sales coaching

If You Want the Meeting, YOU Set the Meeting

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Mar 28, 2011, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

A recent Your Q&A on Ignites (subscription) focuses on ensuring accountability within a sales team, in part by having clear role expectations. As an illustration, the piece says, “For example, some teams require the internal wholesaler to call the advisor in advance of a meeting with the field wholesaler.”

The example leapt off the page for me. Why? Because I believe the external wholesaler should always be the point-person when it comes to initiating, confirming, and communicating an agenda for his/her own appointments.

The reason is perception. By having an internal wholesaler handle these tasks, the importance of the client is undermined. A signal is sent that the external’s time is too valuable to be successfully setting the table for an important prospect/client conversation.

Recently I was in an advisor’s office when a hot-selling fund family came up in conversation. The advisor said he’d never met with the wholesaler from the firm:

He’s always having his assistant call and try to schedule time with me. I don’t work that way. I want to deal direct.

The advisor felt slighted by the lack of genuine interest shown by the wholesaler. He views the wholesaler’s approach as saying “my time is more important than yours.” A harsh interpretation? Sure. An uncommon one? I don’t think so.

Salespeople, of course, want to send the exact opposite message. It’s the nature of being a product/service provider.  The wholesaler who wants the meeting (and the client), should make sure his commitment is clear to the client. Direct communication is a simple and important way to do that.

Best of Q4 Blogs – A Few More

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Dec 30, 2010, in Best Blogs of the Week , tagged with , , ,

Last week Anu revisited a few of his favorite posts from our blog over the last three months.  He promised I’d do the same, so here we go with three of my favorites so far:

  1. Spend More Time with the Best Wholesalers:  Most Sales teams we work with know their stuff, so the best way to get better is to consider new approaches for the same old activities.  Our thought on the pastime of coaching wholesalers fits the bill.

  2. Regulation is a People Business:  I tend to think that simple ideas are best.  They’re easier to come up with, easier to understand, and can have a big impact.  The insight from Anu regarding regulation is a forehead-slapper for me.

  3. Pitch Book Length:  With every blog post I write I ask myself “how can I make this more concise?”  Attention spans are shorter than even the most realistic person believes.  Pitch books included.

We’ll revisit the “Best Of” our blog at the end of Q1 next year.  After all, good/interesting ideas (at least in our minds) shouldn’t be lost just because they’re more than a week old. Gawker reminded me of that just a few weeks ago.

Happy New Year!

Spend More Time with the Best Wholesalers

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Nov 29, 2010, in Thoughts , tagged with , ,

Can sales managers get more out of their coaching efforts?  After reading Switch by Chip and Dan Heath, I think the answer is yes.

Switch makes the great point that human beings typically focus on identifying and analyzing things that go poorly as opposed to things that go well.  The authors propose that positive change and improvement is borne out of finding and maximizing bright spots instead of mulling over problems.

Now consider how sales managers coach and develop wholesalers.  At most firms there exists a very egalitarian approach.  For example, if an internal sales manager has 12 direct reports, he will spend 1 hour on the phones with each wholesaler each month.

I think there’s an argument to be made that sales managers should focus most of their coaching time and effort on their best wholesalers.  Two reasons why:

  1. Increased Development of the Best Wholesalers: The individuals with the most talent today have the greatest probability of growing and making a bigger impact on the firm moving forward.  Nurturing the best talent offers maximum long-term value for the firm.  Put another way:  are the worst wholesalers worth the same time/investment as the best?

  2. Better Ammunition for Improving Laggards: More time with top performers will yield more insight into what makes them so good.  Managers will gather more and better tactical ideas to improve development of lagging performers, even if they spend less time on them.

A change like this does not need to be obvious to the team, nor overly dramatic.  For the example cited earlier, the manager could spend 2 hours with the top 4 wholesalers and 30 minutes with the remaining 8 instead of 1 hour with each.  It’s not more time, but potentially more effective.

While the bright spots approach doesn’t guarantee better overall performance, the logic behind it makes it a worthwhile idea for sales managers to consider.

How Wholesalers Can Improve Prospecting e-Mails

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Nov 11, 2010, in Thoughts , tagged with , , ,

Over the last few months we’ve been collecting e-mails from asset managers to financial advisors.  Most interesting to me are the prospecting e-mails sent by wholesalers.  Why? Because they can be so much better.

These e-mails represent wholesalers’ attempts to get that all-important first meeting with an advisor.  And they almost always have the same two elements:

  • A (usually) short introduction to specific products and/or the firm as a whole
  • A meeting request, typically framed in drive-by fashion (i.e., “I’ll be in the office next Tuesday…”)

I take no issue with either.  The intro and meeting request are necessary.  The problem is that these messages bring nothing else to the table.  Specifically, the e-mails lack a personal element that shows the wholesaler’s done some research and has genuine interest in the advisor.  Without this personal touch, every introductory wholesaler e-mail looks generic.

So how can wholesalers do a better job fostering a connection with advisors via e-mail?  Here are four simple ways:

  • Check LinkedIn. Roughly 40% of advisors are on LinkedIn today.  A brief look at a LinkedIn profile gives insight into schools, interests, common connections, previous employers, and more.  These details can be used to add a personal touch that is more likely to resonate with advisors.  (And, of course, there’s the indispensable Google search.)
  • Cite People the Advisor Knows. Referrals are the best introduction.  But even without a direct referral, wholesalers can indirectly use existing relationships to open doors with new advisors.  The drive-by meeting request has more meaning with specificity:  “I’ll be in the office next Tuesday to meet with your colleague Mike McLaughlin…”.
  • Work with Assistants. Wholesalers can make things very easy for the advisor by offering to schedule a meeting via his/her assistant.  Assistant’s names are frequently readily available; for example, the personal Web sites for Merrill Lynch advisors always include assistants’ names and phone numbers.  And using a familiar first name – “I can coordinate with Bridget” – again adds a personal touch.
  • Avoid Requests from Internals. In some instances internal wholesalers will send initial e-mails on behalf of their external partners.  This signals to the advisor that the external wholesaler is too important to ask himself.  Not good.  To get an introductory meeting, a personal request from the external is a must.

Desirable advisor targets get solicitations for meetings every day.  Investing extra time and effort to send a personalized e-mail can make a difference.

New Advisors Can Matter a Lot

Posted by Mike McLaughlin on Oct 14, 2010, in Thoughts , tagged with , , ,

Yesterday I had a conversation with a wirehouse advisor, Advisor X.  On the surface, he’s not someone an asset manager would focus on.  He’s:

  • New, with just one year of experience under his belt
  • Managing a book of business in line with his experience

If you asked most firms, Advisor X would not be someone to prioritize.  And yet, he profiles as a good target.  Why?  There are several reasons, but the most important is his affiliation with one of the biggest-producing teams in one of the biggest-producing branches in the country.  He’s closer to top producers than most every wholesaler who comes to the office.

Week after week Advisor X sits in on wholesaler presentations alongside numerous other less-tenured advisors and others looking for a free lunch.  And he blends in.  Wholesaler after wholesaler fails to recognize that he is a potential gateway to the most attractive advisors in the office.

This situation represents a challenge for sales teams.  On a broad scale it requires:

  • Improved understanding of team dynamics among advisors
  • Effective segmentation and profiling of advisors
  • Extensive coaching of wholesalers to enable recognition of these opportunities

More tactically, however, it requires wholesalers to take simple actions and improve the way they decipher branch dynamics.  Identifying Advisor X can be done by:

  • Grabbing 5 minutes of a branch manager’s time to discuss newer staff
  • Using existing advisor relationships to get insight on potential up-and-comers

Established advisors know very quickly who will and won’t succeed.  They know Advisor X.  And since most firms know and target the same advisors, an investment in digging a level deeper can unearth opportunities other firms miss.