I was asked by my son’s school to participate in Career Day. Like most parents when it comes to your kids, you’ll do just about anything. So, of course I said yes. My son is in the 5th grade, so my audience for this Career Day presentation would range from Kindergarten to 8th grade.
It finally hit me: how the heck am I going to connect with kids from 5 to 13 years old? (more…)
Selling to Millennials can make you a better sales person. There I said it. And I want you to read it as the compliment it is intended to be. It is a generation that has often been maligned by Boomers and Gen X. I have to confess to some of that criticism myself.
I think every generation thinks they are better than the generations that follow. That plus a lack of understanding can attribute to cross-generational jabs. Now as a sales trainer and coach many of my clients are Boomers and Gen Xers. These same Boomers and Gen Xers are now encountering more and more Millennials in the workforce and as customers. According to the Pew Research Center, Millennials became the largest generation in the US Labor Force in 2016.
Why Financial Advisors should ask for referrals? Very simply – if you are a good financial advisor you have earned it. Financial Advisors have a great advantage over other sales people when it comes to asking for referrals. Sales people who are selling other products or services typically don’t have the opportunity to positively impact the lives of their clients and their client’s families the way that financial advisors do.
Building a larger client base should be a goal of every professional. Across every industry, referrals are the easiest and most cost-effective way to generate new business. However, if you are like many individuals, you may feel awkward asking your current clients for referrals. Figuring out the right way to request a referral will help you increase your reach.
Are you asking for referrals? If the answer is “no,” then you need to start asking yourself, “why not?”
Practice Closes Sales. While you have no doubt heard practice makes perfect – perfection doesn’t close deals. Sales is one of the few professions where your performance is measured every day on every deal. So wouldn’t it make sense to practice?
The idea of practicing came from an unlikely source. My son’s basketball league put out an email with a desperate request for coaches. Since I never coached basketball before I politely ignored the 1st request. Then came the 2nd request and I figured I would offer to help.
This was my 1st ever endeavor into coaching a sports team. So being a new coach I did what all dads with no experience would do. I went to YouTube to look up drills for youth basketball. Then after our 2nd practice I realized how important drills and repetition are in learning and mastering a skill. While practice is certainly not a new idea, a light went off.
