Most of us believe that face-to-face encounters are more persuasive.  They are the better approach, but not in all situations.  There is also the issue of what to do when you aren’t able to meet in person.  Is email a good choice?  How do people react to persuasion attempts over email?

Research by Guadagno & Cialdini in 2002 shows us that men seem more responsive to email because it bypasses their competitive tendencies.  Women, however, may respond better in face-to-face encounters because they are more ‘relationship-minded’.

This sounds a bit like gender stereotyping and in fact Guadagno and Cialdini explain their results in terms of cultural stereotypes and expectations about social roles.  We view men as more task-oriented and women as more relationship-oriented.  That doesn’t mean that women aren’t task-oriented or men aren’t  relationship-oriented, it just means that as a general rule you find more men skewed one way and more women skewed the other.

What the study is saying is that where there is a task-oriented versus relationship-oriented focus and likelihood of competitiveness, email may be a better venue simply because it provides a way to sidestep competitiveness and enable the receiver to be more open and objective about what is being presented (i.e. more open to persuasion).

Conversely, the more cooperative the situation and the more relationship-minded the receiver, the more likely face-to-face communication is the better choice.

The “Lie to Me” TV show is wonderful - if only because it has nudged people into (finally) paying attention to the behavior of the people they talk to. It’s the first introduction many people get to the idea that it’s possible to look at someone and read into his or her mind.

Here’s an example:  The guy in front of you is telling you by his actions whether he believes you or is even listening to you.  Can you recognize the signs?

• If he doesn’t believe you, he’ll curl a lip or suck on the inside of his lips to show contempt. He’ll also move his eyes downward and move them back and forth. When he does that, he’s talking to himself, then testing how he feels about it, then talking to himself some more and then retesting his feelings.
• If he has stopped listening, he’ll be non-responsive. His eyes will defocus. When people are not focused on anything specific, they tend to get diverted by something bright or anything that moves. So, the guy who is not listening to you will likely display that by looking away from you - watching a car go by or a bird fly past or he might just shift his gaze out a window.
• If he does believe you, his eyes will get a bit wider, his pupils will likely dilate, he’ll lean forward and his ears will recede.  He may smile slightly and nod his head as if saying yes.

The TV show make it seem like anyone who twists a wedding band is telling you a lie. That’s baloney. It is a sign of something, probably discomfort, could be gas. Then, it’s your job to figure out what is causing that discomfort.

The point is, pay attention, notice anything that moves on the person’s body or face and figure out what it means. Is it a good sign or a red flag.

At AboutPeople, we read personality types, values and communication style - all in faces. We can also read internal mental/emotional turmoil. Point is, so can you. Having trouble with a boss, co-worker or client? Got a boyfriend or girlfriend or spouse you can’t figure out? We can help.  First, you need to buy our book Face Values. It is the most important book you can find on reading people.

Got questions? Just get in touch: michael@aboutpeople.com

– Michael Lovas

Ever wonder what makes some people work really hard while others seem to do as little as possible?  Why some need no prodding at all, yet others must be constantly guided, prodded, and incentivized?  And just how much influence can a manager really have on the motivation of employees?

 

Understanding motivation is not has difficult as you might think.  And yes, a manager can have a great deal of influence.  So can peers, the work environment and nature of the work itself.  The key is recognizing that motivation is an individual behavior, not an organizational one, and as such the focus must be on the individual.

 

Each person is different.  Each has different needs, desires, goals and values.  Each has past experiences and psychological baggage that influence their perception of the world and the people around them.  These all influence motivation.

 

There is no such thing as a “one-size-fits-all” approach to motivation.  What works to motivate John may not work at all to motivate Bob.  Because each person has a different psychological make-up, motivational strategies must be unique and different. 

 

Values and Motivation

 

Motivation is tied closely to values.  Values are the qualities, principles and priorities that each of us holds most dear.  Values guide our decisions in life and in work.  They explain why we do what we do.  Values drive and motivate us. 

 

Some examples of work values include:

 

¨       Achievement

¨       Autonomy

¨       Comfort

¨       Prosperity / Money

¨       Recognition

¨       Safety

¨       Status

¨       Learning

 

Categories of Work Values

Work values tend to fall into these three categories:

 

1. Environmental
2. Social
3. Self

Environmental values are things like comfortable working conditions, a secure position or job, a variety of tasks and fair compensation.  Social values include things like - the opportunity for recognition and advancement, managing people, helping others, or having close social relationships with co-workers.  Examples of Self values are a sense of accomplishment, the opportunity to achieve, learn, grow, be creative, or make decisions autonomously.

 

Values as Outcomes

Another way to think of values is as outcomes.  What is it that the employee most wants to achieve?  What is their ultimate outcome?  If you know this, then you know how to motivate them. 

 

In my case, my highest work values or ultimate outcome is freedom, a sense of accomplishment, and continuous learning.  If you want to motivate me, give me a job that will provide me with those outcomes.

 

How can you use this information to improve motivation?

 

Here is a step-by-step process for improving motivation.

 

1.    Recognize individual differences and develop individual strategies. 

The first step in developing individualized strategies is to determine what outcomes each employee values.  In other words, what drives the employee?  Once you determine their values or the outcomes they value, then you can individualize the rewards.  If for example, you determine that I value Recognition, then you can figure out ways to ensure I get the Recognition I need to keep me motivated. 

 

 

2.    Match people to jobs that enable them to use their natural strengths and talents. 

When people are properly matched to jobs that provide them with an opportunity to regularly use their natural strengths and talents, they will be naturally motivated.  Think about it  - the things that you do the best are typically the things you love to do.  When you are doing something that you love to do, you don’t  need any external motivation.  Typically you don’t need much in the way of training either.  An added bonus and saving for the organization.   

 

3.   Determine what kinds of behavior you/the organization want and articulate it clearly. 

We often talk about things like “good performance” but we don’t specifically define what that means or looks like.  We assume everyone knows.  Wrong!  I may be highly motivated, but motivated to do something completely different from what the organization wants or needs.  You can’t blame the employee if you haven’t specifically defined what it is you want.

 

Describe the goal.  Be specific about how it is to be performed (but without micromanaging).  When possible, provide an example, a sample, or a model. 

 

4.    Link organizational desired outcomes to individual desired outcomes 

Perhaps the toughest part of the process is syncing up work in the organization – in particular the organization’s desired outcomes with individual desired outcomes.  How do you accomplish what you need to accomplish as a company or organization and at the same time have the employee get what they need?

 

Although it seems like a daunting task, it’s not as difficult as you might imagine.  If you’ve done a good job hiring people who’s core values match those of the organization, you’re already half way there.  If you’ve done a good job at matching people to work that they are naturally inclined to, then you’re three-quarters there.

 

Pam’s favorite researcher Alex Todorov, along with fellow Princeton researcher Nikolaas Osterhof developed a computer program that allows scientists to analyze what it is about certain human faces that makes them look either trustworthy or fearsome. In doing so, they have also found that the program allows them to construct computer-generated faces that display the most trustworthy or dominant faces possible.  Take a look at http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S21/79/44O45/index.xml?section=topstories

“Humans seem to be wired to look to faces to understand the person’s intentions,” said Todorov, who has spent years studying the subtleties of the simple plane containing the eyes, nose and mouth. “People are always asking themselves, ‘Does this person have good or bad intentions?’”

To conduct the study, the scientists showed unfamiliar faces to test subjects and asked them to describe traits they could gauge from the faces. The scientists boiled down the list of traits to about a dozen of the most commonly cited characteristics, including aggressiveness, unkemptness and various emotional states. The researchers showed the faces to another group and asked them to rate each face for the degree to which it possessed one of the dozen listed traits.

Using a commercial software program that generates composites of human faces (based on laser scans of real subjects), the scientists asked another group of test subjects to look at 300 faces and rate them for trustworthiness, dominance and threat.

Common features of both trustworthiness and dominance emerged. A trustworthy face, at its most extreme, has a U-shaped mouth and eyes that form an almost surprised look. An untrustworthy face, at its most extreme, is an angry one with the edges of the mouth curled down and eyebrows pointing down at the center. The least dominant face possible is one resembling a baby’s with a larger distance between the eyes and the eyebrows than other faces. A threatening face can be obtained by averaging an untrustworthy and a dominant face.

Princeton researcher and Professor Alexander Todorov discovered that when we see a new face, our brains make split-second judgments on whether or not that person is trustworthy, attractive and competent.

Todorov says, “The link between facial features and character may be tenuous at best, but that doesn’t stop our minds from sizing other people up at a glance. We decide very quickly whether a person possesses many of the traits we feel are important, such as Likeability and competence, even though we have not exchanged a single word with them. It appears that we are hard-wired to draw these inferences in a fast, unreflective way.” 

Kevin Hogan, author of The Science of Influence, explains it this way:  “When you first meet someone, millions of neurons in the brain are activated.  The unconscious mind goes immediately to work, makes all kinds of judgments and evaluations, and essentially pegs the person a winner or loser in approximately four seconds.”

So knowing that people make these split-second decisions, what can you do to ensure thier first impressions of you are positive?

Let’s begin with Trust since this is the first thing the brain registers.  What can you do to help people trust you? 

First step, make yourself safe.  Ever see any of the Discovery Channel shows about animals fighting?  They puff up and try to look as large and intimidating as possible.  That’s what you’d do to if you were going to do battle.  Trust is the opposite of that, and it includes these elements: 

• Smile in your eyes
• Look - directly at the person, around the eyes but not into the eyes (no glaring)
• Open trusting posture – open palms
• Sideways tilt of your head
• Nod – encourage the conversation by saying, “Uh huh…OK…I see”

Why are those postures important?  For two reasons:  1) They are the main tools we use to communicate friendliness and trustworthiness and  2)  Nonverbal cues carry much more information than verbal ones.

 

This segment is drawn from our new book Axis of Influence - How Credibility and Likeability Intersect to Drive Success.  Stay tuned for more on Making a Favorable First Impression.

Earlier this year, Russ Alan Prince released some research showing the extremely high numbers of clients who were looking to fire their advisor. What do you think that number is now?

Question: What do you need to do right now to separate yourself from the confusion and malaise clients are experiencing? What can you do right now to prove your credibility and show yourself as a person of integrity? I hope you don’t think of those questions as merely rhetorical. They are intended to make you decide, make you take a giant step into stepping beyond everyone else. That is what this article will show you.

The urgency to separate yourself from the pack has NEVER been greater. As an advisor, you’re looking into the face of a unique, maybe once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to show yourself as different and better position yourself as the voice of reason prove that you are trustworthy and place your clients’ interest first demonstrate your credibility!

Question: What is your biggest threat, right now? It’s not who you think. It’s emotion — emotion on an irrational run. Every time Jim Cramer announces another fear message on TV, you lose. Every time your clients don’t hear from you, you lose. Every time you deliver an off-target message or presentation, you lose. And, what do you lose? Credibility. Every time the industry loses credibility, so do you — until you separate yourself. How? This article shows you how.The threats to you also include every insurance and financial advisor who is NOT taking a proactive position and contacting their clients. They taint the entire industry. We know that pack to be sizable because we’ve been talking with them during our recent training sessions. They are too scared to call their clients, or they do not know what to say, or they are in denial and believe that we’re in just another correction. Isn’t that a giant opening for you?

The Most Important Point. As we travel and teach classes, we ask our audiences to tell us in 10 words or less their experience of what’s happening today. As you might expect, all the answers are from the advisor’s perspective. No one has given us an answer from the client’s perspective. And, that is the point. It matters not what your experience is. It only matters what your clients’ experience is — and how you respond to it.

Investors are angry, fearful, and hurt. They’ve stopped trusting the media, “Wall Street,” and politicians. (Remember, in their minds, you represent Wall Street.) They are desperately seeking someone they can trust someone who can help them make sense of this mess and chart the specific steps out of it. You can be that person! This article shows you how.

The two keys to the kingdom are Connection and Credibility — how to make effective Connection and demonstrate your Credibility. Why those two? Because they are the aspects of your business that are most at risk right now. Which means they are also the areas where you can have the biggest impact.

Think of it as Relationship Rescue. What do you need to do right now to rescue your client relationships? What can you do right now to form relationships with new clients? Here’s our plan. It’s simple and extremely effective.

Step 1. Rally the troops to re-establish credibility. Tap into your company’s experts, vendor’s, third-party resources. We often refer to this as “borrowing credibility.” In this situation, we’re urging you to gather available brain power to help you communicate objective, clear and actionable information to your clients and prospects. The goal is to help them sense that you (and your team) have a handle on what’s going on and that you know what to do about it. It is not necessary that you be seen as THE expert. It is necessary that you have a network of experts and can rally them to communicate their expertise in a way that resonates with your clients.

How. Stage a Town Hall Meeting of your clients (and their friends) to give you and your team a platform. You must serve as the facilitator, just like Dr. Phil would do. This is not a sales seminar, so you don’t have to buy dinner. In fact, you don’t even have to send out invitations. Just hire a couple of part-time employees or outside firm to make phone calls for you. The best person we’ve ever met at placing calls is Dawn Gouge. Reach her at: dawn@ridgleaoffice.com
866 450 6663 - toll free
* if you want to learn how to conduct a Town Hall Meeting, send me an email.

Step 2. Add your personal relevance. Part of the reason investors are so disgruntled right now is that they don’t know whom or what to trust. The entire ordeal has been so impersonal, as to be almost surreal. It’s easy to distrust “Wall Street” or the financial services industry or a big company because they are faceless entities and convenient targets. But, you are also a convenient target. Your job is to separate yourself from those faceless entities and show yourself as the caring, credible, trustworthy individual that you are. Get real. Share your feelings. Don’t be afraid to tell the truth, to admit mistakes, talk about lessons learned. This is a rare opportunity to really connect with your clients and prospects.

How. Think of yourself as the host of a TV panel show. Use that kind of format to facilitate either a large meeting or a series of smaller meetings to connect with all your clients. Put a stool in the middle of the stage area and simply talk from your heart to those people in front of you. They are most likely hurting and looking to you for help. Just give it to them.

Step 3. Make a personal connection. After the Town Hall Meeting, make appointments to meet face-to-face with (at least) your best clients. Call it a “Strategy Meeting.” Be straightforward but positive with them. Listen to and acknowledge their concerns and fears. Share your own thoughts, but don’t leave it there. Separate yourself from today’s situation by presenting a way forward with clear, actionable steps. Let your clients feel like they have choices and options, but limit those choices and help them make the decisions. Let them know they are not trapped. Suggest that this might be a good time to reposition assets. Make sure each client leaves the meeting with a step-by-step plan for moving forward.

Step 4. Make a comparison. Like almost everything in our lives, our feelings about our investments are directly related to how we compare to others. We feel bad about losing 20% until we realize that our neighbors lost 30%. That 20% looks even better when we see that Warren Buffet is down 20% as well. Unless you see yourself as merely a selling machine, your job is to provide a sense of perspective (comparison) for your clients, something to help them make sense of the world and see that they’re doing better than many other people out there.

How. During your Town Hall Meeting and your Strategy Meetings, show people a credible comparison. The best resource for showing investment comparisons is a website that does exactly that. It shows the top investors (Warren Buffet, Boone Pickens, etc.) and how they scored in the past six months and past year. That website is: www.gurufocus.com. Find the Guru Scorecard on the left side of the screen, then print it and use it with all of your clients.

Step 5. Rinse and Repeat. It is essential that you jump into proactive mode immediately and take action in order to reap the biggest benefit. But this is not a one-time solution. You must continue to look for ways to enhance your credibility and strengthen the connection with your clients.

Connection and Credibility have always been essential in our industry. They will continue to be essential elements of your success. The only difference between today and a year ago is opportunity. Not only can you save or grow existing relationships, you can also win new clients by being proactive and stepping up to take care of the ones you have. That gives your existing clients a reason to talk about you.

The time is now. Are you ready?

Since 1986, I’ve listened to a long line of coaches and consultants preach that to get referrals, you have to ask for them. Did you believe them? Please say NO, because it’s not true. It’s wrong. It’s bad advice.

In this article I will share some of the research that clearly proves the folly of asking for a referral. Plus, I’ll share with you some guidance in developing an approach that is much more effective.

Fact Set #1

The following comes from a 2008 report titled Investor and Industry Perspectives on Investment Advisors and Broker Dealers

FACT 76% of Investors Found Advisors through Referrals
Regardless of the types of services received, the most common way respondents found their current advisor was by referral from a friend or family member.(45.6%) The second most common way was by a professional referral (30.5%).

FACT Investors seek Attentive, Likeable and Credible Advisors
When asked "What do you like about the services you receive from your advisor" the types of comments most frequently mentioned fell into 3 categories:

1. Accessibility or attentiveness ("she stays up to date on my issues," "is there when I need her")
2. Relationship or personality (he’s "personable" or "friendly," "listens, asks good questions, understands my needs")
3. Expertise (she is knowledgeable about " or "knows her business")
   There are really only two sides to every client relationship — the personal and the professional. The more important side is the personal. Unless that side is addressed effectively, you could give your clients the impression that you consider them nothing more than a number. And, that number would be their contribution to your income statement.

FACT Investors dislike advisors who fail to keep in contact
When asked why they disliked an advisor, the most common type of comment was in accessibility or attentiveness category ("lack of contact" or "doesn’t call me frequently enough"). One other notable negative comment commonly cited refers to the advisor’s focus ("I don’t think he has my interests at heart." or "He is trying to make money for himself" or "Often tries to sell securities that the brokerage firm is pushing."

Most clients won’t call you on it. People are loath to cause stress. They will merely nod and make you think they’re in agreement with you. Then, they will log it into their memory and move you from the "referable" category to the "un-referable" category.

FACT Investors are looking for an advisor they can Trust
Trust of the individual financial service professional was the most cited feature of what investors look for in a financial service provider. Trust of the individual was cited as more important than trust of the firm for which that individual works.
Who you are as a person, your personal congruence, is much more valuable to your clients than the firm listed on your business card. Your credibility is the most important asset you have. And, it’s the glue that bonds all the other elements together to make you referable - or not.

CONCLUSIONS:
Based on the research provided by this research, we see that most people who are looking for an advisor end up finding the one they hire through a referral from a friend or relative. The people making the referral are feeding new business only to a certain type of advisor — one who keeps in touch with them, is accessible to them, has demonstrated trustworthiness, and one who has that client’s best interest at heart. In our world, we call that Credibility because it effectively and successfully covers both the personal side and professional side.

With that in mind, my prescription to you is to create an effective system for keeping in touch with your clients, at least with your best clients. Mix your contacts with personal visits, lunches, small gifts and greeting cards. Approach these touches personally. Think of it as individual communication or one-to-one marketing. If you can make those personal communications relevant to each person, you will have taken your first step into the realm of "Credibility Marketing."

Fact Set #2

The following come from a 2008 report titled Economics of Loyalty — Conducted by Advisor Impact.

One of the areas covered in this study was the dynamics of a disintegrating client relationship. In other words, what is really going on in the mind of your client just prior to your being fired or replaced If you knew that, you’d be able to plug the hole and retain that client. Let’s look at the findings:

FACT If you’re not building the relationship, you’re putting it at risk.
One of the notable factors about client satisfaction in the financial industry is that clients are on average very satisfied. That is an extremely misleading statistic which may lead us to believe that very few client relationships are at risk. The key point for advisors is that the relationship seems to be at risk when overall satisfaction is at a 7 or less out of a 10-point scale. The numbers suggest that even if the relationship had been excellent, there was a decline in satisfaction just prior to making a change. In other words, if you’re not building the relationship, you’re putting it at risk.

These results together with those from the Investor and Industry Perspectives study suggest that client relationships slowly erode over time and probably hit a tipping point relative to some event or time when the advisor should have been responsive but wasn’t. (9-11, 400 pt down day, Bear Stearns imploding).

To many advisors, the client relationship is not with the person but with the person’s money, estate or account. Big mistake. When you focus on the impersonal aspect, you allow the human to drift away. So, how does that affect your ability to get a referral from that person It destroys it.

FACT Engaged clients are most likely to give referrals
The study finds four categories of client relationships Disgruntled, Complacent, Content and Engaged. As you might expect, the more engaged a client is in your relationship (and work together), the more loyal the client is. The more loyal a client, the greater the chance he will give a referral. After all, the engaged client has something (more than money) invested in you. Giving a referral is one way they validate their connection to you.

FACT Asking for referrals does not produce referrals
The process of asking for referrals does not impact the likelihood of getting them. Consider how most advisors ask for referrals, "Can you share with me the names of some friends I might be able to call on" Over the years, I’ve personally asked hundreds of advisors to tell me how they ask for referrals, and that’s what most of them say. It is backwards! It is tantamount to saying, "I may not be able to help your friend, but I sure do need the business."

The findings from this study suggest that the reason clients give referrals is not to help the advisor; it is to do their friend or colleague a favor. If that is the case, how does that change your referral strategy?

For example, you might consider immediately implementing a communication strategy to show yourself as more responsive. This could include some or all of the following:

• Personal phone calls to discuss the market and involve the client in the most appropriate next steps.
• Lunch with a small group of clients to discuss the market and appropriate positioning of assets.
• Devote time to developing your "value proposition." What do you want your clients to tell their friends about you? Perfect that language, then teach it to them to day on? your behalf.
• Launch a greeting card campaign to enhance the personal side of your client relationships.

Conclusion.
Referrals are the result of a complex set of factors. You are in control of most of those factors. Referrals are NOT the result of asking for them. People who are engaged with their advisors are more satisfied with the relationship. Engaged clients give more referrals. Communication is a key to increasing the level of engagement. So, what will you do today to communicate with your best clients?

Your Reward.
Want a copy of our Six Step Referral Process? Just send me an email with your contact information.

The inner-most circle is your product. We use variable annuities as the example here, but it could just as easily be LTC, life insurance,401(k)or any other product. If a variable annuity is your product, chances are slim that you will find consumers proactively looking to talk with you about them. But, chances are pretty good that you can find people wanting to talk about the middle circle -income solutions. For Boomers, that’s a big topic. It is a point of relevance to them, where variable annuities probably is not.Next, look at the outer-most circle. Virtually ever person in America has some kind of a financial problem. From having too much cash to needing a tax-effective retirement distribution plan- every financial need falls into the “Financial Solutions” category.

Where do most producers make their presentation Right in the fat middle of the product. They go for the throat. They try to engage the prospect in a conversation about the product, rather than the next level up. Look at the difference between these questions 1. Have you heard about the new generation of variable annuities (That’s “hammer mentality.”)2. Has your financial advisor talked to you about income solutions (That’s a connection question.).

If you are an advisor, and want to show yourself as relevant, your job is to learn how to use the Circle of Relevance. For the client, it’s not about the product - it’s about the problem and the result the product brings. And, in order to make it work, you must understand which problem he has and which result he wants.

If you’re a wholesaler, your job is similar. You need to show that you understand your prospect’s situation - his business model, clients, corporate mandates. Show that you are able to offer insights - then introduce relevant solutions. Again, you need to know which problem he faces and which result he wants.

Quick Story. During a recent coaching call with a Canadian securities firm, I was helping a group of advisors demonstrate their relevance. They were role playing by interviewing each other. It was very painful. These guys meant well, but had absolutely no idea of how inept they sounded to the person on the other end of the line. As bad as they were, they were very similar to most advisors and wholesalers we’ve met. They made the same mistakes.

Here is the biggest mistake. See if you recognize anyone: Mistake #1. Diving into detail. This is without a doubt the biggest mistake that financial advisors make. It sounds like this, “Hello, might I interest you in a tech stock that has shown great promise for growth through market fluctuation” or “Hello, how would you like to capitalize on stock market gains, while protecting against downturns” Those approaches are very obviously based on what that person wants to sell. They have zero to do with the client.

What can you do better Decide in advance what the goal of the call is. I know, it sounds remedial, but most people do not do that. So, they get nothing.

As people who apply psychology to generating business in the financial industry, we’re asked on a daily basis to help advisors generate referrals. So, we developed a system. If you follow the advice in this issue of InnerCircle, you will take a giant leap forward in getting more referrals. Mind you, this is just the first step. If you want to learn the other steps, just let us know.