Transform client relationships by asking better questions

By Jamie McIntyre, CFP

Clients want solutions for their problems and help to achieve what they want out of life. The best way to discover clients’ goals, problems and needs is to invest time in them and ask questions that are not product-based.

Cross-selling naturally happens when you dig deeper and have a more thorough understanding of what they really want out of their lives. However, financial advisors can get in the way of establishing deeper connections when they don’t ask better questions that lead to understanding what is important to their client.

Asking a good question

“What would happen if you died?” is a good client question. But it’s not telling you what really matters to clients. You’re not uncovering a client’s true needs and wants. Asking questions that are related to life insurance is not going below the surface.

Asking a better question

Instead, ask, “Who’s important for you to support and protect?” When you ask this, you achieve a deeper engagement with clients and understand them on a personal level rather than a product level.

Asking a good question

Another standard question advisors ask is, “When do you want to retire, Mr. and Mrs. Client?” In Australia, everyone’s answer is age 67, which is linked to the government pension. For us, we ask the question in a different way,
so we can engage with the client about their life and what they really want.

Asking a better question

We ask the clients, “At what age do you want to be in a position to stop working the following day?” The client’s answer will be attached to something that’s meaningful to them, and we end up talking more in-depth about a financial freedom age where they are free from doing the current things that they are doing. We’re not attaching it to a government-mandated retirement age.

Goal-setting questions

To tap in to clients’ dreams and move them to action, ask them meaningful goal-setting questions as well. One such question is, “What goals do you have that require money and planning?” They’ll answer about goals that are not just product-based goals or based on mandated retirement dates. Instead, they’ll talk to you about their lives. Everything in life involves money and planning, and we need to work toward a specific time to achieve something together.

Another element of the goal-setting exercise is asking them to describe in two words how they will feel when they achieve a particular goal. This response allows them to attach a feeling to their goal, and they can attach themselves emotionally to achieving it, as well as having an accountability date. It becomes their goal that they have set for themselves.

Empowering clients to make decisions for themselves is crucial. Often there is a perception — and particularly when you use the word “advisor” — that you are giving advice or instructions. Prospects and clients can resist being told what to do. Instead, empower clients to make their own decisions. Then, give them the tools to be able to do that. It’s the financial advisor’s responsibility to empower clients to grow and make better decisions.

Jamie McIntyre is a 14-year MDRT member from Newtown, Victoria, Australia. Contact him at jamie@macfinancialadvice.com.au.

Rebuild resilience to create lasting success

By Antoinette Tuscano

When you build professional resilience, you’re adaptable and focused on getting results. Yet resilience can be depleted, and you will need to amp up your resilience again.

“Think of your resilience as a bucket with water in it. The water represents all your strengths and capabilities,” said author Heidi Dening during her 2024 MDRT Global Conference presentation. “When times are good, our buckets become strong and sturdy. We’re on fire, and our resilience buckets remain strong, allowing us to be productive, confident and capable at work,” she said.

But when times are difficult, our buckets become fragile. “Little rusty holes soon become big, gaping holes, and all our strengths and capabilities start leaking out. At work, we might feel lethargic and unfocused. We make poor decisions and silly mistakes. We get cranky over nothing,” Dening said.

How do we prioritize ourselves, mend our buckets and refill them again when our to-do lists are long?

Rebuilding resilience

Dening suggests her Strong Bucket Formula for repairing rusty bucket holes and rebuilding resilience and success.

• Principle 1 — Rest your brain and reset it through 10 minutes of daily stillness. To do this, sit down, turn off your tech, rest your eyes and enjoy doing nothing for 10 minutes. That’s it. Gift this to yourself. It is only a tiny part of your day.
• Principle 2 — Find joy one hour a week. Dening doesn’t mean the incidental joy that hopefully you experience daily. She’s referring to habitual joy that’s scheduled into your calendar. That might be studying a topic that you’re passionate about, volunteering at an animal shelter or mentoring an emerging leader in your organization. 

These are just a couple of methods. For more ways to rebuild resilience, see Dening’s 2023 MDRT Annual Meeting presentation at mdrt.org/boost-your-resilience.