Ash Playsted is often asked about mindset, especially when approaching new clients. As he explains, the secret is to abandon the sales rep mentality in favour of a more holistic approach
As a mentor, I have been asked many, many times what the best mindset is when picking up the phone to speak with a lead for the first time. My response to this question? Well, let me explain …
When you’re going to the doctor, it’s very important that the doctor investigates to find out where the pain is. Why does the doctor poke and test away to find out where it hurts the most? Because that’s how doctors find out where a problem lies and what’s required to solve that problem. Sometimes it’s a quick and relatively painless solution; sometimes it’s a much longer process with a more challenging solution.
Just like a doctor, when working with clients, you need to investigate in order to diagnose. Don’t be distracted by the outward symptoms; you must get to the underlying cause. Often, that underlying cause can only be discovered by pushing the patient into an uncomfortable level of pain. This requires a deft touch – straight-talking, to be sure, but deft nonetheless.
As a mortgage broker, I’d like to suggest that you think of yourself as a doctor or head surgeon. This is the best possible mindset to have and is what your clients expect. As a ‘doctor’, when you see a client, your job is to get to the truth. How can you provide the best solution if you don’t fully investigate the truth of the situation?
The truth for clients, as I see it, is to find out what their biggest problem is – the ‘source’ problem. Experience has taught me that often the client can’t face that themselves, or they simply can’t verbalise it.
So you need to develop the ability to poke away at the truth with your clients, to open up the discussion and get them to tell you what’s really going on. In that way, by agitating that pain a little bit (or a lot, if that’s what it takes), you can find out where it hurts them the most, and that will lead you to what the best solution is for that specific customer. A quick tip on that – the best solution is very rarely the lowest rate.
This approach can be summarised as spending some time pre-phone call or pre-meeting and thinking of yourself as a doctor or head surgeon. Remember: diagnosis, prognosis, cure – in that order, always.
As far as how you interact with clients, your job is not to sell anything. Your job isn’t even to do all the talking. Your job is to poke away at your client’s situation and get them talking about where it hurts the most. It’s to provide a solution to the problem they want to solve. That will then show you where you need to focus in on to provide the absolute best solution, specific to that customer.
Adopting this approach will help your customer and win their business every single time. It will separate you from all the other mortgage brokers out there, and it’s the best, most efficient way for you to interact with your prospects and convert them into clients every time.
Ash Playsted
Performance and mindset coach
Ash Playsted Coaching
