good story Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Strengths or Weaknesses: Where Should Advisors Focus?

September 5, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Getting to the next level in any endeavor requires a thorough understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. Your strengths have the potential to power your advancement, while weaknesses could possibly hold you back. But not all strengths and weaknesses are equal in the way they can impact your practice. The challenge for advisors is knowing whether to focus first on their weaknesses and then their strengths or vice versa.

How to Build Immediate Personal Connections Naturally

August 1, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Gaining the trust of a prospective client is an absolute must if the relationship is to amount to anything. Plain and simple, people don’t do business with financial advisors if they don’t trust them. Building that kind of trust can take time, but successful advisors know how to accelerate the process—by first establishing a connection, which can be done when first meeting with a prospect.

If you think back on all your relationships—personal and professional—you’re likely to find that your best and closest relationships started with an instant personal connection. Something just clicked between the two of you that allowed you to lower your guard and open up to one another.

The Importance of Your Storytelling Skills in Building Trust

March 8, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Now and then, financial advisors must be reminded that they are in a relationship business and that what they have as a clientele is a direct by-product of trust.

The cold hard reality is that people need to trust you before they will engage with you. Especially these days, people are almost instinctively cynical, overly careful to approach others they don’t know with a heavy dose of skepticism. So, when we want to connect with any group of people, our first task must be to break through their defensive shells so we can build trust. Without trust, there can be no connection, no relationship, and no channel through which vision and ideas can flow.

Creating Your Financial Advisor Marketing Plan

December 14, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

The biggest growth challenge for financial advisors is finding qualified leads. But before that can happen, advisors must be able to attract enough of the right people who might become qualified leads. That’s what marketing does for you. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It can’t happen by aimlessly wandering around. Most advisors have enough trouble managing their time between being an advisor, running their practice, and prospecting. What’s needed is a marketing plan.

How to Respond to the Comment ‘I Don’t Want to Lose Money’

November 26, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments

I received an email from John in Texas with an interesting question. He said, “Every time I go into an appointment now, the first thing out of somebody’s mouth is, ‘I don’t want to lose any money.’

And I’ve been saying, ‘I don’t know anyone that ever does,’ as an ice breaker but I don’t feel comfortable. Can you give me a suggestion how to respond to that comment?”

Watch the video or read the transcript below to hear Don’s thoughts on how to respond to this question.

The Market Is on Sale When It Dips

May 28, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

This session of Mr. and Mrs. Client I want to thank Ruth Sully. Ruth is a friend and advisor in Californiawho told me a great story. You can use it if you have clients who want to put their investment plan on hold when the market takes a downturn.

Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn the story.

Every Financial Advisor Needs to Tell Great Stories

April 30, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Human beings have an innate desire to tell and listen to stories. Good stories grab the attention and inspire people to act, which is why storytelling should be an essential tool in your armory. If you become a great storyteller, prospects and clients will leave your office remembering both you and your message.

Stories are also a great way to help make the unfamiliar familiar – they promote the understanding of complex issues. Plus, they’re effective at creating an emotional bond between storyteller and listener.

What Makes a Story Good?

January 9, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever”. This ancient Native American proverb still resonates today.

Everyone loves a good story. Good stories can captivate, teach, and persuade people to act, making them an excellent way to communicate with prospects and clients.

In this post we’ll look at how to create great stories and inspire listeners to take action.

Effective Communication Is an Acquired Skill

March 17, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Effective communication occurs when the listener understands everything you just said. You made the complex simple. That’s not an easy thing to do.

It takes a long time and a lot of practice to become simple.

The effort is worth it. There is nothing more important to a Financial Advisor than being understood. After all, if everyone understood everything you said, you would be one of the highest paid and most influential people in the world.

Fortunately, effective communication is an acquired skill, not an innate skill.

The More Words You Use to Get Your Point Across, the Less People Listen

January 13, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments

Have you noticed that the more a person talks, the less connected to the listener he or she seems to be? There is no give and take. People like that think the listener finds them as fascinating as they find themselves. They are not fascinating. They are boring.

In your role as a Financial Advisor, talking too much is the kiss of death.

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