September 28, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
Yes, I’m a huge believer in stories, and in taking time to build value in your services, your brand, and in taking a detailed fact-finder, so you can make your engagement truly client-centered and set yourself up for the close.
But as we all know, many times there just isn’t enough time.
Sometimes you don’t have a leisurely lunch appointment. Sometimes it’s just a meeting engagement: A shared Uber ride, a shared elevator. That’s why you need an “elevator speech.”
Before we get into what constitutes a good elevator speech, let’s think about what you want your elevator speech to accomplish for you.
In 30 seconds or less, a good elevator speech should accomplish the following:
Establish your unique value proposition (UVP).
Establish a reason to initiate contact later.
Establish the means to initiate that contact.
Set up the expectation of contact.
Let’s look at each one in turn.
Read more
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
Create an Elevator Speech that Wins
September 28, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments
Yes, I’m a huge believer in stories, and in taking time to build value in your services, your brand, and in taking a detailed fact-finder, so you can make your engagement truly client-centered and set yourself up for the close.
But as we all know, many times there just isn’t enough time.
Sometimes you don’t have a leisurely lunch appointment. Sometimes it’s just a meeting engagement: A shared Uber ride, a shared elevator. That’s why you need an “elevator speech.”
Before we get into what constitutes a good elevator speech, let’s think about what you want your elevator speech to accomplish for you.
In 30 seconds or less, a good elevator speech should accomplish the following:
Establish your unique value proposition (UVP).
Establish a reason to initiate contact later.
Establish the means to initiate that contact.
Set up the expectation of contact.
Let’s look at each one in turn.
Read more
Want to Succeed as a Financial Advisor? Do These Five Things.
July 6, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments
Helping people achieve their financial goals and provide security for their families is one of the greatest, most rewarding career paths on the planet. But it’s a very tough business to succeed in, especially in your first few years.
Here are the five things you must do, if you want to maximize your chances of surviving your first five years as an advisor.
Read more
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.
Read more
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.
Read more
Self-sabotage – 10 Behaviors to Avoid
December 3, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Self-sabotaging behaviors can create problems, interfere with goals and ultimately put your career at risk. Without even realizing it you could be a victim of self-sabotage. Be honest and identify the traits that are holding you back so you can make the positive changes required to move forward.
Here are ten ways you could be self-sabotaging – along with some recommendations on how to do things better.
Read more
Focus on What’s Important
July 24, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
If you want to reach the top of your profession as a financial advisor, you need to focus on the basics. Dedicate your time to prospecting, asking for commitments and managing client relationships. Success will only come your way if you think gathering assets rather than DOL rulings and falling fees. So stop getting distracted. If you want to build a successful business, focus on what’s important.
Here are six things to focus on, starting today.
Read more
Four Client Retention Strategies to Try Out
October 3, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
As in so many other industries, your business model as a financial advisor is to open new accounts and gather new assets on a continual basis. However, in order to succeed you need to combine this approach with a plan that ensures your clients will stick with you for the long term. You need to allocate time to both looking after existing clients as well as time to prospect. If you don’t, your current clients will feel discontented; they may start to look elsewhere, and they certainly won’t recommend you to others.
Read more
Five Skills That Will Make You Stand Apart from The Crowd
August 1, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments
Hard skills can be learned from a book. They’re the skills most of us spent 16 years in school focusing on. In contrast, there’s no clear path to learning soft skills. Soft skills have to be learnt ‘on the job’ via experience and with trial and error.
Soft skills are at the very heart of what it is to be a great financial advisor. They are the skills that will mark you out from the crowd. So make sure you excel at soft skills by putting in a lot of practice. And persevere.
Read more
How Do I Get People to Call Me Back?
June 13, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
I heard this great question from Jesse in Grand Rapids. Jesse said he was having difficulty getting people to return his calls, after supposedly thinking about his proposal. He meets with prospects and makes his presentation. They say “Let me think it over, I’ll give you a call” and they never do. After some time has passed, he calls them and leaves messages but they never return his calls. Why is that?
Listen to Don’s answer to this question or read the transcript.
Read more