/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
If you know you’ve got problems gathering assets and growing your business, you are lucky. A problem can be turned into an advantage and that’s a good thing.
The very fact that you recognize a problem means that you are concerned enough to recognize it, that you want to better yourself. Too many Advisors drift along waiting for magical occurrence to turn their business around. You are trying to make things happen.
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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.
Learn to Laugh at Yourself when It Is Called for
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
It is hard to overstate the importance of being able to laugh at yourself. People who can do this are generally more optimistic than those who cannot.
Optimistic personalities go far in the Financial Services industry.
I have seen a lot of Advisors fail over the years, but I have never seen an optimistic Advisor fail. Being more cheerful and less serious is a great survival technique.
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There Is a Shortage of Accountability – Be Responsible
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Your clients will love you if you insist on being accountable for your own actions. Your clients look to you as a leader. They depend upon you to lead them to their goals safely and on time.
One of the key components of leadership is accountability.
If you hold yourself accountable for everything you say and do, people will respond favorably. It is so refreshing to hear someone take responsibility for his or her own actions.
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Common Sense Is Quite Uncommon
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments
Our A students become professors. Our B students go to law school. Our C students rule the world.
So wrote Dean of Harvard College, Henry Rosovsky.
The inference to be drawn from Rosovky’s observation is that common sense will take one very far in life. Street smarts trump book smarts.
Everybody seems to know that common sense is always the answer.
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Having Problems Is a Plus
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
If you know you’ve got problems gathering assets and growing your business, you are lucky. A problem can be turned into an advantage and that’s a good thing.
The very fact that you recognize a problem means that you are concerned enough to recognize it, that you want to better yourself. Too many Advisors drift along waiting for magical occurrence to turn their business around. You are trying to make things happen.
Read more
Get Your Work Done in Sixty Percent of the Time
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 1 comment
I can tell you without hesitation that the amount of time you spend marketing yourself this year determines how much you will grow next year. If you don’t prospect and market yourself, your business will wither and die.
I can also tell you without hesitation that running your business gets in the way of growing your business. The details eat up your time. There are only so many hours in the day. What to do then? Why do we give tasks more time than they need and what can we do about it?
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There Is No Ambiguity When It Comes to Being a Good Advisor
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Yet, while certain elements of this business are ambiguous, the challenge we face is not.
The correct way to succeed is straight-forward. Either you do things right or you don’t. Either you do the right things or you don’t. Either you see enough people or you don’t. Either you build a good business or you don’t. Embrace the clarity.
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People Think You’re So Smart When They Do All the Talking
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Did you ever walk away from a conversation thinking you just met a really smart, neat person, only to realize you did all the talking? I think we all have, at one time or another. What’s up? What do these people do to make us think they are so smart? They simply listen, that’s all, and we love them for it.
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Never Forget That Your Client’s Original Goal Was to Beat the Bank
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
I’ve been mingling with clients for years and it never fails to shock me just a bit to hear how simple both their goals and their reasons for investing really are. For the most part, clients simply want to beat the bank, especially in low interest rate environments. They want to educate their children and build a retirement fund. That’s it. They aren’t trying to hit home runs. They are trying to hit singles and doubles. You can deliver singles and doubles all day long.
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Do Full Service Advisors Deserve Commensurate Compensation?
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
There’s probably precious little a Financial Advisor can offer that you aren’t offering. Some Advisors do taxes and some do not, but basically we all generate revenue the same way. We offer the same products and the same process at essentially the same price. It’s hard to charge more than the other guy if you are both doing the same thing.
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Think like a Lifer – Being a Financial Advisor Is a Career, Not a Job
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
If anybody asks, you don’t have a job. You have a career. Think that way. Think like a lifer. You are here to stay.
A job involves the pursuit of money. A career involves the pursuit of a lifelong ambition.
A job is something you have to do. A career is something you love to do.
Jobs come and go. Careers last a lifetime.
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