First impressions : connect to your clients brain

Humans are emotional beings and we are particularly sensitive to others, consciously and subconsciously, internalising and subjectively interpreting what we see and hear. What someone does or says can have a great influence on the relationship. Your clients may make decisions about you and not even know why, it is just a ‘feeling’ that they get.

Neuroscience studies the brain and its effect over cognitive and behavioural function. If we can understand how the brain works, we can have more control over the conversation we have with clients, and hopefully more certainty over the outcome.

Responding to situations

The amygdala is the emotional epicentre of the brain and is responsible for primitive action such as fight or flight, a stress-response action. This is not a function of the brain that one wants to trigger during client engagements. Everything you say and do will lend itself to the client experience. If you are positive, friendly, and focused on your clients and their needs, they will be relaxed and open to receiving you. If you show up on time and follow up on your promises, they will gravitate towards you.

If you are selfishly driven, act on your own agenda and do not listen, you will push the client away. They will perceive you as a threat and to the primitive brain, you will be seen as hostile and the client will shut you down by not returning your correspondence or by going to another adviser.

Spacing out

The brain is the most demanding of organs, consuming about 30% of one’s calorie intake. It will therefore look for shortcuts, relying on stored information and familiarity, rather than active thought. Using the prefrontal cortex to think is tiring and if information is vague or entirely unfamiliar, an individual might mentally check out of the conversation.

When conversing with clients, relate your financial plan to them on a level they can understand. Do not overwhelm them with lingo and numbers, but focus on things that are important to them like family and retirement. The strategies and numbers will be revealed, speaking for themselves, but need to be linked to the clients’ own goals so that they are relevant and hold the client’s attention.

If the brain can predict, it can keep us safe and conserve energy. This primal function translated to modern sales situations is that clients will have expectations based on their needs, which need to be met, or at least understood. If you are not speaking to a client’s expectations you will lose them. This is particularly challenging in an industry where we meet a potential new client that ‘just wants to invest a million rand’ but we insist on providing them with a financial plan, because that is what we do. Our insistence on doing the right thing could be construed as a threat, increasing sympathetic activity and leaving them in an away state, not conducive to establishing a relationship.

Manners maketh the man

David Rock speaks of the SCARF model in which the first two letters stand for status and certainty. Focusing on status and exercising certainty will help decrease a client’s resilience and increase levels of dopamine, the feel-good hormone. If you can provide both a professional and a pleasurable experience for your clients, they will be more likely to commit to you as much as you are prepared to commit to them. Basic manners resonate with most people’s own sets of values, along with a friendly greeting, smiling and asking permission.

To win a client over, try to understand how their brain works and tailor your approach to their unique personality and circumstances.