Best Practices Archives - Page 8 of 23 - 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.

How to Succeed at Giving Financial Advice

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

So, you want to be in the business of giving financial advice. That’s understandable because not only can the career of a financial advisor be financially rewarding, it can also be very fulfilling. Through a relationship that can span a lifetime, you become the essential source of advice in one of the most important aspects of your clients’ lives. There’s just one problem. You don’t have any clients—yet.

As a new financial advisor, your number one job is to find new clients. That has always been advisors’ biggest challenge but more so today due to the trust deficit that exists in the financial services industry. According to a CFA Institute survey, only 57 percent of retail investors trust the financial services industry, which is up from a few years ago, but it’s still a wide chasm to overcome. The same survey found that retail investors listed “trust” as their top consideration when hiring an advisor. Prospective clients simply won’t work with an advisor they don’t trust.

Educate Clients about Market Volatility so They Can Confidently Stick to the Plan

/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments

Happy New Year from all of us at Don Connelly & Associates! Hopefully everyone will enjoy good health during the new year, achieving great success both personally and professionally.

As promised, this week we’re posting the second part of the recap blog post, covering two more popular topics our community of Advisors was most interested in during 2020 – market volatility and how to communicate with prospects and clients about it. We’ll also share a few stories and analogies you can use to convince clients to stick to the plan, no matter the market conditions.

Working Mostly Online in a Post-pandemic World Is Especially Hard on New Advisors

/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments

This turbulent year is almost over and looking back, we see a few clear trends of topics that interested Financial Advisors the most on our blog during 2020. We’d like to share some of them with you now, in case you missed them the first time around.

Here are the first three topics most requested and read by our community of financial professionals in 2020.

Financial Advisors: What You Should Be Doing During the Holidays

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First things first: Use the Holidays to spend time with friends and family. That’s what you want for your clients; That’s what I want for you. Recharge your batteries, and remember why you’re working so hard: To provide a better life for the people you love.

Besides: The immediate return on investment (ROI) of generic cold calling techniques tends to decline after Thanksgiving. Not that it doesn’t pay off eventually. I’m a hard-core prospector, and I hope you are, too. Smart prospecting always pays off in the long run. But it’ll take a little longer to pay off at the end of the year, because you’ll get a lot of people saying, “call me again after the Holidays.”

So, if you’re going to take some time off to be with the family, the Holidays are as good a time to do it as any!

Then, here are a few more holiday marketing ideas if you’re spending time at the office after all.

5 Steps to Create and Sustain a Winner’s Mindset

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

I’ve already written about self-sabotaging behaviors, and how to avoid them. But today, I’d like to address the flip side of the coin: How you can actively develop and maintain a winner’s mindset.

I’ve known many hugely successful advisors in my time. And they all have certain traits in common:

– They take a proactive approach to time management;
– They don’t make excuses for themselves. Instead, they take on and eliminate or bypass obstacles;
– They surround themselves with positive influences and accountability partners;
– They constantly expose themselves to positive messages and ideas.
– They get help when they need it.

So here are five things you can do to help develop that winner’s mindset – and sustain it over time.

Being a Financial Advisor in Uncertain Times – What You Need to Know

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As I write this in mid-October, 2020, the stock market is sitting right at an all-time high. But there’s still an ongoing pandemic – and a presidential election looming. Either of these things can cause big short-term swings in stock prices.

That means things are pretty risky at the moment. In the short-term, anyway.

As financial advisors, we have to help our clients understand that risk, and help them manage their money so they can accomplish their financial goals, but also so they can sleep at night in the meantime.

Those of you who have been around since before 2008 know this process well. For those of you who are just getting started, here’s what you need to know.

6 Tech Essentials for Financial Advisors

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Unquestionably, the advisory industry has been experiencing a significant transformation. Through advances in technology and the democratization of investing, financial advice is quickly becoming commoditized, much to the detriment of Financial Advisors who continue to languish in traditional business models. Today, adopting the right technology is becoming table stakes for advisors who want to maintain the trust of their clients and stand out in an increasingly competitive marketplace.

4 Challenges Financial Advisors Face in the New Digital Environment – And Solutions

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There’s no doubt about it: The past six months have changed our business. It’s not just because those of us in the financial advisory business have changed. Our markets and our clients have changed, too. Their habits and behaviors are different.

Case in point: Those of us of a certain age remember closing lots of sales at the kitchen table – often late at night. But with the pandemic, few people are going to invite a salesperson into their home. That way of doing business was disappearing even before the pandemic. Now it may be gone forever.

Here are four communications challenges your peers are facing – and a few words on some possible solutions. We’ll have more in depth content on each of these topics in the future. But here are the basics to get you started.

5 Soft Skills You’d Need to Work Entirely Online as a Financial Advisor

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Times are changing, and suddenly we have all been thrust onto the online space, whether we were prepared or not. While the country is slowly opening back up despite the increasing number of covid19 cases, many businesses are choosing to stay remote, and people are still wary about office meetings. Financial Advisors are in a fortunate position to potentially increase their client base, as now you are not limited to the geographic area that you are physically located in.

Want to Succeed as a Financial Advisor? Do These Five Things.

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments

Helping people achieve their financial goals and provide security for their families is one of the greatest, most rewarding career paths on the planet. But it’s a very tough business to succeed in, especially in your first few years.

Here are the five things you must do, if you want to maximize your chances of surviving your first five years as an advisor.

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