Beware Circles of Belief Reinforcement

<p class="p">Most business owners and marketers do NOT know their enemy.</p> <p class="p">Recently I have been looking to do some work for a financial advisor and I came across a comprehensive survey of 600 financial advisors, where they ranked their biggest obstacles to acquiring clients:</p> <p class="p">(1) Competition from other advisors 64%</p> <p class="p">(2) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online 16%</p> <p class="p">(3) Interference by family and friends 13%</p> <p class="p">(4) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them 7%</p> <p class="p">In another comprehensive survey of over 3,000 unconverted client prospects who responded to advertising, attended workshops or otherwise interacted with advisors and did not do business with them, here’s how those consumers ranked the same four obstacles:</p> <p class="p">(2) Competition from other advisors 32%</p> <p class="p">(4) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online 9%</p> <p class="p">(3) Interference by family and friends 15%</p> <p class="p">(1) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them 44%</p> <p class="p">Look at the advisors misperceptions:</p> <p class="p">(1) Competition from other advisors – OVER-ESTIMATED BY DOUBLE (32 POINTS)</p> <p class="p">(2) Financial misinformation, free advice, competing services, reviews, etc. online – OVER-ESTIMATED BY NEARLY DOUBLE (7 POINTS)</p> <p class="p">(3) Interference by family and friends – UNDER-ESTIMATED BY 2 POINTS</p> <p class="p">(4) Client’s own fears, past disappointments with advisors, and distrust of them – UNDER-ESTIMATED BY MORE THAN DOUBLE (37 POINTS)</p> <p class="p">Simply put, the advisors are WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING.</p> <p class="p">This is a caution for Marketers: NEVER believe your clients’ opinions about their own customers. Consider them, but do NOT accept them without question and, if possible, verification. Do all you can to distinguish between Fac