22 Keys to Sales Success: How to Make It Big in Financial Services

Here are the 22 Keys that can help any financial professional make more money, work less, and maximize their potential. Industry leaders James Benson and Paul Karasik combine their personal experience with the shared wisdom of the masters. Each key contains proven, actionable sales guidelines, including:

* The four primary fears that could destroy your sale—and how to help your prospects overcome them * The nine most effective strategic approaches to "target marketing" success * Five guidelines for qualifying prospects more effectively * Sixty-five ways to snap a sales slump * Ten ways to get your clients to say "Yes" * Four simple steps to generate new business with current clients * Five guidelines for overcoming objections * Six sample scripts to make your closing ratios soar

Whether you’ve been in business for years or are just beginning, each key will unlock a new door on your path to sales success.

Review: The authors are clearly well read and have had a lot of experience going to seminars. The many references to the works of others are appropriate and add depth to this otherwise simple book. From that authority, they provide many helpful suggestions that will be essential to newcomers to financial sales and valuable to experienced people who aren't using the advice.

I thought that the advice to Create Your Compelling Vision, Position with Mission, Energize Your Success, Open the Johari Window, Market Yourself as the Expert, Focus on Clients (Not Compensation), Demand Objections, and Be Your Own Sales Manager were superb. I was skeptical about the strong emphasis on continuing efforts to close, scripts and the suggested ways to get referrals. The material in the book seemed inauthentic to me in these areas as a professional, and I graded the book down accordingly.

It seemed like the book was aimed more at those selling insurance products for life and retirement than anything else. So if that's what you sell, this book is probably good for you. If you are a financial planner who looks at all dimensions of planning, this book is probably too sales-oriented to meet your professional standards. If you are an attorney, you will probably find much of what the book says to be appalling in its commercial focus.

One of the ironies of this book is that the authors suggest that you focus in as narrow a niche of services and customers as possible. I wonder why they didn't follow their own advice in writing this book.


Basic Review for Financial Planners   July 24, 2005
Vivek Thoppay (San Jose, CA United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

I have been a financial planner for a little over three years and I was reading this book to get some new ideas on growing my practice. Many of the ideas in this book I have read elsewhere. They just reinforced them in me, which is always good. I liked the Johari window idea in which you let everyone and remind everyone you meet what you do. I know sometimes I forgot exactly what some of my friends do. In the financial planning industry, I feel it is important to let everyone know all the things you can do and perhaps ask them to let their friends know about your services. Of course, don't push it - just give them a gentle reminder by weaving into the conversation every now and then.

This book would have been better if they had included more real life experiences from the people they have mentored. Hearing directly from them in their own words how they used each of these 22 keys would have made them more powerful.

In summary, this book is for someone who wants to reinforce the principles of sales success in the financial and insurance industry. For others who want new ideas they want to utilize in their practice, I would suggest looking elsewhere.