How advisors can boost sales by aligning with their client’s style

Financial advisors know that building trust and uncovering client needs are essential to success. But according to Jacquie Lucas, assistant vice president of Talent Solutions at LIMRA, too many professionals still take a one-size-fits-all approach to their sales process. The result: missed opportunities, lost sales and confused prospects.

Lucas argues that effective prospecting today requires a different mindset—one grounded in understanding each client’s style, tailoring conversations accordingly and presenting solutions in a way that feels personal.

Lucas highlighted LIMRA’s research showing that effective sales training can improve advisor productivity by 25% or more. The organization’s “Trustworthy Selling” program, developed with HPN, is designed to be relevant, engaging and measurable. Lucas and HPN President Joey Davenport is presented a session, "Driving Sales Performance Through Consumer Insight and Adaptive Selling Strategies" Sunday during the 2025 LIMRA Annual Conference. The session addressed how success hinges on the ability to understand and adapt to evolving consumer expectations.

Moving beyond the checklist

Most advisors are trained with discovery tools—fact finders or questionnaires that ask prospects about life insurance, retirement goals, education funding and other financial priorities. While these are important, Lucas stresses they should be viewed as a starting point, not the whole process.

“This fact-finder meeting is often the first face-to-face—or increasingly virtual—interaction advisors have with a prospect,” Lucas said. “Yes, it’s key to gather the basics, but it’s equally important to begin identifying the individual’s style and how they want to engage.”

Advisors can ask the same questions across clients, but the way those questions are asked should change based on the prospect’s personality.

Understanding client styles

LIMRA developed a tool called the Personality Styles Profile to help advisors recognize how people behave in a financial sales setting. Lucas noted that style in these conversations may differ from how someone acts in their everyday life.

For example, a prospect with a dynamic style is focused on winning and achievement. They want to know whether the advisor is tough enough, smart enough and experienced enough to handle their needs.

“These prospects are going to ask who else you’ve worked with that’s like them,” Lucas said. “They want to hear success stories about other dynamics you’ve helped.”

In contrast, a highly analytical or interpersonal client will want details, context and reassurance. Misreading the style and delivering the wrong approach risks alienating the client. Lucas cautions that when both the advisor and the client are dynamic, there’s the danger of a “war of wills.” In these cases, she advises advisors to defer control to the client and prevent a power struggle.

“The ownership is on the advisor to let the client feel in charge,” she said.

Asking better questions

Lucas encourages advisors to move beyond basic product questions and frame conversations in terms of goals and priorities. Instead of asking only about existing life insurance coverage, advisors should probe deeper:

• What do you want your life insurance to do for your family?
• How important is it that your loved ones maintain the same standard of living if something happens to you?
• Would your spouse’s income be enough to support your family?

“These types of questions put the dynamic prospect in control and tie financial products to outcomes that matter to them,” Lucas said.

Training that makes a difference

“If training isn’t immediately applicable, advisors disengage,” Lucas said. “It can’t just be about transferring knowledge—it has to show why the approach benefits the advisor, the company and, most importantly, the client.”

Training also needs to be ongoing. Lucas noted that companies that measure advisor performance after training often see significant gains in premium collected, policies written, and retention. In one case study, advisors who completed LIMRA’s training generated nearly double the annualized premium of those who did not.

“That translated into $5.7 million in additional premium that the company could have realized if all advisors had participated,” she said.

Restoring confidence in the industry

LIMRA’s research also points to declining consumer confidence in insurance. Fewer than one in five adults report having strong confidence in insurance companies, the lowest rate in more than a decade.

Lucas believes advisors play a central role in reversing that trend. “Consumers who work with financial professionals consistently show higher confidence,” she said. “It’s about demonstrating that you truly understand their needs and that you’re tailoring recommendations to them.”

Simplifying complex products

Another challenge: consumers’ limited understanding of products like annuities. Lucas shared a personal story about her mother, who relies on several annuities for guaranteed retirement income. While her family values the security, Lucas admitted that even she struggles to explain the details to others.

“If someone could break it down in layman’s terms, I’d be able to refer multiple people to my advisor,” she said. “That’s where advisors need to focus—turning complex products into simple, relatable stories.”

Storytelling, Lucas added, makes information memorable and builds trust. LIMRA’s sales effectiveness training even dedicates a section to “story selling,” teaching advisors how to frame products in terms of real-world outcomes.

The must-do in every sales presentation

If Lucas had to distill her advice to one takeaway, it would be this: present with consent.
“Don’t wait until the end of a presentation to ask if the client is on board,” she said. “Gain agreement along the way. By the time you ask for a commitment, it becomes easy, because the prospect has been agreeing with you step by step.”

For advisors, that means carefully aligning product recommendations with client goals and style. Done right, Lucas said, the process doesn’t just build sales—it builds lasting trust.