active listening Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Common Lead Generation Mistakes Financial Advisors Make (And How to Avoid Them)

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Common Mistakes Financial Advisors Make in Lead Generation (And How to Avoid Them)

Despite their best efforts, many financial advisors struggle to generate a consistent flow of quality leads. In many cases, the problem isn’t due to a lack of effort. Rather, it’s due to financial advisors unwittingly sabotaging their lead generation efforts. The biggest mistakes aren’t the obvious ones, like neglecting an online presence or failing to follow up. It’s the more subtle—even insidious—behaviors and approaches that can quietly push potential prospects away.

The key to unlocking more leads isn’t always about doing more; sometimes, it’s about doing things differently. This post explores counterintuitive lead generation mistakes that many advisors make—and, more importantly, how to fix them.

Use Emotional Connections to Open the Door to Long-Term Care Discussions with Your Clients

/ by Larry Nisenson / Long-term Care / 0 comments

Use Emotional Connections to Start Long-Term Care Discussions with Clients

Opening a conversation with a client about a plan for long-term care can be tough. Insurance agents often ask us:

“Where do I begin?”
“How do I bring up such a sensitive topic?”
“How do I avoid common objections and misconceptions?”

Long-term care planning conversations seem to be laced with land mines, possibly threatening your relationship with your client. But once you master our tried-and-true way to start these conversations, the rest flows easily.

Client Values: How Financial Advisors Can Discover and Use Them to Strengthen Trust and Loyalty

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

The first law of financial advice is that clients don’t make financial decisions based on the financial advisor’s reasons; they make them based on their reasons, which are almost invariably based on the client’s core values. While expertise and financial acumen are essential for dispensing advice, advisors must understand that it is their clients’ core values that truly matter to them and are the primary drivers of their decision-making.

Advisors who understand and embrace the importance of aligning their advice with their client’s values can better differentiate themselves and build stronger, more meaningful relationships. This blog post will explore why client values matter, how to identify them, and how integrating them into your practice can foster unshakeable trust, cultivate unwavering loyalty, and ultimately create a more fulfilling and successful advisory experience.

Emotional Intelligence in the Workplace: Enhancing Collaboration Among Financial Advisory Teams

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

As we’ve posted before, Emotional Intelligence (EI), the ability to understand and manage one’s emotions while being sensitive to the emotions of others, is a critical factor in a financial advisor’s success. Advisors with strong EI are more adept at navigating sensitive conversations, helping clients overcome anxieties, and recognizing underlying fears or hopes that are explicitly communicated.

With sharper emotional acuity, they are able to build stronger and more enduring trust-based relationships.

For those same reasons, emotional intelligence in the workplace is also a critical factor for success. Studies show that teams with high EI outperform those with low EI by up to 20%. While financial advisors focus on building emotional intelligence for client relationships, their role in fostering effective team collaboration is just as vital.

Strong EI within advisory teams leads to improved communication, trust, and resilience—key elements for navigating high-stakes decisions and complex financial strategies. This post explores how financial advisory teams can harness emotional intelligence to enhance collaboration, improve team dynamics, and drive business success.

4 Scenarios Where Active Listening Transforms Financial Advisor-Client Relationships

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Some advisors are natural communicators with inherent skills for demonstrating empathy, telling relatable stories, displaying a natural curiosity by asking open-ended questions, and translating complex ideas into terms clients can understand. Many advisors are not and must prioritize skill development if they are to have a chance at success.

Active listening is the most critical soft skill that must be developed and exercised because it’s where highly effective communication starts. If you don’t master your active listening skills, your communication efforts will likely miss their target. Without them, you’ll have trouble fully engaging your clients, providing insights that resonate with them, and fostering trust.

This post explores four specific scenarios where active listening proves invaluable, highlighting its transformative potential for advisor-client relationships. These examples demonstrate how active listening leads to better client understanding, stronger trust, and actionable insights that benefit both parties.

The Power of Open-Ended Questions for Financial Advisors

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Effective communication is the cornerstone of enduring and trusting relationships. For financial advisors, it’s the key to meaningful client engagement that fosters deeper discussions and stronger connections. At the core of meaningful engagement is asking the right questions.

Open-ended questions, in particular, can transform a conversation, moving it beyond stunted yes or no answers to delve more deeply into what matters to a client—to understand the “why” behind their thinking. Unlike closed-ended questions, which tend to limit responses, open-ended questions encourage an open dialogue full of insights advisors can use to tailor their advice in a way that resonates with the client.

Mastering the art of crafting and asking open-ended questions is critical to pinpointing client needs, concerns, and priorities while building trust and driving more successful outcomes for your clients.

Building Rapport with Clients: Unique Strategies for Financial Advisors

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Of all the truisms associated with our industry, none is more valid than, “People do business with people they like and trust.” That’s why we devote a lot of space here to the importance of building rapport with clients.

We often discuss the need to master communication and soft skills, such as active listening, asking open-ended questions, mirroring body language and tone, telling stories, and showcasing empathy. That will never change as it forms the critical foundation for building rapport and trust.

We also discuss best practices, such as regular check-ins or sending holiday greetings to build client relationships. While these strategies work, they can sometimes feel impersonal or predictable. To truly stand out, it’s crucial to employ creative, lesser-known methods that resonate with prospects and clients on a deeper level.

Here are five innovative approaches to help you build meaningful relationships, earn trust, and foster long-term engagement.

The Art of Active Listening in Financial Advising: Building Trust and Uncovering Client Goals Beyond the Numbers

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

We’ve devoted a lot of space here to discussing the concept of “active listening.” Why? Because it’s essential for connecting with clients on a more meaningful level. Beyond merely listening, active listening is an immersive, empathetic approach that enables you to pick up unspoken cues, explore clients’ deeper motivation, and get to the crucial “why.” Active listening is critical to moving clients to take action.

Advisors who master active listening are able to transform the advisor-client relationship to understand and anticipate their client’s needs beyond the surface of financial data and gain insight into what truly matters to clients.

How to Handle Unexpected Client Questions

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

As a financial advisor, it’s essential that your clients ask questions. It means they want to engage with you, and they trust your expertise. Every question a client asks is an opportunity to educate them, which is a good thing. When your clients are comfortable enough with you to ask questions, it’s a sign of a healthy advisory relationship.

But what if a client blindsides you with an unexpected question, one you didn’t see coming? The relationship could turn on how you handle the question. If you hesitate, appear uncomfortable, or try to avoid the question, you could find yourself outside the client’s circle of trust, at least for the moment.

However, if you’re prepared to manage these impromptu and uneasy moments with confidence and professionalism, you will reinforce the trust you’ve already built.

Future-Proofing Your Financial Advisory Career: The Power of Soft Skills in an AI World

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Financial advisors are bracing for the “next big thing” as artificial intelligence (AI) is playing an increasingly prominent role. The rise of AI-powered tools and robo-advisors is automating many of the routine, data-driven aspects of financial planning, creating more efficient and accurate solutions.

Robo-advisors, for example, offer algorithm-based portfolio management services that can reduce the need for human intervention in certain advisory functions. AI tools can sift through massive datasets, analyze market trends, and generate investment strategies, all at a fraction of the cost and time it would take a human advisor.

However, as AI takes over the technical aspects of financial advising, the human touch remains irreplaceable.

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