October 24, 2013 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
To perform the many financial and arithmetical tasks required of an Advisor requires a high IQ. Therefore, most, if not all, successful Financial Advisors have a high IQ.
If we all have high IQ’s, if we are all well trained, if we all work hard, if we all chase the same business, and if a prospect must choose one among us, IQ can’t possibly be the sole, determining factor in a prospect’s mind.
Who, then, among all these smart Advisors, gets the new account?
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In this blog category you will find blog posts with actionable information and tips how to hone your presentation skills, including but not limited to overcoming objections, improving your presentation, handling initial appointments with prospects, and more.
Four Common Client Objections and How to Counter Them
September 11, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
There’s so much uncertainty surrounding investing that people postpone the decision. Clients and prospects can think of a multitude of reasons not to invest: Whether it’s tax time, retirement looks too far away or they want to buy a new car or kitchen.
However, when clients say they’ll ‘think it over’ it doesn’t mean they’ve found a good reason to delay investing; perhaps it means they don’t trust you enough yet, perhaps they don’t understand what you said or perhaps you simply haven’t convinced them to act. So how do you get them to do the right thing and start securing their financial futures?
Here are some common objections you’ll face – and how to answer them.
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How You Present Is as Important as the Information You Are Presenting
July 17, 2014 / 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
July 14, 2014 / 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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Every Advisor Needs to Bring Back the Story
February 13, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 3 comments
The ability to tell good stories is vital if you want people to like and trust you. Your clients like you and trust you. They didn’t buy a financial plan or a managed account. They bought you.
People can’t ‘buy’ you until they know you and the best way to get to know you is to hear your story. And they can’t hear your story until you tell it to them. The better you do that, the sooner you open the account. As Peter Guber says, you tell to win.
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The More Words You Use to Get Your Point Across, the Less People Listen
January 13, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
Have you noticed that the more a person talks, the less connected to the listener he or she seems to be? There is no give and take. People like that think the listener finds them as fascinating as they find themselves. They are not fascinating. They are boring.
In your role as a Financial Advisor, talking too much is the kiss of death.
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When Asking for a Commitment, Make Up Your Mind in Advance
January 9, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
Of all the presentations given by Financial Advisors to prospective clients on any given day, how many end up with no commitment being made? We’ll never know. Of all the presentations which end up with no commitment being made, how many end up that way because the Advisor didn’t ask for the commitment? We’ll never know that either. But we can take a pretty good guess and we can also guess why.
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Can Charisma Be Learned?
December 12, 2013 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
Charismatic Financial Advisors are great communicators. They connect on an emotional level. They get people to buy in, to believe. Just imagine that you alone can make someone act and feel a certain way. No other Advisor lights up a room the way you do. Just being near you makes people feel important. That’s charisma. You would be untouchable if you had tons of charisma. Can you learn how to acquire charisma?
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Where You End Up in Life Has Less to Do with Your IQ than You Might Think
October 24, 2013 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
To perform the many financial and arithmetical tasks required of an Advisor requires a high IQ. Therefore, most, if not all, successful Financial Advisors have a high IQ.
If we all have high IQ’s, if we are all well trained, if we all work hard, if we all chase the same business, and if a prospect must choose one among us, IQ can’t possibly be the sole, determining factor in a prospect’s mind.
Who, then, among all these smart Advisors, gets the new account?
Read more