This is a Key Question to Strengthening the Relationship in the First Meeting
Whenever I ask this question in the first meeting with prospective clients, they usually say, that’s a great question! Then they start to think about their answer and what comes next is a key part of building the relationship because it builds rapport. It shows that you care about them and are genuinely interested in them. Now, don’t ask this question unless you really are interested in the people sitting across the table or on the next couch with you. But if you are, what happens next is that a great conversation ensues.
We ask this question at a strategic point in the meeting, or introductory phone call, when we are asking the prospective clients about their goals. 95 percent of the people that we talk to bring up retirement because we specialize in retirement planning. So, once they say that retirement is a goal, we affirm their goal and then ask, what can you do in retirement that you can’t do now?
It’s simple, but it really does strengthen the relationship because it does two things:
- It shows that you’re genuinely interested in them and they feel that because you are!
- You get to hear what’s most important to them and it can be a great leading question to discussing the things that they value most.
When you can get into values, they realize it’s not just about the numbers. Mitch Anthony sometimes says that the industry usually figures out the numbers first and then fits the client’s story in to see what’s possible. But what if you started with their story first? Understand what’s important to them, and then fit the numbers into that story. Clients seem to resonate with this a lot more.
