What Advisors Don’t Get About Virtual Selling

Beverly Flaxington is a practice management consultant. She answers questions from advisors facing human resource issues. To submit yours, email us here.

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Dear Bev,

Our advisors went through a sales program in 2018. We have a good culture around sales and most of us were doing well increasing our revenue. This year, with virtual life, we didn’t do so well. We just had a meeting to start off the year and debrief. Everyone agrees that selling virtually is a whole different thing and most of us feel ill-equipped to do it well.

We put a big emphasis on networking – “no go” in the virtual world. We put an emphasis on luncheons and meetings where clients can bring a friend – “no go” in the virtual world. We used to offer a free, in-person meeting for new prospects to review their existing portfolio. Not easy in the virtual world.

Can we reinvent ourselves? Do we wait until we are able to go back to doing it all in person?

It’s frustrating since we had a plan, but now we do not.

A.G.