Storyselling for Financial Advisors : How Top Producers Sell

256 Pages·2000·1.82 MB·English

by  Scott West

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©2000 by Dearborn Financial Publishing,Inc.
Published by Dearborn
A Kaplan Professional Company
All rights reserved. The text of this publication,or any part thereof,may not be reproduced in any
manner whatsoever without written permission from the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
West,Scott,1959–
Storyselling for financial advisors:how top producers sell / Scott West,Mitch Anthony.
p. cm.
Includes index.
ISBN 0-7931-3664-4 (pbk.)
1. Investment advisors—Marketing. 2. Selling—Psychological aspects. 3. Storytelling.
I. Anthony,Mitch. II. Title.
HG4621.W45 2000
332.6′068′8—dc21 99-049647
Dearborn books are available at special quantity discounts to use as premiums and sales promotions,
or for use in corporate training programs. For more information,please call the Special Sales Man-
ager at 800-621-9621,ext. 4514,or write to Dearborn Financial Publishing,Inc.,155 North Wacker
Drive,Chicago,IL 60606-1719.
DEDICATION
To my father,Tom Anthony,salesman par excellence,who has taught me to be-
lieve in myself and to sell my own ideas.
—Mitch Anthony
To my father, Bob West, the most creative sales professional I’ve ever known,
who has taught me to embrace risk as an enormous opportunity for creativity.
—Scott West

Contents
Preface vii
PART ONE How to Put Half of Your Client’s Brain to Sleep
1. Why Statistics Don’t Sell and Stories Do 3
2. Learning to Speak the Language of the Right Brain 16
3. What’s Your Gut Feeling? How Decisions Really Get Made 27
PART TWO Becoming a Better Storyseller
4. Reading and Leading Others: The 30-Second Body Language
Read 45
5. How Socrates Can Help You Reach Your Sales Quota: Getting
Others to Tell Their Story 54
6. How Self-Deprecation and Wit Will Get You Further Than
Self-Promotion 76
7. Making the Intuitive Leap with Your Client 86
8. Using Analogies and Metaphors to Move Your Clients
and Products 98
PART THREE Storyselling in Desirable Markets
9. Telling the Story of the Affluent 109
10. Telling the Story of the 65+ 135
11. Telling the Woman’s Story 160
PART FOUR Let Me Tell You a Story
12. The Metaphorical Magic of Warren Buffett 181
13. Let Me Tell You a Story: Storyselling Illustrations, Analogies,
and Metaphors 201
Index 243
v

Preface
Why are some brokers and advisors thriving in an age while others are strug-
gling to survive? Why do some seem to never get over the hump of building a big-
ger book of business? Why do some brokers struggle to keep up with all the
referrals they get when others have to claw and dig just to get one referral?
We were determined to find the answers to those questions,to find exactly how
top advisors sell. The characteristics we found in top advisors were both profound
and simple:
1. The way they sold was illustrative and simple.
2. They excelled in relating and communicating with others.
3. They developed specialized audiences for their services.
The way top advisors sell is by simplifying matters, not complicating them.
Many advisors purposefully add complexity to their presentation,thinking it raises
their stature and indispensability in the eyes of their clients. This complicated ap-
proach, however, works against, not for, the advisor.
The top producers we found did just the opposite with amazing results. By
using simple illustrations, anecdotes, and metaphors, they bring themselves and
their ideas into the mental grasp of every client. Consequently,clients love talking
to them and referring their friends as well.
We call this selling technique storyselling.We have come to believe that story-
selling is the key to building a large and loyal book of business. It is a proven psy-
chological fact that storytelling puts the mind in a light trancelike state and makes
us more susceptible to influence. Everyone loves a good story. In this book we will
teach you to tell the financial story.
In an age of online,do-it-yourself investing,people still yearn for mentoring,for
guidance,and for affirmation. Many have gone the Lone Ranger route in investing
vii
viii Preface
because they haven’t been able to find a broker who knows how to communicate
effectively. Your success as an advisor hinges on your ability to communicate.
Make the complex simple and understandable and you will never lack for clients.
The storyselling truths and examples in this book will revolutionize the way you
sell financial services and yourself.
Your success with clients doesn’t hinge on being a better analyst but rather on
being a better teacher,a better storyteller,and a master of the metaphor. Individu-
als will no longer tolerate being left in the dark, and they will gravitate to the ad-
visors who excel in illuminating and communicating. In this book you will find
the examples and techniques necessary to become an expert storyseller yourself.
Top advisors have a sincere concern and respect for people. Clients feel good
after meeting with these advisors because they sense these advisors have their best
interests at heart. The second section of this book reveals the relational magic top
advisors exhibit: incisive questions, intuitive listening skills, the ability to read
body language, a sense of humor, and down-to-earth humility. These pros recog-
nize that what people really yearn for is respect.
We once heard a speaker say that all the people he had ever met had a sign hang-
ing on their neck and that his own life had become a string of successes once he
learned to read that sign. He said that when he was younger he was too caught up
in himself to realize people were wearing this sign—much less to be able to read
it. His life was far too important to be caught up in somebody else’s world.
But a wiser man pointed out to him—as he did to us—that the sign around each
person’s neck actually says, “Help me feel important.” He said, “No matter who
they were,no matter how high they’d risen or how much they had,they all wear the
same sign. Those who learn to recognize and respond to that sign will succeed.”
We started looking for the sign on the people we knew and the people we met.
We saw the sign on our wives and children. We saw it on clients and coworkers.
We saw it on the paper boy. We saw it on the auto mechanic. We saw it in the eyes
of our audiences.
This world has a way of wearing people down—it can be hard on them. It
stereotypes them, categorizes them, and assigns numbers to them. But we want
others to see us for the unique individuals we are.
The speaker was right—when you learn to read this sign, everything changes
and success is inevitable.
You start with eye contact and attentiveness. You progress with a sincere and in-
terested discovery process. It takes hold when your clients see that you have their
best interests at heart. It is respect in the highest form. This book will show you
how to demonstrate that sort of respect.
Preface ix
Finally, we found that top advisors have learned to focus and specialize their
book of business into profitable such niches as the Affluent market, the Mature
(65+) market,and the Woman’s market. In Part 3 we have written about how these
advisors are communicating with and prospering in those markets. By moving
from a jack-of-all-trades, anybody-will-do advisor to a specialized expertise in
profitable niches, these advisors have seen their book of business grow faster and
larger than they ever imagined possible. In this book you will learn how to com-
municate with the growing markets of affluent, mature, and female investors, re-
spectively.
Storyselling will help you become more expert at communicating, at relating,
and at penetrating profitable markets—and make money in the process! Story-
selling is about making an emotional connection with your clients’ hopes and
dreams by using illustrations and stories they can understand.
If,after reading this book,you’d like more illustrations,stories,and metaphors,
or you have a favorite example you’d like to share, you can visit our Web site at
www.storysellers.com.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We want to acknowledge all the great people at VanKampen Consulting who have
provided invaluable assistance in the preparation of Part 3 of this book. Thanks to
Gary DeMoss, Brett VanBortel, Mark Lie, and Lisa Kueng for all their help, re-
search,and encouragement. A special thanks to Lynn Guptill for her great organi-
zational ability, willingness to help, and always cheerful demeanor.
Special thanks to Russ Alan Prince for his incisive research and insights into the
Affluent market, to David Bach and Judith Tingley for their insights into the
Woman’s market.
A special thanks to all the authors and advisors who have contributed their story-
selling insights,including John Sestina,Kay Shirley,Don Connelly,Allison Lewis,
Roger Thomas, and many others too numerous to list here.
I (Mitch) would like to thank Debbie,my wife and editor of all my life’s work,
for her indefatigable encouragement and labor.
Special thanks to Dearborn editor Cindy Zigmund for her buoyant spirit, tact-
ful tutoring, and belief in this project.
I’d like to thank Larry Foster of Universal Underwriters for affirming and
encouraging my belief that metaphors and analogies are our most powerful selling
tools.
x Preface
I (Scott) would like to acknowledge broker Dick Stoker for his storyselling
inspiration and for setting a remarkable example of how to make financial con-
cepts come alive.
Finally, we would like to acknowledge those top storytelling professionals all
over this country who have inspired us to articulate this powerful concept by their
success every day in helping people fulfill their financial dreams.