I’ll Think About it

It’s not longer after someone enters the business that they recall the rule of compounding: the longer money is at work, the larger it grows. Then the obvious realization follows—the older folks have all the money! That’s exactly true as this information form the census bureau indicates:Median Value of Selected Assets by Age of Householder

Source: Census Bureau, Survey of Income and Program Participation

So the smart rep goes about recruiting older clients only to find that they procrastinate in their decisions and the sale closing ratio is low. Although this is in fact the experience of many reps, there is nothing wrong with older clients and their ability to make decisions. The problem lies in the way reps make their presentations to older clients.

Rule: You cannot make a presentation to a 68-year-old the same as you would to a 42-year-old

The younger client, a member of the prove-it-to-me generation, wants the facts and figures and wants to reach their own conclusion about why your recommendation is best. After all, they can probably do just as well getting free information on the Internet, or so they think. So, you need to lay out your case just as if you were a lawyer laying out your defense.

If you take the same approach with most senior investors, they will politely listen, get bored with all of the minutia, thank you for the presentation and tell you ,“I’ll think about it.”

The senior is not procrastinating. It’s simply that you made your case in a way that has little impact on the senior. They do not care as much about understanding and having trust in the investment as understanding and having trust in YOU.

We’ve all heard it before that you’ve got to sell yourself. And that’s most true with the senior prospect. They want to feel comfortable that when they take a cruise, you’ll be watching the pot. They want to know that your judgement is good and that your character is sound. They want to know they can trust you to do what you say and say what you’ll do. When you effectively sell yourself and they feel comfortable with you, they will reach for their checkbook with only a partial understanding of the investment and open an account.

They do not need to understand every feature of your recommendations. So many times I have been asked by a senior after my presentation, “Larry, is this what you think I should do?” Yes I do, Mr. Smith. “Okay, how much should I invest?” Once I’ve sold me, they follow my advice because they’ve made the most important decision that they can trust me and my judgement.

It’s the younger investor who has yet to learn that it’s the character of the people you deal with that matters in the long run. They think money is made by picking the best stocks. We all know that money is made by having emotional control—buying in down markets and not panicking every time the market drops 20%. The senior investor has an intuitive, life-long-learned skill to invest in people, not in things.

So next time you make a presentation to a senior investor, sell the right product—yourself. You will hear a let less of “I’ll think about it.”

You can find a more complete discussion of business building issues and articles http://nfcom.com/financial-advisors.html.