I drive a Ford Explorer.  Most of the people that ride with me, except my friend Jerry Barron, think I’m a good driver. Not only do I drive well, but I know my vehicle, how to maintain it and how to make adjustments to my driving and the vehicle when necessary.

However, all the enhancements in the vehicle won’t keep me from crashing if I fail to turn into the slide instead of against it, or if I fail to ‘tap’ the breaks when I hit a sheet of ice on a frozen bridge.

The same is true for Fintech.

There is an article in The Investment News from October 8, 2018 written by the President of the Financial Planner Association discussing a survey of top advisors.  Here are the highlights:

• A survey of 300 advisors found that only 15% possess enough of the three traits that qualify them as behavioralist. Those traits are:
  • Will
  • Skill
  • Means
• That group outpaces the general planning community in net growth rates, referrals and percentage of clients that would refer their advisor.

There should be many questions that stem from this study for Sales Managers, VP of Sales, Sr. Sales Executives or Program Mangers.  This study applies to anyone leaning on technology to turn a lethargic sales team into a high-powered, no limit, fully functioning sales machine.

Understanding Behavioralist Traits:

• Will: will to do what? I would suggest that fundamentally there are 5 contributing factors to ‘will’ that a business development person – sales rep, producer, broker, banker, agent or advisor –must have:
  • They have to have the will to succeed in selling. Not just the will to succeed, but the will to succeed in selling. 
  • Selling requires significant desire and commitment, taking full responsibility for outcomes (no excuse making) and a high level of motivation and a positive outlook.
• Skills: what skills? The best way to answer that is to answer this question:
•  
  • When your salespeople fail in their role, why do they fail? I don’t just mean those that you exit from your company but also those salespeople that occupy the bottom 3/5s of your sales team and represent less than 30% of total sales generated. Is it because they lacked the skills to operate your CRM, word, excel? Did they fail to understand the technical aspects of your business?  Did they fail to execute the compliance requirements?
  • Based on the dozens of Sales Improvement and Effectiveness Analysis we’ve done over 25 years, the reason that salespeople fail is because they lack the appropriate competencies/skills for:
    1. Prospecting, hunting and generating new leads
    2. Consultative selling

• Strong presentations skills:

1. Quickly developing trust and confidence
2. Selling Value
3. Qualifying

• Closing

• Means: have you provided them the ‘Fintech’ or sales enablement tools to help them succeed, provide greater information and business solutions to clients, give them an unfair advantage in the market place? If so, what has your ROI analysis told you? Has the investment met expectations?
  • In a recent discussion with a regional manager for a large regional financial institution, we discussed three sales enablement tools that are available to the producers to enhance the client experience. When attempting to correlate the use of the tools and their success there was no direct correlation. Those at the top use the tools and use them well, as do those at the bottom
  • What we do know is that in the 9 months we’ve worked with the group to improve performance management skills and coaching skills, the group is experiencing a 39% increase in revenue year over year.

What am I trying to get to?

You could deliver to my door tomorrow the most advanced automobile in the world.  It can have all the technology bells and whistles and the most powerful engine ever made.  And you could take me to Kentucky Speed way and tell me to have a go.  Chances are I won’t leverage all the AutoTech available. And chances are, if I attempt to make the turn to high, to low, to fast or to slow – I’m going to crash and it has nothing to do with the technology.

Today's blog turned vlog comes to you from our very own Walt Gerano, as he discusses the importance of being a great steward for your clients, and how these tactics will help you grow your business and relationships.

Check him out below!

If you enjoyed Walt's video, check out his recording to learn how being a steward leads to building client advocates for your business as well.

In this audio experience, Walt discusses the 4 Steps to Create Advocates in your business.

1. Find out what they want.
2. Prioritize critical areas.
3. Identify established performance levels.
4. Negotiate expectations.

P.S. - Please feel free to Share our post via social media below with friends, family, colleagues, clients and more!

Another day, another great resource available from us here at Anthony Cole Training Group.  

Are you ready to change the way you approach prospects to close more sales?

In his audiobook, Motivating Prospects to Take Action, Tony Cole shares with you how to identify the 3 different types of prospects and how to tailor your approach to help prospects make decisions.

You will learn the right questions to help identify severe mental anguish and get prospects to take action!

This 13-clip audiobook along with the worksheet will help you:

• Identify the 3 types of prospects
• Learn various strategies for uncovering pain including The Takeaway Technique
• Identify the obstacles that prevent prospects from taking action
• Know when you are seeing the REAL issues and pain
• Develop a process for asking the right questions to uncover pain

Interested in receiving a Free copy?  Download available below!

Assuming for a second that when you think about hiring for a position in your organization, you are thinking about hiring the best, especially in the early rounds of looking for talent. No one reasonably goes about writing a job description like this:

“ABLE Sales Company is looking for the most unbelievably average salespeople we can find. We already have enough top producers and those that are failing. What we really need are some people to bump up the middle of our bell curve. If interested, show up and you’ll get a job.”

No, you are not looking for average- you are looking for people who can get your organization to the next level. You’re looking for the best of the best.

Which leads me to today’s story: I was listening to ESPN radio and tuned into The Golic and Wingo Show. They were sharing stories about the Baseball Hall of Fame inductees that a reporter had heard from each during his time as a sports reporter.

I would like to share 3 of those stories with you today and how they are great analogies for recruiting the best of the best.

Vladimir Guerrero: Vladimir is a Dominican born in 1975. He arrived to his first professional baseball try-out on a bicycle. He was wearing baseball shoes that didn’t match and one was so big he had to stuff it with socks so that it wouldn’t slip off. He was on the field for 5 minutes hitting, throwing and catching when the scouts told him he was finished. They signed him to a contract and now he’s in the Baseball Hall of Fame. So, how does this relate to recruiting talent?

• When you got it, you got it
• Don’t judge a book by its cover

Trevor Hoffman: Trevor was born in Bellflower, California in 1967. When he tried out to play professional baseball, he did so as a shortstop. However, after a few minutes of taking the infield, somebody told him he was terrible as a fielding shortstop and he was a weak hitter. They said if he was going to make it in the pros he might want to try pitching. He did and now he’s a Hall of Famer. What’s the hiring lesson here?

• When interviewing people don’t be afraid to push a button that might upset them. It’s going to happen in their sales career anyway so you might as well find out how they are going to react. Will they absorb the challenge or get emotional?
• Every candidate you interview and eventually hire is going to come with some warts. What you want to know is – are they coachable?

Chipper Jones: Chipper was born in 1972 in Deland, Florida and played his entire career with the Atlanta Braves. Chipper was the #1 MLB draft pick in 1990. As the story goes, the Braves were ready to make him an offer but his dad was encouraging Chipper to hold off because he could probably get more money from another team. Chipper told his dad that he wanted to be the #1 draft pick and that the money didn’t matter. He knew that he was going to be successful and that he would earn his ‘big’ money based on his performance rather than what another club thought he was worth today. Again, why is this important when hiring salespeople?

• You have to be patient. Just because it’s hard to find the right person, doesn’t mean you should hire one that is close. Close enough isn’t good enough (you already have some of those on your team and you don’t need more).
• Hire people that are willing to bet on themselves. Often recruiting managers, HR, and recruiters shy away from those that don’t exactly fit the pedigree. When interviewing and working the compensation into the hiring contract, be bold enough to challenge the candidate to put some money at risk. If they are as good as they think they are they will make up for it in spades in the long run.

There is nothing easy about hiring. If you listen to the stories of these recent inductees you will find that there was nothing easy about getting into the Hall of Fame.

Need more help hiring the best of the best? Download our free Recruiting Success Formula document and Interview Questions guide to improve your recruiting process today!