asking the right questions Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

How to Command and Maintain Control over Conversations with Prospects and Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

How often have you been in a meeting with a client or prospect and felt like you lost control of the conversation? After starting on one subject, the other person goes off on tangents or takes the conversation in a new direction. Clients who are upset may launch into a rant with no particular point or one that isn’t related to the work you do with them. Or they simply want to talk about something other than the subject matter you broached with them.

Whatever the reason, when a client or prospect conversation goes off the rails, it’s incumbent upon you to steer it back in the right direction. Otherwise, your value to that person diminishes as long as you’re not in control. Taking control doesn’t mean taking over the conversation and dominating the talking space. Instead, it means getting it back on track, on the path to where it can achieve a productive or desired outcome. That can’t happen if you’re doing all the talking.

The File Note: How to Increase Your Closing Rates to 9 out of 10 in Life Insurance Sales

/ by Russell Collins / Connelly Corner, Presentation Skills / 0 comments

At the conclusion of my previous guest post – “Making Every Initial Meeting with a Prospect Successful” – I mentioned that if I could point to one thing that increased my closing rate to 9 out of 10, it was the file note. This in effect acted as a pre-presentation vehicle and I believe it motivated people to really look forward to our next meeting and my eventual recommendations.

Here’s how to start using the file note to increase your life insurance sales.

How to Become Naturally Empathetic (and Build Deeper Connections with Clients)

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

At a time like we are now experiencing, when clients are feeling anxious and vulnerable about the future, financial advisors’ most potent tool is empathy. They need to know you understand how they’re feeling about their circumstances and their concerns about the world around them.

There may not even be a problem for you to solve other than to make your clients feel understood and validated for having those feelings. That’s where many financial advisors fall short because they view themselves strictly as problem solvers and not therapists. If your goal is to build enduring relationships with clients who have confidence in your advice, that needs to change.

5 Cold Calling Mistakes Financial Advisors Must Avoid to Improve Results

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

For many financial advisors, cold calling does not play a dominant part in their marketing plans. Many feel it can be replaced by other prospecting methods, such as email campaigns, social media networking, or trade shows. But would it surprise you to know that cold calling still generates better results than those other methods? When you ask advisors why they avoid cold calling, you often get responses like, “It’s not working for me,” or “It’s a waste of time,” or “no one wants to talk to me on the phone.”

No one ever said cold calling is easy. But if your efforts aren’t producing results, have you ever considered it’s not the method, but how you’re executing it that’s not working?

How to Fill Your Pipeline Despite the Coronavirus Pandemic

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Back in 1998, physician and author Spencer Johnson wrote a best-selling book called “Who Moved My Cheese?”

It’s the story of four mice who live in a maze and who have grown accustomed to cheese being deposited in the same spot every day… until one day it didn’t happen. The rest of the book explores their strategies for coping with change – both successful and unsuccessful.

The moral of the story is this: “Change happens.” It’s inevitable. Not everyone can roll with the punches, but you’ve got to adapt, improvise and overcome. You’ve got to move with the cheese.

Well, friends, the cheese just got moved!

Now, don’t get me wrong: The cheese hasn’t gone away. It’s still out there! People still want and need help managing their money. In fact, they want and need it now more than they have in years. But the way to get to the cheese is now radically different.

The First Client Meeting: Are You Making Any of These 10 Common Mistakes?

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

The First Client Meeting - 10 Common Mistakes

It’s all too easy to slip up in the first meeting and lose any opportunity to open the account – and this is especially true for new advisors.

In this post we’ll help you identify mistakes you could, without realizing it, be making. Take an honest appraisal – do you recognize yourself doing any of the following? If so, take action to fix these mistakes.

5 Questions Prospects May Ask You before Deciding to Hire You as Their Financial Advisor

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Just as there are many questions you need to ask a potential client, prospects will have plenty of things they’ll want to know before they consider doing business with you too. Here are five questions you’re likely to receive.

Getting Clients to Talk about Money

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

As financial advisors we’re comfortable talking about money, it’s what we’re trained to do. But for everyone else it’s a different story. Most people feel uncomfortable talking about money, so you need to consider how to introduce the topic in a relaxed way.

Don’t dive into the numbers at the initial meeting. Instead focus on building rapport with clients; then ask them what it is they want money for. The goals must come first – then the money. Once you understand your client’s vision of the future you can start doing the math on how to get there.

5 Reasons to Develop Effective Listening Skills

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

The fact is, most of us simply don’t listen enough. That could be because of the increasing number of distractions going on around us, or because we often find it easier to focus on non-verbal clues – such as body language – rather than on what people are actually saying. But if you want to get ahead as a financial advisor you need to develop effective listening skills.