If you have been keeping up with the news lately you are aware of the debate whether financial services sales professionals should be held to a Fiduciary Standard. Proposed is that a representative provide the absolute best recommendation to a client, placing the client's interest above all else.
Currently the financial services industry operates under the Suitability Standard. That is, the representative must make a recommendation that is appropriate, but not necessarily the best or
most appropriate.
When I first heard about this regulation I was shocked. Why do we need a law to make this happen? Go ahead, call me crazy, but I firmly believe that the fiduciary standard should apply for ALL sales professionals in any industry.
Unfortunately, in most industries reps operate under what I would call the
"What Is Best For ME" standard. This is where the rep is focused upon the facts, features, the competitors, the objection, the close, the win, the fat commission and the President's Club Award.
The goal of
my consulting company and the
Trust Triangle Selling sales methodology is to elevate sales reps to become Sales Superstars. I want to elevate the sales profession so that one day ALL Moms and Dads want their children to grow up to be Sales Professionals. To achieve these goals, sales professionals MUST operate under the Fiduciary Standard--doing what is in the best long-term interest of their client's success. That means in some cases a representative should help the client invest with a competitive product or service. That is right, it is not a typo. At times we must recommend a competitive solution when our offering is not in the customer's long-term interests. (Note: This is called a
Disengage Strategy. It is one of the 12 Major Opportunity Sales Strategies. See
The Sales Strategizer and The
Disengage Strategy.) This should happen only on rare occasions and with your manager's involvement. I like to say that if you find yourself having to do this too often you are working for the wrong company.
In order for reps to make this shift to the Fiduciary Standard, reps need to understand and internalize these quotes:
- "Prescription before diagnosis is malpractice." -Unknown
- "No one knows how much you know until they know how much you care." -Theodore Roosevelt
- "Trust arrives on foot but leaves on horseback." -Unknown
- "Excelling at selling is not about selling, it's about buying. It's about assisting your customers achieve success by helping them make the correct, long-term investment decision." -Daniel Adams
- "It's not about you, your company, your products or your services. It's about meeting customer needs and adding value. When you start paying more attention to your customer needs than your revenue needs, you'll find you no longer have a revenue problem to complain about." -Mike Myatt
- "In the near future, it is not the sales rep who has the greatest product knowledge or most Presidents Club honors who will survive. It is the sales representative who becomes the "trusted advisor" who will survive & thrive." -Adapted from Darwin
- "If the competition is offering a higher quality solution, with better service, and over the long run is cheaper than your solution....ADVISE YOUR CUSTOMER TO BUY IT!" -Daniel Adams
We must dramatically shift our focus from product facts and features to client success. I believe that trust trumps everything, and when you act as a Fiduciary you will gain massive trust.
I am not naive. I realize that making the transition to a sales world governed by the Fiduciary rule would require a radical shift in thinking for many sales reps and their leaders. Some get it--most don't. Additionally, new compensation plans would be necessary to bolster this new approach. I would advocate a compensation plan which rewards representatives based upon client success rather than the sale.
