Stump The Guru Podcast

Many advisors have been conditioned to believe that their prospects must like them first before they’re willing to become a paying client.

If you eavesdropped inside a typical initial conversation

between an advisor and their prospect, you’d probably hear a lot of chit-chat about trivial things, that may not relate to their challenges.

The problem with rapport-building on its own is that your prospects can sense you may have a hidden ...

When there is an abundant supply of advisors in your local market, it becomes harder for you to differentiate yourself. As a result, it’s easy to let your guard down and adjust your fees downward (or add more pre-sale “meetings” to your sales process), out of fear you might lose a new client opportunity.

But if you allow yourself to become commoditized in this way, you open yourself up to being “shopped” against other advisors.

In th...

The life blood of your practice depends on you bringing in new paying clients, consistently. So, why is it that so many of your new client opportunities end up disappearing on you?

You’ve done everything “by the book”. You’ve built a relationship, provided value, education, and given them plenty of room to make a decision without any pressure…then poof, they’re gone.

In this episode of Stump The Guru Podcast, I spoke about How Can Yo...

Are you overcompensating by going heavy on relationship-building in your sales process?

Building deep trust with your prospects in your sales process does not require you to build a relationship with them.

That's a BOMB in the entire traditional selling industry.

If you have a very clear process on how to create trust in your sales process, based on their deep issues, then you don't have to spend your energy getting them to ...

 Let me be blunt ... The number one goal is not to promote your product, brand or solution – but rather focus in on, and understand the problem your prospect is trying to solve. It is only then, when you have demonstrated your genuine concern for the problem your prospect is trying to solve, that you have the trust needed to offer a solution.
 
Traditional selling methodology suggests a sale is lost at the end of the proces...

You’re coming to the end of an initial conversation with a potential new client, and everything seems to be going well.

You’ve invested time with them to understand their issues and provided information and education to address their needs.

But as the conversation naturally closes, there’s an awkward moment, an empty space, where you and your prospect don’t know what to say next.

They haven’t indicated they want to move forward, and y...

Are you tired of chasing prospects who seem interested in what you're offering, only to end up going silent or ghosting you altogether? It's a frustrating experience that can leave you feeling burnt out and disheartened.

But here's the thing: what if I told you that some prospects may be giving you a "smoke screen" – a misleading impression that they're interested when, in fact, they're not?

In sell...

The life blood of your business is your ability to bring in new clients, consistently.

Why is it that so many new client opportunities end up disappearing?

You’ve done everything “by the book.” You’ve built a relationship, provided value, education, and given them plenty of room to make a decision without any pressure…then poof, they’re gone.

Why does this keep happening if you honestly could have helped them?

In this episode of Stump ...

What could be worse than having a qualified prospect slip through your fingers and vanish?

You did everything right in the initial conversation.

You were friendly, gave them great information, and you didn’t pressure them to move forward.

But at the end they said:

Thank you so much for your time. Let me think about it, and if I’m interested, I’ll get back to you.

Do you let them go, or do you chase them and hope they’ll have a revelatio...

It's commonly accepted in the sales world that chasing prospects is an essential part of the game. However, this approach is rooted in a macho sales image that suggests that giving up on a prospect is equivalent to admitting defeat and failure.

But let me tell you, that's far from the truth.

The real objective should be getting to the truth if you are a fit or not, not simply making the sale. To truly succeed in sales, you ...

With typical traditional selling, when you get an objection, you’re supposed to overcome it. We’re taught that by all the gurus.

The problem with that is if they’re giving you an objection that they believe is true and you try to overcome it with them, you break trust with them instantly.

The sale is over right at that moment because you’re trying to overcome something that they believe is true. You lost the ability to connect with t...

You’ve probably heard this over and over: “If you hear an objection, immediately overcome it and move towards making the sale.” That’s a very one-sided approach to a moment that could get really awkward quickly. 

Objections are challenges raised by prospects. They put pressure on you, and they can bring your conversation to a halt, or help it grow. 

In this month’s Stump The Guru show, I spoke about how to diffuse your prospect’s obj...

Building trust during the sales process between you and the buyer is more important than selling and pitching your solution. By focusing on your buyer's needs in a conversation using specific languaging , you can bring out their truths, thereby deepening your connection with them.
 
 It is a hard sell to persuade, pursue, and convince people today. No one wants to receive another sales pitch. In this month's Stump...

The secret to avoiding falling down this rabbit hole of chasing is to let go of the sale in your mind.

Letting go of the sale simply means being genuinely comfortable with waiting for your prospect to take the next step in the conversation and doing nothing to intervene until they do. 

Your only goal in an initial conversation is to listen to your prospect’s problem, expand their awareness and understanding of it, and discover whethe...

Are you overcompensating by going heavy on relationship-building in your sales process? 

Building deep trust with your prospects in your sales process does not require you to build a relationship with them. 

That's a BOMB in the entire traditional selling industry. 

If you have a very clear process on how to create trust in your sales process, based on their deep issues, then you don't have to spend your energy getting them ...

You know the drill, you schedule a call with a potential prospect for your offering, you have a great conversation with them, they give you positive signals they are interested in working with you, then you hear “I need to think about it”. 

 What the heck is going on with that? 

 If you are hearing at least one of these after your initial consultation with your prospect, something is seriously wrong with your sales process: 

 – “Sound...

Have you had a sales conversation that felt just “perfect?” 

The chemistry between you two was solid, their problem was clearly articulated, you helped them see that you can solve their problem and everything just felt “right”. 

Then at the end of the call, they surprisingly say: “This has been really helpful, let me think about this and I’ll get back to you.” 

That’s when they fall into the “black hole” of follow-up, where you’re for...

Linear selling models create mistrust in a split second - the moment prospects sense that, although you seem to be interested in their problems and issues, you're actually trying to lead the discussion toward a close. When you do this, you’re coaxing, persuading, and pushing things forward ... Which will cause the prospect to put up a wall, the opposite response to what you want.

In this episode of Stump The Guru Podc...

The traditional sales formula looks like this:

Qualify the lead + Present your solution = New paying client 

That’s basic selling 101, isn’t it? 

But if this formula, which has been taught by the “sales gurus” for decades, is bulletproof, then why doesn’t every single person who is qualified become a new paying client? 

In this month’s Stump The Guru show, I'll be talking about the missing piece of this puzzle that cause...