November 16, 2020 / 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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Three Stories about Trust to Use with Prospects and Clients
February 22, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments
The most fundamental principle of building a clientele is understanding that people do business with people they like and trust. While it’s easy for many advisors to be likable, trust has to be earned—quickly and often. As an advisor, you can never lose sight of that because trust not only binds a client to you but it also enables them to follow your guidance with confidence and conviction, which is critical to their long-term success.
If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know I believe in the power of storytelling to drive home concepts and change a client’s perspective. I offer these three stories about trust to you as an advisor to drive home the crucial role trust plays in your client relationships.
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3 Issues Financial Advisors Should Address to Overcome the Trust Deficit in Clients
November 23, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Financial Advisors face a huge trust deficit. That’s significant because who holds a more important position of trust than an advisor who can impact when people retire, how they live in retirement, and what’s their financial security late in life when they need it the most? For advisors whose livelihood depends on attracting new clients and retaining them, that’s a major obstacle to overcome every day.
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Six Ways Financial Advisors Can Establish Trust in Today’s Virtual World
November 16, 2020 / 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
Becoming a Financial Advisor at 40? Yes, You Can!
April 27, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
This is for all you career-switchers, and those considering a career change move into financial advisory services:
Don’t listen to the nay-sayers and the haters: You absolutely can become a successful financial advisor as a second career. In fact, as a career-switcher, you’ll have many advantages over your younger peers in your training classes.
Here are some of the many pros of becoming a financial advisor mid-career – and a few of the obstacles you may encounter.
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Don’t Underestimate the Power of a Good “Who I Am” Story
March 2, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments
Human beings are storytellers. We tell stories because we respond to stories. It’s been so since the dawn of history.
In western civilization, we have received many of our great stories, myths, legends and cultural archetypes from stories memorized and passed down from generation to generation around campfires, dating back to pre-literate times.
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Can Trust Be Established Early?
December 23, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
I got a really interesting question from a subscriber named Jeffrey, who said he is a new advisor and he’s having a problem gaining trust with people during the initial visit. He asked if establishing trust up front is possible and if it is, how he can do that. Furthermore, he asked if it is possible to open an account without the establishment of trust.
Listen to this audio episode or read the transcript below to learn Don’s 4 suggestions on establishing trust early on in the relationship.
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7 Things Many Financial Advisors Don’t Do, and Fail as a Result
June 17, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Much of the failure in this industry comes down to non-observance of the basics. Too many advisors fail not only to develop their soft skills but lack the necessary business acumen to remain viable. If you want to succeed as a financial advisor, learn from their mistakes and make sure you ‘do’ what they are ‘not doing’.
Here are some things that many advisors are not doing – but should be.
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5 Dos of Developing Good Storytelling Skills
August 13, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 2 comments
The ability to tell interesting stories is an essential skill for all advisors. Stories are an effective way of letting people get to know the real you, and they’re also useful when it comes to educating clients.
Few of us are born natural raconteurs – but if you commit to developing your skills and practising them regularly, over time you can become a great storyteller.
Here are 5 best practices when it comes to developing good storytelling skills.
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What Clients Need from You to Stick to The Plan
June 11, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments
To get clients to stick with their long-term investments you need to get inside their mindset and understand how they think and feel. If you know how your clients will react in the face of market volatility, you’ll be ideally placed to counter their concerns. If you understand what they need from you in terms of maintaining a long-term relationship, you will know which soft skills to focus on.
Here are a few things clients need to help them persevere with their long-term investments.
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