/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
The simple answer is easy: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal financial advisors, on average, made $121,770 in 2018. Translated into an hourly figure, the typical financial advisor made $58.54 per hour, assuming a 40-hour work week.
That’s a mean average, though, which is skewed significantly higher by a few highly successful advisors at the top of the profession. The median average is much lower: $88,890 per year in 2018, or – again assuming a 40-hour work week — $42.73 per hour. “Median” means half the advisors surveyed earned more than that figure, in that year, and half of them made less.
The lowest 10% nationwide made $41,590, or $19.99 per hour – assuming a 40-hour work week. The top quartile of the profession earned $157,710.
But few of them became that successful by working a mere 40-hour work week in their early years!
Here are a few factors to consider to maximize your earning potential.
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3 Situations When Financial Advisors Should Use a Prospecting Script
/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
If you’re like most financial advisors, you probably started out with a phone script, whether calling strangers, LinkedIn contacts or referrals. Prospecting scripts are critical for new advisors because they help them keep organized and stay on track for the brief time they have in that first interaction. No doubt, using phone scripts can serve inexperienced advisors well if they work at it. They can also make experienced advisors even more effective when used in certain circumstances.
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Working Mostly Online in a Post-pandemic World Is Especially Hard on New Advisors
/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments
This turbulent year is almost over and looking back, we see a few clear trends of topics that interested Financial Advisors the most on our blog during 2020. We’d like to share some of them with you now, in case you missed them the first time around.
Here are the first three topics most requested and read by our community of financial professionals in 2020.
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Advice for New Financial Advisors – 8 Things Veteran Advisors Wish They Knew When They First Started Out
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
“Experience is the best teacher. But only a fool learns by no other.”
This is a slight misquotation of Benjamin Franklin. But the idea is sound: We all can and should learn from the mistakes and experiences of those who came before us.
And advisors are certainly making mistakes! Somewhere between 70 and 90 percent of financial advisor trainees are out of the business by their fourth year. And too many of those who survive aren’t thriving.
So we asked some veteran financial advisors what they wished they knew when they first started out in this business, or what they would do differently if they could start over. There was a lot of variation in the details, but most of them had these themes in common.
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How Much Do Financial Advisors Make?
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
The simple answer is easy: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, personal financial advisors, on average, made $121,770 in 2018. Translated into an hourly figure, the typical financial advisor made $58.54 per hour, assuming a 40-hour work week.
That’s a mean average, though, which is skewed significantly higher by a few highly successful advisors at the top of the profession. The median average is much lower: $88,890 per year in 2018, or – again assuming a 40-hour work week — $42.73 per hour. “Median” means half the advisors surveyed earned more than that figure, in that year, and half of them made less.
The lowest 10% nationwide made $41,590, or $19.99 per hour – assuming a 40-hour work week. The top quartile of the profession earned $157,710.
But few of them became that successful by working a mere 40-hour work week in their early years!
Here are a few factors to consider to maximize your earning potential.
Read more
Deal with Objections Before They Become Mindsets
/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
Most salespeople in any industry quickly become proficient at handling objections after the client or prospect brings them up. And that’s a good skill to have. But if you’re constantly dealing with the same objections at the end of your initial presentation, you’re already at a disadvantage – and very likely you’ve lost the chance to win the client.
If you’ve gone for the close and asked for the order, and the prospective client is still raising objections, the battle is on. It’s a signal that the prospect’s mental shields are up. In fact, you may not even be seriously in the fight anymore. This is the case when the objection the person is giving you is not the real objection.
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How to Make Each Day a Success
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
I think when an advisor is young or new in the business, he or she is always looking for the silver bullet, the magic bullet – the escalator instead of the stairway to success. I want to tell you a great story about the secret to success.
Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn this story about the secret to success.
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Where Should You Be Focusing
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
“Where should I be focusing?” is a question for all advisors, but especially young advisors, who are wondering where to focus when starting their practice. I received an email from Brian in Orlando in reply to one of my newsletters where I talked about focusing on getting appointments. He agrees with the notion and he says that’s all he’s trying to do, but he asks what else I suggest he does besides focusing on getting appointments?
Listen to the audio podcast or read the transcript below to learn what else you should focus on, besides getting appointments.
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How to Make The Most of Cold Calling
/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments
Cold calling is often discounted by advisors because they are wary of the compliance rules, and because it tends to have a low success ratio. The ‘Do Not Call’ list makes it difficult as does an inherent skepticism that permeates our society. However, cold calling can be a valid prospecting tool, especially for those new to the business.
Why is it still worth the effort? Because lots of people are unhappy with their current advisors but don’t want to rock the boat. A phone call out of the blue from a professional, likeable advisor could be just the thing to get them to take action.
There are people out there who want to talk to you: You just have to find them.
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What’s the Journey of the Successful Advisor Like?
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
Developing a career as a financial advisor is not for the fainthearted. There are plenty of pitfalls to look out for along the way. New advisors often lack the essential soft skills they need to hit the ground running while others embark on the journey without a clear roadmap or measurable goals to guide them.
Here’s a look at how successful advisors navigate their way to success.
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