Agitate the Pain So Your Prospect Acts

Two indicators that predict whether a prospect will hire an advisor are how much pain they feel because of their financial situation and their sense of urgency around solving that problem. Some client types, like widows, inherently have a high sense of pain and urgency, while others do not (e.g., people who are sitting on so much cash that they don’t know what to do with it).

When you face a situation where a prospect doesn’t feel significant pain, you need to agitate any pain that does exist to get them to take action. You don’t have to market on fear, but you need to bring to light the pain they may not be aware of. For example, if someone has piles of cash, you could explain, “Each day you are sitting on cash, your money is worth less than the day before because of inflation. The longer you wait, the less valuable your cash becomes.”

If your prospect doesn’t feel pain and urgency, you must create this for them to get them to act.