The Secret to Being Heard Above the Herd of Wholesalers with Joe Colavito

You get paid to influence.

Influence advisors to present your firm’s product versus the competitors.

But how do you enhance your powers of influence?

Better still, how do you create unlimited influence?

Every principle and best practice Joe Colavito teaches was born from his experience working with top wholesalers and advisors at the point of sale. Over the past 12 years he has facilitated training programs for over 12,000 financial representatives and consulted with individuals and teams seeking to perform at the next level.

He brings a unique blend of passion, proven communication principles and innovation to each session to show wholesalers and advisors how to increase their focus, influence and performance so they can accelerate the growth of their practice and better serve their clients.

Prior to founding Corevu, LLC and joining the ASLANetwork as a Certified Trainer, Joe was the VP of Development for Wells REF. His background includes: twelve years in the recruiting industry where he interviewed over 5,000 candidates and served as a partner in two leading global executive search firms. Along the way he discovered that far too many talented professionals are hitting the performance wall, and need objective perspective, simple next steps and an accountability partner to achieve breakthrough performance.

Book Joe for your next event through Wholesaler Masterminds Speakers Bureau.

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The Secret to Being HEARD Above the HERD of Wholesalers  

You work in a more-faster-now, regulation-driven, budget restricted, product saturated, overcrowded, competitive landscape where every member of your growing “wholesaler herd” is looking to “drink” from the same watering hole (aka: pool of top producing advisors).

Here’s the truth: Most financial advisors view wholesalers like you as an interchangeable commodity. They can’t differentiate you from the last member of the wholesaler herd who left their office five minutes before you arrived. Generally speaking, advisors overlook or under appreciate the strategic value and experience you offer them.

When your product is popular or your marketing budget is available you get more of your top advisors’ timeshare and AUM-share. But do you really want your success and paycheck to be totally dependent upon your product and budget?

Reframing Your Real Problem

Question: What is the biggest issue every wholesaler on this planet is battling against, day in and day out, as you head into the marketplace?

Answer: Receptivity( the invitation to be heard ) is the biggest issue every wholesaler is battling; and most never pause to consider how to win the “war of receptivity and influence.”

Just last week a wholesaler friend reported, “The advisors still don’t know who they can trust. Between DOL, FINRA 1502 and the breech in confidence caused by lack of product performance over the past 10 years, it’s getting harder and harder to build trust and get advisors to act.”

As my friend spoke, I heard this:

NO TRUST = NO RECEPTIVITY = NO INFLUENCE = NO TICKETS = NO SUCCESS

7 Proven Principles and Applications to Increase Your Influence 

Here’s the good news: Just because your entire industry is struggling to overcome constant regulatory uncertainty and frequent lapses in integrity, it doesn’t mean you can’t separate yourself and be heard above the herd of wholesalers.

Here are seven distinct, but related, sales principles that will help you increase your receptivity, influence and success at the point of sale.

#1 Principle of Receptivity*: When someone is emotionally “closed,” you cannot persuade him or her with logical arguments. In fact, when attempting to persuade an emotionally closed person, he or she becomes even more closed. 

Application: When the decision-maker is “closed,” shift your focus from selling to developing receptivity.

#2 Tug-of-War Principle*: People initially resist any outside pressure to think or act differently, even if its is in their best interest – especially if they feel they are being forced, and their right to choose has been taken away. 

Application: Always provide your advisors with options; the freedom to choose.

#3 Principle of Curiosity: The older I get, and the more experience I gain, the less I benefit from my childlike sense of curiosity.

#4 Principle of Caring: Nothing will expand my influence faster than my genuine ability to care more about my advisor’s success than I do my own.

Application for #3 and #4: Be Other-Centered® and remember that true curiosity is agenda free.

Because we default to self, our natural approach to selling diminishes receptivity and the ability to create the most effective recommendation. Discipline yourself to ask questions for the advisor’s benefit, not yours. Seek to facilitate a conversation that leads them to make a more informed decision.

When you are not sure whether you are being Other-Centered® stop and ask yourself this question: “What’s my motive in this moment?” 

#5 Principle of Self-Talk: I lose influence 5X faster when I fail to draw out their internal conversation before I attempt to introduce our product/solution. 

Application: Here is a quick way to know where your product stands in the advisor’s existing line up.

Ask permission to ask these three questions below. Encourage the advisor to be transparent and direct.

• On a scaled from 1-10, how comfortable are you recommending our product to your best clients?
• On the same scale, how confident are you presenting our product to your best clients right now?
• How do your ratings for our product compare to the products you are most comfortable recommending and confident presenting to your best clients?

Note: Don’t focus on the numbers they share. Focus on the gaps between the numbers and ask, “How can we help you increase your comfort and confidence? You can offer options: product webinar, role playing with them, or offering to present for them to their first client, etc.

#6 Principle of Inter-FEAR-ance: Unless I remove emotional inter-FEAR-ance from my advisor’s mind, it will hijack their focus, derail their decision-making process and undermine our shared performance. 

Application: Ask permission to engage them in a recalibration conversation using some or all of these questions:

1. What do you do best?
2. What do you love doing most?
3. What is the one thing you do that creates the most value to others?
4. What percentage of your time are you doing 1, 2, 3?
5. What is your 20/20 vision for your business?
6. Who or what is creating the most inter-FEAR-ance (i.e. stress/time loss) for you right now at work?
7. What can I do to help you minimize your inter-FEAR-ance and grow your business?

#7 Principle of Integrity: I must never forget that the moment I break one promise to an advisor, I lose all credibility, receptivity, and influence.

Application: Think before you make every promise; then deliver on every promise you make.

Now you know the secret to being heard above the herd of wholesalers. Be Other-Centered®. I encourage you to start by following the 7 Principles noted above.

Together they will help you focus more on cultivating receptivity/relationships and less on harvesting assets/results. It won’t take long before you find yourself standing out from the crowd, gaining unlimited influence, and achieving sustainable success.

In it with you …

Written by Joe Colavito

*Source: ASLAN Sales Training