As we wrap up the year, you may be having individual and/or group meetings with your teammates to review their pipeline, business development activities/challenges for the year, and sales goals for the new year. These meetings may be to discuss progress, compensation, bonuses and/or quotas for the new year.
Hopefully you have also met regularly throughout the year, either as a group or individually, to review the pipeline and coach your team to help you and your firm around new business.
As someone who has held thousands of sales coaching and training sessions, I’ve found that some of the best solutions and strategies around sales don’t always come from preaching sales methods and ideas to grown and experienced adults, but by asking the right questions. These questions allow the advisor to reflect on solutions and come up with their own unique method to grow their practice.
Below, I have outlined 10 effective questions you can ask during your next sales review meeting to coach your advisors on enhancing their sales progress. These questions can hopefully help you have more structure and results for continuous improvement in your review meeting with your “sales team.”
As always, if you need help coaching and training your team around sales effectiveness, consultative sales methods, soft skills and pipeline development, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us. Our focus is financial advisor sales training and coaching.
Below are 10 questions to ask your advisors for more sales effectiveness:
How do you feel about the size and opportunities within your new business pipeline? How would you like it to be different as we look forward [into next month, next year, etc.]?
If you had unlimited time and no other obligations, what would you do to drum up more opportunities in your pipeline?
Whatever is their answer: How do you know that is the most efficient way to get new business? Can you think of other methods that don’t require so much time?
What methods have you tried so far? Did they work as you expected?
What value do you bring to prospective clients?
Whatever is the answer: Why are they not seeing the value?
Who is one name on your pipeline you want to review in today’s meeting?
Why is this person not yet a client?
Whatever is the answer: Could another assumption be true?
How will you go the extra mile to help this prospect make a decision faster? What else can you try between now and next week?
Which stage of the pipeline is the hardest one to move through?
Is there anything you need from me or the company in order to…?
Who are our top 3 competitors?
How are we different from them?
Why should someone choose us?
Are your existing clients happy with your work?
If yes, why are they not recommending you to more business?
Whatever is the answer: Is that an assumption?
When was the last time you stepped outside your comfort zone around new business?
What is a mistake you feel you keep repeating around new business development that you would like to stop as we look forward?
What would more new business mean to you?
What does it look like? A new house? A dream vacation? A new car? More recognition at the firm?
Whatever is the answer: Why isn’t it motivating you enough to push further?
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