ask for feedback Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

5 Common Mistakes Financial Advisors Make When Developing Their Storytelling Skills

/ by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Financial advisors are increasingly recognizing the power of storytelling in their practice. Storytelling helps them earn the trust of prospects, build stronger relationships with clients, simplify complex financial concepts, and inspire action. However, developing this skill comes with challenges, and many advisors make common mistakes that hinder their storytelling effectiveness. Here are five of the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

5 Ways You Should Be Asking for Feedback from Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Advisors who are in the dark about how their clients view their relationship or feel about the level of service they receive risk losing them to advisors who care about what they think. It’s not that you don’t care; it’s that your clients won’t know that you do if you don’t periodically ask them for their feedback.

Without direct and honest feedback from your clients, you won’t know what’s working and what’s not. You could be perpetuating a less-than-remarkable client experience that could drive clients away. At the very least, you won’t know the reasons why you’re not getting referrals from your clients.

Want to know how you differentiate yourself? Be the advisor who demonstrates a sense of partnership and commitment to the relationship by proactively asking for your client’s feedback. When you do, it’s an opportunity to learn how to improve and grow your practice and make your clients appreciate that you value their opinion.

Here are five ways you can gather valuable insights from your clients while deepening your engagement with them.

Clients not Giving You Referrals? Here’s Why That May Be

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

We devote a lot of space here on how to generate referrals, and with good reason. Generating quality referrals is critical to building a sustainable and profitable practice. Many of our articles address the ‘how,’ even addressing how to overcome the reluctance to ask for referrals. Based on my decades of experience, I’m confident that advisors who study those articles and incorporate the tips and practices into their process can generate more referrals.

How to Provide the Level of Service Clients Will Talk About

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

How to Provide the Level of Service Your Clients Will Talk About

By now, financial advisors with any ambition of success know that the only way to stand out in a vast sea of sameness is by providing an extraordinary customer experience—one that can turn your clients into stark raving fans. To do anything less relegates you to the ranks of every other advisor who prides themselves on providing “excellent service” to their clients. “Excellence” is now a minimum expectation of clients who have been raising the bar for advisors for the last decade.

So, what is an extraordinary client experience, and how can advisors consistently deliver it? The challenge for advisors is there is no standardization for delivering superior client service. One client is different from the next in how they view the level of service provided. The level of communication and engagement that suits one type of client may fall short for another type.

Not Getting Through to Your Clients? 5 Ways to Step Up Your Engagement

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

5 Ways to Step Up Your Client Engagement

Most financial advisors understand the importance of client communications. Those who don’t find out the hard way that poor or infrequent communications is the number one reason clients leave their financial advisor, according to a Financial Advisor Magazine survey. But what if you feel you have a deliberate client communications strategy, yet your clients seem to be unresponsive or not engaging with you at a level that gives you confidence they are fully on board?

That’s not a good feeling, and it should sound alarms if you hope to maximize client retention.

Self-Discipline Is Key

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

An Advisor once sent me this message:

“You mentioned in one of your webinars that talent by itself means nothing. The key is to develop that talent into a skill. In your opinion, what is the most underappreciated skill among great advisors?”

Listen to this audio episode or read the transcript below to learn what I think great Advisors’ most underrated asset or skill is.

How to Clearly Demonstrate Value so Your Clients Don’t Question Your Fees

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

As a financial advisor, you know you bring value to your advisory relationships, which, in your mind, justifies the fees you charge. Your challenge is that, from your clients’ perspective, value is difficult to define. It doesn’t make it any easier when you consider that a client’s assessment of value is subjective, which can vary from client to client. A study by Vanguard attempted to quantify an advisor’s value in terms of how the right advice—primarily keeping clients from abandoning their strategy—can potentially increase a client’s returns by as much as 3% annually. The problem is that difference in performance isn’t apparent in your clients’ statements.

So, how do you demonstrate value in a way that makes your clients not feel the need to question why they’re paying the fees you charge—that they are getting their money’s worth? It may be as easy as simply giving your clients what they want.

Creating Your Financial Advisor Marketing Plan

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

The biggest growth challenge for financial advisors is finding qualified leads. But before that can happen, advisors must be able to attract enough of the right people who might become qualified leads. That’s what marketing does for you. It doesn’t happen in a vacuum. It can’t happen by aimlessly wandering around. Most advisors have enough trouble managing their time between being an advisor, running their practice, and prospecting. What’s needed is a marketing plan.

How to Create a Value Proposition

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

There are thousands of pizza vendors in the United States. But only one of them is known for, “Fresh, hot pizza in 30 minutes or less, guaranteed.”

There are thousands of clothing retailers in the United States. But if I say the words, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it,” I guarantee you’ll know exactly whom I’m referring to. You can probably see his face.

If you don’t already know what your value proposition is, you probably don’t have one.

Your value proposition establishes two things: The value that you bring to the relationship and why you’re the one they should engage to bring it.

A great value proposition has six characteristics:

It defines who you work with;
It focuses the client experience – not your qualifications.
It addresses specific problems you can solve for the client.
It’s unique to you in your market. None of your competitors can quite say the same thing.
It connects with the client on an emotional level.
It helps you justify your fees so you’re competing on something other than price.

Here’s how to create your value proposition so it has these six characteristics.

How to Turn New Clients into Loyal Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

You have just opened a new account and you are excited to start working with this new client. Of course, you are more than qualified to provide them with the services they need, but how are you going to ensure that your relationship with them will flourish over time?

Here are few good ways to create a loyal bond between you and your client.

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