Coaching Tips

Many branches or individuals head into RSP season late and with no plan. They decide that they will get after it in late January when most of their clients start asking about RSP's and retirement planning. The successful individuals really start to prepare much sooner than that.

3 Things to Think About and Plan:

Establish goals.
We don't just mean result goals; also consider developing activity, or effort based goals. The clearer you are on what you have to accomplish, by when, the more likely it is to happen.

Success leaves clues
 
It’s a simple concept really, if you want to be successful in any endeavor just look for people or organizations that are already successful and do what they do!
 

As technology becomes more and more prevalent in our society, financial institutions have gone through an interesting phenomenon. They used to see the client all of the time because they HAD to come into the branch to accomplish everything. Well now they don’t and the result is that many 

I don't know of a financial institution that doesn't need more new business. Everyone is looking to increase their client base and expand upon the number of products per client with the goal being enhanced profitability.

Whenever we ask participants for course objectives in our training sessions inevitably someone asks if we are going to cover how you respond to a rate driven client. It’s a very common challenge that many struggle with. What do you do with the client that starts their conversation with you by focusing on rate?

Is your sales process haunted by the ghost of Christmas past?

A recurring theme we have seen all year long is that more and more clients are spending less time in the branch and conducting more of their business online or over the phone. What all of this means of course is we are having less opportunity to discuss financial matters with them in any real and meaningful way.

It seems that some questions are difficult to ask. They must be because we see people taking forever to develop that habit of asking their clients more detailed problem questions.
 
What are we trying to do?
Selling is not complicated. There are logical steps that we go through when we buy things:
 
1. We decide were not happy with our current state. Whatever it is we have, or do not have currently, we decide we are not satisfied with it. That dissatisfaction creates a “need”. 
 

I don't know of a financial institution that doesn't need more new business. Everyone is looking to increase their client base and expand upon the number of products per client with the goal being enhanced profitability.

We often find ourselves coaching managers and helping them clarify what their true role is in sales management. Sometimes they look puzzled when we say: "Your job is not really managing sales or even growing sales." The sales manager's highest value comes from developing people.

If there was one thing that would make sales managers more successful it would be this: Sacrifice complexity for consistency; Adopt a "less is more" attitude and approach.

Results will be more evident when managers quit making sales coaching a "mile wide and an inch deep".