One of the most obvious reasons you ask questions is to acquire information. The conscientious financial advisor will spend a great deal of time and effort to learn about their client. You need all the routine information like name, address, phone number, and past investment experience. But let’s look a little deeper.
The person asking questions is always in control of a discussion. This control can be used gracefully to lead and direct the client to a successful outcome or it can be abused. As a professional it is your responsibility to serve the client in a thorough and proper manner. It is impossible to do this if you do not have enough accurate information. Lots of questions are the norm. The most efficient way to get the necessary information is to ask questions.
There is a big difference between efficient and effective communication. Any quality relationship will take time and frequency of interaction. Some sales people believe a day of golf is a great way to solidify a new relationship. It’s not. Your goal should be “frequency of contact.”
Golf is very time intensive. Frequent short contacts and encounters will build a stronger relationship and make you more memorable to your client. If you are new in business a good way to develop this habit is using a checklist. First list all your clients and prospects. Then make a list of all the ways you can make contact: phone, e-mail, fax, letter, lunch, appointment, racquetball, golf…the list is endless. Have a simple code system to make it easy to use. There are numerous software programs that will help you, my favorite is ACT! Review this list at least weekly to see who you have forgotten, to plan the next mailing campaign and/or benchmark your actual activities to your goals.
How often should you make contact? That depends on the relationship and the nature of your business. Everyone in your database should hear from you at least quarterly. Clients that you are trying to develop may benefit from weekly contact. The main idea is to schedule contacts and monitor/measure those contacts. Clients get very annoyed if they only hear from you when you want to make a sale or collect a check.
Obviously, the goal is to graciously ask questions during these encounters. Art comes into play in the manner that you ask the questions. No one likes to feel like they are in a deposition. You start with simple easy to answer questions and then gradually the intensity and depth of the questions will escalate. Remember, you are striving to build long term profitable relationships. Good quality rapport necessitates some self-disclosure by you. When you share information about yourself be sincere and a bit vulnerable.
It is often easier to identify a person’s needs as opposed to their wants. You can easily quantify the necessary insurance needed to pay off the mortgage, bills, college tuition and provide some income for the spouse. But that’s the simple part.
Wants relate to emotion. This is where you end up practicing psychology without a license. What is really going on in the home with the spouse and children? Are they responsible? Any drug problems? Is the business financially stable and growing? Would it be desirable to retire early?
None of these questions are especially profound for the experienced advisor. The real key is to understand how the client FEELS about these issues and what are the emotional dynamics of the decision making process. How do you get to this next level of understanding? The answer is, asking more questions.
Everybody does everything they do for a reason, either to gain a benefit or avoid a loss. The anonymous benefactor gives gifts because it makes him feel good, worthwhile or significant. They say in the legal world that you can solve most white-collar crimes if you can “follow the money.” The more advanced your clientele, the more advanced will be their reasons for doing what they do. Even the money hungry sales type is doing it for more than money. If you don’t know why, you just haven’t asked the right questions.
Questions are the keys to unlock the vaults of information, needs, wants and emotions. As you master the art of asking questions you will gracefully control the discussions with your clients. As Martha Stewart would say, “It’s a good thing.”

WHO ARE YOU?

There are at least four groups of people who are critical to your professional development. They are co-workers, centers of influence, vendors and your clients. How much do you care about each of these groups?

Co-workers

Centers of influence are those people who respect you and whose position or experiences naturally enable them to send you a continual flow of referrals. They are the most valuable kind of marketing and public relations you can ever have. When you ask them questions it is an opportunity to show your interest and concern for them.
Lots of techniques have been used over the years to try and relate to centers of influence and clients. I remember the insurance agent who would give a statue and plaque to celebrate a client’s new born child. We’ve all sent out newspaper articles of interest, birthday cards, neckties or a special bottle from a trip abroad. These may all be very sincere gestures. However, none are as sincere as the well thought out question and your undivided attention as you genuinely listen to the answer. This is an investment of your time with another person. Not on the golf course but rather by practicing “frequency of contact.”

Vendors and Colleagues

Vendors and other professional colleagues are also critical to your development. Are you receiving large accounts as referrals from money managers? Do vendors and sales representatives from your suppliers refer you accounts? Ideally your biggest sources of referrals will be accountants, attorneys bankers and insurance agents. Sure, it helps to refer them business too, but develop the habit of asking good questions and listening well. One additional benefit will be the opportunity to learn from experts in their respective fields.

Clients

To master the art of asking questions you have to become a student of people. This takes time. It’s not a matter of memorizing a few good questions. It’s the ability to read or see what is going on and have the confidence to ask the big question. One of the tricks to help you in this area is to do your homework before you meet with a client.
A few years ago a large dealer for a national truck manufacturing company was referred to DGR. The referral came from a client whose brother worked there and was in charge of service. I called him and asked a lot of questions, including the name of the President.
My first appointment with the President went something like this.

“Hi, my name is David Rohlander and I’m with DGR Communications. We were referred to you by Mr. X. Thanks for taking some time to meet with me today.”

“Hello, what do you sell?”

“I’m glad you’re interested. (smile) First I’d like to share with you a little bit about our company and what we’ve been able to do for other companies just like yours. And then I’d like to ask you a few questions to see if it makes sense for us to work together. Does that sound OK with you?”

“Sure but hurry up, I’ve got a racquetball game at three o’clock.”

“Well, DGR Communications has been in business since 1979. We specialize in… (a 5 minute capabilities overview). I can see this sounds interesting to you but to see if it might be of benefit to you I’ll need to ask you a few questions. Is that OK?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“How long have you been in this location?”

“About seven years.”

“How many employees do you have?”

“Oh, about seventy five.”

This basic information gathering went on for a good fifteen to twenty minutes. I was able to get a good preliminary read on the President. He was a bottom line type of guy.
I then slowed down the pace and started to ask specific questions about areas that I knew he had problems.

“What’s your employee turnover like?”

“How do you measure customer satisfaction?”

“How’s your cashflow?”

“Could you explain that a little bit more?”

They were simple questions. They were short. He did a lot of talking. There was lots of silence.
I took notes and listened a lot.
Finally he said, “I feel like I’m bleeding to death and you’re a Band-Aid salesman.”

I said, “I think we can help you.”

This was the beginning of a long and mutually profitable relationship. The art of asking questions has a lot to do with seeing and listening. My intention was to help this president. He had several serious problems that he was trying to ignore. By being patient, asking simple questions that directly related to his situation and then using the power of silence and intently listening we got meaningful dialogue and ultimately great results.

Listen, Listen, Listen

There are many types of questions. Open ended versus closed, leading questions, hypothetical and the list goes on. Then there are the levels of questions. Initially people talk about things. Then they advance to talk about people. Finally, they get comfortable and discuss ideas. However, if you want to pursue the art form in this arena, you need to go one step further. You need to get to a person’s emotions and prejudices.
As you study people you will continue to develop more understanding. Additionally, there are two critical ingredients you will want to master. The first is trust. Earlier we discussed trust. It does not come easily. You have to build a pattern of behavior that will allow a person to trust you over time. Trust doesn’t come from asking good questions. Trust comes from consistent behavior and keeping your commitments.
The second is empathy. This relates to how much you really care. It does not matter what level of education a person has they seem to know if another person is real. Now they may not be able to define why they feel the way they do but they might say, “I’m not comfortable around him.” As you work on your personal integrity and take time to reflect, you will find empathy.
Most decisions are made from a combination of information and past experiences built on an emotional frame of reference. Emotions are the trigger in the decision making process. Emotions and feelings are not right or wrong. Everybody has feelings. Feelings are based on past experiences. The good news is that feelings can change when a person goes through new experiences.
The same is true of a person’s prejudices. Yes, we all have certain prejudices. They typically relate directly to your values and beliefs. You will be able to relate to others best when you understand your own prejudices and beliefs and are comfortable and confident with yourself. Focus on relating to the other person and don’t worry about memorizing specific killer questions.