Day 2: Afternoon TD Ameritrade Speakers

Ricky attended the TD Ameritrade Institutional National Conference in Orlando and below are highlights from day 2 afternoon speakers and sessions.  This includes sessions on the psychology of a sale and trying to read client’s minds.

The Art and Science of Sales
Jim Watkins, Consultant with Miller Herman, Inc.

What all clients are looking for:
• To accomplish something.
• To fix something.
• To avoid something.
Clients psychologically follow a three phase decision making process:
1. Understand (Cognitive Thinking).
2. Generate (Divergent Thinking).
3. Select best (Convergent Thinking).

“People buy (decide or select) for their own reasons, not for yours (the seller or provider).”

Book:  The New Conceptual Selling, Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heimen.

Reading Your Client’s Minds
Kerry Johnson, Ph. D, International Productivity Systems, Inc.

Women buy:
• 83% of consumer goods.
• 62% of cars.
• 52% of investment products.

Women want: Intimacy and rapport.
Men want: status and power.

Three things women hate in financial advisors:
1. Giving advice without asking if they want it.
2. Interrupting while she is talking.
3. Advisors who don’t listen.
What women buy:
• Protection for children.
• Protection against disaster.
• Long-term client relationships.

Women communicate: connection first.
Men communicate: credibility first.

Book: Mastering the Game, Kerry L. Johnson.

Ricky’s comment: If you’re getting the impression men didn’t fare too well in this session, you’re right!  :)