July 5, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
It’s human nature to seek comfort in familiar habits and patterns. When anything comes along to threaten the status quo, we naturally feel uncomfortable, even anxious. Most of us will take great pains to cling to our comfort zone just to avoid those feelings, rejecting change and its unpredictability. The inevitable result for many people is to languish in predictable mediocrity. While they may feel safe, they eventually slip into obsolescence.
In the financial advisory business, if you are not constantly working at getting better, you are getting worse. That’s because successful advisors always strive to improve, to find ways to perfect their craft, which often requires breaking from familiar habits and stepping outside their comfort zone. They know that if they continue to live inside their complacency zone and do what they’ve always done, they’ll continue to get the same results. As a financial advisor, that is ultimately a formula for failure.
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Only Elite Advisors Step Out of Their Comfort Zone—Do You?
July 5, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
It’s human nature to seek comfort in familiar habits and patterns. When anything comes along to threaten the status quo, we naturally feel uncomfortable, even anxious. Most of us will take great pains to cling to our comfort zone just to avoid those feelings, rejecting change and its unpredictability. The inevitable result for many people is to languish in predictable mediocrity. While they may feel safe, they eventually slip into obsolescence.
In the financial advisory business, if you are not constantly working at getting better, you are getting worse. That’s because successful advisors always strive to improve, to find ways to perfect their craft, which often requires breaking from familiar habits and stepping outside their comfort zone. They know that if they continue to live inside their complacency zone and do what they’ve always done, they’ll continue to get the same results. As a financial advisor, that is ultimately a formula for failure.
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Advice for New Financial Advisors – 8 Things Veteran Advisors Wish They Knew When They First Started Out
April 20, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
“Experience is the best teacher. But only a fool learns by no other.”
This is a slight misquotation of Benjamin Franklin. But the idea is sound: We all can and should learn from the mistakes and experiences of those who came before us.
And advisors are certainly making mistakes! Somewhere between 70 and 90 percent of financial advisor trainees are out of the business by their fourth year. And too many of those who survive aren’t thriving.
So we asked some veteran financial advisors what they wished they knew when they first started out in this business, or what they would do differently if they could start over. There was a lot of variation in the details, but most of them had these themes in common.
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Learn to Make The Choice to Not Open The Account
June 12, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
When you’re first starting out as a financial advisor getting any work at all can seem like a good thing. In fact, the prospect of turning down new business could seem terrifying. However, you need to change your approach or you could end up working long term with unprofitable and stressful clients. To avoid such a scenario, you need to make the decision not to open certain accounts in the first place.
Here are a few ways to help you identify whether a prospect is going to be a good fit for you – and how to say no politely if you discover they aren’t.
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Is Cold Calling Still an Effective Prospecting Method for Financial Advisors?
May 9, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 3 comments
Technology and the ‘no-call’ rules have changed habits when it comes to cold calling. It’s no longer seen as the ‘go-to’ method for prospecting, with social media, the internet and networking often seen as better ways to reach out to new clients. But there are good reasons why cold calling – when done correctly – is a quality tool and why it should be a necessary and permanent part of your business.
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What’s the Journey of the Successful Advisor Like?
February 1, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Developing a career as a financial advisor is not for the fainthearted. There are plenty of pitfalls to look out for along the way. New advisors often lack the essential soft skills they need to hit the ground running while others embark on the journey without a clear roadmap or measurable goals to guide them.
Here’s a look at how successful advisors navigate their way to success.
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When Starting as a Financial Advisor …
August 3, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
The financial services industry is incredibly competitive and the first few years can be especially gruelling for new advisors. When you first start out you won’t have many clients or a network to get you referrals but so long as you have a plan and stick with it, you will soon make an impact. You are not going to become successful by accident.
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