Your delighted clients work with you because you help them get what they really want.
And here’s the catch: each of your clients wants something different. Further, they may want something different than what you would want for yourself or what you think they should want for themselves.
Lessons from Home-Buying
A recent experience drives home this point.
My family is making a physical move from Seattle to Minnesota. This involves selling my house and buying another in half way across the country.
I thought I knew exactly what I wanted in a new home. As I looked at houses for sale online, my eyes were drawn to vintage homes with filled with charm and dark built-ins.
I found a realtor in Minnesota and described my dream home. She organized showings and I flew into town with the intention of making a purchase.
As the realtor took me from home to home, I was increasingly unhappy.
Had I chosen the wrong realtor who did not understand me?
The truth is that the realtor showed me homes with the exact features I put on my priority list.
The problem was that I did not know what I really wanted. I thought I knew. However, thinking and wanting occur in different parts of the brain. Thinking about what you want is like tasting music or feeling colors. Wants reveal themselves through experience.
My thinking brain (cerebral cortex) was unhappy about issues I had not considered or anticipated. Vintage homes were built on tiny lots. I like gardening and my opportunities would be limited. I value my privacy, and you could wave to the neighbors on either side through the windows. Then there were unexpected costs. In Washington State the seller pays for title insurance; in Minnesota the buyer pays.
The bigger concern came from my dissatisfied feeling brain (limbic system). My gut told me something was wrong. These messages are like the warning lights on the car dashboard. What was happening under the hood?
As I entered the houses, the first thing I said was, “It’s so dark!” In the 1920s, windows were expensive, so most of the vintage homes have limited natural light. Plus the dark built-Ins I found so attractive in the pictures made houses feel even darker.
Through the exercise of standing in houses and listening to my gut I realized that exposure to natural light is my highest priority. Natural light helps me achieve my desired feeling state.
Now my realtor and I could get somewhere. She showed me a wonderful house that felt like home the moment I walked in. I bought it, and can’t wait to move—even though I’m moving to Minnesota in the middle of the winter!
My realtor’s ability to help me get what I really want made her a rock star in my eyes. I’ll recommend her, and help her become even more successful.
You help your clients select wealth-building strategies just as my realtor helps clients buy houses. Your clients come to you with what they think they want.
However, no matter how smart your clients are, they are not always right about what’s really most important to them. If you dig deeper you can discover what your clients really want.
Here are some questions to help you uncover your clients’ true desires:
- What does wealth mean for you?
- What does financial security mean for you?
- What do you value most?
- Describe a time you experienced financial abundance.
- Describe a time you experienced financial fear.
- If you knew that money would never be an issue, how would you spend your days?
- If we traveled back in time to 2007 and you knew then what you know now, what would you do the same and what would you do differently?
There is no perfect wealth-building strategy, just as there is no perfect house. However, you can create the financial plan that’s perfect for your individual client. This is how you become a rock star in your clients’ eyes.
© 2015. Vicki Rackner MD. All rights reserved. You are welcome to reproduce this blog post with the following by-line:
Vicki Rackner MD is an author, speaker and consultant who offers a bridge between the world of medicine and the world of business. She helps businesses acquire physician clients, and she helps physicians run more successful practices. Contact her at (425) 451-3777.