brilliant at the basics Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

How Financial Advisors Can Adapt Their Approach for Different Client Personality Types

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

If there’s one thing that financial advisors must keep top of mind, it’s that no two clients walk into your office with the same mindset. Some want quick answers, others demand every detail, and each expects you to speak their language. As I often tell advisors, “You don’t sell to clients; you build relationships with them,” and relationships are built upon trust.

To build trust and tailor your advice in a way that resonates, you must learn how to tailor your communication style to connect with different client personality types. By adapting your approach, you’ll turn meetings into partnerships and boost your conversion rates.

How Advisors Can Navigate Industry Barriers and Build Trust Faster by Mastering the Basics

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Financial advisors are increasingly operating in an industry riddled with structural barriers—systemic challenges beyond their direct control. These include widespread public distrust of fee transparency complexity and jargon, commoditized products, confusing regulations, technology that depersonalizes relationships, and a crowded market of advisors vying for attention.

While these hurdles are daunting, advisors can overcome them by returning to the fundamentals: clear communication, genuine listening, and authentic relationship-building. By mastering these basics, advisors can differentiate themselves, rebuild trust, and open more accounts in an industry that often feels stacked against them.

The LISTEN Model: A Step-by-Step Framework for Active Listening as a Financial Advisor

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Picture this: You’re in a meeting with a new client, nodding along as they talk about their financial goals. You’re hearing the words, but are you really listening? Most financial advisors think they’re good listeners, but few truly master the art of active listening. Poor listening leads to missed cues, frustrated clients, and eroded trust—costly mistakes in a relationship-driven business.

The good news? You can change that with the LISTEN Model, a simple, memorable framework designed to help you tune into your clients deeply, build stronger connections, and deliver advice that resonates.

The Unique Challenges of Financial Conversations

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Financial conversations aren’t just meetings; they’re high-stakes, emotional tightropes. Clients walk in with more than portfolios; they carry dreams, fears, regrets, and hopes. For advisors, navigating these discussions demands more than market knowledge or slick charts. It requires finesse to handle the unspoken, emotional, and downright messy. Here’s a look at why these conversations are uniquely challenging and how advisors can turn potential pitfalls into opportunities to build trust.

How Long Does It Take to Become a Financial Advisor?

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Successful financial advisors will tell you they have one of the most remarkable careers available, offering a unique blend of purpose, flexibility, and earning potential. They thrive on making a significant, tangible impact on people’s lives while enjoying the opportunity to build their own practice. Very few careers offer that kind of fulfillment.

Understanding the timeline is key to setting realistic expectations for people aspiring to become financial advisors. Whether you’re a career changer or a recent college graduate, the path to becoming a financial advisor varies depending on your background, education, and, most importantly, your commitment to the process.

Generally, the journey of becoming a Financial Advisor involves earning a degree, obtaining licenses, gaining experience, and committing to continuous learning. While it typically takes 3 to 5 years to become fully established, the process is both rewarding and dynamic, offering opportunities for growth at every stage. This article outlines the steps to help you navigate the path with confidence.

Measuring Success: How to Track and Optimize Your Lead Generation Strategy

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

If you’re a financial advisor with ambitions for sustainable success, you know the quest for new clients must be constant but what about optimizing your lead generation?

You pour time and resources into various lead generation activities, from networking events to online marketing. But how do you truly know if your efforts are paying off? Are you simply generating a high volume of names, or are you attracting the right individuals likely to become valued clients? Many advisors make the mistake of focusing solely on the number of leads, leaving them in the dark about what’s truly working and where their valuable time and money are being spent.

In this fifth article in our lead generation series, we guide you beyond the simple lead count, outlining crucial key performance indicators (KPIs), practical methods for analyzing your performance, and actionable strategies to optimize your lead generation for better, more profitable results.

The Competitive Advantage for Financial Advisors of Proactive Long-Term Care Planning

/ by Don Connelly / Long-term Care / 0 comments

When advisors fail to provide emotional security to clients, to show they care about the client’s whole story, not just the spreadsheets, they leave clients feeling exposed and alone. And that’s exactly where the opportunity lies for the advisor who does more.

Long-term care (LTC) is one such opportunity. Nothing will destroy a retirement plan faster than a long-term care event. Seven out of ten people in America will have a long-term care event and most Advisors are not discussing it.

Most Financial Advisors wait for clients to bring up long-term care — if they bring it up at all. But the best Advisors know that waiting is a missed opportunity.

They know that by taking the initiative, they’re not just offering a service — they’re sending a clear signal: I’m here to protect you, your family, and your future, even when the conversation gets uncomfortable.

It’s this kind of foresight that sets elite Advisors apart in a crowded field. Proactive long-term care planning isn’t about selling a product. It’s about showing leadership. And in doing so, you build deeper trust, strengthen relationships, and differentiate yourself in the market.

It’s time for you to build a sustainable competitive advantage, one that sets you apart in a crowded field; one that cannot be easily copied or replaced; one that deepens client loyalty, increases referrals, and ultimately grows your practice in ways that are far more sustainable than relying solely on product performance.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Lead Generation for Financial Advisors

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Of all the functions financial advisors must perform, generating leads consistently is one of the most critical and challenging. While expertise and service delivery are paramount, business growth stalls, and revenue becomes unpredictable without a steady stream of potential clients. Lead generation for Financial Advisors isn’t just about finding clients; it’s about implementing a structured, repeatable process that brings in the right prospects over time.

This guide will walk you through a step-by-step lead generation approach that blends traditional and digital strategies. Whether you are new to the industry or looking to refine your process, these steps will help you build a sustainable client acquisition system.

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.

Long-Term Care: Help Your Clients Prepare While There’s Still Time

/ by Don Connelly / Long-term Care / 0 comments

Over the course of my career coaching and mentoring Financial Advisors, I’ve prided myself on staying product neutral. I’ve always believed that my value lies in helping Advisors build trust, sharpen their communication skills, and become more persuasive and empathetic—not in recommending specific financial products. I’ve never picked sides. Never told you what to sell. That changes today.

For the first time ever, I am recommending a product: the Bridge® annuity by EquiTrust. And I want to explain why I’m doing this—and why it matters so deeply to me.

This isn’t about commissions. It’s not about product placement. It’s not about jumping on a bandwagon.

It’s about preparation—specifically, preparation for one of the biggest risks to retirement that no one wants to talk about: the need for long-term care.

1 2 3 … 14