for his business guidance,
Heather Suqioka who proof read every chapter and provided valuable
advice, and Cheryl Lacey for her encouragement and support. Finally,
thank you to all the clients and professionals that Ive the pleasure of
working with and learning from.

Introduction
This I Believe
Did you know that everybody is a salesperson, in the sense that we must
persuade others of the idea that the products or services we can provide
will lead to a better life? This goes for anyone who earns money: from
carpenters, doctors, and teachers to engineers.
Selling for a living is an honorable and respectful occupation that
plays a significant role in the economy and our daily lives; without it, we
would not enjoy many of the luxuries that we often take for granted.
The art of selling has been practiced for centuries and was used by
the Phoenicians and Greeks as they sailed the Mediterranean in search of
buyers for their oils and perfumes.
I often see leaders of financial services firms, who want to improve
their sales performance, make the mistake of trying to find a born salesperson. Over time, most discover that searching for a born salesperson
is a fruitless exercise, as no such person exists. The simple fact is that
effective salespeople are made, developed, and molded, not born, and
they come from a variety of backgrounds. They may have educational
qualifications, or they may have no qualifications at all.
Selling is an acquired skill and one that can be developed, at least to
some degree, by anyone. When a professional develops their capabilities
in the art of selling, they are often said to be a born salesperson with
natural talent. They have so thoroughly mastered the sales process and are
having so much fun that they seem to have a natural talent.
But such skilled sales professionals are no more born to their profession than are top athletes, doctors, or lawyers. Top professionals acquire
their skills through study, reading books, and attending seminars conducted by professional sales trainers. They learn the tools and techniques
of selling from coaching, learning aides, and observing other selling professionals. Of course, the best teacher is on-the-job training, performing
sales tasks under the guidance of an experienced, trained professional who

xiv Introduction

provides constructive help to replace fear with confidence and inaction

with action.
Top professionals reach the top by consistently practicing the fundamentals of selling:

Finding prospects
Qualifying and obtaining appointments
Identifying needs and providing solutions
Persuading prospects to buy
Generating referrals from clients

Im often asked to conduct training and development programs to

quickly develop top professionals. While the idea sounds good, in reality,
training cannot be accomplished quickly, any more than one can become
a doctor, lawyer, or dentist quickly.
Selling is a learned skill like any other; your abilities will improve by
constantly practicing the fundamentals of selling techniques. Of course,
some professionals will develop into better salespeople than others, and
skill levels will vary, as they do in all other professions.
Top financial services professionals are made, developed, molded;
they are not born. Selling is learned skills and almost anyone can sharpen
their skills with constant practice of the fundamentals. This book contains dozens of workable ideas that will show you how to:

Generate high-quality leads

Build market awareness
Convert leads into clients
Sell more to existing clients
Develop and implement a sales plan
Plus, much more

However, simply reading this book wont make you a top professional;
what you will gain is an understanding of the skills needed to become a
top professional. If you understand and accept the fact that no one is born
to sell and that it can take several years to become a top professional, then

 Introduction

xv

almost anyone is capable of improving their sales skills. Even if you never
considered yourself a salesperson, you can sharpen your selling skills, and
over time you may just become a top performerone of those so-called
born salespeople.
This I Believe!

PART 1

Laying the Foundation

CHAPTER 1

Creating the Pathway:

Where Are You Today?
Understanding the elements that drive your business is important to
creating a thriving financial services firm and establishing the right goals
that will enable you to wisely invest your limited time and resources
toward those areas that will provide the highest payoff. While most professionals understand and appreciate the importance of planning, for
many, planning unfortunately consists of little more than reviewing the
previous years results and projecting forward for the next 12 months. The
top-performing firms and professionals constantly adapt their services,
promotion, selling, and practices toward the needs of their targeted
markets. They understand that to produce consistent growth, some

changes are inevitable, and others will come as a result of creative effort.
After reading the chapter and absorbing the ideas, you will be able to:

Identify your growth position

Analyze your sales capabilities
Categorize and prioritize your clients
Evaluate the quality of your relationships

Whats Your Growth Story?

In my experience, Ive found that most plans fail due to poor implementation rather than poor development. A major cause is a lack of understanding of the current state of play; this results in developing plans that
are simply based on the previous results and producing the wrong plan at
the wrong time and place. Finding your growth story (position) and using
this as the foundation for developing your growth plans is a way to go.
Table 1.1 provides an easy way to analyze your growth story:

FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES HANDBOOK

Table 1.1 Growth position

Unclear

Excellent

Category 1
success

Category 2
doing ok

Poor

Implementation

Goals and plans

Clear

Category 3
trouble

Category 4
failure

Category 1: Vertical growthFirms in this category are enjoying

consistent organic growth and have strong sales capabilities. Category 2:
Horizontal growthOrganic growth is up and down; sales capabilities
are strong but not applied on a consistent basis, producing inconsistent
organic growth. Firms in this category are capable of producing above-
average results. Category 3: Flat growthFirms in this category have a
loyal and long-term client base, but due to their poor sales capabilities
they are unable to maximize value, resulting in a majority of part-time
clients with little prospects for new business growth. If this continues,
the business will quickly move into Category 4. Category 4: Negative
growthFirms in this category have poor retention of existing clients
and are losing existing business at a faster rate than it can be replaced.
Weak sales capabilities means these firms will struggle to survive.
Action Steps:
Identify the quadrant that your business is operating at today.
Rate your organic growth over the past one to two years on a
scale of 1 to 5 (1 being the lowest).
Describe your firms current story.

Sales Effectiveness
In top firms that enjoy vertical growth and consistently produce solid
returns, the owners excel in five areas:

Creating the Pathway: Where Are You Today? 5

1. Sales capabilities: Ability to acquire new business and retain existing

business.
2. Sales leadership: Developing sales plans, recruiting and developing
top talent.
3. Service teamwork: Workflow management and good proactive relationships with suppliers.
4. Team management: Annual business planning process and creating
a culture of accountability.
5. Financial growth: Focus on revenue growth and profitability.
Table 1.2 is a tool to help you rate your firms sales effectiveness across
five areas. It also provides a selection of goals to choose from in each of
the five areas.
Table 1.2 Sales effectiveness worksheet
Sales capabilities

Yes

No

We have our own selling system or process.

We have an ideal client profile.


The majority of new business is from a referral or
introduction.

There is a plan to convert part-time clients into 100%
full-time clients.

We have developed expertise in one or more niche
markets.

Sales leadership

We have established new business and retention goals.

There is a strong culture of accountability.

We are able to track and monitor our sales pipeline.

We regularly identify and recruit new talent.


There is a program in place to coach and develop sales
talent.

Service and teamwork


We hold weekly meetings between sales and service
teams.

There is a formal retention program for key accounts.


We use automation to manage the sales pipeline and
leads.

All workflows and processes are documented.

We have dedicated niche market service teams.

(Continued)

FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES HANDBOOK

Table 1.2 Sales effectiveness worksheet (Continued)

Team management

There is a common vision and mission for the firm.


Annual business plans and sales activities are monitored.

There is a culture of accountability.


We have formal inbound and outbound marketing
strategies.

We have documented the client experience.

Financial management

Plans are in place to manage annual income and profits.

We manage our account receivables.

There is contingency income for the business.

We manage financial relationships with suppliers.


We have established key performance indicators for key
accounts.

Action Steps:
Scan through each of the five categories and select areas that
apply.
Select your three highest priorities.
When establishing goals and objectives, less is better. Be
realistic: you are much better off focusing on a few goals and
achieving them than scattering your time and energy across
many objectives and doing a poor job.

Focus
The most important skills, qualities, or attributes of top performers are
their highly developed ability to learn from past experience, being able
to reflect on their knowledge and experience, and being able to organize
their observations and leverage their success to their advantage. To determine the present state of your business, analyze the following seven areas:
Existing clients and prospective relationships
Service offerings

Creating the Pathway: Where Are You Today? 7

Targets of opportunity
Network quality
Markets you are serving
Market position
Value position

Existing Clients and Prospective Client Relationships

Your existing clients are your current revenue sources. Prospective clients
are qualified prospects with whom youve had a serious discussion about
their needs; they represent your future revenue. Your goal is to continually maintain a healthy sales pipeline of prospective clients flowing with
your ideal clients (clones of your best clients). Therefore, its important
to assess your existing client relationships to fully understand the nature
of your business. This will also come in handy later when we discuss new
business approaches and techniques in Parts 2 and 3. Classify every c lient
into Category A, B, or C to identify long-term growth potential and
opportunities. Ive often observed that when professionals complain they
are stretched for time, often the cause is that they are providing Category
C clients with a Category A level of service. Two additional categories that
my clients have found useful are Category U (undesirable) for the bottom
50 percent of clients that only generate 5 percent of total revenue and
Category M (mega clients) for the top 2 percent that produce 35 percent
of total revenue. Action Steps:
Run a report listing all of your clients, from smallest to
largest, by revenue.
Calculate your total client revenue.
Identify your top 5 percent, those clients that produce
50percent of revenue; these are your A clients.
Identify the next 15 percent of clients that produce 30percent
of revenue; these are your B clients.
Everyone else, the bottom 80 percent, is your C clients,
probably producing just 20 percent of revenue.
Are you happy with the balance of clients in each category?

FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES HANDBOOK

Service Offerings
Your products and service offerings are largely intangible ideas purchased
for the end result they will produce. Your clients dont really purchase
services: they purchase the expectation of receiving a more favorable future,
which includes the expected benefits of the purchase. Benefits exist solely
in the perception of the clients and are always related to your clients needs
and expectations about the way in which those needs and expectations will
be met. Every product and service that you offer either improves, reduces,
protects, restructures, identifies, or resolves something. Use the Service Perception Map in Figure 1.1 to review your products and services offerings.
Action Steps:
Select a product or service.
Each of the verbs in Figure 1.1 describes how your product
delivers the outcome.
Repeat the exercise for the remainder of your products and
services.
Evaluate each product as leading edge, competitive, or falling
behind.
Targets of Opportunity
Targets of opportunity are growth opportunities from existing clients,
prospects, referral sources, and alliance partners. These often have a brief
shelf life and include:

Improve

Protect

Reduce

Name of product/
Service

Develop

Figure 1.1 Service perception map

Restructure

Resolve

Creating the Pathway: Where Are You Today? 9

Clients with needs and a budget

Category B clients with potential for upgrading to CategoryA
Category C clients with potential for upgrading to CategoryB
New referrals and leads to be followed up
Prospects to be converted to clients
Launch of a new service or product

Converting targets of opportunity into revenue and growth should

always be a high-priority task. Action Steps:
Use the above checklist to identify opportunities that require
follow-up.
Set up a spreadsheet for Category A and Category B clients,
referral sources, and prospects.
List names under the appropriate categories.
List the next action step for each one.
Regularly review your list to ensure that nothing slips through
the cracks.
Network Quality
There are early signals to alert you to corrective action that may need to
be taken to protect an important client relationship and revenue. This is
preventive medicine to protect the health and growth of your business.
Some common signs that should routinely be observed include:

Not following up on new leads

Referral sources have suddenly become inactive
Category A and Category B clients are unhappy
Category A and Category B clients have stopped making
referrals
Clients are no longer receptive to discussing additional
services
Category C clients are becoming more troublesome or risky
to retain

10

FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES HANDBOOK

Action Steps:
Use the aforementioned checklist to identify the areas of
attention within your business.
Create a corrective action plan for each.
Markets You Are Serving
All top performers credit their success to receiving a steady stream of
client referrals that provides an excellent source of leads, referrals, and
introductions. Clientreferral relationships need to be carefully managed
as an important business asset. The following are components of effective
networks:
Clients: Category A and Category B clients
Managing your referral network can be time-consuming; however, its
well worth the effort. Building a strong network is a two-way street: you have
to give (reciprocate) in order to receive high-quality and consistent leads.
It can take three to six months before leads can start being produced.
Regularly review the length and quality of your relationships and take
any necessary corrective actions, such as replacing network members
(Table1.3).
Action Steps:
Use the clientreferral worksheet to assess your Category A
and Category B clients.
Whos making referrals on your behalf?
Who makes referrals upon request?
What actions do you need to take to ensure this continues?
Repeat this exercise.
Market Position
You may already be specializing without realizing it. Your Category A
and Category B clients that may make up a significant portion of your

Creating the Pathway: Where Are You Today? 11

Table 1.3 Client referral network worksheet

Provides
referrals
Client

Yes

Quality of
relationship

Potential

(1 to 5)*

H-M-L**

Growing/
stable/decline?

Comments

No

Table 1.4 Markets serving worksheet

Client

Market/
industry

revenues are all part of an industry, a group of clients doing the same
thing, such as retail. They may sell to a similar market or demographic. It
is important to pinpoint and evaluate the industries of your top clients to
ensure there is still a growing demand. Streaming services such as Netflix
have replaced the need to hire DVDs from the local shop. If your top A
clients were video retailers, you could find yourself exposed, and clients
could disappear through no fault of your own.
Table 1.4 examines the markets of your A and B clients.
Rate each industry as either growing, stable, or in decline.
Determine if any further investigation or action is required.

12

FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES HANDBOOK

Value Position
Your value position is what differentiates your business from your competitors. You want to create a point of difference that answers three
important questions:
1. Who are you?
2. What do you do?
3. What type of value do you provide?
Your value position describes how you want to be known and by
whom, for example, in the following statement:

We want to be known as a firm that provides practical solutions to

the current financial and wealth-creation challenges faced by busy
professionals.

Figure 1.2 shows three groups that you should position yourself with:
Targets of opportunity: As previously discussed, these are growth
opportunities from existing and prospective clients; this is essential for
building long-term relationships and repeat business. Network: These are
your referral sources from existing clients and centers of influence; positioning your value will help make it easy for this group to refer business

Targets of
opportunity

Targets of
attention

Network

Figure 1.2 Three groups to position your value

Creating the Pathway: Where Are You Today? 13

to you. Targets of attention: This also extends to lost business and clients
that you wish to upgrade, for example, Category C to Category B, while
offering additional value to existing clients (cross-selling). Action Steps:
List your Category A clients.
Contact several of them and ask their perception on:
Who you are (what you do)
What you do (services you deliver)
Your value (benefits of working with you)
Use the feedback to identify common themes, and adjust your
value position statement accordingly.
Having a clear understanding of your firms state is the foundation
for your firms selling and marketing activities. In the next chapter well
discuss how to discover your natural clients and prospects.

Summary
Understanding the elements that drive your business is
important to creating a thriving financial services firm and
establishing the right goals that will enable you to act wisely.
Most plans fail due to poor implementation rather than poor
development. A major cause is a lack of understanding of the
current state of play. This results in developing plans that are
simply based on the previous results and producing the wrong
plan at the wrong time and place.
In top firms that enjoy vertical growth and consistently produce solid returns, the owners excel in four areas:
Sales capabilities: Ability to acquire new business and retain
existing business.
Sales leadership: Developing sales plans, recruiting, and
developing top talent.
Service teamwork: Workflow management and good proactive relationships with suppliers.
Team management: Annual business planning process and
creating a culture of accountability.

14

FINANCIAL SERVICES SALES HANDBOOK

The most important skills, qualities, or attributes of top

performers are their highly developed ability to learn from
past experience, being able to reflect on their knowledge and
experience, and being able to organize their observations and
leverage their success to their advantage.
Your existing clients are your current revenue sources.
Prospective clients are qualified prospects with whom youve
had a serious discussion about their needs; they represent
yourfuture revenue.
Your goal is to continually maintain a healthy sales pipeline
of prospective clients flowing with your ideal clients (clones
of your best clients). Therefore, its important to assess your
existing client relationships to fully understand the nature of
your business.
Your products and services offerings are largely intangible
ideas purchased for the end result they will produce. Your
clients dont really purchase services: they purchase the expectation of receiving a more favorable future, which includes the
expected benefits of the purchase.
Targets of opportunity are growth opportunities from existing
clients, prospects, referral sources, and alliance partners. These
often have a brief shelf life.
All top performers credit their success to receiving a steady stream of
client referrals that provides an excellent source of leads, referrals, and
introductions.
Your value position is what differentiates your business from your
competitors. You want to create a point of difference that answers three
important questions:
Who are you?
What do you do?
What type of value do you provide?

Index
Advisory board marketing, 95
Attraction marketing methods
advisory board marketing, 95
client appreciation events, 94
conducting seminars, 9293
creating elevator statement, 99101
creating own network, 9394
industry networking, 9699
lunch and learn events, 96
networking within occupation, 99
not-for-profit networking, 9091
orphan community market, 9192
sample questionnaire, 9596
Blog, 134, 137138
Booklets, 133
Business owners marketplace,
103104
Capabilities, positioning of, 34
Client appreciation events, 94
Client events, hosting, 4647
Client marketing system
annual review, 5859
creating yearly road map, 58
identifying, 5758
midterm review, 5960
referrals and introductions, 61
work with trusted advisors, 60
Client process, existing, 3941
Client referral network worksheet,
1011
Client retention process. See Client
marketing system
Concept-focused sale professionals,
5456
Contact program
ongoing tailored, 123
prospect, 124125
Content marketing
leveraging knowledge, 132

marketing information and

knowledge, 134135
newsletters, 136137
protecting digital assets, 140141
types of knowledge, 132134
websites, 135136
writing what we know, 138140
Cross-selling, 56
Cross-selling techniques
client expectations, establishing,
6162
key changes and events, 64
trusted advisors, partnering with,
6263
Cs qualifying method, 8183
Customer relationship management
(CRM) systems, 115116
Digital assets, protecting, 140141
Direct referrals, 4142
Experienced professionals goals
composing e-mails, 2324
inventorying past and present
contacts, 20
social media, 2022
Explicit knowledge, 132
Facebook, 22
Financial growth, 5
Firm, positioning of, 2831
First appointment, 116117
Flat growth, 4
Focusing business
existing clients and prospective
relationships, 7
market position, 1011
network quality, 910
service offerings, 8
serving markets, 1011
targets of opportunity, 89

184 Index

value position, 1213

Follow-up letter or e-mail, 120121
Form kits, 134
Goal planning worksheet, 158
Google+, 22
Growth story
categories, 4
sales effectiveness, 46
Habits, 80
Horizontal growth, 4
Hosting client events, 4647
Hunters versus Trappers, 8283
Ideal client, defining, 7172
Inbound versus outbound
marketing, 90
Industry networking, 9699
Law of reciprocity, 1516
LinkedIn, 21, 6971, 110111
Market position, 1011
Negative growth, 4
Networking within occupation, 99
Network quality, 910
New professional goals
composing e-mails, 19
creating list of names, 1718
follow-up, 20
recycling, 20
Newsletters, 134, 136137
Not-for-profit networking, 9091
Ongoing tailored contact program,
123
Opportunities, in referrals, 4850
Orphan community market, 9192
Personal contact list organizer, 2223
Personal marketing plan, 162163
Personal planning
creating plans, 157
establishing sales philosophy,
144147

establishing schedule, 157160

identifying driving force, 147150
identifying priorities, 151
long-term plans, 161
staying on track, 160161
Personal value, positioning of, 3233
Podcasts, 134, 138
Positioning activities
capabilities, 34
firm, 2831
personal value, 3233
solutions, 3132
Prospect contact program, 124125
Qualified leads, building list of,
8081
Qualifying using questions, 117118
Recycling, 20, 8687
Referral goals, 155
Referrals
direct, 4142
hosting client events, 4647
leads from clients advisors, 4246
opportunities, 4850
social media, 7274
time-tested reach-out techniques,
84
Retention goals, 155
Sale professionals, concept-focused,
5456
Sales capabilities, 5
Sales capacity, 152
Sales concept worksheet, 147
Sales effectiveness, 46
Sales leadership, 5, 153
Sales management, 153
Sales pipeline goals, 155156
49 sample qualification questions,
118120
Second client meeting, 121123
Seminars, attraction marketing
method, 9293
Service teamwork, 5
Six degrees of separation, 6768
Social media
combining other platforms, 75

 Index 185

Facebook, 22
Google+, 22
LinkedIn, 21
referrals, 7274
Solutions, positioning of, 3132
Tacit knowledge, 132
Target marketing
business owners marketplace,
103104
description, 103
Target marketing approach
establish meaning, 109
identifying opportunities,
108109
leveraging event, 110
LinkedIn, 110111
tapping network, 110
using centers of influence, 111

writing compelling e-mail,

112113
Target marketing process
building targeted list, 104105
homework, 105107
maintaining ongoing contact, 107
making approach, 107
Targets of opportunity, 89
Team management, 5
Time-tested reach-out techniques
endless chain marketing, 85
nest referral marketing, 84
niche market, 8485
publication announcements and
changes, 8586
Tip sheets, 133
Value position, 1213
Vertical growth, 4