September 21, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 2 comments
For years, the financial industry has lagged in its adaption of digital tools to market to, communicate with, and manage the relationships of clients. While Financial Advisors have gradually, sometimes begrudgingly, come to embrace new technologies, the covid19 pandemic this year has accelerated their digital transformation.
For growth-focused advisors, the crisis has been a catalyst for creating more digitally-oriented business development strategies. For example, according to Fidelity, the use of video conferencing for client interactions has doubled since the pandemic hit. In a survey by Ernst & Young, 55% of advisors say they plan to use virtual meetings more in the future.
As with most trends shaping the financial services industry, clients are leading the change. With 64% of high-net-worth clients and 75% of mass-affluent clients counting on their advisor relationship to be digital, it’s not just millennial clients who prefer a virtual relationship. For the most part, advisors are adjusting well to the change, finding it more productive and more effective at building their business. It also opens up more opportunities to find and work with clients who live in other parts of the country.
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5 Reasons Advisors Need a Well-Conceived, Systematic Communications Strategy
January 10, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Financial advisors are reaching a pivotal moment that will shape their future. An increasingly competitive landscape, fee compression, the commoditization of advice, and increasing client expectations make client satisfaction, retention, and referrals more essential than ever. As advisors struggle to differentiate themselves in a sea of sameness, I always reach back to the time-tested solution: good communication.
If you have been following my blog for a while, you’re familiar with my core belief that communication is vital to developing solid and enduring relationships. You simply can’t form trusted relationships without good communication.
Most clients don’t feel engaged with their Advisor
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Advisors Must be Able to Lead Clients Through Emotional Struggles
August 23, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Last year during the COVID market crash was a golden opportunity for financial advisors to demonstrate their true worth to anxious clients as a coach and a counselor. Your greatest value to your clients is being there for them during times of financial stress and anxiety. Good financial advisors are prepared to handle the fallout of a severe market decline, holding their clients’ hands, and coaching them through their anxieties.
However, few advisors are as prepared when it comes to facing their clients’ personal emotional issues that can cause even greater stress and anxiety, leading to poor financial decision-making. Life events, such as the death of a spouse or family member, divorce or family rifts, a medical crisis, a job loss, or other major life changes are common. Yet many advisors aren’t prepared to help their clients face the issue, or worse, are unable to recognize when a client is struggling emotionally.
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First Meeting Conversations You Need to Have with Prospective Clients
May 10, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
Let’s be honest. Many financial advisors view the first client meeting frettingly as an obstacle to overcome on their way to, hopefully, establishing a new client relationship. After all, the way you start a first client meeting sets the tone for how your relationship will develop—if it develops at all. Prospective clients don’t make it any easier, often approaching their first advisor meeting with an air of skepticism or apprehension. This creates an unnatural tension that crowds out trust-building. That tension must be broken at the outset, and the ball is in the advisor’s court.
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Three Challenges Advisors Face in the Post-Pandemic World
March 22, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
At the height of the COVID crisis, financial advisors were confronted with unthinkable challenges. All things considered, the industry has been resilient in the face of unprecedented headwinds. But, as the other side of this crisis begins to come into view, the industry faces a significant shift that will shape the way advisors operate long after the pandemic wanes. Advisors who get in front of that shift and adapt to the new paradigms quickly will not just survive; they will thrive.
If you could capture clients’ general mood today in one word, “anxiety” would probably say it best. In their hearts, minds, and souls, it’s a very different world from just a year ago and, as much as we all hope for a return to normal, there may be no going back for clients. Their perceptions and priorities have forever changed, much like they did during the 2008 financial meltdown. Only this time, it’s different because it involves both financial and health risks.
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5 Signs a Prospective Client Will Avoid Digital Engagement
September 21, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 2 comments
For years, the financial industry has lagged in its adaption of digital tools to market to, communicate with, and manage the relationships of clients. While Financial Advisors have gradually, sometimes begrudgingly, come to embrace new technologies, the covid19 pandemic this year has accelerated their digital transformation.
For growth-focused advisors, the crisis has been a catalyst for creating more digitally-oriented business development strategies. For example, according to Fidelity, the use of video conferencing for client interactions has doubled since the pandemic hit. In a survey by Ernst & Young, 55% of advisors say they plan to use virtual meetings more in the future.
As with most trends shaping the financial services industry, clients are leading the change. With 64% of high-net-worth clients and 75% of mass-affluent clients counting on their advisor relationship to be digital, it’s not just millennial clients who prefer a virtual relationship. For the most part, advisors are adjusting well to the change, finding it more productive and more effective at building their business. It also opens up more opportunities to find and work with clients who live in other parts of the country.
Read more
5 Reasons Why You Should Take The Time to Educate Your Clients
September 23, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Don’t shy away from being a coach and educator to your clients. Adding in this extra element can help set you apart from the competition and deepen your relationship with them.
If you aren’t already educating your clients, here are five reasons why you should start doing it right away.
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5 Creative Ways to Follow-up with a Prospect
May 27, 2019 / 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.
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Poor Communication Is The #1 Reason Advisors Get Fired
July 2, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
The chief reason clients fire their advisors is not, as you may have thought, poor performance – it’s poor communication. A survey by Financial Advisor Magazine revealed that 72% of clients said they fired their advisors due to their advisor’s failure to communicate on a timely basis.
The best advisors put their communication strategy at the very heart of their business – and so should you. Not only should you build in time to communicate with clients – but take time to develop your soft skills so that you communicate effectively.
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Put The Client Before Yourself
November 14, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
As you know I’m always on a lookout for a good story. I read a great story not long ago, in Motivational Manager, told by Dana McCary who is a motivational speaker.
He said that when he was growing up, he’d been a waiter at Opryland in Nashville. He learned a very important business lesson.
Listen to the story or read the transcript below.
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