ideal client profile Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Nail the First Meeting with a Prospective Client: Address What Your Prospects Want to Know

July 18, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

It takes a lot of time, patience, and effort to move a prospect through the funnel to the point when they finally agree to meet with you. For every prospect that makes it that far probably six to nine fall by the wayside. That makes that first meeting ever so crucial. There’s a lot that must be accomplished. It has to go perfectly. There’s a minimal margin for error.

Every advisor has their own formula for constructing a perfect prospect meeting. It invariably includes a polished presentation and ample opportunities to present oneself as a likable, competent professional.

However, ensuring that first meeting is a success comes down to how you structure it to address all the prospect’s questions and concerns. They’re meeting with you to find out who you are and why they should work with you. They need the answers to very specific questions on their mind even though they may not ask them. So, why not structure the meeting around what your prospects really want to know?

Here are a few such questions they are asking themselves.

Your Biggest Prospecting Mistake: Calling Prospects Before They’re Ready

December 13, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

If you’ve been in this business for any length of time—one day to ten years or more—you know one thing to be an absolute certainty, that prospecting is your lifeblood. You understand the critical importance of filling up your pipeline and keeping it full of qualified leads that can be continuously converted into qualified prospects. But to identify someone as a qualified prospect, you have to contact them. So, you make the phone call.

If you don’t reach them the first time, you call back in a few days. After a third and fourth try, you dare to leave a voice message. Nothing. So, you recycle them in your CRM for a call two or three months from now. Meanwhile, your potential prospect has blocked future calls. Your CRM is now full of candidates who have refused and will continue to refuse to take your call. Where does that leave you?

If you are still counting them as potential qualified prospects, you are probably deluding yourself and diluting your pipeline with people who have no desire to talk with you. But what was your big mistake?

Using Client Personas to Attract Your Ideal Client

March 1, 2021 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Most financial advisors are familiar with the concept of creating an “ideal client profile” used to identify the type of prospects they want to target. However, that may not go far enough to attract and directly engage with digitally savvy high net-worth investors in the digital age. Emerging-affluent millennials, in particular, are cautious about who they engage with if they can’t see what’s in it for them.

In a digitally wired world, financial advisors need to be able to identify with their target market and communicate in a way they can identify with you. That requires taking the ideal client profile to the next level by digging deeper into who they are, what they do, how they think and communicate, and why they might want to engage with someone like you.

How to Choose Your Specialty as a Financial Advisor

February 3, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

The financial services market is becoming more complex and more complex every day. Everybody needs a focus. And those with focused practices are better able to serve their clients. None of us can be all things to all people so it’s important to specialize in the kind of advice you give.

But do you know how to choose your specialty as a Financial Advisor?

There are two key considerations – both equally important: Your market, and your passions.

5 Risks You Run If You Grow Your Practice Too Fast

November 18, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

It’s natural to strive to grow your business, but too rapid a growth can bring with it a host of problems. By taking on too many clients and ‘running before you can walk’ you might damage your practice in the long run.

“The fuel of persistence is patience, the ability to tolerate delays while persisting.”

Elite advisors all share an important trait – that of patience. It doesn’t matter how good you are at your job. If you don’t see that success requires time and effort, you will remain at a mediocre level.

Here are five consequences of attempting to grow your practice too fast.

Best Target Markets for Financial Advisors: How to Choose The Best One for You

November 11, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

There’s no ‘one size fits all’ target market for advisors. A market that may be perfect for one advisor may be a poor fit for another. You need to narrow down to the best target market for you, based on your personal background, specialty, knowledge, interests, social networks and so on.

By identifying your perfect niche you’ll find it far easier to differentiate your practice and set yourself up as the ‘go-to’ expert.

If you’re struggling to identify the ‘right niche’ here are a few ways to get started.

4 Key Strategies to Kick-start Your Financial Advisory Practice

September 9, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Establishing yourself as an advisor will take dedication, time and sound strategic thinking. Here are some key strategies that will help you kick-start your financial advisory practice.

#1. Develop a business plan

No one succeeds without a plan. It’s the first step in building a credible business. No matter how good you are at your job, if you don’t know where you want to go, you won’t grow a healthy business.

6 Reasons Why You Should Specialize in The Kind of Financial Advice You Give

September 2, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

In previous posts we’ve discussed the importance of identifying your ideal client in terms of their attributes – be it occupation, geographical location, etc. But if you are to stand out in a crowded market you also need to pinpoint exactly what you can offer your clients in terms of services.

As part of your marketing strategy aim to narrow down to the field or specialty you’re best suited to offer. Don’t try to be ‘jack of all trades’ by offering to provide advice on estate planning and taxation, and everything in-between. If you do, you’ll end up ‘master of none’.

People need to know you are the expert in your field, otherwise you won’t become highly referable. Here’s why you should specialize in the kind of financial advice you give.

How People Find a Financial Advisor

April 22, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

People search for financial advisors in various ways and via numerous channels. To ensure your appointment book is full, you need to identify where your potential clients are searching so you can focus your marketing efforts in these areas.

Potential clients often find a financial advisor in one (or more) of the following ways.

5 More Questions Prospects May Ask You before Deciding to Hire You as Their Financial Advisor

April 15, 2019 / by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Choosing a financial advisor is a big decision for potential clients, especially if they’re new to the world of investing. Not only will they be looking for someone suitably qualified, they’ll be searching for someone who shares their goals and comes across as caring and authentic.

To try and deduce whether you’re the right fit for them, they’ll undoubtedly have questions. In this follow up to a previous post, let’s look at 5 more questions you may get asked in that first meeting.

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