Best Practices Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

In this category, we will share stories and practical tips for financial advisors and consultants which have proven to be best practices throughout the years.

You Can’t Be Afraid to Fail. It’s How You Succeed.

March 20, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Who doesn’t want to be a success? It’s what people, particularly financial advisors, strive for every day. No one wants to be a failure. But did it ever occur to you that it’s virtually impossible to be a success without failing? Successful people must be very comfortable with failure because they probably fail more often than they succeed. They’re successful because they use their failures as learning experiences to propel them forward.

Yet, many people seem to have such a dysfunctional relationship with failure that they can’t see the value in it, choosing instead to avoid it by not taking the same risks that led to it. That’s not learning. That’s capitulation, which never leads to success.

Are You Working in Your Business or on Your Business? The Key to Growth Is Delegation

March 13, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Growing a successful financial advisory practice is one of the most challenging endeavors anyone can choose to undertake. The road to success is riddled with the many mistakes financial advisors make along the way, such as not prospecting consistently, not marketing themselves, or failing to provide their clients with an exceptional experience. These and other mistakes are symptomatic of a much bigger mistake many advisors make: spending too much time working in their business and not enough time working on the business.

Stop Justifying Your Fees and Start Explaining Them in the Context of What Your Prospects Value

March 6, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

The financial services world has undergone significant change in the last few years, mainly for the benefit of those seeking financial advice. They have more options, investment costs are decreasing, and they have more protections thanks to the regulators. However, for financial advisors, the more things change, the more they seem to stay the same—at least as it relates to fees. Advisors still find themselves in the unenviable position of having to withstand fee compression while, at the same time, justifying them to their clients.

Essential Working Habits to Ensure Your Success as a Financial Advisor

February 27, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In recent posts, we have outlined why financial advisors must master critical habits for prospecting, calling, and selling, without which success can be elusive. However, while you may identify as a financial advisor, you are, first and foremost, a businessperson. You can have all the best habits for prospecting, calling, and selling, but you need to have the vital working habits of a successful businessperson or entrepreneur to help you in the long run.

If your business lacks direction or you can’t manage your time effectively, you are essentially practicing your craft on borrowed time. Without self-discipline and a results-oriented mindset, you’ll be less likely to progress to the next level. These are just some of the working habits that, when mastered, make it possible to exercise the revenue-generating practices of prospecting, calling, and selling to the greatest extent possible with much better outcomes.

To succeed as a financial advisor, you must create a sustainable business that supports your efforts to grow your clientele. These are the crucial working habits any businessperson must master to be successful.

The Four Success Habits of Highly Successful Advisors

January 30, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

It has been said that habits determine 95% of a person’s behavior and are the most important determinant of the type of person you will become. That can be frighteningly ominous for financial advisors who spend little time focused on developing successful habits.

As financial advisors, we’re all searching for the secret to success—finding that edge that can move us effortlessly toward our ambitions. The challenge for many is that it is human nature to look for shortcuts in the pursuit of success.

However, in reality, it’s those who are able to find the motivation to develop successful habits that separate the ordinary from the exceptional—finding the will to take deliberate daily action consistently in pursuit of their goals. Successful advisors will tell you that it’s the practices we develop and master in their daily lives that empower them and propel them to their fullest potential for producing at an elite level.

Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Success Through Getting Ready to Get Ready

January 23, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

I’ve seen it dozens of times. Financial advisors sitting at their desks, looking busy, immersed in their work, shuffling papers, searching the internet, and reading reports. Sometimes it seems to go on for hours, even days, leaving me to wonder what they’re working towards. But one look at their production records tells the tale. There is a strong likelihood they’re working on getting ready to get ready to do what they know must be done but can’t seem to pull the trigger to get it done.

I’ve come across many advisors who consider themselves “perfectionists,” the type of people who feel the need to ensure everything is in order before attempting the task at hand, be it making calls to prospects, dealing with an irate client, or making a critical presentation to a wavering prospect. As we all know, “perfect is the enemy of the good,” which is good enough for most people.

If we wait until everything is ready before starting a task, we’ll probably never get started. Consider the analogy of a person starting their car and waiting in their driveway for all the lights on their route to turn green. They’ll probably never leave their driveway. Maybe that’s the point.

The Inevitable Frustration of Success

December 26, 2022 / by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments

Let’s talk about the inevitable frustration of success, about building a business slowly. I have one piece of advice if you’re still building your business: Don’t be in a hurry to become a success. If you become impatient, the impatience will wear you down. I’m not suggesting we sit back and wait for success to […]

5-Step Approach to Addressing Mistakes with Your Clients

November 14, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Any successful person would agree that making mistakes—and learning from them—is as vital to one’s growth and development as any training or life experience. That’s good because we’re human, and we all make mistakes. Even the brightest and most conscientious financial advisors make mistakes periodically. While mistakes that impact clients can be serious, they don’t have to be the end of the world or a career.
In fact, advisors who quickly own up to their mistakes and rectify them often find that it can solidify their client relationships and strengthen client loyalty. Being conscientious and forthright are appealing traits to clients. And, if mistakes are quickly resolved, they’re no worse for the wear.

What No One Tells You About Being a Financial Advisor

October 24, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In my opinion, there has not been any better time to be a financial advisor. At a time when the world is inundated with chaos and hyperbolic media noise, financial advisors are proving their worth. An increasing number of people are seeking guidance and clarity beyond the cookie-cutter world of robo-advisors and financial pundits.

Those who seek a career in helping people achieve their life ambitions with personalized advice have the chance to be very successful and personally fulfilled. However, with less than 300,000 practicing financial advisors in a country of 330 million people, relatively few people are choosing that path, and even fewer are succeeding.

Transitioning Conversations: How to Change the Subject without Offending Your Client

October 17, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In a recent post, we highlighted the importance of maintaining control over conversations with prospects and clients—that your value as a financial advisor diminishes without it. Part and parcel of maintaining control of a conversation is being able to switch gears when a client takes it in a direction you don’t want to go. Getting trapped in a tangent is a time waster, but how do you change the subject without making it awkward or alienating your client?

People go off topic for many reasons. Whatever the reason, they feel that what they have to say is important, so if you’re going to try to change the conversation, it needs to be done delicately and gracefully to not make them feel as if what they have to say is not important.

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