Ask the right questions to turn clients into raving fans

Many financial professionals struggle to solve prospects’ problems — not because they’re poor listeners but because they’re not good at asking questions.

By asking the right questions, advisors uncover what they need to solve prospects’ problems, said Colin Lake, president and CEO of Delaware Life Marketing, during a recent webinar by the National Association for Fixed Annuities.

Lake cited a Princeton University study that showed the human brain is made up two parts: the “reptilian brain,” which is reactionary and instinctive, and the prefrontal cortex, which is creative and relational.

The goal of asking the right questions, he said, is to get prospects out of the reactionary part of their brain and into the relational part. The key is to ask the prospect a question that they really want to answer, instead of a question that the advisor already knows the answer to.

Asking closed-ended questions – those that require only a “yes” or a “no” answer – can negatively impact prospects, especially when those questions are asked early in a conversation, Lake said.

Closed-ended questions tend to push people to the decision phase of a conversation early, he said. “When people are put to a decision quickly, they tend to react poorly,” he said. “It pushes them toward their ‘fight or flight’ mechanism.”

The words “can,” “is,” “does,” “do” and “are” typically are the first words of a closed-ended question. Lake said less prepared an advisor is, the more likely they are to ask these questions. People tend to ask closed-ended questions more frequently as stress levels rise, as time horizons shorten and when an open-ended question is most needed.

‘The secret sauce’ of asking questions

“The secret sauce” to asking questions, he said, is to ask three types of questions early in the conversation and again at the close. These three types and examples of them are:

• What-with-numbers questions. What three concerns do you have about your current finances? What three goals do you have for our meeting?
• How questions. How are you dealing with all the financial news coming at you these days? How has your business created such an amazing culture?
• Why questions. Why have you been so successful? Why is this the case?

“These questions put people into their prefrontal cortex when answering the question,” Lake said. “It puts them into that relationship mind. It puts them in that creative mind. That’s what science says.”

How to keep the close from falling apart

A conversation with a prospect may seem to go well but then fall apart when it’s time for the close.

A close is the art of letting someone else have your way, Lake said.

“Clients want to be involved in the decision-making process,” he said. “Great agents are always selling and everyone knows it. The best agents are always selling and no one knows it. It’s because the clients feel like they made the decisions.”

A close is most likely to happen when the prospect believes their need is being met, he said. Asking prospects before the meeting what they want to discuss, accomplish and achieve will shorten the conversation and increase the likelihood of a close.

“I think our industry does a good job of teaching us how to be prepared to talk about how good we are at managing money, how good we are at finding the right insurance solutions, how good we are at selecting companies and all of those things,” Lake said. “It does not do a good enough job of teaching us to help people to get where they’re trying to go.

“Those advisors who are fully focused on helping people get where they ultimately want to go and solve the problems that they ultimately are looking to solve are the ones who create relationships that develop raving fans and have a brand that is so rock solid that they continue to get referrals and introductions.”

© Entire contents copyright 2026 by InsuranceNewsNet.com Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted without the expressed written consent from InsuranceNewsNet.com.