5 Ways to Create a Results-Oriented, “Smart” Script (Part 1)
As a financial professional, your initial contact with potential clients will almost certainly be a telephone conversation. To maximize your results and progress to the next point of contact, do what the most successful advisors do: Have a smart script and be prepared to use it.
To avoid sounding canned, follow these two simple rules:
1. Read the script so many times that you no longer sound like you’re reading.
2. Practice in the real world. To master anything, you have to be willing to look foolish.
Advisors who choose to “wing it” often sound wishy-washy, uncertain, and unsure of themselves. Prospects sense their uncertainty and unconsciously judge their ability as an advisor by how they communicate. On the other hand, well-prepared advisors sound smart, articulate, confident, and certain. They give the impression that they know what they’re saying and they’re saying it on purpose.
Practice and preparation are only half of the equation; the other half is having a smart script.
Here is one of the five ways to tell a smart script from a dumb one.
1. A Smart Script Arouses Interest
A dumb script (such as, “Hi, I’m a financial advisor”) causes people to say, “I already know what you do and I already have one of you. I don’t want to talk to you because I’m afraid you’ll try to sell me something.” A smart script causes your listeners to be curious, interested, and eager to talk. When you tell them what you do, you articulate it in a way that will cause them to ask, “Oh, you help people make smart choices about their money. How do you do that?” “You’re a life advisor who specializes in money. Tell me more about that.” A smart script triggers a conversation instead of a preconception.
Stay tuned for the second way to tell a smart script from a dumb one.
