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 Good News that Investments Go Up and Down

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*This is a podcast originally posted on Don Connelly 24/7 learning center*

Mr. and Mrs. Client, on your way to meeting your goals, your investments will go up and down in value. Now I understand everyone’s game plan is to buy something that goes up. That’s about the extent of the plan. The reality is investments go up and down in value.

What we have to realize is volatility is not risk. Volatility is volatility.

How to Tell Clients You Are Raising Your Fee

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You can show a client how to save for a successful retirement, but you cannot make him act on your advice. You can do everything for a client but make the decisions. Nonetheless, if people take your advice, they will educate their children without borrowing money and eventually retire with no financial worries. It is egregious to think that setting up a successful plan for someone and then politely goading that person into action over the next several years until that person’s financial dreams come true is only worth one percent. But that’s the corner we’ve painted ourselves into.

The 7 Essential Traits of Successful Financial Advisors

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On our February 24, 2015 webinar, our special guest was Dave Hubbard, President and owner of Exemplar Financial Network. Over the past thirty years, Dave has built a thriving firm of more than one hundred Advisors. But Dave is far more than a successful Advisor and business owner. He is also an acclaimed coach who has helped hundreds of Financial Advisors fulfill their potential.

The title of this particular webinar was ‘The Seven Essential Traits of Successful Advisors.’ Dave enumerated and elaborated upon the most common shared qualities among the successful Advisors he knows.

What’s New on Don Connelly 24/7 in February 2015

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What's New Don Connelly 247 February 2015

Here’s this month’s blog post from the series, What’s New on Don Connelly 24/7. We recap new podcasts, Weekly Focus issues, the Monthly Newsletter, and webinar replay. Read on!

What’s new on Don Connelly 24/7 in February 2015

Five Actionable Ways You Can Stand Apart from The Crowd

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If you want to succeed as a financial advisor, you need to achieve a competitive advantage. There needs to be something about you that highlights you not superior to other advisors but different. You need to possess a ‘certain something’ that makes people want to do business with you.

Dare to be different

Stick to the Basics – Success Tip for Financial Advisors

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Let’s talk a bit about sticking to the basics.

I had the good fortune one time of talking with Quinn Buckner. Quinn Buckner, I believe, won a national championship in college in basketball, played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics. I’m a basketball fan and a big Celtic fan. Quinn played with Larry Bird who I think, along with Michael Jordan, is the best that ever lived.

I asked Quinn Buckner what the most amazing thing was that he ever saw Larry Bird do. And he said:

How to Convince Someone to Trust You

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How to Establish Trust with Prospects and Clients

Whether you’re a new or well-established advisor you may find it difficult to establish trust. It’s incredibly difficult to develop trust quickly. How can people know whether you’re honest, sincere and trustworthy when they first meet you? And people today tend to suffer from an inherent lack of trust. Their belief systems about investing have been shattered by a seemingly endless stream of bad news.

Why Thoughtful Advisors Get Referrals

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Referrals are the cornerstone of your business. In order to get them you need to cement the relationship with your clients by being passionate and committed. If you are creative and look for different ways to engage with your clients you will become more referable.

To get referrals you need the soft skills that illustrate you can get along with people as well as a self-awareness.

How Much Value Do You Bring as a Financial Advisor?

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What determines your value is not up to you to decide. It is left for the client to decide. And that decision is a lot simpler than you might think.

When selecting an Advisor, three things are of value to a prospective client.

That person must like the Advisor, that person must trust the Advisor and that person must think the Advisor is smart. There is very little else to factor in initially.

Prospective clients generally are not looking for more information.

How Fear Can Cripple Your Financial Advisor Career

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Top advisors have fears. They don’t like facing rejection any more than average advisors do but they just accept their fears as part of the job. Here are some common fears that prevent good advisors from becoming great advisors, and some tips about how to face down your fears.

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Articles by: Don Connelly