T R
HE
UMMAGE
R
EPORT
The “Sports Agents” For Financial Advisors®
Newsletter: Sept 2014
Our Expertise
RIAs
Banks
Hybrid Firms
Wire Houses
Independents
Regional Firms
Discount Firms
Boutique Firms
Insurance Companies
Quote Of The Month
“Every day of our lives we are on the
verge of making those slight changes
that would make all the
difference”. ~Mignon McLaughlin, The
Neurotic's Notebook, 1960
Coach’s Corner
The Big Switch – How coaching
helped a Financial Advisor
bring his clients over to his new
firm
A case study by Success Skills Coach Jim
Rohrbach
Successful financial advisors are constantly
being recruited to join a new firm. With
promises of a big payday, better working
environment and enhanced capabilities for
serving clients, an offer can be hard to
refuse.
Yet changing firms is never an easy decision.
Even after careful consideration to make the
leap, FA’s run into a myriad of both
The Rummage Group is a Unique, nationally recognized Career
Consulting firm specializing in the Financial Industry. We are the
“Industry Experts” that help broker the deal between Financial Advisors
and the 1000+ firms looking to hire them. We are one of the only firms
started and run by a 20 year veteran of the Financial Industry. We are
The “Sports Agents” For Financial Advisors®.
When a Financial Advisor decides to change firms, or even just look
around, The Rummage Group is the “one stop shop” to help them.
Most are unaware there are over 1,000 firms that employ Financial
Advisors and the average advisor is only familiar with a handful. We
save Advisors the heartache of having to go it alone and rely on biased information. Since we
do business with most firms, we can provide unbiased assistance during this important
transition. The Rummage Group is the firm that can help keep Advisors from making a major
career mistake by ending up at a firm or model that does not match their goals or business
plan. We maintain 100% Confidentiality.
What We Do For Advisors:
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We help Financial Advisors negotiate the deal- We know the deals on the street as
well as "The Secret Deals"
We help Financial Advisors select the right firms by discovering all of their options
(Wire House, Regional, Independent, RIA, Bank, Boutique, Insurance, Discount &
Hybrid).
We know the REAL pros and cons of each firm, having done over 7,000 hours of
research on over 1,000 firms & 10 different models - Unbiased information.
We help advisors ask the right questions - We have over 60 questions advisors
should be asking each firm during a move.
We save you time and frustration- We have relationships and contacts at most firms
- We can get anything answered with a phone call.
Rick Rummage
www.therummagegroup.com
http://www.linkedin.com/in/rickrummage
Featured Article
Listen to Clients Before You Try to Sell
BY: RICK RUMMAGE
As a financial advisor, it is vital that you understand the art and science of sales.
anticipated and unforeseen challenges:
Getting told “no” by clients who you were
sure would come along with you, having
your name dragged through the dirt by
former colleagues, feeling your head spin
with unfamiliar people and processes. All
this can lead one to ask, “What the heck
was I thinking???”
What you are really selling is yourself: your knowledge, trust, service and personality.
And when you’re trying to land new clients, it’s not just what a prospect tells you that’s
important, it’s also what he does not tell you. Without knowing it, prospects are
communicating to you in subconscious ways.
Such was the case for Mike B,* a west coast
transplant who moved to a major
Midwestern market. He contacted me one
December after joining a new organization
the month before. Mike had built a nicesized book of business over the prior decade
but felt constrained by a partnership that
had been deteriorating for several years.
He was brought over by John C,* the
manager of a large office, who negotiated a
hefty up-front signing bonus with Mike that
tied him to the new firm for the next nine
years.
When they answer a question with “no,” often their body and inflection are saying “yes” or “I
* Names changed to insure confidentiality
Most sales trainers will tell you to always ask for the order. Although I mostly agree with this, it
is not always true.
Doubt creeps in
After receiving a warm welcome and getting
ushered in to a spacious office, the door
closed, and Mike asked himself, “OK – now
what?” He spent the first few weeks just
getting acclimated to the new people and
systems, not leaving much time for working
on his business. And that’s when the small
voice of panic began to creep into his head.
“Everyone here seems to know what they’re
doing – will I ever get it together? That first
year asset level I need to hit here is HUGE –
can I make it? How am I gonna get those
clients of mine over here? Maybe I should
have stayed put?” Etc.)
need more information.” It’s the job of a good salesperson to pick up on these cues, know what
they mean and, most important, know what to do with them.
Sales is about asking questions, listening and providing solutions. It is not convincing a prospect
to buy a product that’s not needed or wanted. A good salesperson is never pushy, overbearing
or cheesy.
Rather, a good salesperson should spend most of her time finding out what the prospect needs,
wants, knows and has. It is about matching the prospect with the right product or service.
There are many situations where it’s inappropriate to go for the close. Sometimes your trust
with the prospect will be broken if you try to close the deal.
There are situations where there is not enough time because the prospect must leave suddenly.
Or sometimes the prospect truly wants to think about the purchase before they commit.
Pressuring them may get you the sale, but could kill your long-term trusting relationship.
If you enter every sales call with the right mind set it will result in more sales and better
relationships. Don’t go into a call thinking, ‘I am going to close this sale.’ Rather, enter each
sales call with these goals:
• Discovering what the prospect wants
Mike floundered for the first 30 days or so.
He contacted his “A” clients at his former
firm but since he had never made a switch
before, he was unsure about how to get
them to move with him. He felt the
pressure of bringing in a high level of assets
within his first year to realize a six-figure
year-end financial bonus. And it dawned on
him that while his manager was a good guy,
he wouldn’t have any time to help Mike
bring over the old clients or bring in new
ones. (In fairness to John C, administrating
the office, attending management
meetings, handling FA issues and recruiting
new talent was more than a full-time job
itself.) Feeling overwhelmed, anxious about
the future and isolated, Mike reached out to
me via Horsesmouth, a daily ezine for FA’s
that I’ve contributed articles to since 2004.
• Discovering the prospect’s knowledge (product, competitors, industry, etc.)
• Discovering the prospects current situation (such as, do they work with an advisor already?)
• Educating the prospect & dispelling misinformation.
Real (bad) examples I used to hire advisors for the training program at one of the big
wirehouses, and I had a very intensive interview process. I looked mostly for sales aptitude,
because the hardest part of being a financial advisor is convincing a prospect to do business
with you.
I was always surprised at the number of candidates who felt they were great salespeople, but
were truly awful. And the majority of them had years of experience in sales.
Once they made it to the in-person interview I would ask them to sell me something. The rules
were easy: they could sell me anything, ask me any questions and would have as much time as
First things first
I begin with all of my new clients by asking,
“Where do you want to be in your business
one year from today?” Mike knew already
that he wanted to hit his year-end bonus
number by the end of December the
following year. With that starting point, I
helped him create a goal-based Mission
Statement, which included the bonus level
of assets as well as what he would need to
execute to achieve it by the 12/31 deadline.
Then I had him set quarterly, and then
monthly goals, so he knew his targets for
the first three months of the year. No
surprise to me, but having clear goals
helped Mike feel a sense of relief – at least
he knew where he needed to get to and had
a “scorecard” to let him know if he was on
track.
Trash talk
One issue that really bugged Mike was that
fact that once he left, his former partner
was suddenly “trash talking” about what a
lousy FA Mike was for the clients they had
shared. He couldn’t believe some of the
things that were being said about him to the
people he had personally brought to the
team. But all’s fair in love and war, and in
this case, it was a battle to retain
relationships. I was able to help him sober
to that reality by asking him, “Did you
seriously think your former firm was going
to throw a goodbye party for the clients you
want to take with you?” I did tell Mike that
once this was over, he would be able to look
back and laugh at some of the mud that was
being slung at him, but he wasn’t buying it
at the time.
Client approach … “or not”
Once Mike’s goals were established, we
developed an approach for bringing over
the twenty-five “A” clients he wanted from
his former firm by literally scripting specific
things to say to engage them. Turns out
that Mike, like most of the FA’s I deal with,
never had any training on how to conduct a
Consultative Interview, in which you ask
questions to help people come to their own
conclusion about why they’d want to use
your services. Rather than just saying point
blank, “You’re coming with me, right?” I had
Mike set up a meeting with each of these
clients in which they would have a
discussion about whether it made sense for
them to join him at the new firm, or not.
Critical to the conversation were the words
they needed.
While the rules were easy, the results were terrible. Most of them would think for 30 to 45
seconds and then just randomly pick a product they wished to sell me. They would usually
ramble on for a few minutes about how great the product was.
After their pitch was completed (and they did all the talking) they would usually ask me for the
order. Often they sat there with a proud smile on their face like they had successfully won the
day.
I would usually just shake my head and politely end the interview. What should they have done
differently? Well, going back to rule number 1 as a salesperson: find out what a prospect wants,
needs, knows and has.
In all of the hundreds of interviews I conducted, I only had one candidate pitch me flawlessly.
He first asked me if there was anything I wanted or needed. I told him I needed a new picture
frame for my office. He then spent about 10 minutes asking me questions such as size, shape,
cost, urgency and material.
Next he spent another few minutes discovering what I knew about the frame market and how
much research I had already done. I answered all of his questions in detail. I think he felt I was
being too easy on him or trying to trick him. After he got the relevant information, he simply
asked me to buy exactly what I had described I needed and didn’t have. Needless to say, he got
the order and the job.
The average prospect does not know much about you and your product or service. In addition,
the information they do have is often inaccurate.
But they do want to make informed decisions. Obviously, we will always have impulse buyers,
but most people like to be more pragmatic when buying a product or service.
Most importantly, no prospect wants to feel they are being sold. They want more information
on the pros and cons. If they buy, what is in it for them? How is this service better than the one
they currently have?
Proper selling is the ability to fill those needs: educate, inform and close the business without
the client ever feeling like they are being sold.
When a prospect says “no” to a product or service, what they are often saying is, “with the
information you have provided me so far, I don’t see the benefit in buying your product or
service now.”
Sometimes they just need better information to help them see the benefits of the product or
service – and maybe the product is your advice.
Once you truly understand sales it becomes much easier to have success. Many of you reading
“or not” -- Mike would be giving each client
explicit permission to say no, which
eliminates the resistance that would
otherwise come from a hard sell approach.
this haven’t had any formal sales training and had to just figure it out on your own. Others were
taught the wrong way by the wrong trainers.
There are many sales trainers whose methods primarily focus on the closing process. As a
He was coached to start off each meeting
this way, then inquire about his clients’
financial goals, their relationship with the
other partner (which turned out to be
rather weak) and their decision making
process, using the questions we crafted to
draw them out.
salesperson, most of your time should be spent on the discovery phase—finding out what the
prospect needs, wants, knows and has.
Let the games begin
Happy Hunting.
Then it was time for Mike to make the
rounds. Beginning a bit tentatively at first,
he used the questions to move the process
forward with each “A” client. Some were a
slam dunk, but many were initially hesitant,
adding to Mike’s exasperation, as these
were the very clients he brought to the
partnership in the first place. Fortunately,
he knew that he could reach out to me in
between our formal weekly sessions for
some impromptu coaching to either prep
for a client meeting or debrief after one.
Although he never abused the privilege, we
would sometimes speak three or four times
a week and exchange emails about what
was happening in his meetings. I provided a
number of useful tactics to let him know
what to address with each client to help
them decide in his favor.
Results, and moving forward
I’m pleased (but not as pleased as Mike!) to
report that after having set his goals,
learning the proper approach and having
the meetings, he was able to bring over all
but two of his former “A” clients in
relatively short order. He got on a roll,
achieving his large bonus asset level by the
end of June with a full six months to spare.
Mike said in hindsight, “It was nice to have
Jim as a ‘safe harbor’ in the storm of chaos
surrounding the move. I was able to vent
my frustration during our calls while staying
focused on the task at hand. And I could be
totally candid with him as I couldn’t be with
others in my office.”
Would Mike have brought over all of these
clients anyhow? Maybe, but maybe not –
coaching gave him the best possible
opportunity to maximize the odds for doing
so. And when the process of transitioning
clients was complete, he was free to begin
detailing his plan to bring in new clients,
knowing that he was well on his way to
Once you do this, it’s all about providing a solution to solve the prospects problems. Focus on
the right things and more success will come.
Rick Rummage is the founder and CEO of the Rummage Group, a consulting firm for advisors. He can be
reached at rick@therummagegroup.com.
building a much bigger business at his new
firm. I think he’s even laughing again, or at
least smiling about the positive prospects
for the future of his business.
Success Skills Coach Jim Rohrbach, "The Personal
Fitness Trainer for Your Business," coaches
Financial Advisors around the US by phone to
help them grow their
clientele. Visit Jim on the web at
http://www.SuccessSkills.com.
For more information contact:
Rick Rummage
President
The Rummage Group
The “Sports Agents” For Financial Advisors®
Off 703.435.2822
Fax 757.299.4677
Cell 443.739.7866
rick@therummagegroup.com
www.therummagegroup.com
The Rummage Group
The “Sports Agents” For Financial Advisors®
Off 703.435.2822
Fax 757.299.4677
Cell 443.739.7866
rick@therummagegroup.com
www.therummagegroup.com
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