How Ash Brokerage Accelerates Client Relationships with Personality Data

Mike McGlothlin, EVP of Retirement, plays a crucial role at Ash Brokerage: to empower his sellers with the opportunities and tools to drive revenue within their own territories.

As a big proponent of Sandler Training and the DISC personality framework, Mike found personality data to be game-changing for his sellers. What he says he loves most is how the data empowers his sales team to gain a deeper understanding of their clients' purchasing behavior, and in turn, build a more natural rapport with them.

Tailoring Communication for Maximum Resonance

Ash Brokerage is one of the largest general brokerage agencies distributing products - such as life insurance, annuities, long-term care, and disability insurance - from many different carriers. Their clients include registered reps, registered investment advisors, and independent life insurance agents.

Mike discovered something interesting about his own reps’ when using Crystal: Many of their advisor clients are naturally creative D-types (DISC archetypes: Di, DI, Id). However, his team of financial planners are naturally more conscientious D-types (DISC archetypes: Dc, CD, Cd).

What does this mean? While both sides share similar dominant traits, his reps had to scale down their analytical thinking and match the creative thinking of the advisors they were meeting with. “We have to be aware that there are other people who relate in different ways– that was one thing that was super cool with Crystal: being able to identify what type of personality and behaviors might that prospective advisor (or existing advisor) appreciate.”

When reps can relate to their clients in their natural style, it results in accelerated relationship building and a shorter sales cycle.

“There was a situation where an advisor came to us… and our seller paid attention to Crystal’s bullet points. He told me he was able to build a relationship super-fast with this person and that is obviously because we were talking about the right language and the speed to trust just increased dramatically in that case.”

Conducting Quality Conversations with Personality Data

A big part of what makes personality data a great tool for businesses like Ash Brokerage is it helps sales reps build confidence. Any communication with prospects can be challenging (you can’t read their mind!)– but having an accurate prediction of what to do, what to say, and sometimes, more importantly, what not to do and what not to say, makes the process easier for sellers; and it makes communication more valuable for the prospect.

“With the enhancements to the Outlook integration and being able to say ‘here are some possible solutions and suggestions on how you may want to communicate with this person,’ that’s really critical for our sales team and I really love the fact that (Crystal) helps our team craft a better message that’s going to be more impactful and potentially shorten the sales cycle.”

Related: Learn more about our Crystal Writing Assistant feature.

With Crystal, Mike and his team now have actionable tips to help them speak to their prospects; but even more powerful, they started to level-up their emotional intelligence and see where their clients were coming from. Ultimately, this led to their sellers being able to connect on a deeper level.

Why Personality Data is Critical when Selling Financial Products

In the world of selling financial products, clear communication that resonates is paramount especially in a business that is highly relationship-based.

Crystal’s personality data gives business professionals the tools to break down communication barriers and speak directly to the way a customer wants to make a purchase.

“In the financial professional arena, we already live in a complex world. Trying to communicate in a much simpler fashion is going to be critical moving forward and Crystal helps us take a step in the right direction.”

Rather than focusing on reaching out to as many prospects as possible, Crystal helps reps prioritize authentic connections and relationships.

Want to improve the human-side of selling for your business? Give Crystal a try by viewing 10 free personalities!