Don Connelly, Soft Skills Trainer for Financial Professionals

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.

Why It’s Important You Have All of Your Client’s Assets

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 1 comment

I received an email from Harry in Chicago. He manages a few million dollars for a particular client. That client has an equal amount of money invested with another Advisor and firm across the street, and he won’t combine the two. The client uses the account across the street to pay taxes and expenses. When asked why he does this, the client has a traditional comment – ‘I don’t want all my eggs in one basket’. Harry’s question to me is “Should I leave well enough alone?”

Listen to Don’s answer or read the transcript below.

How to Get More Referrals

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Referrals are integral to growing your business. They are one of the most profitable sources of new clients. So asking for referrals is a priority – even if the thought of doing so fills you with trepidation.

In order to get more referrals be selective where you focus your energy. Determine the right time to ask your clients and try these different approaches in order to make asking for referrals more natural – and more productive.

Personalizing Your Services Will Help You Succeed as a Financial Advisor

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

All financial advisors generate income in the same way, by offering similar platforms at essentially the same price. The job description: to help people simplify their finances and get peace of mind that they can reach their goals. Naturally achieving this task is of the utmost importance but if you want to stand apart from the crowd and win more businesses you need to do more; you need to personalize your services.

By treating each client personally and making them feel important you will not just meet their expectations but exceed them. If your clients feel they’re just a number to you they won’t rate your services and they will be unlikely to refer you to others.

Why Financial Advisors Should Do Seminars

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

One of my Don Connelly 24/7 subscribers asked me how I liked seminars for a prospecting idea. The answer is ‘I love seminars’. Here are a couple of reasons why.

Listen to this audio episode to hear Don’s full answer, or read the transcript below.

Elite Advisors Never Lose the Will to Learn

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

If you stop wanting to improve your skills you will cease to be good at your job. Don’t let short term success make you overly confident or complacent. While having a successful month, a good quarter or even a good year is great news it does not guarantee your success further down the line. All bets are on that a slump is out there waiting for you somewhere, and when it does, it can quickly turn things on their head. So you need to have a backup plan.

Five Steps to Help Make Prospecting a Habit

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 2 comments

If your appointment book is full to overflowing then you won’t need to read on. If however like most advisors you don’t have a line of prospects queuing at the door, you need to develop better and more successful processes when it comes to prospecting.

You must begin to see prospecting as your only real priority. It’s the only way you will get more appointments and win more business. You may not like prospecting – many advisors see this as the least favorite part of the job – but don’t let fear of failure prevent you from undertaking this core task.

Here are five steps to help you make prospecting more of a habit and less of a dreaded chore.

Top 5 Reasons Advisors Fail

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 2 comments

It may come as a surprise to learn that financial advisors don’t generally fail because of the numbers. They do so because of poor ‘soft’ skills. Being unable to manage a business competently or provide top notch customer service are more likely to get you fired than an inability to get returns on investment.

If you want to succeed as a financial advisor you need to stand out in a highly commoditized industry – which means not being guilty of the following:

The Pool Table Story

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

What do you think – do you really know your audience?

I want to tell you a story about really knowing your audience – about being comfortable as a salesperson.

Watch the video or read the transcript below.

How to Become a Successful Financial Advisor

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments

There are lots of average financial advisors out there, but very few great ones. And it may surprise you to learn that those that do get to the top rarely get there on talent alone. Successful advisors do however share certain attributes and have a work ethic that marks them out. They have a clear vision, work hard and never stop developing their skills.

Here are five things you must do if you want to be a successful financial advisor.

When Starting as a Financial Advisor …

/ 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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Articles by: Don Connelly