/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments
There is a great chance that you have a can of WD-40 under the sink or in the garage. Most people do. In fact, you can find it in the garages of homes in 160 countries. Everybody knows WD-40. What most people don’t know is the origin of the name.
The Rocket Chemical Company was founded in San Diego, California in 1953. It created a product to displace the standing water that caused corrosion in nuclear missiles. The first thirty-nine attempts to perfect the formula failed. Success was achieved on the 40th attempt. WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. In 1969, the company name was changed to simply WD-40.
We have all heard of similar struggles by Walt Disney, Theodore Seuss Geisel and the Coca-Cola Company. If we’ve learned one lesson from these stories, the lesson is, don’t be in a hurry to become a success.
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Maximize Your Efficiency
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Michael from Bank of America asks how many hours a week he should be working to get to a certain level. The answer lies in the productivity of his work hours.
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How to Use Stories and Analogies to Influence and Persuade
/ by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases, What's New / 0 comments
During our latest monthly webinar, held July 24, 2104, we discussed the importance of speaking in such a manner that our listener understands everything we say. It is the Advisor’s job to influence and persuade and it all begins with communicating clearly. “We want to go home and think it over” is often code-speak for “We don’t really understand you.”
When you give a good presentation full of sound advice and people choose not to act, what went wrong? Why did they choose not to do business with you? Why did you fail to move them?
There really aren’t that many possible answers to this question.
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Your Selling Skills Are a Reflection of Your Self-confidence
/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself, Prospecting / 0 comments
Would you open an account with a Financial Advisor who was nervous and unsure of himself? Neither will your prospects.
Your livelihood is dependent upon your ability to sell yourself.
How well you sell yourself is in direct proportion to your self-confidence. The more success you have, the more you believe in your abilities and the higher you go. Top tier Advisors are supremely confident in their ability to influence and persuade. They have overcome the fear of failure.
It takes self-confidence to move another person to take action.
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How You Present Is as Important as the Information You Are Presenting
/ by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
The facts and figures you present to your clients may not be as important as you think they are. Clients don’t want more information. Clients want someone they can trust. While you are giving your presentation, they are not deciding on the accuracy of the numbers. They are deciding about you. Can I trust you? Will you always do the right thing? What are your values? Are you on my side? They need to trust you, not the numbers.
How you say something is as important as what you say.
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Communicating as Intended Is Vital to Your Success
/ by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
Since it is your job to influence and persuade, what you say is not nearly as important as what the other person hears. To be successful, you’ve got to communicate as intended.
When folks say to you that they want to go home and think about what you proposed, they are most likely telling you that they haven’t fully understood what you said. They aren’t rethinking their decision to retire comfortably. They simply don’t want to buy into what they don’t understand.
Why are we misunderstood and what can we do about it?
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There Are Times When It’s Simply Best to Forgive and Forget
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
To succeed as a Financial Advisor, one has to accept that disappointment is inevitable. We don’t always get what we want. Disappointment breeds frustration. Negative emotions are unavoidable, yet they must be controlled. We’re in the business of controlling the emotions of others. We can’t do that well until we have control of our own emotions.
I think the best way to deal with disappointment is to put it in perspective.
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Developing Your People Skills Begins with Understanding Yourself
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
People who are able to discern the feelings of others have a distinct advantage in life. They generally out earn and outperform those who cannot. Having this ability is a reflection of one’s emotional intelligence. People with high emotional intelligence understand themselves and they understand the impact they have on others. They know when and how to make the other person feel good. They are able to influence decisions. They have great people skills.
As an Advisor, it is to your advantage to have or develop great people skills.
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It Takes Extraordinary Patience to Build a Successful Business
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments
There is a great chance that you have a can of WD-40 under the sink or in the garage. Most people do. In fact, you can find it in the garages of homes in 160 countries. Everybody knows WD-40. What most people don’t know is the origin of the name.
The Rocket Chemical Company was founded in San Diego, California in 1953. It created a product to displace the standing water that caused corrosion in nuclear missiles. The first thirty-nine attempts to perfect the formula failed. Success was achieved on the 40th attempt. WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. In 1969, the company name was changed to simply WD-40.
We have all heard of similar struggles by Walt Disney, Theodore Seuss Geisel and the Coca-Cola Company. If we’ve learned one lesson from these stories, the lesson is, don’t be in a hurry to become a success.
Read more
Emotional Intelligence Enables Us to Manage The Emotions of Others
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
You and I like to think of ourselves as objective thinkers. We try to put our emotions aside. We live in a world of research and numbers. Our recommendations are black and white. Investment results are there for all to see. Our advice is either good or bad. The plans we recommend either work or they don’t. Clients say yes or no. We open the account or we don’t.
Our clients, on the other hand, are subjective thinkers.
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The Only Thing People Are Buying Is You
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices, Don Guest Authoring at... / 4 comments
This is Don Connelly’s latest guest post for FA Magazine.
I was having lunch with a friend recently. My friend ordered a Coke with his food. The waitress told him they didn’t serve Coke. Would a Pepsi do? Without hesitation my friend said yes. He didn’t care if he was drinking Pepsi or Coke. He just wanted something to drink with lunch.
Clients think like my friend thinks. They don’t care if they are drinking Pepsi or Coke. Clients want to hit their goals.
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