first meeting Archives - Page 2 of 3 - Don Connelly & Associates

To Get to “Yes” Financial Advisors Must First Get to “Why” and Stir Up Emotions

May 24, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

What if, in every initial client meeting, your prospects would just come right out and tell you what’s important to them and what it would mean to them if you could help them? Indeed, it would make your job much easier, but then anyone could do it. The challenge is most people don’t think that way, and it’s your job as a financial advisor to help them uncover their most important issues.

But even that doesn’t go far enough because all you’ve done is uncover the “what.” People don’t act on the “what.” They act on the “why.” When fully revealed, the “why” becomes the key motivating factor. It contains the emotions that drive people to act. Your value as a financial advisor is to get people to take the actions you know will help them. If you can’t trigger the emotions behind what’s important to them, they are not likely to take action.

First Meeting Conversations You Need to Have with Prospective Clients

May 10, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Let’s be honest. Many financial advisors view the first client meeting frettingly as an obstacle to overcome on their way to, hopefully, establishing a new client relationship. After all, the way you start a first client meeting sets the tone for how your relationship will develop—if it develops at all. Prospective clients don’t make it any easier, often approaching their first advisor meeting with an air of skepticism or apprehension. This creates an unnatural tension that crowds out trust-building. That tension must be broken at the outset, and the ball is in the advisor’s court.

5 Red Flags That Will Cause Your Prospects to Dismiss You

April 19, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

You never see it coming, and you may never know the reason why. A prospective client you have carefully cultivated agrees to a meeting to learn more about how you can help them. It seems to go well. Their heads were nodding up and down, and they laughed at your joke. At the end of the 30-minute meeting, you suggest the next step with an offer to follow up with them. Turning toward the door, they reply, “We’ll let you know.”

You know that’s the end of it. So, you replay it in your head, asking, “What were the red flags that soured their perception of me?”

Whether the outcome of a prospect meeting is good or bad, you should always replay it in your mind. With a positive outcome, you need to know what worked and why. For a negative outcome, it’s vital to understand what didn’t work and why. Identifying the negatives is often more difficult because it’s hard to be self-critical. But that’s where the path to self-improvement begins. To help in your diagnosis, we list the five of the most common red flags that could cause your prospects to dismiss you.

Seven Things to Do to Set Yourself Up for Success as a Financial Advisor

June 1, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

All Financial Advisors need a track to run on. That is, a set of activities that you know are productive, and that will continue to guide you on your path to success, even … and this is key… even if you don’t feel like working!

Here is a set of seven principles that will help keep you focused and moving along your path to the very top of our profession.

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.

Why You Need a ‘Why I Am Here’ Story

July 15, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

We all know that everyone likes a good story, a fact that’s backed up by science. When we hear a story that resonates with us, our levels of the ‘feel good’ hormone oxytocin rises. This motivates us to work with others and has a positive impact on our social behavior.

Stories can also help to build connections and create empathy with prospects and clients.

So, it’s no surprise that story form is great for illustrating to prospects that you are there for the right reasons – that you’re not in this business simply to make money but to add value to people’s lives.

Here are a few ways developing a ‘Why I Am Here’ story will help you grow your business.

4 Things You Can Only Achieve with Effective Communication Skills

June 3, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Effective communication skills are essential if you are to achieve successful outcomes for your business. Here are 4 relationship goals you should be striving for, along with the requisite soft skills you must possess if you are to realize them.

5 Creative Ways to Follow-up with a Prospect

May 27, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

In an ideal world every prospect would sign up with you at the first meeting, immediately recognizing they are in need of what you are offering. In the real world however, prospects may not yet realize your value or understand that they can trust you.

Don’t leave things to chance on the basis they may get back to you. Always follow up. Make sure to call prospects and speak to them directly. You don’t have to feel that you’re trying to push products onto people who are not in the market for your services. Remember, they have indicated that they’re actively looking for a financial advisor.

People tend to get distracted easily however, so here are some additional ways to remind prospects of your worth.

Becoming a Financial Advisor Is Not All About Getting Licensed

May 20, 2019 / 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.

1 2 3