Storytelling for Financial Sales: Alleviating Consumer Money-Decision Anxiety (1,409)
People who make their living in the financial services industry operate at the epicenter of one of society's greatest apprehensions: dealing with financial decisions.
The general public's uneasiness over making the right choices when it comes to financial planning, for instance, is so epic, it has a name: “Financial Advisor Anxiety.”
This angst can be characterized by:
- Difficulty making financial choices, even with professional advice.
- Fear of making the wrong investment or the wrong move.
- Feeling overwhelmed by financial information or options.
- Avoidance of financial planning or discussions.
- Physical symptoms such as headaches, insomnia and digestive issues.
- Feeling mistrustful or skeptical of financial advisors or financial institutions.
Industry sales professionals have tried to respond to this widespread fear – especially as the field becomes more competitive – by emphasizing how they can give prospective and established customers peace of mind by alleviating their financial concerns, aided by their expertise and trustworthiness.
But the sector’s distinctive nature makes it hard to gain ground in the battle against acute customer anxiety:
- Potential clients worrying about their debts and ability to afford necessities and non-essentials can’t simply take an advisor’s input for “a test drive to see how it handles,” as if it were a Tesla.
- Products like mutual funds, variable annuities and unit investment trusts are things the prospect can’t see.
Left unaddressed, a prospect's worries can create roadblocks for BOTH the prospect and advisor:
- Prospects who are overwhelmed with anxiety will resist letting the advisor’s input sink in, causing them to make poor financial decisions and missing the opportunity to secure peace of mind.
- Advisors will struggle to connect deeply with the client and lay the groundwork for meaningful conversations that get conversions.
POWER OF STORYTELLING
It's often said that when all else fails, tell a story.
Salespeople have long understood the power of relating stories to establish trust, to portray themselves, their company and their values as important to know, and to close deals. Plenty of articles and books have been written on the types of stories every salesperson needs to know, on how to structure effective stories and on the philosophy of storytelling.
But it's HOW the story is told that will make or break your ability to connect deeply with the prospect or client.
It's increasingly important today to focus stories on meeting the goals and interests of the listener. That's partly the legacy of the social media age, where many users, accustomed to cultivating relationships on platforms such as the dominant business social network LinkedIn, have developed disdain for the traditional sales strategy of overtly digging into a prospect’s pain points to make them desperately want a product.
Some advisors, mindful of the public's changing attitude towards pitches, focus the small talk that sets up stories, the storytelling itself and the overall conversations on educating the client.
More and more professionals are realizing that generic one-size-fits-all stories designed to drive the listener to buy an investment product by stoking fear are blatantly manipulative and can leave prospects underwhelmed.
INEFFICIENT STORYTELLING PRACTICE
Here’s an example of one:
“I know of a couple, Jim and Meg, who had intended to buy life insurance but they delayed their decision, thinking they were too young. Sometime later, Jim had an accident that left him gravely injured. He didn’t survive long. The loss left the family in financial ruin.”
Although catastrophic events are part of life, stories like this, which emphasize the extreme outcomes of not buying, may fail to resonate less deeply with buyers than they once did, simply because the buyer has learned to see through them. And salespeople who do manage to get people to buy in to this type of outreach may see higher cancellation rates after agreements are reached.
Gary C. Laney, a high-tech industry sales leader and bestselling author of leadership books who has managed thousands of sales, support and professional service personnel, said in an interview he opposed fear-based selling that lacked a positive aspect and didn’t zero in on the prospect’s goals.
Going overboard on igniting pain points could “cause people to spend money they don't have, or more than they were prepared to spend, and live to regret it,” Laney said.
A financial advisor who advocates for educating prospects said it’s necessary to make potential clients aware of what they could lose by failing to have the proper retirement plans and insurance coverage in place, though agitating the pain points should be done with compassion and respect.
“You can create excitement, a bit of discomfort to a certain extent,” said the advisor, who requested anonymity. “Because if you don't (activate the pain points) as the salesperson, you may very well not get them to take the action that they need to take.
“They may not know they need to take that action. So that's the reason for disturbing them to a certain extent, politely. You professionally excite them. And then you educate, talk about their goals and objectives. You put them on the ice and then bring them back and rescue them."
THE ‘WHY’ STORY
The advisor said he relates his “why story” – telling how he came to pick financial planning as a career – before attempting to begin a meaningful conversation with a prospect.
That story goes like this:
“I was the oldest son and while I was growing up, one of the things that we were taught was to never discuss money. It's a private thing - you don't talk about it.
“And I felt the need to help (my parents) get out of the hole from debt and the financial crisis that they were experiencing.
[Which was a twist, considering he’d been under a family gag order as a child never to talk about money.]
“But I also made a vow to myself that I would not let anybody else get into that same situation. And so here I am 20 years later, and that's one of the driving motivations for me in this business.”
The bottom line is, uplifting stories, supported by small talk that uncovers the prospect's needs and then educates them on meeting those needs, can create deep connections and get conversions more effectively than digging into pain points without attempting to put the buyer's priorities first.
6 THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT STORY-SELLING
1. Stories that create deep connections and bonding ...
· Educate the Prospect
· Build Rapport and Relationships
· Establish Competence and Thought Leadership
· Resonate as Genuine
· Come from the Storyteller’s Experience
2. Stories that create shallow and tenuous connections ...
· Overdo Fear-Based Selling
· Ignore Relationship Building
· Resonate as Fake
· Come Strictly from a Sales Script
3. Effective business stories follow this reliable structure:
- Setting
- Mission
- Characters
- Dilemma
- Turning point or twist
- Solution
- Message
4. You'll achieve the greatest success by uncovering as much about your audience’s demographics, values, problems and goals as you can BEFORE you tell a story or try to get your prospect to share one back.
5. Filter decisions regarding your tone, energy and sense of urgency through the prism of a single question: “How is this helping the prospect to share narratives of their own or deeper information with me that I can use to get a conversion?”
6. Reinforce your outreach by practicing active listening and asking questions that get to the heart of the prospect's desires and fears. Put yourself in the audience’s shoes.
And Don't Forget …
- Share stories that show the transformation your service brings clients.
- Tell the story of why you do this work to establish trust, likability and authority.
- After you share a story, ask the prospect if they have a similar story to share.
- If you feel your stories aren't resonating, go back to using small talk to arouse the prospect emotionally; then start another story.
CRUCIAL TOOLS
You can learn more about how to create connection with your stories by subscribing to a complimentary mini-speaking course based on my book, with concise instructional videos. It's at https://michaelbarris.com/mini-course.
You will receive tips, strategies and take-action assignments to guide you toward becoming an empowered speaker and teller of stories that get the results you desire.
Even the best salesperson can’t read a prospect’s intentions perfectly. But leveraging the power of storytelling to create connection will yield invaluable insights into the prospect’s desires – paving the way for a meaningful chat and ultimately a conversion.
Michael Barris
Permission to Reprint
Michael Barris is the consummate evangelist for speaking better to be your best and create an impact with your career.
He is a transformational public speaking coach and speaker who has a background as a former adjunct professor of public speaking and expository writing at Rutgers University.
He also is the author of "How to Become a Super Speaker: The 7 Principles for Speaking with Confidence and Connecting with Audiences."
A longtime journalist, he worked for Dow Jones and The Wall Street Journal, producing articles on many of the world’s biggest financial and business news stories.
In total, he has produced over 3, 500 print articles over his journalism career, including more than 300 for the Wall Street Journal, and countless more published online.
Learn more about Michael and his work at michaelbarris.com
PERMISSION TO REPRINT
Permission to reprint articles by Michael Barris is hereby given to all print, broadcast and electronic media provided that the contact information at the end of each article is included in your publication.
For organizations publishing articles electronically, a live, click-able link to http://www.michaelbarris.com must also be included with the body of the article.
Additionally, please mail one copy of your publication to:
Michael Barris, 286 Overlook Avenue, Elberon, NJ 07740
Permission to reprint articles by Michael Barris at no charge is granted with the agreement that:
a. The article bio be included following each article used.
b. One copy of the publication in which the article is published be provided to Michael Barris.
c. A fee per article will be expected for articles published without the closing bio and contact information; $300.
Permission is also granted for reasonable:
-Editing content and industry specific example exchange.
-Length.
-Article title change.
Electronic publishing of articles must include a live, click-able link to:
http://www.michaelbarris.com.
Any questions, please email to michael@michaelbarris.com.
Thank you.