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.

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.

Always Remember Your Clients’ Reasons to Invest

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Failing to understand a client’s goals and objectives ranks highly when it comes to why financial advisors get fired. So it pays to remember that your client’s reasons to invest are the same as they’ve always been: they want to generate more cash in the future, whether it’s to send the kids to college, or to retire on a yacht in the Caribbean.

Your clients want to educate their children and build a retirement fund. That’s generally it.

Being Proactive Is a Key to Financial Advisor’s Success

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No one becomes a great financial advisor by accident. In order to become successful you must decide to be successful, and you’re the only person that can do this. If you don’t like where you are today then do something about it. Change, do things differently. The only thing standing between you and success is you. If you are tired of not having enough people to talk to, then make the decision to sharpen your prospecting skills. If you are tired of hearing people say they’ll ‘think it over’, make it your aim to learn how to better overcome their objections.

Financial Advisors Tips: How to Get Referrals

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A wag once noted that having to call or introduce yourself to strangers is God’s revenge for not getting referrals. The reality is that every time you open a new account, you’ve lost your best prospect. Referrals are essential, yet asking for them makes most Advisors uncomfortable.

Allow me to offer two suggestions.

Why Both You and Your Client Need the Skill of Visualization

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Naturally your clients read the papers, watch the news, and use the internet to see what’s happening to their investments, they’re interested. And there will be bumps in the road. Keeping clients fully invested in the face of bad news is hard to do, so how do you get them to grin and bear it?

When someone sees their portfolio go down it’s your job to refocus them on the road ahead.

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Articles by: Don Connelly