5 Tips to Fill Your Pipeline

• by secure_financial
• Posted on 06 December, 2019

By Bryan E. Spencer, President

Closing a deal is always the most heavily emphasized aspect of sales, but you’ll never have the opportunity to close deals without landing appointments first.  

To secure appointments, you need to be strategic, confident, persistent and have a conversational tone with prospects.  I am going to be honest with you – you have to earn it. Which can be tricky to do. Prospecting has never been more difficult for advisors. 

The main purpose of prospecting is to get people to know about you and your value proposition. Businesses fail not because they run out of money, they fail because they couldn’t produce enough prospects for their business quick enough that would fund their activities.

Prospecting, setting appointments and having a consistent process for meeting with clients is the most important step.   

Successful salespeople need to know when to ask for an appointment, when not to ask.  They also know how to qualify the lead and how to leverage technology in their process for scheduling appointments and how to prevent no-shows.  

Here are 5 tips on how to get more appointments with prospects and become more organized with a process with your appointments:

1. Don’t come across too strong or too fast.  Scheduling an appointment after you have just met is unlikely with a prospect.  Instead, try two or three interactions to start a conversation shifting their attention away from the fact you’re a salesperson and more towards your value proposition.  A good salesperson hardly considers themselves a salesperson, they see themselves as people who serve the customer.  Customers have a need and they are coming to you to help fix it. 
   
   A good salesperson is able to be conversational with prospects.  Consider starting a discussion that disarms them, compliments them or get to know them better by asking questions.  You must be patient, persistent and professional.
   
   Most prospects feel that a positive sales experience comes when the salesperson listens to their needs, provides relative information and isn’t pushy.
   
   
2. Show confidence, engage your prospect and don’t use phrases such as:
   
   “My schedule is wide open.”
   “I am sure you’re very busy.”
   “Thanks so much for your time.”
   
   A good example of asking for the appointment would be: “I have next Friday at 2:00 PM, will that work for you?”  Giving too many options ruins your credibility, give the prospect a specific time and have them make the commitment.
   
   
3. Once you have secured yourself with an appointment. Make sure that you are specific and clear about the goal of the meeting and the details of the appointment: date, time, and place if you’re meeting face to face.
   
   When scheduling appointments I encourage you to have a process flow that is consistent for everyone you meet with.  Technology software programs allow you to track prospects and help with scheduling and keeps track of your notes and communication with the prospect. 
   
   
4. Anticipate rejection.  You don’t have to take the first “no” as an answer but know when to move on when dealing with objections and always remain respectful and professional.
   
   They hoped you would call but you didn’t follow up.
   
   
5. Don’t make assumptions about your customers.  Act on those assumptions without asking what people want or need.  As a mentor to many producers, I have learned the weakest link is not following up with your prospects.  Don’t put off following up, otherwise the sale with go to your competitor.  What are you waiting for?

After over 20 years of helping advisors grow their business, here is what I know: Advisors who prospect consistently earn more money.  Practice makes perfect and if the thought of picking up the phone, having a seminar or networking makes your heart race and your palms sweaty, the good news is it’s completely normal and you’re not alone.  

Secure Financial Group has a coaching community that can help create that prospecting activity, and we have proven script dialogue to help fill the pipeline.  Connect with us to get started.