Business Innovators Radio - Interview with Erin Botsford, CFP® Creator of The Elite Advisor Success System™ Discussing The Secret to Closing

Episode Date: July 9, 2023

Having spent 31 years in the financial services business and achieving at the highest levels (Barron’s Top 100 in all categories: Independent, Advisor, and Women), Erin sold her business in 2017 in a successful exit – a step most advisors would like to achieve at the end of their careers.Today, she delivers value to advisors and firms all over the country, speaking and teaching advisors how to quickly grow their businesses exponentially.She helps advisors understand and implement growth strategies, no matter where they are in their business journey. Erin believes in the power of modeling and allows advisors to simply copy her success blueprint.Erin is also the author of two books: “Seven Figure Firm – How to Build A Financial Services Business That Grows Itself” and “The Big Retirement Risk: Running out of Money Before You Run out of Time;” and the founder of the Elite Advisor Success System™.With over 30 years of field experience and an authentic personal story, she can relate to advisors at all levels. An international speaker, Erin shares her 30 years of wisdom at industry conferences worldwide.Learn More: https://erinbotsford.com/Read the featured article in Financial Advisor Magazine: https://www.fa-mag.com/news/advisors-are-getting-results-from-this-training-program-72959.htmlInfluential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saundershttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/influential-entrepreneurs-with-mike-saunders/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/interview-with-erin-botsford-cfp-creator-of-the-elite-advisor-success-system-discussing-the-secret-to-closing

Welcome to influential entrepreneurs, bringing you interviews with elite business leaders and experts, sharing tips and strategies for elevating your business to the next level. Here's your host, Mike Saunders. Hello and welcome to this episode of Influential Entrepreneurs. This is Mike Saunders, the authority positioning coach. Today we have back with us, Aaron Bottsford, who's the creator of the elite advisor success system. and we're going to be talking about the secret to closing. Aaron, welcome back to the program. Thanks, Mike's. Good to be back. Yeah, you know, I'm excited to talk to you about this because I think all the marketing

in the world will do nothing unless you can close a deal. And it really should be called opening because you're not closing. You're opening a relationship. So let's talk a little bit about your methodology and secret to closing. Yeah, sure. And I think you're exactly right, Mike. that people always come up to me and say, hey, Erin, you know, how do I find those, you know, 20, 30, 40 million dollar clients? You know, I really want to find those. Can you teach me how to do

that? And I'm like, yeah, I can. But if I was to put you in a room full of 20, 30 million clients, do you have any idea how to what you'd say to them or how to close them? The answer is typically no. So I think, you know, in our industry, we've gotten the process a little bit backwards. And so I've changed that. As you mentioned, I'm the creator of the elite advisor success system. And what I do is I first teach advisors how to close a prospect of any size the first time they meet with them. So it's interesting is once you can grasp and learn that skill that, you know, those high net worth prospects suddenly appear. It's just quite phenomenal, I think. It's like it's saying, you know, when the teacher is ready, the student will appear. I have evidence now. I've trained

well over a thousand advisors in the last four years that when the advisor is ready, those high net worth aspects appear. So it's kind of fun. You know, I've heard an old saying, I want to, the name Patterson jumps into mind, but, but you'll probably recognize this saying, um, build capacity in advance of demand, which is, which means, you know, don't go looking for more and more and more leads. You want to make sure that your website's ready. Your messaging is ready. Your, your, your scripting is ready, what your conversation. Because at that point, you're ready for the demand. And then when the demand comes, you can handle it. So,

Talk a little bit about your proven method. And I always think about when I hear, you know, closing or sales scripts, boy, my eyes just rolled because I'm like, oh, no, not another script. And how do you teach your client to follow a framework without feeling like they're scripted and the prospect going, okay, come on, just stop reading something? Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's really been fun because when I was an advisor for 31 years and as you know, I hit the top, Barron's top 100 list many times.

Truthfully, I was unconsciously competent, right? I didn't know why I was so effective at closing high net worth prospects the first time I met him. So I really had to, once I sold my company, I had to sort of step back and actually hired somebody to follow me around for two years and really dissect what is it that I said, what is it that I did that worked, right? So in essence, here's the thing that I have realized is that when a prospect, in my industry, in our industry, the financial services industry, typically they're not going to seek out a financial advisor until they have some kind of a

triggering event in their life. Like they're going to retire, their parent dies, you know, they get a divorce. I mean, there's some kind of, they have a grandchild, you know, some kind of a triggering event that says, oh my gosh, that affects my finances. I probably should go get some advice. Well, Mike, the problem with all of that is which one of us as advisors wants to sit around and wait for that triggering event to actually happen. Okay?

It's certainly not me. And so, in a lot of times, Mike, a triggering event can be something like a car accident that a prospect is involved in and, you know, there's maybe, or maybe their son or daughter is driving a car in their name and gets in a car accident. It hits a plastic surgeon who's, you know, who's died or becomes disabled. That's a really bad triggering event, but it does have. financial implications, right? So my methodology is when a prospect comes in, what I'm going to do is I have a series of questions. So like you said, what's the script? It's really not a sales script per se,

but it is a set of questions. I've actually, I call them disturbing tracks. And it's a series of 22 different sort of lanes I can go down based on who's sitting in front of me. And I just started, You know, first tell them, you know, tell me about you. And what's really fun is that I only have to know their names, the names and ages of their children. That's the only pieces of information that I need to know in order to be effective at closing them. And so by asking a series of questions, what I'm going to do is I'm going to identify, you know, potential pitfalls, things that it's weaknesses in the planning they've done. And here's the big kicker, Mike. it's weaknesses in the non-investment areas of their life.

And what's really cool is the investment areas are the obvious, but the non-investment areas, that kind of makes them kind of go, oh, okay, now tell me more. The other reason it's so effective is when they come in, you know, seeking out a financial advisor to most prospects, they think of it in the same terms of going to the dentist, right? It's nobody wants to go to the dentist. nobody really wants to go to a financial advisor.

And the reason they don't want to come to us, Mike, is what's interesting is, is they have to bear their soul. Like they have to, I call it, they have to undress in front of me. They've got to show me their balance sheet. And what I find fascinating about human psychology is that I've met with many hundreds and hundreds of very, very, very wealthy people. And none of them feel like they did well enough. They don't think that they have enough.

It's just really interesting. So they really don't want to be there. They don't want to, quote, expose themselves. And so I have to help them get through that process. So I'm not going to, I have closed every prospect I've ever had without ever talking about investments. Wow. So what's an example of that? Can you think, can you provide an example?

Oh, of course. So, you know, and we always talk about first, I always say, here's the thing, Mr. Mrs. Prospect, this is what I have found to be true as an advisor, whether you have a million or $10 million or anywhere in between, if an event happened, and let me assure you those events happen in a split second of time that would cause you to lose all of your money, your net worth, and I don't really care how your investments are managed right now. It's just that much more for you to lose. There's a lot of strategy to this, Mike, because what I just did was I said whether you have a million,

or 10 million. I'm making the assumption that the people in front of me, I use the lower number, whether you have a million or 10 million. If I'm sitting in front of this person, he's bragging that he, you know, he just closed it, sold his business for 10 million. My statement is going to be, well, Mr. or Mrs. Prospect, whether you have 10 million or 100 million or anywhere in between, if an event happened, and let me assure you those events happen in a split second at times, just that much more money for you to lose. There's so much psychology in saying that because this $10 million guy comes in, he thinks he's all that. Well, I just said, you know, I made the implication. I implied that, you know, I'm used to working with people who have a whole lot more money than you,

pal. And so a lot of times I can also get him to just sit down and listen because he thinks that I'm used to working with people who have bigger issues than he does. So I have to get them in a framework that they understand their position in my world. And then I'm going to ask that question. So I always start off in the area of risk management. And I'm going to ask things. like, so tell me, you know, how much umbrella liability coverage do you have on your cars? And do you have teenage drivers driving automobiles in your name? And, you know, we start going down that risk, those lanes. And then, so I have, I have about 11 risk management questions because what's really interesting, Mike, is that most people, especially men, men and women are so different,

most men have come to the reality that they expect risk in their investment portfolio. They have accepted that there's risk. What they really haven't thought through is the risk of sending their child off to college in a car that's in their name and that kid gets an car accident, kills a plastic surgeon, and now exposes this couple or this family to a $25 million lawsuit. They really haven't thought through that. They really haven't taken measures to take care of that. And, you know, and so then after I do risk management, I go into a health. estate planning and some really, really super basic questions about their estate planning. And most of them have, these are huge weaknesses.

I'd say 99.9% of the prospects I've worked with when I first meet them, their estate plan leaves their money completely exposed once it leaves, you know, it's fine going from husband to wife. But as soon as it hits the kids, it's completely exposed. And there's been no protections allotted for the children. And so great, this generation, you can do all you can to protect it, but you leave it, you know, to be exposed in the next generation. So I just have- You know, the interesting thing that I'm hearing you say with those two points about risk management and estate planning is you're not saying to that person or couple, oh, and by the way, we can get your double-digit returns and we can help your money grow and we can, it's not that. And there's a psychological aspect that I think you probably can point to the study on. but people are more motivated to keep what they have rather than earn more.

And the fear of losing something is so much more like a punch in the gut so that risk management of, oh, yeah, we want to keep your money safe. But there's other things that impact your money like the example you gave about the car accident. And I think that all of those things really kind of make, they're sitting there for that advisor going, okay, what's Erin going to say about investing? I'm waiting to hear that. And I've got these, you know, I'm going to refute it by saying this. but now you're coming at their money and their wealth from an angle that makes them think,

ooh, that's really, that's, I want to plug up those holes in my bucket. Yeah. And you know, it actually is true. The higher, and I teach my advisors to move up market. I want them working with $5, $10, $20 million people because, one, it's easier. It's a way easier close to close a $20 million client than a $500,000 client. I'm telling you, they're a lot easier to deal with. They have more margin in their life.

They have more needs in their life. And they don't, they don't get upset if the market goes down, 20 or 30 percent. It's like, okay, what, blip on the screen, right? So, but, but those people, however they've accumulated, it's usually business owners or retirees or so, however they've accumulated their wealth, you're exactly right. The fear of loss is a much bigger driver. At that level, they got all their money. They just don't want to lose what they have. It's a much bigger driver than the opportunity for gain, right? And like, what financial advisor, you're going to go to a $50 million guy and you're going to say, I can help you make more money?

he's done pretty well for himself, right? He just wants to help keep his money. And he's expecting you to say, I can put downside protection on your investments. That's as much as he's expecting you, the advisor to do. But he's not expecting you to expose all the other vulnerabilities that exist in his world. And that's where it's so powerful. And it's not only powerful, it's so easy. It's like taking candy from babies.

And the cool thing is, you know, it's very unique in the marketplace. I love it. And you know, you mentioned men, women are different. We know that, you know, but you talk about the superpower that female clients have. Talk a little bit about that. Well, everybody that's ever been in a committed relationship understands this superpower. And that is, I tell advisors, just to make sure you never want a woman to exercise what I call her superpower. Because so the idea being most, 80% of advisors are men in our industry still. And, They think that when the couple comes in, what they need to do is bond with them. And they'll typically bond with the husband first. And she'll be sitting there. You know, she didn't want to be there in the first place. She didn't want to come.

The advisor insisted that she be there and then he ignores her the entire time. So I have a methodology. For instance, I always tell advisors, you know, what you don't want to do is she'll sit there politely. But if you ignore her, if you have marginalized her in any way, by the time she, gets to the car and closes the door, you will be history. Okay, she will exercise her absolute veto power. And so how do you prevent that? Well, you always seat the woman at the head of the table. You seat the man on the side of the table when he's looking at you. There's nothing behind you to distract him. I mean, there's so much psychology. How do you engage her? How do you get her to sit at the head of the table?

I mean, all of this has to be, that's another part that's scripted because she will not be inclined And especially if your assistant puts her at the head of the table and then goes and gets her drink, by the time you get in there, she will move next to her spouse or her significant other. So how do you get her back to the head of the table? I mean, these are all things I teach my students because it's so important because, you know, she may not be the powerhouse breadwinner. She may not be, you know, whatever. She may not be financially savvy.

But if she doesn't like you, she feels marginalized, you know, that relationship is over. And I find it so fascinating. so many male advisors in particular, they're like, gosh, I thought the meeting went so well. And I thought we really bonded. And I just have to ask them a few questions. They thought about that. They go in there and start talking about the Texas Rangers or how about that game last night? How about whatever?

And they're like, you just lost her. That's a huge aha. And I love how you've mentioned the word several times psychological. And you know, you're consciously unconscious or unconsciously, or unconsciously competent and all of those ones. We've heard those before because it really is. You talk to a top performing salesperson or producer and go, what's your secret sauce? And they're like, I don't know.

But then when someone looks from it from the outside, you're like, yeah, but you know, you're developing rapport by this and what you did with the female who, and you asked this and you made sure that. And you even hear it in the old timey books, the think and grow rich and and all the different ones out there where, you know, the salesperson comes into the store. And before they go away to the back to talk to the owner, they're. they're chit chatting with the customer service rep and the stock boy and the CEO notices that and they're like, you value my people and you're the only salesperson that does that.

Everyone else blows right through them. So I love that perspective that you just brought up there. And that all goes into building rapport. Now, guess what? We can talk for days on end on this. But what is some of the top things that you would recommend your advisors to build rapport so that you're setting the stage for that prospect to say, Yeah, sure. So, you know, all of us, as I said before, every sales training guide in our industry says always have the woman, you know, show up. If it's a couple, you always want, you know, the woman to be there as well, husband and wife. But they don't tend to tell you, again, everything I do has psychology around it. Because we, because psychology, human psychology has not changed since the dawn of civilization. It just hasn't. I mean, we. We. still act like, you know, cavemen. So to the extent that, and so I teach my advisor students,

I'm like, okay, if the woman doesn't show up, do not do your, we call it an approach talk. Absolutely do not. Reschedule. Okay. But when she's there, again, don't ignore her, obviously. But the reason that it works best with the woman there, not only does she have absolute veto power, but with my technique of exposing weaknesses and the non-investment areas of her life, A woman, again, a woman, her inclination is to protect the nest egg, her nest egg for her, her children, and her grandchildren at all cost. Okay. So everything that I do, exposing weaknesses in these areas, she's going to be like, oh, my gosh,

we need to get this fixed one. Now, the guy, on the other hand, and this is a mistake, so many advisors make, oh, the woman didn't show up. They're just going to dive in and do their approach talk anyway. The guy, you know, if he's like my husband, My husband was an airline pilot for 35 years. You know, he's like, you know, if I lost everything, as long as I have a big screen TV and a futon, I'm good, I'm good, right?

Yeah. Okay, well, that's not going to land you a new client. Him having an attitude like that is not. So you have to have them both there because as a couple, usually opposites attract, and they do have competing interests. And each one of them needs to be met. And so, again, there's just so much psychology to it. And I could go on for days.

Well, I just think that is, I love the approach that you're taking to closing. And I'll kind of restate my point again. When the people that you're training, the advisors your training are taking your advice and closing, air quotes, a lot better. In reality, they're opening that relationship because it's not a, you know, buy this widget and we'll never see you again. it is we're going to have quarterly reviews. We're going to be, so it is an opening of relationship. Well, if you're closing the right way, they now know how you are interacting with them on the front end as well as when they become a client.

So yes, there's psychology involved. And you know what? Maybe possibly in this sales professional situation when you're bringing these sales in and developing rapport, that might possibly carry over to your personal life. And you might now treat some of your friends and family. and associates and, you know, people at church or the gym or wherever, that might carry over there and have some residual benefit as well. So I love that psychological approach. Yep.

Well, and a final thing I want to talk about is that the other thing that we as advisors have to get through and what I teach helps do this is that when a couple of prospect comes in, in their minds, okay, at the top of the, if you call it the pyramid, they hold their attorney. anybody that's got a legal degree, they hold them way up on top, followed by the CPA, followed them below that, their Mercedes dealer, and then their financial advisor. Okay, that's just the way of the world. We all know that. And why is that? Because people think about us, they think about the barriers to entry. You have to go to college.

You have to go to law school. You've got to pass the bar to be an attorney. And then the CPA, you've got, you know, all the other stuff got requirements, right? With us, everybody knows. All you have to do is pass the attorney. Series 7, maybe sit for the CFP or whatever. They know the barriers to entry in our business are low. So another thing I'm trying to teach my advisor students is how do you go from the bottom

of the barrel in their minds to the very top to being on par with their most trusted advisor, which is their estate planning attorney? So my entire approach and all my quote disturbing tracks are designed within 20 minutes, I can move you from the bottom to being at par or sometimes above an attorney relationship. And that's always my goal. And that is positioning in the mind of your prospect and from that psychological approach, from developing that rapport from having them view you as equal, if not a notch above their most trusted advisors like the state plan of attorney, CPA, things like that.

They're not just viewing you as someone shuffling money around. Now they're viewing you as that highly trusted advisor. I love that. So, Aaron, if someone is interested in learning more about. your elite advisor success system and diving deeper into the secrets of closing and everything else that's in there. What's the best way they can learn more and also to how to reach out and connect with you? Yeah, sure. So they can go to www. Aaron Botsford.com. It's E-R-I-N-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D.com. They can contact us info at Aaronbosford.com. And we're always happy to chat with advisors and

meet them where they are. We've trained advisors from $200,000 level to find. million level and all of them are benefiting for it and they're benefiting from the training. And really, you know, my goal is to have advisors 10 times their business in three years, wherever they are. I was able to do that multiple times and that's what I try to teach my advisors. And the sooner they can learn how to close prospects, high net worth prospects of the first meeting, the sooner they're going to get to that end result. I love it.

Well, Aaron, thank you so much for coming back on today. It was a real pleasure talking. Good talking to you too, Mike. You've been listening to Influential Entrepreneurs with Mike Saunders. To learn more about the resources mentioned on today's show or listen to past episodes, visit www.com.