One of the most overlooked and unaddressed issues in the financial services industry – most notably in banking – is around sales leadership and coaching. It is, therefore, one of the biggest opportunities for firms to realize breakout growth. In our work throughout the financial services industry, we consistently hear executive leaders talk about the…

Delivering a great client-centric experience will increase the number of referrals that you get, expand your current client relationships, and increase client retention. To learn about a few best practices for leading a distinguished, client experience, watch the video below.   3 Common Client Experience Mistakes Made by Financial Institutions 1.    Focusing on a client…

The purpose of a sales process is to provide clarity around an organization’s sales approach by mapping each aspect into a defined sequence that is easily followed and replicated. The presumption is that this level of definition and documentation will drive consistent sales force execution, leading to better sales results, more effective pipeline management, and…

One of the biggest buzzwords in Financial Services Training and Development today is “competency.” At Greene Consulting, we have worked with many organizations as they embarked on defining key competencies to better define and clarify what is takes to be successful in a given position.  

I had a great conversation recently with a talented young sales leader.  In this discussion he conveyed to me his three biggest challenges: Finding more time to coach. Adding value to my sales people.  “I don’t want to be the kind of sales manager who advisors try to get away from because they do not…

The landscape in which financial advisors must compete to earn the business of consumers is more competitive than ever.  In this integrated marketplace, small and large Financial Services firms are competing to offer integrated, holistic solutions to their client-base.  This leads to the dilemma ALL financial services firms are striving to solve: How do we…

In this tight economy, learning departments of Financial Services firms are looking for creative, cost-effective ways to add value to the business line. Many of them are turning to eLearning for the technical and skill development their professionals need; while others, especially smaller organizations, are reluctant to utilize eLearning due to perceived barriers to adoption.…

“Some gotta win, some gotta lose” is more than a line in an Elvis Presley song – it’s the government’s rendition of the Fiscal Cliff Deal. What exactly is the fiscal cliff? Is the fiscal cliff sheer media hype or a real crisis? The fiscal cliff refers to a perfect storm of tax increases and…

Most sales training includes the proverbial discussion around the development of the “value proposition.”  It is certainly important for every firm and advisor to develop a compelling positioning statement that differs from the competition.  Yet all too often we hear value propositions that lack distinction and do little to inspire prospects to further engage.  In…

In our last blog, we noted three key metrics by which you can fundamentally assess your opportunity for improving sales capacity.  In this blog, we will address the metric that typically gets the most attention – the close ratio. Our research suggests that the “typical” wealth management close ratio ranges from 25% to 35% (for…