Financial Advisor website Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

5 Priorities Financial Advisors Must Have to Succeed in Our Business

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

As you might already know, financial advisors need to be good business people to succeed, which entails having a solid business plan, creating an ideal client profile, developing project management skills, and acting and thinking like a CEO. Those are critical foundational elements for any financial advisor with ambitions of growing a successful business.

However, on a day-to-day basis, success in the financial advisory business requires a constant blending of priorities such as strategic focus, interpersonal skills, and industry knowledge. Here are the five top priorities financial advisors must focus on to thrive in their careers:

5 Ways Financial Advisors Can Establish Credibility and Build Trust

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

We’ve made no secret of the fact that a trust deficit exists between the public and the financial services industry. Advisors, new and experienced, must work consciously and deliberately every day to overcome it. The challenge for advisors is they could be the most trustworthy person in the world, but without credibility, there can be no trust.

There could be trust, but it might only be fleeting without proof that it’s genuine. That’s where credibility comes in. The building blocks of trust include honesty, transparency, reliability, consistency, competence, empathy, authenticity, and vulnerability—traits that, when demonstrated by actions, create credibility. An advisor’s credibility is bolstered even more when both parties feel they benefit mutually with a vested interest in each other’s success.

Here are five ways advisors can establish credibility by demonstrating the building blocks of trust.

Financial Advisor Branding—Elements to Focus On

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

One of the most significant challenges facing financial advisors trying to grow their practice is it takes time, resources, and a well-conceived marketing strategy to get their stories out to the right audiences. While it involves strategically utilizing digital marketing and producing targeted and relevant content, the path must be paved by building a solid brand and reputation.

5 Essential Lead Generation Tools for Financial Advisors

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

A common mistake many advisors make is to look to lead generation as a short-term solution to a dwindling pipeline, with bursts of activities such as cold calls, direct mail, email blasts, or scheduling webinars. While these can sometimes work to fill the void temporarily, they can be very time-consuming, inefficient, and unpredictable.

To ensure a constant flow of qualified leads, lead generation must be built into your daily practice as a machine continuously attracting leads to your pipeline. Fortunately, with digital technology tools, generating qualified leads is easier than ever.

Here are the essential tools available to any advisor seeking to create a systematic process for generating non-stop qualified leads:

Niche Marketing: Narrowing Your Focus to Attract More Quality Prospects

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

In recent years, the commoditization of investment advice has forced an increasing number of financial advisors into offering more comprehensive financial planning as a way to add more value to the client relationship. As a result, the financial planning space is becoming much more crowded, making it difficult for financial advisors to stand out.

That is why many practice management consultants recommend that financial advisors establish a niche to more quickly build their businesses, focusing on a more targeted market they can dominate rather than a broader market they can vanish in. The key to differentiation in a crowded field is to become more focused and specialized to become recognized as the best-of-breed for a specific type of clientele that can be served profitably and effectively.

Successfully crafting a niche is not without its challenges, and most advisors avoid attempting it for fear of narrowing their field of prospects. However, any advisor who has found success in a niche will tell you that, while you may narrow your field of prospects, you increase the likelihood that a higher percentage of prospects in the niche will choose to do business with you.

Thought Leadership May Be the Only Edge for Financial Advisors

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Clearly, the financial advisory industry is undergoing a major transformation. Technological advances and the democratization of investing has virtually commoditized financial advice to the detriment of advisors who continue to languish in brand obscurity. Until financial advisors can differentiate themselves as authorities in their field, most struggle to gain the attention of new clients or keep the attention of existing clients. Advisors who establish themselves as true thought leaders hold a distinct advantage in the race to add new clients and grow assets under management.

Email Newsletters for Financial Advisors: 6 Tips to Engage Your Contact List

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

With the heavy emphasis on social media marketing, many have said that email marketing, and sending email newsletters in particular, is outdated. That couldn’t be further from the truth. Why do I know that? Because the financial advisory business is a relationship business and there’s no better method for cultivating relationships in a digital environment than email marketing. Why? Because it’s inexpensive, easy to manage, gets quicker than most results, and it reaches your clients and prospects where they spend a lot of their time—in their inbox.

It’s also effective. According to Litmus, on average, for every dollar you invest in email marketing, you receive $42 in return. Can you think of anything else you could do to acquire more clients that generates a better return?

Of course, that also assumes that you are doing email marketing right, employing all the best practices to ensure optimal results. Executing an effective email marketing campaign is not rocket science, but it does require adherence to some proven techniques that involve some effort and resources.

Here are six critical elements of effective email newsletters and other email marketing campaigns.

Digital Marketing for Financial Advisors: It’s Time to Start a Blog

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

For financial advisors competing in a digitally wired world, thought leadership is essential for those who want to stand far above others in a crowded field. Financial advisors who are thought leaders are viewed as authorities in their field and recognized experts– traits that have become table stakes for advisors hoping to attract the attention of high-net-worth clients. An increasing number of financial advisors are finding that blogging is an affordable way to establish themselves as a high-profile authority and a credible source of financial information in a highly competitive arena.

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 […]

Three Challenges Advisors Face in the Post-Pandemic World

/ 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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