Four ingredients that turn any client interaction into an opportunity for exceeding expected results while simultaneously building trust. For more, click here.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Ask any sales or non-sales executives (consultants, small business owners, etc.) what part of business they most dislike and they will almost universally answer with two words: business development (in other words, prospecting). No matter the overall business experience or training or overall capabilities, business development or thereof is typically abhorred. Not only is it difficult, but many of the processes hurt the business (and the individual’s efforts) as they are typically:

Short term focused

Utilizing techniques that are uncomfortable to both the prospects and the sales people

Product focused (and not client focused)

Over automated and under personalized

..only to cause dissatisfaction with the client in the short and long term- which subjects you to losing their business.

Disliked

This distaste reflects (or perhaps causes) one of the most troubling and intractable problems in business: despite spending time, effort and money encouraging, supporting and demanding that salespeople maintain a decent pipeline, these efforts produce low returns and poor morale.

We also observe that non-sales executives are typically experts in other areas such as consulting, engineering or marketing and are just not geared up for filling up the pipeline.

After all, who likes making (and receiving!) “cold calls.” That includes the client, who is typically annoyed with an overly automated under personalized script or technique that turns them off from the start.

What is an easier route?

There is no easy route. But there is an easier one. Everyone agrees that it is easier to get business from your current client base than chase new clients, and you should proceed along this path. If you have built a trusted relationship with your client base, you can capitalize on referrals.

But what happens when your business sees a big drought and dries up? Who can afford this scenario when things are uncertain? Nobody can.

Rewarding and Fun… What?

Here is a solution…

Business development does not need to be woeful. In fact, it can be rewarding and fun with the right attitude and approach.

One means to do this is through trust and the models that establish trustworthiness. When you understand and utilize the models of trust, you can see the power of it; it actually eases the stress and elevates the confidence in both you and your client, so that you can become more confident, comfortable and aligned with prospects.

Trust does take some time to establish, but the beauty of it all is you can start establishing trust through the structure of your dialogue (engage and listen) with your prospects right now. And, if you understand the Trust Equation, it only takes a little bit to build trustworthiness by heightening your credibility, reliability, intimacy and by lowering your self-orientation. Put these efforts in effect now and the results will endure.

Trust is ever so important in business commerce today and it is believed that trust-based business relationships are the single best route to corporate and personal success. And this different approach works for business development, too.

What could be better in times when clients or prospects are dissatisfied with the “quick turnaround” and “smile and dial” techniques that are often used today?

Results

When you develop business by initiating with trust (and therefore building trustworthiness), you get an engagement that is more personable and client focused, which allows for:

Less stress in your interactions and therefore more productivity

Faster results

Less “second guessing”

Less competitive bids

More referrals

After all , if the client trusts you, you get immediate credibility.

High impact results with low impact techniques.

Take the following  Trust Quiz and think about how the 4 areas of the Trust Equation can help your immediate business development and long term relationship development.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

In today’s overly competitive markets, where products tend to look the same and many companies struggle with their image, it is commonly believed that the key differentiator is your people.

It is now ever so important that your client-facing individuals (sales, product experts, leaders, marketing, and so on) establish a genuine rapport with clients, to help dispel rumours and differentiate your organisation from the competition.

The way to succeed with clients is through trust; being trusted by developing trustworthiness. Although the concept of trust is not innovative or new, the actual application is new, as it is rarely fully recognised or taught (and being trustworthy can be taught).

Some business leaders believe that trust-based business relationships are the single best route to corporate and personal success……..

For more see “A Question of Trust” from Human Resources Online, an article written by Team Egyii.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Buyers buy from a non-rational (emotional) approach. Most companies (salespeople, consultants, engineers and services) approach it from a rational approach- that is positioning on a technical and/or a needs base basis. There is nothing wrong with this, however it needs to be recognized, because if it only goes to a technical or needs base basis, then chances are opportunities are missed and wasted.

As you build your relationship and the client relationship progresses, it moves from the  technical or needs base basis and  reaches its peak at the next level, the relationship level. Again, there is nothing wrong with this, but rarely does it reach the trusted advisor status, the highest status of all relationships.

Reaching a trusted advisor status opens up more opportunities by easing the lines of business and the relationship highways that need to be built for current and ongoing business.

It is also a BIG differentiator in today’s competitive services world, that everyone wants a part of.

What keeps most companies from meeting the trusted advisor status?

The sales organization’s “processes.”

The pressure of sales organizations tends to drive salespeople to be very “seller” centric, which then tends to drive the buyer away. This gives the professional services team the opportunity to be more customer or buyer centric (focusing on the buyer’s personal needs), as they don’t have the pressure to sell and close.

Most sales organizations treat their clients as “competitors,” often holding information back and not collaborating. They are often afraid to open up and share too much. Buyers value openness and openness build trust. Professional services team don’t typically feel the “heat” of the corporate led competition attitude – this gives them the opportunity be transparent and to collaborate.

Most sales people are not good listeners (and it’s not always their fault). They are focusing too much on the sales process, the outcome of the meeting, the “advance” and their own “seller focused” agenda. Professional services teams have a better opportunity to listen (once they get over their rational, technical product approach) and the power of listening builds relationships.

Most salespeople are short term focused- whatever it takes to close the deal to meet monthly or quarterly objectives. Buyers sense this and know it- and don’t necessarily like it. Professional services teams can capitalise by looking medium to long term- to build the relationship, to keep the client long term.

(I am not blaming the sales people for their faults- it is typically the system that drives their behaviours. The system, or sales process is typically a “one size fits all” process. A process is OK, it just needs to be flexible)

All of these models build trust. And trust transforms relationships, which transforms business.

The Personal and Risk Aspect

Trust and relationships are personal. Professional services teams appear to be less threatening in the eyes of the client, and therefore have great potential to become more personal, to build trust and relationships, and therefore influence, without changing the professional services teams status quo and making them feel “uncomfortable.” After all most professional services people are not salespeople and many don’t want to be.

The risk in buying professional services is also very high. Why?

The product is partially intangible and partially comprised of people knowledge and skills

The overall stakes are high

The range of outcomes can be wide and unclear

The seller typically has command of technical expertise that the buyer does not (which makes it somewhat threatening to the client)

There is financial and business risk–but there is great emotional and political risk as well. In a trusting relationship, risk is mitigated because the “transactions” become personal.

Is it time to look at your business, transform it and fill your pipeline by releasing your hidden weapon of influence- your professional services team? Give it a think. A big think.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Ok so this book is about 5 years old. Maybe I am a bit slow getting to it. Doesn’t matter. After about a half dozen people recommended it, I bought it “used” on Amazon.

It is the best book on meaningful connecting and networking I have yet to encounter. There are no voodoo tactics. It is all real. OK, so Keith is smart- he is extraordinary. Doesn’t matter, he is real.

Read it early in your career. Read it when you near the middle or end of your career. Read it. Please.

The following quotes sum the book up better than I can. Why reinvent the wheel?

Ferrazzi grew up in rural Pennsylvania, the son of a steelworker and a cleaning lady, yet his ability to connect with others led to a scholarship at Yale, a Harvard MBA, and a prestigious partnership at Deloitte Consulting. His skills at creating and maintaining a network of contacts are nothing short of those of a serious presidential contender. All business hopefuls seek to enter a sphere of players more powerful than themselves, and Ferrazzi says that sometimes all it takes is asking. The book is dense with suggestions. Seek out mentors to guide you and introduce you to the people you need to know and then become a mentor yourself. Use your initial conversation to show the other person what you have to offer them, and never keep score. Make others feel important by remembering their names and birthdays. And don’t be afraid to open up and show vulnerability–it’s a great icebreaker. Ferrazzi presents a whirlwind of ideas to widen your circle of contacts that goes way beyond the usual stale concepts of “networking.” David Siegfried
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

The youngest partner in Deloitte Consulting’s history and founder of the consulting company Ferrazzi Greenlight, the author quickly aims in this useful volume to distinguish his networking techniques from generic handshakes and business cards tossed like confetti. At conferences, Ferrazzi practices what he calls the “deep bump” – a “fast and meaningful” slice of intimacy that reveals his uniqueness to interlocutors and quickly forges the kind of emotional connection through which trust, and lots of business, can soon follow. That bump distinguishes this book from so many others that stress networking; writing with Fortune Small Business editor Raz, Ferrazzi creates a real relationship with readers. Ferrazzi may overstate his case somewhat when he says, “People who instinctively establish a strong network of relationships have always created great businesses,” but his clear and well-articulated steps for getting access, getting close and staying close make for a substantial leg up. Each of 31 short chapters highlights a specific technique or concept, from “Warming the Cold Call” and “Managing the Gatekeeper” to following up, making small talk, “pinging” (or sending “quick, casual” greetings) and defining oneself to the point where one’s missives become “the e-mail you always read because of who it’s from.” In addition to variations on the theme of hard work, Ferrazzi offers counterintuitive perspectives that ring true: “vulnerability… is one of the most underappreciated assets in business today”; “too many people confuse secrecy with importance.” No one will confuse this book with its competitors.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore (go get ‘em, tiger! 虎 )

Gong Xi Fa Cai 正月

Happy Lunar New Year.

May the Year of the Tiger be ever so prosperous to you and your family!

Team Egyii, Singapore

What? Are we nuts? Have we completely changed our focus? A new business model? Not really we have always been in this business. We are in the highway construction business. This highway is a unique highway in its own. It is called the “relationship highway.”

We provide the tools and materials to build relationship highways. Powerful relationship highways at that. Highways and powerful relationships are quite equal in parallel.

Why does one build a highway? Maybe a superhighway, outfitted with 8 lanes?

To make things go faster.

To ease congestion.

To make life easier.

To lower overall costs.

Building highways does take an investment and time. But the returns are great.

Why does one build powerful relationships? For the same reasons highways are built; for an easier and pleasurable life that is less congested and that moves more efficiently. For business, powerful relationships boost productivity (efficiency), lower overall costs and generate more revenue.

How do we build our highways at Egyii?  Some of the tools and materials we use are based on trust. Why trust? Because of the economics of trust. Trust makes financial and long term sense. Trust is simple yet solid and proven. In Steven MR Covey’s book, The Speed of Trust, Mr. Covey states that “as trust increases, the speed of doing business increases and the cost decreases.”

Trust ↑ = Speed ↑ Cost ↓

Keep in mind-another parallel. Building powerful relationships also takes an investment and time…and the returns are also great.

Sorry. The lunch break is over. The whistle is blowing. Got to put on my construction hat and continue building.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

Why are we always confronted with so many objections that stall the sale? And when we are, they become very difficult to resolve. There are many ways to confront objections and everyone often has their own “manipulative” techniques to counter….

“If I can do that price do we have deal?”

“Is that the only thing holding back?”

“What do I need to do to earn your business?”

“If I can offer a solution would you be willing to buy today?”

How well do these objection handlers really work?

Very often objections are based around price. When you reach a price objection, here is a tip:

“Is it a budget issue?” (can you afford it?)

or

“Do you see value in the solution?” (to discover if they are objecting on value not on price)

From there you have an idea where you stand. This advice is valuable in its time and place, but why reach this position in the first place? If you had done your work earlier, chances are this won’t happen.

The value of transparency in dealing with sales objections

As part of your build-up to the sale, prior to any objections (and as a tool during your objections) , if you are completely open you probably won’t encounter these objections in the first place and will be able to resolve them when they arise.

Buying is based on emotion. After the initial assessment of you and your products (which is a very rational approach) people tend to buy on emotion (non-rational) from people that they trust.

One way to build trust is through transparency. Transparency throughout. Before. During. After.

dictionary.com defines transparency as “a state of being transparent” and transparent is defined as:

Having the property of transmitting rays of light through its substance so that bodies situated beyond or behind can be distinctly seen

Easily seen through, recognised or detected

Manifest; obvious: example is “a story with a transparent plot”

Open; frank; candid: example is “the man’s transparent earnestness”

If you are not transparent in your actions, the buyer starts questioning your motives. Once the buyer questions your motives, she starts to fear you and what you are doing. And when fear sets in, what happens? Objections.

How do we conduct transparency?

Easy. Sharing. Sharing information with the buyer lowers suspicion because it encourages collaboration and openness, and this will bring out any objections earlier in the sale. Yes it appears to be risky, and risk causes you fear. Take that risk and get over the fear, because it certainly is easier to control your fear than the buyer’s.

Taking the initial risk is tough, but worth it. It will lead you into a more powerful, trusting relationship and may even help you get that sale…. and more.

(for a great article on handling price objections, see Meeting Price Objections from Trust by Charles H. Green, Trusted Advisor Associates)

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

The following is an article from the Singapore Business Times, January 13, 2010, written by the Managing Director and Head of Private Banking Southeast Asia and Australasia for Credit Suisse, Dr. Francois Monnett.

He gets it, but do they really “walk the talk?”

Retaining clients, rebuilding trust

The sustainability of the private banking business model comes under scrutiny in the wake of the massive industry shake-up. In the aftermath of the massive industry shake-up which has taken place over the last 18 months, we are confronted with a very different operating landscape in private banking. Together with a significant loss of trust and confidence in the markets and industry, clients are also expecting higher standards of service and advice, as well as greater transparency and disclosure over products and services. There is also a shift towards safer, simpler and more liquid investment solutions.

One major implication is the critical question of the sustainability of the private banking business model. During the boom period, many institutions built their private banking model primarily based on the assumption of continued growth and perhaps a certain belief in its immunity to economic cyclicality. The infrastructure that many private banks have put in place to deliver value to clients and the fact that much growth has been built through expensive acquisition of bankers have also resulted in a costly model.

Revenue generation in private banking, particularly in the Asia-Pacific, has been very much volume-driven with a heavy reliance on a sales culture. With slowing revenue generation and increasing cost-income ratios in the past 18 months, the sustainability of this business model has been seriously tested. Much of the pressure is also coming from outside, namely from regulators and clients, that will propel the industry towards more radical and dramatic changes to the business model.

In the rapidly changing regulatory environment, investment suitability is here to stay and investor protection will become an even more important dimension in this business. There is also a lot of discussion on offshore banking, capital requirement and bankers’ compensation.

But the most important driver for change is the disillusioned clients. There has been a significant loss of investors’ trust and confidence in the markets, in regulators, in the financial institutions as well as their advisers. We have also observed among clients a flight to safety and quality, a shift from risk aversion to loss aversion, and a back-to-basic type of appeal for more direct and liquid investment vehicles.

Very importantly, there is a much greater need for transparency and disclosure. This is not just about the products, but also the service levels that clients pay for, fee structures, performance of their investments, as well as transparency regarding business partners and counterparty risk.

Client segmentation

For private banks to reclaim and reaffirm their critical status as trusted advisers, we need to enhance our value proposition on a few levels. First and foremost, we need to focus on client segmentation and differentiation to significantly lift service levels.

To put the client at the centre of a segmentation strategy is the only way to avoid the ‘one size fits all’ approach, which doesn’t work to lift service levels. This requires a disciplined, systematic and structured approach to defining client segmentation that goes well beyond assets under management. It has to consider the source of the client’s wealth – is it inherited or built? It has to consider the investor’s behaviour – is he or she a delegator, a participator or self-directed?

We also need to understand better the investor’s knowledge, experience, sophistication as well as domicile. Once these dimensions are clearly mapped out, the resulting value proposition has to deliver a tiered service offering in a disciplined and consistent way that will define different access to product specialist or management as well as the depth and breadth of the service offering.

Eventually, we will be measured as well in terms of the level of transparency and interaction we achieve with our clients. Risk management has to be an integral part of the advisory process and an investment suitability framework is the ultimate transparent guide to portfolio construction.

This involves the profiling of clients – the detailed and structured assessment of their knowledge and experience vis-Ã -vis the complexity of the portfolio solution, and their risk and loss tolerance. This profile is used to build a portfolio which is simulated in terms of asset allocation and is fully disclosed to the client.

Consistent client experience

The private banking business is all about execution. We need to deliver on the promise of being a trusted adviser in a consistent way. A major pre-requisite for a consistent client experience lies in the bank’s IT-based processes. From the relationship manager (RM) accessing an open architecture platform with thousands of solutions for the client, implementing a common advisory process, to utilising portfolio construction tools that build asset allocation against the client’s profile and analyses of risk scenarios – this level of consistency can only be achieved through a control process.

The re-engineering of processes is critical not so much for productivity gains, but has enormous impact on how much time the RM is able to spend with clients and the quality of the client experience. A recent study shows that RMs spend as much of their time marketing services to new clients as solving and dealing with administrative matters. If we are not able to free RMs from the loss in valuable client-interacting time, we will not live up to the promise of being a trusted adviser.

From a client perspective, there is also a constant request for better, more consolidated and comprehensive client reporting. They also want more direct access to almost real time data through client portals.

As private banking continues to grow in the Asia-Pacific, automation, IT systems and the re-engineering of processes will increasingly become the backbone of the business. How good a bank’s infrastructure is will be the cornerstone in delivering quality client experience. It will optimise relationship management time with clients and ensure a culture of consistency throughout the firm.

Re-skilling of RMs

If we want to differentiate ourselves in terms of providing an advice-centric operating model to clients, we will also have to consider the extent to which we need to re-skill our RMs. The permanent education of RMs is of paramount importance. Particularly in Asia-Pacific where the industry is still young and fast-growing, there is an immediate need to make sure that the culture of a firm is being consistently instilled into the new joiners that all bankers interact with their clients through a consistent and structured advisory process.

Eventually, as front organisations continue to expand, we also need to enable RMs to grow in their roles over time, from a junior level adviser, to an expert RM or a manager and leader. This requires a long-term, modular and state-of-the-art training curriculum and development model that captures the career cycle of each RM. It is also important to align reward systems with the clients’ satisfaction. When we measure performance, we need to focus not only on ‘What financial performance did you achieve?’ but also the ‘How did you achieve it?’ metric. This softer side of performance measurement has to be benchmarked against the values of the bank and how it wants its RMs to run the business, and against the client’s satisfaction. This will involve tracking the degree of adherence to the sales and advisory process, risk management tools and control standards, as well as client satisfaction surveys.

This greater alignment is a condition for regaining and earning more trust with our clients in the new landscape, acknowledging the new landscape, refining and sharpening the value position and eventually delivering on a bank’s brand promise.

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore

No matter what marketing efforts or executive initiatives are made, it will be difficult to change the client’s perspective.

So what now?

(for the answer, see the following Egyii White Paper: The Trust Edge for High Net Worth/Private Wealth Relationship Managers)

Trip Allen, Team Egyii, Singapore