/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
You can have all the technical and market skill in the world. But if people don’t trust you, you’re not going to open new accounts.
It’s just a fact of life in sales: If people don’t trust you, their defensive mechanisms are going to be up during the entire sales process. If you’re lucky, they’ll tell you. At least that way, you get to face the trust issue head on. That might give you a fighting chance.
But more often than not, you’ll be met with polite silence, and the dreaded “we’ll give you a call if we decide to do anything.”
If you hear that, chances are you whiffed on the trust issue.
After all, if you had their trust, they’d be looking for ways to talk themselves into doing business with you!
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How to Clearly Demonstrate Value so Your Clients Don’t Question Your Fees
/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
As a financial advisor, you know you bring value to your advisory relationships, which, in your mind, justifies the fees you charge. Your challenge is that, from your clients’ perspective, value is difficult to define. It doesn’t make it any easier when you consider that a client’s assessment of value is subjective, which can vary from client to client. A study by Vanguard attempted to quantify an advisor’s value in terms of how the right advice—primarily keeping clients from abandoning their strategy—can potentially increase a client’s returns by as much as 3% annually. The problem is that difference in performance isn’t apparent in your clients’ statements.
So, how do you demonstrate value in a way that makes your clients not feel the need to question why they’re paying the fees you charge—that they are getting their money’s worth? It may be as easy as simply giving your clients what they want.
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Financial Advisor Webinar Marketing: 7 Reasons Why You Should Do It
/ by Diana Marinova / Marketing Yourself / 6 comments
For several decades, financial advisors successfully used seminars to introduce themselves to potential clients. Seminar marketing is still the most effective way to present yourself as an authority and knowledgeable resource—two traits investors covet in a trusted advisor. However, thanks to Covid19, live seminar events may be a thing of the past, at least until […]
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Using Client Personas to Attract Your Ideal Client
/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Most financial advisors are familiar with the concept of creating an “ideal client profile” used to identify the type of prospects they want to target. However, that may not go far enough to attract and directly engage with digitally savvy high net-worth investors in the digital age. Emerging-affluent millennials, in particular, are cautious about who they engage with if they can’t see what’s in it for them.
In a digitally wired world, financial advisors need to be able to identify with their target market and communicate in a way they can identify with you. That requires taking the ideal client profile to the next level by digging deeper into who they are, what they do, how they think and communicate, and why they might want to engage with someone like you.
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What Not to Do in Building Lasting Client Relationships
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
For financial advisors, building lasting client relationships is as essential as it is challenging. There’s really no more important aspect of an advisor’s practice to ensure sustainable growth. While many advisors try to focus on facets in their practice to bring more value to the relationship, they tend to gloss over what not to do, which can have an even more significant impact on their relationships – and not in a good way.
Here are four key “what not to do’s” all advisors need to proactively convert into a priority to-do list.
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Educate Clients about Market Volatility so They Can Confidently Stick to the Plan
/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
Happy New Year from all of us at Don Connelly & Associates! Hopefully everyone will enjoy good health during the new year, achieving great success both personally and professionally.
As promised, this week we’re posting the second part of the recap blog post, covering two more popular topics our community of Advisors was most interested in during 2020 – market volatility and how to communicate with prospects and clients about it. We’ll also share a few stories and analogies you can use to convince clients to stick to the plan, no matter the market conditions.
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Six Ways Financial Advisors Can Establish Trust in Today’s Virtual World
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
You can have all the technical and market skill in the world. But if people don’t trust you, you’re not going to open new accounts.
It’s just a fact of life in sales: If people don’t trust you, their defensive mechanisms are going to be up during the entire sales process. If you’re lucky, they’ll tell you. At least that way, you get to face the trust issue head on. That might give you a fighting chance.
But more often than not, you’ll be met with polite silence, and the dreaded “we’ll give you a call if we decide to do anything.”
If you hear that, chances are you whiffed on the trust issue.
After all, if you had their trust, they’d be looking for ways to talk themselves into doing business with you!
Read more
Convincing Clients of the Futility of Market Timing
/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
We will probably never admit it, but most of us are lousy timers, and, of course, none of us can predict the future. How often have you tried to shift your way through stop and go freeway traffic to end up in the slowest lane again? For investors who try to time the market, the actual costs of underperformance and lost opportunity are invariably greater than the potential benefit.
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How to Assure Clients That Volatility Is Part of the Strategy
/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
Unquestionably, the stock market has experienced extreme volatility in the last couple of years, elevating the anxiety levels of investors who grew complacent throughout a historic 11-year bull market. Just as they did throughout the wild gyrations of the 2008-2011 market, investors have grown intolerant of the recent, wild stock market gyrations, resulting in many choosing to make wholesale changes to their portfolio, switch financial advisors, or flee the market entirely.
But, what investors may not understand is that switching between asset classes to avoid volatility can actually have the opposite effect. It is incumbent upon financial advisors to help their clients understand that, with a sound investment strategy and a long-term perspective, volatility can actually be good for a stock portfolio because it has always been the primary force that drives market gains over time.
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How to Turn New Clients into Loyal Clients
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
You have just opened a new account and you are excited to start working with this new client. Of course, you are more than qualified to provide them with the services they need, but how are you going to ensure that your relationship with them will flourish over time?
Here are few good ways to create a loyal bond between you and your client.
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5 Reasons Why You Should Take The Time to Educate Your Clients
/ 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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