overpromising Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

5 Ways You’re Setting Yourself Up to Fail

August 8, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

I don’t think any financial advisor wakes up in the morning and intentionally sets out to fail. But I can think of many examples of advisors who unwittingly find ways to sabotage their efforts to build a successful practice. It’s often the little things they are either unaware of or don’t recognize as problems. But they’re big enough to turn prospects and clients away from you.

While you may not think you are setting yourself up to fail, you have to consider whether you’re doing the things necessary to prepare yourself for success. That includes taking a critical look at yourself and the way you conduct business and making immediate course corrections.

While there are dozens of ways advisors may be sabotaging their business, here are five we see most often.

5 Reasons Why Clients Might Not Want to Refer You

July 8, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

The best way to gather new clients is via referral, especially since many wealthier investors find their financial advisors this way. If you are failing to acquire referrals, you need to address this issue as a matter of importance. Lack of success invariably boils down to a number of reasons – in particular an inability to get along with people.

Here are 5 reasons that could explain why clients aren’t lining up to refer you.

The First Client Meeting: Are You Making Any of These 10 Common Mistakes?

March 11, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

The First Client Meeting - 10 Common Mistakes

It’s all too easy to slip up in the first meeting and lose any opportunity to open the account – and this is especially true for new advisors.

In this post we’ll help you identify mistakes you could, without realizing it, be making. Take an honest appraisal – do you recognize yourself doing any of the following? If so, take action to fix these mistakes.

5 Things That Could Ruin Your Clients’ Trust in You – in Seconds

May 21, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

It can take many years before clients come to know you and trust you, and during this time you’ll need to work hard to win them over. In order to earn their trust, you’ll need to demonstrate exemplary behavior and deliver a service that goes above and beyond.

But that’s not where it ends. It may have taken you years to build up trust but it takes just seconds to break it down. Just one slip and all that hard-won trust is gone forever. Make sure this doesn’t happen to you by avoiding the following behaviors.

5 Costly Mistakes That Could Lose You Clients

March 5, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

When a client takes you on, they’ve decided they’re comfortable getting into a long-term relationship with you – and that’s a huge compliment. If you want to retain them, you must work hard to maintain the integrity of that relationship over the long term.

Don’t make one of these errors, or you could end up in the firing line.

Avoid These Ten Mistakes to Improve Your Financial Advisor Business

June 5, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

We’ve been getting plenty of questions about common mistakes Financial Advisors make so here’s a quick roundup of things you should avoid doing if you want to take your Financial Advisor business to the next level.

7 Ways to Manage Client Expectations

November 28, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Managing client expectations is crucial in order to keep your clients invested in you and with their financial plan. Here are a few ways to make sure you deliver on your clients’ expectations both in terms of investment performance and your level of service.

How to Find What Makes You Different from Other Advisors

July 27, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

The financial services marketplace is heavily commoditized. There are lots of firms offering basically the same products to the same people, so being the same as everyone else in this industry will not cut it. In order to succeed you need to quickly identify what makes you stand apart from the crowd. Ask yourself these questions in order to find out if you have the unique attributes you need to succeed.

Don’t Feel Guilty About Not Being Perfect

May 25, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

There will be times when you get it wrong. Car mechanics and even doctors don’t get it right all the time and neither will you. Mistakes are easy to make and inevitable. As markets get more and more complex the chances of getting things wrong increase even more, and the longer you’re in business the more times you will be wrong.

But never see this as failure. Accept mistakes as part of life and keep on track by not feeling guilty. If you are doing everything you can with everything you’ve got you are a winner so you have nothing to feel guilty about.

The Biggest Mistake Advisors Make – Overpromising

January 8, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Today I’d like to share with you a popular AskDON episode from the learning center at Don Connelly 24/7. The question comes from Beth in Kansas City:

“What do you think is the biggest mistake we as advisors make?”

Click the play button below to hear my answer or read the transcript.