Imagine you had a hammer and a nail.
If you hit the hammer against a wall, it might leave a dent, but it’s unlikely to go straight through the wall.
Hit a nail with a hammer on the same piece of wall, however, and voila, it sinks into the plaster.
So why am I talking about hammers and nails?
Well, last Tuesday we moved house and this week has been all about two D’s – disorientation and DIY.
It got me thinking about messages and how we interpret them. More importantly, how clients and prospects interpret them. If your message is too broad or complex, it loses its power. Like the hammer, it might make a dent but it’s not going to break through.
Following this principle can hugely improve the effectiveness of client and prospect communications. By channelling our message (the hammer) in a very focused way (through the nail), its impact is heightened. In our case, we achieve this focus by ensuring our message is both specific and clear.
Let me give you an example of how specificity and clarity can make a direct impact on your business:
You: “Do you know anyone who needs financial advice?“
Your client: “Nobody springs to mind, but I’ll certainly let you know if I think of anyone.”
In this scenario, the message (your question) might seem clear. But it could be clearer.
Firstly, your client has to think about all the people they know. Do they start with their colleagues? Or family? Or friends at their tennis club? It’s a lot of information to process.
Next, they need to consider whether these people require financial advice; something that they may not know the answer to. Therefore, it’s much easier for them to replace your question with a new one, “Has anyone you know mentioned they’re looking for a financial adviser?”.
Even though this isn’t the question you’ve asked, it’s far easier for your client to answer. After all, our brains like to take the easy option.
As you can see, although our original message appeared pretty straightforward, it wasn’t.
We’re using blunt nails.
So what’s the alternative?
Be more specific. If you work with business owners, and you know what financial challenges they face, then you already know they need advice. You can make your referrers job simpler by removing this step in the process. It’s far easier for your client to reflect on whether he or she knows any business owners than it is to know whether they need advice. You can connect the dots for them. Of course the same goes for doctors, people who’ve just had children, barristers etc.
If you want to give your client the tools to help the people in their life who need your advice, you need to be specific with your request. Identify who these people might be, so your client doesn’t have to.
I hope to be able to prove my point by putting it to the test now… Have you spoken to a fellow financial adviser in the last week? If so, I’d be really grateful if you could share this blog with them now. If you’ve found this blog useful, I suspect they will too 😊
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