ONE Guiding Principle That Sets You Apart

By Rick Swygman | December 18, 2024

A 10-year growth study of 50,000 brands shows that companies who put improving people’s lives at the center of all they do have growth rates that are triple that of their competitors, and they outperform the market by 383%.

Jim Stengel study of business growth in collaboration with Millward Brown Optimor

A study of 500 sales organizations revealed that salespeople who sell with Noble Purpose, who truly want to make a difference in the lives of their customers, outsell salespeople focused on targets and quotas.

McLeod & More, Inc.

Great info and obviously true. But there’s a disconnect.

At least in the financial services industry, most every organization (typically via their website) claims they’re focused on the client and, in some way, committed to “improving the lives of their clients.” And if you speak with individual advisors about the importance of being “client-centric,” serving the client or selling with purpose, most will tell you they’re already there.

So why do so many advisors and firms who claim that they put “improving people’s lives at the center of all they do” fail to perform as revealed in the above studies?

Based on our experience, it’s because they SAY they do this, but struggle delivering on it. This is typically due to (1) a lack of conviction to live it out, distrusting that it will truly lead to such results (due to the constant pressure to meet “targets and quotas”) and/or (2) they have the conviction, but neglect to clearly define HOW they will do it, overlooking the specific competencies needed throughout the sales and relationship management experience to back it up.

At Greene Consulting, there is one guiding principle at the core of everything we do in our work and promote with our clients that, if followed, WILL lead to such outperformance … one that we believe is the primary driver of our success and the success of those we serve. That principle?

In EVERTHYING you do, be pure you in your intent and trust the results.”

Purity of intent:

Trust the Results:

Doing what is best for the other (the client or the person with whom you are engaged).

Genuinely detaching from the outcome, accepting that if you do what is RIGHT for the other, it will lead to the RIGHT outcome.

“This concept of Purity of Intent that I learned from you guys has changed everything for me professionally and personally.” (Wealth Management Market Leader)

“Re-engaging with you guys [Greene Consulting] reminded me how powerful that concept of Purity of Intent is with prospects and clients.” (HNW Wealth Advisor)

Why does this matter?

Whether you know it or not, prospective clients can quickly sense if you are there to sell or to serve. Most over time have been conditioned by our industry to expect that your intent is to pitch something that will compel them to hand over their assets to you. To overcome that, many advisors focus primarily on their value prop or “elevator speech,” attempting to position themselves and their firm as “client-centric” and committed to serving the best interests of the client. But very few back it up when it comes to the process they deliver.

CLAIMING you are client-centric does not automatically translate to BEING client-centric.

To ensure you’re truly fulfilling on this principle – and setting yourself apart from other advisors and firms – everything you do in every interaction and every step in your sales and client experience must serve to validate your “intent” to serve and improve the lives of your clients. It’s not just about how you position yourself, your team and your firm, but how you engage from start to finish, trusting that the results that accrue are the RIGHT results for the client and your firm … even to the point of accepting in the end that maybe you’re not the best fit for the client or the client is not a fit for you.

Consider the following questions to make a quick assessment of YOUR intent throughout your sales and relationship management interactions. Each interaction – when performed with “purity of intent” – unquestionably leads to deeper client engagement and acceleration of trust and loyalty.

Client Interaction

Positioning

The Traditional “pitch” to Make a Sale		Serving with Purity of Intent, Trusting the Results
Do I position myself and my firm with the traditional “Value Prop,” or Elevator Speech, which is primarily focused on who YOU are, what YOU do, who YOU do it for?	OR	Do I instead position myself and my firm with a focus on THE CLIENT and what I promise to deliver on behalf of them and their family?

Discovery

The Traditional “pitch” to Make a Sale		Serving with Purity of Intent, Trusting the Results
Is my intention to obtain as much information as I need to identify a problem and make a sale?	OR	Do I have a disciplined and methodical process to ensure a full understanding of the client and their priorities, values, and family dynamics, thereby enabling me to truly understand how to best help them address both their recognized and unrecognized needs?

Financial Planning

The Traditional “pitch” to Make a Sale		Serving with Purity of Intent, Trusting the Results
Do I engage prospects and clients with the intent to sell them on financial planning (because that’s what your firm is asking of you or what you claim you do for clients)?	OR	Do I first spend time through Discovery and a high-level analysis of their current situation to determine IF a full financial plan is needed, or if something simpler and more efficient suffices to achieve what the client needs?

Recommending Solutions

The Traditional “pitch” to Make a Sale

Serving with Purity of Intent, Trusting the Results

Do I:

Simply explain to the prospect or client what they need to do and why and,
do so with the intent to do whatever it takes to close the deal?

Do I engage them with thought-provoking questions that will help them self-discoverthe issue(s) they need to address and the importance of addressing it? (“We should never tell someone something we can help them discover for themselves” to leave them with greater clarity and confidence that our solution is the RIGHT solution for them.)
Then, if there’s a better solution for the client than what we provide, am I willing to refer the client to another provider, confident that such a commitment to the best interests of the client will yield greater long-term gains for me and my firm in terms of credibility and reputation?

Client Meetings/Relationship Reviews

The Traditional “pitch” to Make a Sale		Serving with Purity of Intent, Trusting the Results
Is my primary focus of these meetings on providing a “look back” at what we’ve done (conducting an economic and investment review, etc.) to show how well we’ve performed on their behalf?	OR	While recognizing that an investment and economic review is worthwhile for some clients, am I also “looking forward” to proactively address future risks and opportunities relating to their current wealth situation, which is all about them and improving their situation? (This, BTW, is one of the most important factors that build relationship loyalty.)

Asset Consolidation Opportunities

The Traditional “pitch” to Make a Sale		Serving with Purity of Intent, Trusting the Results
When I find a client has assets with other advisors, am I focused on doing all I can to convince them to move those assets to us, whether those advisors are doing a good job for the client or not?	OR	Am I equipped to guide them through a truly agnostic process to help them make a logical assessment of their situation to determine if they are best served by having multiple advisors or if they should consolidate their assets … whether that be with me or someone else?

Those who live by this core principle in ALL they do clearly outsell other advisors and build lasting loyalty with their clients and subsequent generations … thereby affirming the above-mentioned studies.

And note that this principle does not just apply to individual advisors, but to firms, as well.

If the firm does not buy in, it makes it that much harder for advisors to buy in. I experienced this myself during my time on the front lines leading markets and teams where I had to hide what I was doing (while we were being pounded on to push product), only to receive calls from top management months later asking what-in-the-world we were doing that was leading to such notable success.

The key, though, is NOT to employ this principle as a means to succeed, but to truly move your commitment to it from the head to the heart, keeping it at the core of what you believe and what you do. Once achieved, you will realize a radical change in the impact you make on prospects and clients, find much more meaning and fulfillment in what you and those around you do every day, and set yourself apart in terms of the success you achieve.

CALL TO ACTION

If this is a direction you want to take, we’ve developed the advisor2.0^©Forum, designed to equip individual advisors, teams and firms to outperform the market through the delivery of a deeper, more client-centric experience that puts “improving the lives of the clients they serve” at the center of all they do.