Don Connelly, Author at Don Connelly & Associates

Don A. Connelly is a speaker, motivator and educator for financial advisors. During a career of more than 40 years on Wall Street, he worked for nearly 19 years as company spokesperson, senior vice president and senior marketing officer for Putnam Investments, in addition to holding positions as a stock broker, financial planner, branch manager, wholesaler and national sales manager. As founder and CEO of Don Connelly 24/7, he provides timely and provocative sales ideas to thousands of financial professionals, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

How to Be a Financial Advisor

June 24, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Working as a financial advisor is one of the highest ranked business careers according to a recent U.S. News & World report, advisors rating it highly for job satisfaction and prospects. As a financial advisor you can make a real difference to your clients’ lives, making this a rewarding profession to aim for.But if you want to be a financial advisor, you need to have two quite distinct skill sets.

Firstly, you’ll need to pass the relevant industry exams. Financial acumen is a must.

Secondly, and indeed more importantly, you should have a real desire to help people and have an ability to understand their goals and concerns.

7 Things Many Financial Advisors Don’t Do, and Fail as a Result

June 17, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Much of the failure in this industry comes down to non-observance of the basics. Too many advisors fail not only to develop their soft skills but lack the necessary business acumen to remain viable. If you want to succeed as a financial advisor, learn from their mistakes and make sure you ‘do’ what they are ‘not doing’.

Here are some things that many advisors are not doing – but should be.

5 Marketing Strategies for Financial Advisors to Ensure Steady Growth

June 10, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Never attempt to distinguish yourself on products or price. You won’t win using this strategy. Instead, find ways to differentiate yourself from the competition by offering a service that goes above and beyond.

But before you can prove your worth you need to find and connect with potential clients – because they won’t find you by accident. Here are some potential marketing strategies that could help you get on their radar.

4 Things You Can Only Achieve with Effective Communication Skills

June 3, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Effective communication skills are essential if you are to achieve successful outcomes for your business. Here are 4 relationship goals you should be striving for, along with the requisite soft skills you must possess if you are to realize them.

5 Creative Ways to Follow-up with a Prospect

May 27, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

In an ideal world every prospect would sign up with you at the first meeting, immediately recognizing they are in need of what you are offering. In the real world however, prospects may not yet realize your value or understand that they can trust you.

Don’t leave things to chance on the basis they may get back to you. Always follow up. Make sure to call prospects and speak to them directly. You don’t have to feel that you’re trying to push products onto people who are not in the market for your services. Remember, they have indicated that they’re actively looking for a financial advisor.

People tend to get distracted easily however, so here are some additional ways to remind prospects of your worth.

Becoming a Financial Advisor Is Not All About Getting Licensed

May 20, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Naturally, you need to be sufficiently educated and qualified if you are to do the job of a financial advisor. But that’s not nearly enough. Financial advisors require a unique skill set that consists of not only technical knowledge and business skills but also excellent interpersonal ‘soft’ skills.

Many advisors enter the industry mistakenly believing the former skills are more important than the latter. That’s why so many advisors leave the trade in their first year – because they weren’t able to cut through the noise and attract enough clients.

Three More Niches Financial Advisors May Want to Consider

May 13, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Many new entrants to this industry believe it makes sense to ‘cast a wide net’ in the fear that picking a target market will limit business opportunities. But in fact, this is far from the case. The most successful financial advisors are those that focus on a particular niche.

In a recent post we looked at some relatively under-represented niches that could be worthwhile considering. Here are three more to put on your radar.

4 Tasks You Should Not Delegate if You Want to Grow Your Business

May 6, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In a previous post we looked at how delegating routine or specialized business tasks can help clear the way for you to focus on the important aspects of your business. In this post we’ll look at tasks that unfailingly require your personal input – here are four things that should never be taken for granted.

How to Help Clients Make Good Decisions

April 29, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Your job is as much about managing relationships as it is about managing money. You need to establish close ties with your clients so you can become a positive influence in their lives over the long term. Unless you can steer your clients into making good decisions you not only risk losing them as clients – but you are doing them a disfavor – because you are allowing them to make potentially disastrous financial decisions.

Here are a few things you can do to influence your clients’ decisions positively.

How People Find a Financial Advisor

April 22, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

People search for financial advisors in various ways and via numerous channels. To ensure your appointment book is full, you need to identify where your potential clients are searching so you can focus your marketing efforts in these areas.

Potential clients often find a financial advisor in one (or more) of the following ways.

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Articles by: Don Connelly