/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
There’s never been a better time to be in the financial advisory business. And if you’re new to the industry, the opportunity is limitless—if you’re adequately prepared. But if you aren’t, the journey can be a long, slow, uphill slog with a minimal chance of success.
Too harsh? Not at all. It’s a fair warning to anyone who gets into this business with little or no understanding of what it is about and what it takes to succeed.
Historically, the advisory business has attracted young people enamored by numbers, analysis, and their application in the investment world. And most are motivated by the desire to help people achieve financial security. Here’s the deal, though—you can’t help people if they don’t trust you. You can’t build a practice if you can’t convince people to follow your advice. You can’t stay in business if you don’t prospect, and prospects won’t gravitate toward you if you don’t stand out.
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5 Essential Things New Financial Advisors Must Know to Be Successful
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
There’s never been a better time to be in the financial advisory business. And if you’re new to the industry, the opportunity is limitless—if you’re adequately prepared. But if you aren’t, the journey can be a long, slow, uphill slog with a minimal chance of success.
Too harsh? Not at all. It’s a fair warning to anyone who gets into this business with little or no understanding of what it is about and what it takes to succeed.
Historically, the advisory business has attracted young people enamored by numbers, analysis, and their application in the investment world. And most are motivated by the desire to help people achieve financial security. Here’s the deal, though—you can’t help people if they don’t trust you. You can’t build a practice if you can’t convince people to follow your advice. You can’t stay in business if you don’t prospect, and prospects won’t gravitate toward you if you don’t stand out.
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How to Increase Your Life Insurance Sales through Preparation
/ by Russell Collins / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
I am of the opinion that one of the major stumbling blocks for new (and, surprisingly, even more experienced) Financial Advisers in conducting successful initial meetings with prospective clients (as well as review meetings with existing clients) is the lack of proper preparation.
In recent years Dealer Groups have introduced a one-size-fits-all templated fact finder document to be used by their advisers in both initial and ongoing discussions with prospective or existing clients. In terms of compliance requirements, the dealer group needed to protect itself from possible future litigation down the road and therefore many participated in designing the questions that their advisers could ask.
From my experience, I believed that there were two problems with this approach.
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5 Traits You Need to Have If You’re to Build Strong Relationships with Clients
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Your personal likeability and trustworthiness are more important than your professional knowledge when it comes to winning and building enduring client relationships. Professional credentials, while important, are only a backstop to the forging of strong personal connections. Focus on developing your soft skills.
Here are five traits you need if you want to create long-lasting relationships with clients and become more referable.
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The Greatest Challenge Any Client (and Therefore You) Will Ever Face
/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
Sticking with the plan despite tough market conditions is the greatest challenge both you and your clients will face. That sudden drop in cabin pressure when the markets fall is the acid test of your relationship building skills. If you aren’t prepared ahead of time, neither will your clients be.
Whether your clients will stay the distance depends on you.
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Be Prepared – Don’t Ever Run and Hide
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
What do you do when the market takes a turn for the worst? Do you wait for the storm to pass and simply do nothing – or do you reach out to clients and reassure them things will get better? According to recent research carried out by Financial Advisor Magazine failure to communicate with clients on a timely basis is the number one reason advisors lose clients. The upshot is you need to be prepared to talk to clients both in the good times and the bad times.
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