After being in the Financial Services industry for almost three decades it was clear I was in a huge red ocean! This meant we all swam in a sea of cut-throat competition. If you won, I lost and my blood flowed. From my humble perspective, I was different than all the others, but in actuality I sold the same products and was measured by the price and features of my products.
The industry experts taught me to increase my value-added to my products. I soon learned that 'Value-added' was an attempt to use my product knowledge and wisdom as a carrot to get the client to buy. I was giving away the most valuable part of the transaction for free in hopes of securing a sale. Sometimes it worked, but far too often I invested valuable time and energy just for the client to go the competition.
I saw my product expertise and good service as something that would differentiate me from my competition. It was a difficult lesson to learn, but I eventually realized that as long as I was in a red ocean competing on price, it didn't matter how much product knowledge I possessed, or how good I was at customer service, the client would always perceive me as the same as everyone else trying to sell a commodity product. Something had to change.
After competing in a red ocean for almost three decades (slow learner), I finally had three major paradigm shifts that have forever removed me from the competition of a red ocean. These paradigm shifts weren't easy to develop or put into practice, but they were well worth the effort allowing me to create my own blue ocean.
Through these paradigm shifts I realized that my passion in life was not in selling products, but rather in becoming a lifetime coach that simplified my clients lives through a unique process that centered on my client's wants.
Paradigm #1, Products vs. Process
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Product-based financial advisors find it increasingly difficult to differentiate themselves because to the client, they look like everybody else selling the same products.
Process-based financial advisors are defined by a unique process that gives the client a unique experience, which they can not get anywhere else. They no longer look like the rest of the Financial Services industry, which is still product-based.
The Financial Services industry is centered on the sale of a product. Professionals in the industry are paid a commission for each product sold. As a result the Financial Services industry has become a bloody red ocean of products, features, and professionals. It’s a win-lose scenario played out when the client chooses you over your competitor or visa-versa.
This fierce competition has generated more features and products, and with every addition, there is greater complexity and confusion for the client. This bewildering menu of financial products and services has turned the industry into a chaotic mess, making it near impossible for the consumer to tell one product or company from another.
Product-based financial advisors find it increasingly difficult to differentiate themselves on the basis of the products they sell, the companies they represent, and the value they add. On top of this, regulator restrictions continually increase the difficulty for product-based advisors to communicate why and how they are better than their competitors.
I noticed that the products we were using for solutions weren't addressing the problems of complexity that our clients were facing. It was doing brain surgery with a hammer and screwdriver. Financial products are blunt instruments that don't address or fix the root problem of complexity.
Approaching our clients using a process that put their issues and aspirations at the center and placed the products secondary, simplified how my clients viewed their financial world. I became more valuable as a coach and my product sales increased. In the end, the products actually became more useful, but only as tools.
I named this process the Balanced Living System™. My Unique Process defines me and the clients have a unique experience, which creates loyalty. I no longer look like the rest of the Financial Services industry, which is still product-based. That means I no longer compete with them on price, rates, features, or products.
This is called living in a blue ocean where there is little to no competition and clients do not buy based on price or needs. Working in a blue ocean means you are creating a unique experience for the client and have developed a 'value creation monopoly' because nobody else can provide your service. In other words, you're the only shop in town.
We have packaged The Balanced Living System™ as a turn-key process meaning it’s transferable. If you are a financial professional with product knowledge and a desire to become a process-based coach, you can be trained and licensed so you can collect an upfront fee to coach clients through the Balanced Living System™.
What's remarkable is we are finding that because of the Balanced Living System™ we experience greater product sales than our commodity competitors.
Paradigm #2, Needs vs. Wants
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The Financial Services industry, and most industries for that matter, sell based on needs. Have you been told how to use a 'needs analysis' to sell your product? Once you have your needs analysis and can see what the client needs, all you do is match up the corresponding product and start your sales routine.
The first item of of the sales routine is normally to 'build rapport.' Get them to like you. Rapport building is inherently manipulative and reduces the chance of closing the sale. The prospect knows what you are doing and doesn't like it.
Then you persuade them based on their needs as they offer up objections. There are 150 known objections with 135 objection busters. You can study them and improve your persuasion skills with no guarantee your sales will increase, but your sales experience will remain empty, hollow, and lack trust and respect.
For years, I followed along with the rest of the industry, but eventually started to question this old practice of needs-based selling and rapport building. If people truly need what I have, then why does it take so much explaining, demonstrating, and sometimes persuasion for them to see that? The answer was surprisingly simple - people don't buy based on needs, they buy based on wants!
Needs vs. Wants: McDonalds is a great example of how we as a society buy based on our wants, not needs. If we did buy off our needs, McDonalds would either not exist or they would be known for their healthy salads.
A great example of this is McDonald's. According to what science and biology research says, our bodies need low-fat, nutritious food. If people really bought based on needs, McDonald's would either be out of business or known for its salads. Consumers today want tasty, quick, and predictable food. McDonald's is not known for its culinary cuisine, but rather for its predictable, tasty, and quick food.
Learning how to sell based on wants after almost 30 years of needs-based selling was not an easy or quick change, but it was well worth it! Imagine only dealing with people who want what you have and who you can trust and respect. Jacques Werth's High Probability Selling™ teaches how the top one percent of salespeople in 23 industries actually sell. Did you know it's actually the direct opposite of how the rest of the 99% sell?
If you want to dramatically increase your probability of success, learn the selling skills that are most likely to yield the results that you want. In High Probability Selling™ every step of the sales process is statistically validated to produce the most sales volume in the shortest time.
Some top salespeople learn to sell the hard way – through the school of hard knocks. Others pay the tuition to learn how, quickly. That’s the easy way. My (biased) opinion is that the easy way is far less risky and less expensive. Can you afford not to sell like the top salespeople? Is learning to sell like the top 1% something you want?
At least half of the Balanced Living Training™ will be spent teaching and practicing how we apply wants-based selling. Not only will you come away from the training with a new paradigm towards selling, but you will have time in the saddle practicing and applying these new skills.
[NOTE: We require everyone who signs up for training to have at least read the book, High Probability Selling by Jacques Werth. Reading the book alone will not be enough. You will need to practice the concepts we teach during training and we highly recommend getting as much High Probability Selling training and materials in addition to our training as possible. You can find additional resources and training opportunities by clicking here.]
Paradigm #3, Problem-solving vs. Lifetime Simplifier
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I once fancied myself as a financial problem-solver. My clients had financial problems that needed to be fixed, and with my expertise, value-added knowledge, and products I would solve their problems, or so I thought.
When I made the shift from being product-based to using The Balanced Living System™ and becoming process-based, I learned a very important lesson; that the most useful and profitable role for financial advisors lies in being lifetime simplifiers for their clientele.
I used to think that financial services were about money, but actually it’s about complexity. When I learned that my most important job was not to help my clients with money, but to actually help them with the different kinds of complexities within their financial world, the money part became increasingly simple and had longer lasting effects.
The Balanced Living System™ is designed for a coach to guide a client through a series of modules and lessons that simplify, educate, and clarify the client's personal and financial lives. During Balanced Living Training™, coaches will learn the art of simplifying their client's financial lives to the point that clients can find the solutions to their own problems, which at times will involve the financial products you sell. This is the difference between teaching a boy to fish, and giving him a fish. One lasts, the other doesn't.
Someone once asked an extremely wealthy and successful businessman how to make a million dollars. "That's easy," replied the businessman, "all you have to do is become worth a million dollars."
There are no shortcuts to anything worthwhile in life. Balanced Living Training™ will make you worth more allowing you to charge an upfront fee for that worth in addition to any product sales.
The Balanced Living Training™ is a $2,500 investment and the doorway to the Balanced Living Tribe™. This training is not for everyone. It is only for those who are serious about taking their business and their ability to serve their clients to a level they have never considered. This is called the ‘Ceiling of Capacity.’ Your capacity to increase your own value, wealth, and happiness is hindered by your approach to sales, life, and your Unique Ability.
Do you have a passion to help others see their dreams come true? Do you enjoy teaching others happiness and wealth concepts? Is it rewarding to you when a student, child, friend, or family member listens and learns from your advice and gets that spark of understanding? If this is what you want, it’s possible!
The training is three full days of intensive, life-altering systems and skills that will remove you from product-based competition by becoming a process-based coach. Training will include wants-based or High Probability Selling™ and interviewing skills. The third day of training will cover each module of the Balanced Living System™ and each appointment.
Training participants will be required to practice and role-play these skills in order to maximize learning. Upon completing the three-day training, you will be licensed to use and collect a fee for coaching your clients through the Balanced Living System™.
Upon completing the training you will have spent three full days of learning and practicing High Probability Selling where you learn how the top one percent salespeople sell based on wants with trust and respect. You will be licensed and taught how to sell the Balanced Living System™. This means you will walk away from training with a unique process that you can now be paid upfront $1,500 for which you will keep $1,000 in addition to any product sales. Most importantly you will walk away from training having joined the Balanced Living Tribe™
The client pays $1,500 for the Balanced Living System™. $500 of that is paid to PyrBlu, Inc. and you, the Balanced Living Coach™ retain the rest and all commissions from subsequent products. The money to PyrBlu, Inc. goes to cover costs in software usage, online resources, binder materials, phone support, and licensing. This business model is set up to emphasize our success is tied to your success. We want you to succeed and we only get paid when you get paid.
As I developed the Balanced Living System™ and had my paradigm shifts, my team and I went through a lot of training ourselves. We had some good examples of how to effectively and quickly teach new concepts, but unfortunately we had some bad examples as well. We have found that the best way to teach new concepts and skills so that the student can not only internalize the new material, but can also turn around and use it, is by doing.
Just talking about it won't do it. For this reason we have centered our training on role playing where the student will be taught a new concept and then actually practice the new skill. We will also be utilizing several learning activities and exercises that teach the concepts much faster.
Another reason this training will be different is because we are not interested in just collecting a training fee and moving on. We are here to build a tribe of like-minded coaches that want to change our industry for the better. We have purposely structured our business model so that we are incentized to make sure you succeed. Remember, we only get paid when you take the training, practice it, and collect an upfront fee for your new knowledge and skills.
Yes we do. If you have a pocket of people you want trained we can arrange to come to you for the training assuming there are enough students. Please contact our office for details by calling us at (888) 851-0550 or emailing us at info@pyrblu.com.
Balanced Living Training™ Dates
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Click here to view our Conditions of Satisfaction for the Balanced Living Training™
There are no shortcuts to anything worthwhile in life. Balanced Living Training™ will make you worth more allowing you to charge an upfront fee for that worth in addition to any product sales.
This training is not for everyone. It is only for those who are serious about taking their business and their ability to serve their clients to a level they have never considered.
The training is three full days of intensive, life-altering systems and skills that will remove you from product-based competition by becoming a process-based coach. Training will include wants-based or High Probability Selling and interviewing skills. The third day of training will cover each module of the Balanced Living System™ and each appointment.
After the three day, in person training, there will four consecutive phone sessions with your training group. These phone training sessions will be approximately 90 minutes long and occur weekly. The knowledge you will be learning during training takes time to sink in and must be practiced before mastered. These phone sessions are an ideal time for students to report back any problems or successes they have had from implementing the skills and principles learned during training.
| September 16th - September 17th, 2009 - Sign-up |
Harbor Place at Cottesmore 1016 29th St. NW Gig Harbor, WA 98335 Map Location |
Tuition: $3,000 |
| Phone Training #1 | September 9th, 2009 - 8:30am - 10:00am PSD | |
| Phone Training #2 | September 16th, 2009 - 8:30am - 10:00am PSD | |
| Phone Training #3 | September 23rd, 2009 - 8:30am - 10:00am PSD | |
| Phone Training #4 | September 30th, 2009 - 8:30am - 10:00am PSD (as needed basis) | |
