/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
At a time like we are now experiencing, when clients are feeling anxious and vulnerable about the future, financial advisors’ most potent tool is empathy. They need to know you understand how they’re feeling about their circumstances and their concerns about the world around them.
There may not even be a problem for you to solve other than to make your clients feel understood and validated for having those feelings. That’s where many financial advisors fall short because they view themselves strictly as problem solvers and not therapists. If your goal is to build enduring relationships with clients who have confidence in your advice, that needs to change.
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How to Become Naturally Empathetic (and Build Deeper Connections with Clients)
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
At a time like we are now experiencing, when clients are feeling anxious and vulnerable about the future, financial advisors’ most potent tool is empathy. They need to know you understand how they’re feeling about their circumstances and their concerns about the world around them.
There may not even be a problem for you to solve other than to make your clients feel understood and validated for having those feelings. That’s where many financial advisors fall short because they view themselves strictly as problem solvers and not therapists. If your goal is to build enduring relationships with clients who have confidence in your advice, that needs to change.
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Becoming a Financial Advisor Is Not All About Getting Licensed
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
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.
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5 Stories to Develop Strong Relationships with Clients Based on Trust and Likeability
/ by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments
The best way to initiate a strong relationship with clients is to tell them stories. People don’t need to have a ton of data thrown at them in the first meeting. They will be more interested in whether they like and trust you. Forget the numbers and pie charts, and use your personal stories and experiences to help you establish trust and likeability in the minds of your prospects. Here are five such stories to get you started.
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5 Reasons to Develop Effective Listening Skills
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments
The fact is, most of us simply don’t listen enough. That could be because of the increasing number of distractions going on around us, or because we often find it easier to focus on non-verbal clues – such as body language – rather than on what people are actually saying. But if you want to get ahead as a financial advisor you need to develop effective listening skills.
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Empathize, Don’t Sympathize
/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
There is never a convenient time to invest. The market is too high, the market is too low, we need a new kitchen first and a million other reasons are readily available. The toughest investment decision every prospective investor faces is the decision to do it. This is where you must play bad cop.
A big part of your job is getting people to do what they don’t always want to do.
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