January 9, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Many financial advisors don’t like to be thought of as salespeople. In fact, they despise it. In part because they work hard at earning the distinction of being an “advisor.” Also, the public has been conditioned to avoid salespeople masquerading as financial advisors. But in reality, anyone in the business of building a clientele and offering services has to be able to sell.
To convert prospects into clients, advisors must sell themselves and then their solution. To make money, they must get their prospects and clients to act on their solution, which requires sales skills. Most advisors understand that, but their greatest fear is coming across as a salesperson or sounding too “salesy.”
If that is your fear, let me put your mind at ease. First, it’s important to understand what it means to be “salesy.” That term is generally applied to a high-pressure approach that makes prospects uncomfortable. People don’t want to deal with salespeople who are pushy and don’t listen to them.
That’s not you.
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How to Regain the Trust of a Client After a Disagreement
September 18, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Can you think of any relationship that has never experienced conflict—where two people with the best of intentions fail to see eye to eye on an issue? Such is the nature of relationships, even where there is a track record of trust. You expect it in a marriage and even among colleagues—so why not between a financial advisor and their client?
It happens more than you might think. Financial advisors are wired to be analytical, while clients are often driven by emotion, which sets the stage for many “reality vs. perception” standoffs.
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Why Mediation Skills Matter for Financial Advisor Success
September 4, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
When most people think of mediation and negotiation, it typically refers to lawyers or third parties who facilitate dialogue between two or more parties to help them reach an agreement. In practice, financial advisors sometimes find themselves in the same position, having to resolve conflicts between a client’s family members or within their advisory team, where it’s essential to find win-win solutions.
Disagreements about money are common among married couples. Money conflicts are often rooted more deeply in people’s attitudes and beliefs about money, or, in some cases, money is not even the primary issue. However, in almost all cases, it involves two or more people who don’t know how to engage in productive financial conversations.
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Advisors Who Don’t Want to Sound “Salesy” Need to Master Soft Skills
January 9, 2023 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Many financial advisors don’t like to be thought of as salespeople. In fact, they despise it. In part because they work hard at earning the distinction of being an “advisor.” Also, the public has been conditioned to avoid salespeople masquerading as financial advisors. But in reality, anyone in the business of building a clientele and offering services has to be able to sell.
To convert prospects into clients, advisors must sell themselves and then their solution. To make money, they must get their prospects and clients to act on their solution, which requires sales skills. Most advisors understand that, but their greatest fear is coming across as a salesperson or sounding too “salesy.”
If that is your fear, let me put your mind at ease. First, it’s important to understand what it means to be “salesy.” That term is generally applied to a high-pressure approach that makes prospects uncomfortable. People don’t want to deal with salespeople who are pushy and don’t listen to them.
That’s not you.
Read more
5-Step Approach to Addressing Mistakes with Your Clients
November 14, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Any successful person would agree that making mistakes—and learning from them—is as vital to one’s growth and development as any training or life experience. That’s good because we’re human, and we all make mistakes. Even the brightest and most conscientious financial advisors make mistakes periodically. While mistakes that impact clients can be serious, they don’t have to be the end of the world or a career.
In fact, advisors who quickly own up to their mistakes and rectify them often find that it can solidify their client relationships and strengthen client loyalty. Being conscientious and forthright are appealing traits to clients. And, if mistakes are quickly resolved, they’re no worse for the wear.
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Strengths or Weaknesses: Where Should Advisors Focus?
September 5, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Getting to the next level in any endeavor requires a thorough understanding of your strengths and weaknesses. Your strengths have the potential to power your advancement, while weaknesses could possibly hold you back. But not all strengths and weaknesses are equal in the way they can impact your practice. The challenge for advisors is knowing whether to focus first on their weaknesses and then their strengths or vice versa.
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How to Command and Maintain Control over Conversations with Prospects and Clients
June 20, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
How often have you been in a meeting with a client or prospect and felt like you lost control of the conversation? After starting on one subject, the other person goes off on tangents or takes the conversation in a new direction. Clients who are upset may launch into a rant with no particular point or one that isn’t related to the work you do with them. Or they simply want to talk about something other than the subject matter you broached with them.
Whatever the reason, when a client or prospect conversation goes off the rails, it’s incumbent upon you to steer it back in the right direction. Otherwise, your value to that person diminishes as long as you’re not in control. Taking control doesn’t mean taking over the conversation and dominating the talking space. Instead, it means getting it back on track, on the path to where it can achieve a productive or desired outcome. That can’t happen if you’re doing all the talking.
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3 Soft Skills Advisors Need to Refine for an Immediate Connection with Prospects
May 16, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Not to diminish the hard work, effort, and time that goes into becoming a financial advisor—few professions are as demanding—but the essential skill advisors must acquire is the ability to sell. Perhaps a more acceptable term would be “the art of persuasion.” Whichever way you want to frame it, if you have difficulty persuading or convincing people to take action, you stand little chance of success.
Of course, that’s true of just about any profession that requires changing or influencing people’s behavior. It just happens to be more challenging when selling financial advice and expecting to get paid for it. Advisors must understand that buying an intangible service requiring people to trust that the advisor can deliver that intangible value is scary for most people. It’s far less threatening to stay with the status quo and do nothing.
The trouble is, if you can’t convince people to follow you or your advice, you aren’t accomplishing anything. To overcome the inherent trust deficit and open prospects’ minds, financial advisors must constantly refine three critical soft skills, or they will have fewer chances to demonstrate their highly trained competencies.
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How to Become Naturally Empathetic (and Build Deeper Connections with Clients)
February 14, 2022 / 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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Overcoming the Age Bias Prospects Have About Young Advisors
December 27, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
For young financial advisors, nothing is more challenging than overcoming the age bias that older clients have against them. I hear it often from advisors who come through our training programs—that feeling as though they are viewed more like a child or grandchild than a financial advisor. It creates a perceived impression that young advisors don’t have the experience, skills, or knowledge to appreciate the circumstances of older clients, let alone guide them in making critical financial decisions.
That may be understandable and, in some cases, deserved. Older prospects are right to question a young advisor’s experience and depth of knowledge. But the problem may not be with the perceptions of older clients as much as it is with the mindset of younger advisors. Most advisors have gone through that painful period of not knowing what they need to know and feeling embarrassed to meet prospects who may sense that.
The primary difference between where they are now compared to where they were back when they knew less and lacked experience is confidence.
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