Coaching a Lender in getting more Investment Referrals

Why would a client want to meet with one of your financial planners to discuss investments?

Focus on what the client ultimately wants when they agree to meet with a financial planner. They don’t want another appointment, they don’t want a sales pitch … life is too busy and complicated for your clients to waste their time like that. They are selfish just like you and me :-) . They want to be better off as a result of spending time with a planner. So why would they meet with them? Because they are unhappy with their current circumstances … their current plan to retire with enough money and they are hoping they will have some ideas on how to improve their situation.

So how we get them to meet with a financial planner? Get them into conversations about retirement or what it will be like when they are not working anymore. Will they have enough money to do what they want when they retire? Most will not. They, unfortunately, don’t come to this conclusion until it’s too late. Our job is to get them thinking about it NOW by asking them questions, NOT by telling them what they should do.

The more the client talks about how inadequate their plan is, the more likely it’ll be they will want to do something about it.

That where the line comes in, “We’ve got an expert on staff that specializes in helping people retire with enough money. It’s absolutely free to see our planners - would it be worth your while just to meet one of them one day to discuss what you are currently doing and see if they have some ideas on how to improve your situation?”

Here’s a sample conversation a coach is having with their lender that is not getting investment referrals:

Coach: How many people did you meet with this week?

Lender: 10

Coach: Out of those 10 how many had investments elsewhere?

Lender: I don’t know

Coach: Should you know … I mean, if we are really going after wealth management referrals, at minimum, shouldn’t you know how many of the people you met with had investments elsewhere?

Lender: I guess.

Coach: Let’s starting tracking that OK?

Lender: sure

Coach: Out of the 10 people you saw, how many will retire with enough money?

Lender: I don’t know, we didn’t get into it

Coach: Did you get into it with any of them?

Lender: No, I was too busy doing the loan

Coach: No worries, I know it’s busy. How well do you think the average client is doing at saving for retirement?

Lender: Not very good I guess

Coach: I’d agree. Are we doing the clients any favors by not getting them to talk about their inadequate plans?

Lender: I suppose not

Coach: Can we really call ourselves a great service provider if we ignore this obvious flaw in their financial plan?

Lender: No, I guess not

Coach: What do you need to start asking them about?

Lender: Their retirement plans, whether they feel confident in the plan, in the amount of money they are making, in the financial advice they have been given … everything!

(BTW: this type of a person will not normally answer this way. Normally you would have to go over this part of the process with them explaining what was outlined in the first paragraph of this document)

Coach: Exactly!

Coach: I’m going to ask you tomorrow the same questions. I also want you to keep track of the number of people you see in a day and whether or not they have investments at another financial institution – OK?

Lender: OK

Coach: If you need any ideas on what to ask the client and at what point in the loan interview to ask it, I’d be happy to go over that with you.

Keep it simple
If the lender is not getting enough referrals it’s because there is either:
a.    no opportunity (i.e. EVERYONE they saw is totally thrilled with their retirement plans) or ...
b.    it’s because they are not engaging the clients in conversations about how they feel about their retirement or investment plan or ...
c.    they are trying to get them onto those conversations but are either product dumping (i.e. “you should go speak to our financial planner”) or asking poor questions.

Your job as a coach is to first of all diagnose whether the lack of referrals is a., b., or c.

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