How to Influence Your Prospects

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How to Influence Your Prospects

January 6, 2015

by Dan Solin

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Every advisor wants to convert prospects into clients. But to do so requires a positive interaction with the prospect.

Here are some tips for how you can influence a prospect in a manner most likely to achieve a positive result.

Turn on the dopamine

Vanessa Van Edwards, a behavioral investigator and an instructor at Udemy.com, has found the key to positively influencing people is getting their dopamine pumping. When dopamine is released in the brain, it makes people “feel all warm and fuzzy.”

According to a study by Diana Tamir and Jason Mitchell, researchers at Harvard University’s psychology department, we highly value opportunities to communicate our thoughts and feelings to others. Disclosing this kind of personal information is deemed so important that the authors conclude that “doing so represents an event with intrinsic value, in the same way as with primary rewards such as food and sex.”

It’s easy to stimulate dopamine. Just ask basic open-ended questions.  An advisor meeting with a prospect might stimulate the release of dopamine with a question like: How were you able to achieve your impressive financial success?

Show vulnerability

Many advisors believe they must project an air of supreme confidence and infallibility to win business. According to Van Edwards, the opposite is true. When you show vulnerability, your prospect finds it easier to relate to you. You can multiply the positive effect of showing vulnerability by telling a story. Our brains are conditioned to function in a heightened state of awareness when information is conveyed in a story.

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