/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 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.
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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.
Winning the “Why Do I Need a Financial Advisor” Argument
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Long before it became a field of academic study, legendary investor Benjamin Graham knew a thing or two about behavioral finance. Graham went on to say, “In the end, how your investments behave is much less important than how you behave.”
For financial advisors, understanding how emotional and intellectual processes combine to influence investors’ decisions offers the opportunity to help their clients avoid costly mistakes and optimize investment outcomes.
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Why It’s Critical to Have a Well-Conceived, Repeatable Advisor Onboarding Process
/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices / 0 comments
It is well-established in the financial advisory industry that the client onboarding process is crucial to building profitable, long-term relationships. When done poorly, you’ll likely see clients heading for the exits leaving you with thinning profit margins and a tarnished reputation. For the same reasons, onboarding advisors is equally critical for financial advisors looking to […]
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You Can’t Be Afraid to Fail. It’s How You Succeed.
/ 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.
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Are You Working in Your Business or on Your Business? The Key to Growth Is Delegation
/ 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.
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Stop Justifying Your Fees and Start Explaining Them in the Context of What Your Prospects Value
/ 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.
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Essential Working Habits to Ensure Your Success as a Financial Advisor
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 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.
Read more
The Four Success Habits of Highly Successful Advisors
/ 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.
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Financial Advisors Sabotage Their Success Through Getting Ready to Get Ready
/ 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.
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The Inevitable Frustration of Success
/ 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 […]
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5-Step Approach to Addressing Mistakes with Your Clients
/ 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.
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