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How to Be a Financial Advisor

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Working as a financial advisor is one of the highest ranked business careers according to a recent U.S. News & World report, advisors rating it highly for job satisfaction and prospects. As a financial advisor you can make a real difference to your clients’ lives, making this a rewarding profession to aim for.But if you want to be a financial advisor, you need to have two quite distinct skill sets.

Firstly, you’ll need to pass the relevant industry exams. Financial acumen is a must.

Secondly, and indeed more importantly, you should have a real desire to help people and have an ability to understand their goals and concerns.

5 Creative Ways to Follow-up with a Prospect

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

In an ideal world every prospect would sign up with you at the first meeting, immediately recognizing they are in need of what you are offering. In the real world however, prospects may not yet realize your value or understand that they can trust you.

Don’t leave things to chance on the basis they may get back to you. Always follow up. Make sure to call prospects and speak to them directly. You don’t have to feel that you’re trying to push products onto people who are not in the market for your services. Remember, they have indicated that they’re actively looking for a financial advisor.

People tend to get distracted easily however, so here are some additional ways to remind prospects of your worth.

Becoming a Financial Advisor Is Not All About Getting Licensed

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Naturally, you need to be sufficiently educated and qualified if you are to do the job of a financial advisor. But that’s not nearly enough. Financial advisors require a unique skill set that consists of not only technical knowledge and business skills but also excellent interpersonal ‘soft’ skills.

Many advisors enter the industry mistakenly believing the former skills are more important than the latter. That’s why so many advisors leave the trade in their first year – because they weren’t able to cut through the noise and attract enough clients.

4 Tasks You Can Delegate to Grow Your Business

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

To grow your business, you need to focus on what’s important and this generally means prospecting and meeting with clients. There will be a host of routine tasks that don’t require your continual, personal, input. Hopefully, you work with an assistant.

Identify your non-revenue generating activities – as well as activities that lie outside your core competencies – and delegate them. In this post we’ll look at 4 tasks you can and should be outsourcing – leaving you free to take on key areas of your business.

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.

11 Best Practices for Gathering Referrals

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

People trust recommendations from people they know, and the lifetime value of a new referral customer is higher than of a client acquired in another way. Despite this, advisors shy away from asking for referrals – citing that to be one of their most awkward tasks.

The good news is that, if asked at the right time, most clients would be happy to advocate on your behalf. Less than a third of advisors ever ask though. Don’t act like the majority – because referrals are at the core of growing your business.

In this post we’ll look at some best practices for gathering referrals.

Self-sabotage – 10 Behaviors to Avoid

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Self-sabotaging behaviors can create problems, interfere with goals and ultimately put your career at risk. Without even realizing it you could be a victim of self-sabotage. Be honest and identify the traits that are holding you back so you can make the positive changes required to move forward.

Here are ten ways you could be self-sabotaging – along with some recommendations on how to do things better.

Being Accountable May Be The Key to Your Success

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Being accountable will benefit not only your business, but every aspect of your life. Being accountable to yourself will help you focus your attention on your performance, encouraging you to set and achieve personal goals. Being accountable to your clients will help you keep them on track and invested.

Here’s how being accountable will help you succeed as a Financial Advisor.

4 More Things That Could Get You Stuck in a Rut

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In a previous post we outlined four things that could get you stuck in a rut. Here are four more – along with some recommendations on how to get your business moving forward again.

1. Thinking you don’t need help

If you think you don’t need help in building your business, think again. Over time you will eventually work out how to do things on your own – but why waste time? With help you’ll get there far quicker.

As the ancient Chinese proverb says – if you want to know the road ahead, ask those coming back.

Four Ways to Ensure You Deliver Outstanding Client Service

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

If you fail to provide exemplary client service, you won’t succeed in this business. While good product knowledge and financial judgement are requisite skills, you must go that extra mile to attend to your clients.

Here are some ways to make sure your client service is outstanding.

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