Your Message, The Bleeding Edge, and a Baton

Barry Nelson, Senior Vice President, Wealth Management, U.S. Bank

Barry Nelson, Senior Vice President, Wealth Management, U.S. Bank

I have spent considerable time studying the habits of the most successful financial salespeople. What I have learned is if your message is not clear, then you can trust that your competition is beating you with their message. Today, I will help you present your message with confidence.

I look at these two tools to craft your message:

1. Your Value Proposition, and
2. The Bleeding Edge of your prospecting statements.

Let’s start with a story about the Bleeding Edge.

My father-in-law was the very best at sharpening knives. Every holiday, all of the ‘kitchen people’ in our family brought their knives to him, and he would happily sharpen them in his shop as a gift to them. And the rest of us in the family, who thought we could sharpen knives, would ceremoniously hang our heads in shame. 

The rest of us have our process and tools that we believe sharpen knives, and they do work, but none of us could match his skill. The knives looked the same when we sharpened them, but our work did not have the impact that he did. A sharp knife cuts through the outer layer of the tomato and then can cut the meat of the tomato. A dull knife just squishes the tomato. Since he has passed, all of our tomatoes have been squished.

The sharpest, tiniest edge, the bleeding edge, of the knife is what matters most. Same thing for your message. The bleeding edge of your message is what cuts through your prospect’s shield, and once you do that, you can give them your value proposition. To sharpen the bleeding edge of your message, you need to articulate one or more of these three things:

● What would that prospect have curiosity about?
● What awareness could you bring/ teach to them?
● What would a prospect be interested in?

These three things seem the same, but each needs a separate answer. It is hard to answer all three. But if you do and can combine those answers down to one or two sentences, you can trust that your message is sharp. You can get through the skin of the tomato and do some real work from there. 

" The most successful financial salespeople are really good at prospecting. Prospecting is simply getting permission to tell simple stories "

Now, you can use your value proposition. I imagine a relay race, and the baton is my value prop.

One runner will hand another runner a baton in stride. The baton is simple and easy to hand to another person. They, in turn, can hand that baton, without changing it, to someone else. This is how my story will be told by others, to others.

When I build my value prop (my baton), I need to make it as easy as possible for them 1) to consume the message. Then I hope they 2) want to pass it along. Then they 3) need to be able to pass it along.

Remember that your statement is not required to carry the burden of communicating your life’s work. What I mean by that is to keep it simple. The KISS principle applies. Craft a few simple messages (batons) that folks can remember.

If folks you talk with are comfortable around you and get a good feel from you, they will pass your baton. They will pass your baton to you if they like and trust you.

Also, one size does not fit all. I recommend having two to five statements ready to go, depending on the situation. Here are a few of my value props:

● I am a private wealth manager for folks who put a high-dollar value on their time.
●  You have worked hard for your money. Together, we will make it return the favor.
● I write business plans that create positive liquidity events.

If you are not comfortable with your baton, you will not spit the message out as well as your competition does. And most importantly, you will lose the interest of the prospect. 

The most successful financial salespeople are really good at prospecting. Prospecting is simply getting permission to tell simple stories. To share a message. They can pierce the outer layer and then give them something simple to remember. Now that you know what they do, you can do it too.

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