personalizing your services Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

5 Reasons Advisors Need a Well-Conceived, Systematic Communications Strategy

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Financial advisors are reaching a pivotal moment that will shape their future. An increasingly competitive landscape, fee compression, the commoditization of advice, and increasing client expectations make client satisfaction, retention, and referrals more essential than ever. As advisors struggle to differentiate themselves in a sea of sameness, I always reach back to the time-tested solution: good communication.

If you have been following my blog for a while, you’re familiar with my core belief that communication is vital to developing solid and enduring relationships. You simply can’t form trusted relationships without good communication.

Most clients don’t feel engaged with their Advisor

9 Must-Haves for Your Financial Advisor Website to Attract Prospects and Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Most Advisors today have a professional website to represent themselves online in front of potential or current clients. In a post-pandemic world where even meetings are conducted online, it’s not really a matter of if you should have a website, but a matter of what website you should have.

Should it be one of those static pages filled with general information, serving as your online business card? Or should it be an engaging piece of online real estate to keep your prospective and current clients hooked and looking for the phone to call you for more? Or should it be somewhere in between?

Here are a few things you must have on your website if you want to stand head and shoulders above other Advisors.

The 4 Pillars of Great Client Service

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Great client service should be a given. But according to a recent study from Cerulli Associates, less than a third of advisors strongly agreed that their practices go above and beyond to serve their clients, or that their clients offer repeatable and consistent client experiences.

At the same time, 72% of advisory firm principals say client service is a key differentiator.

Folks, if 72% say great service is a differentiator, it’s no longer a differentiator. It’s now the industry standard.

That said, some firms are clearly doing a better job than others. And those are the firms that are attracting bigger clients, with more assets to manage.

Let’s have a look at what they do differently and what are some key components to delivering great client service.

Four Ways to Ensure You Deliver Outstanding Client Service

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If you fail to provide exemplary client service, you won’t succeed in this business. While good product knowledge and financial judgement are requisite skills, you must go that extra mile to attend to your clients.

Here are some ways to make sure your client service is outstanding.

You Don’t Need to Be Better – You Need to Be Different

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

As Steve Jobs said, ‘Don’t do something better, do it different’. Facebook wasn’t necessarily ‘better’ than Myspace, it was different. Netflix wasn’t ‘better’ than any other movie-rental system – it was different. Make yourself authentic and you will succeed. Find out what it is that differentiates you from the competition and communicate it to prospects and clients.

Concentrate on developing superb soft skills and you will stand out in a crowded marketplace without trying to be ‘better’ than anyone else.

5 Costly Mistakes That Could Lose You Clients

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When a client takes you on, they’ve decided they’re comfortable getting into a long-term relationship with you – and that’s a huge compliment. If you want to retain them, you must work hard to maintain the integrity of that relationship over the long term.

Don’t make one of these errors, or you could end up in the firing line.

Five Rules to Follow to Build a Healthy Business

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

To get to the top of your profession you need to ensure you only work with the right clients – then retain them for the long term. Here are five steps that will help you achieve this.

You Don’t Have to Fear The Competition

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

You, like many other advisors, may feel you work in a highly competitive environment where the competition is trying to outmaneuver you every step of the way. In reality, however this isn’t the case. As is true of any profession, most of your competitors are not fully engaged on most days. They show up for work each day unmotivated or with an ambivalent attitude. If you, unlike other advisors, develop superb soft skills, have a great work ethic, and exude positivity – you’ve already beaten the competition hands down.

Why Being a Good Advisor Is No Longer Enough to Succeed

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Few industries have become as commoditized as the financial services industry. It’s become more and more common to see a personal touch replaced by ‘cookie-cutter’ automated solutions.
On the bright side it’s clear that technology cannot replace the service of a really great financial advisor. Clients still crave advice that’s customized. They need the services of an advisor who can look at the ‘big picture’ and understand the complexities of their lives in terms of their aspirations, family and careers.
If you want to succeed you need to be more than ‘good enough’. You need to prove you are prepared to go that extra mile and provide a service that’s above and beyond your clients’ expectations.
How do you get to become an Elite rather than a “good” Advisor?

What’s Most Important for Client Retention?

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What's Most Important for Customer Retention

Client loyalty is getting harder than ever to achieve. Clients are bombarded with options when it comes to financial advice and they know they can switch to another advisor in the blink of an eye if they are dissatisfied. So it’s essential to understand how to ensure your clients remain loyal and stick with you for the long term.

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