3 Steps to Build Your Self Confidence Regardless of Your Experience Level

3 Steps to Build Your Self Confidence Regardless of Your Experience Level

At some point in their careers, every financial advisor suffers from the affliction of self-doubt. For most of us, it overcomes us at the beginning of our careers. For some, it can linger on for several years. Heck, even experienced advisors have bouts of self-doubt, but they tend to be rare. Whatever the reason for it, self-doubt or lack of self-confidence can be a career killer or, at the very least, a painful way to go through life.

There probably isn’t an advisor among us who early on thought to themselves, “Why would anyone want to work with me?” “I work in a cubicle. I’m just a few years out of college. Many of the people I talk to are old enough to be my parents. The younger ones are successful in their careers. What business do I have telling them how to become financially successful?”

Sound familiar?

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The 5 Essential Qualities Financial Advisors Need to Improve Cold Call Results

The 5 Essential Qualities Financial Advisors Need to Improve Cold Call Results

No one ever said cold calling was easy, but some people have an easier time of it than others. Skills have a lot to do with that. But sometimes, learning skills is not enough.

The most successful cold callers share certain qualities and traits that give them an edge over and above the skills they acquire. We’ve discussed some of these traits in past articles, including positivity, perseverance, tenacity, and resilience. These traits are critical because they can keep you in the game in the face of constant rejection. However, successful cold callers possess other essential qualities and attributes that help them up their game.

Let’s have a look at five such essential qualities and traits.

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5 Steps to Create and Sustain a Winner’s Mindset

5 Steps to Create and Sustain a Winner’s Mindset

I’ve already written about self-sabotaging behaviors, and how to avoid them. But today, I’d like to address the flip side of the coin: How you can actively develop and maintain a winner’s mindset.

I’ve known many hugely successful advisors in my time. And they all have certain traits in common:

– They take a proactive approach to time management;
– They don’t make excuses for themselves. Instead, they take on and eliminate or bypass obstacles;
– They surround themselves with positive influences and accountability partners;
– They constantly expose themselves to positive messages and ideas.
– They get help when they need it.

So here are five things you can do to help develop that winner’s mindset – and sustain it over time.

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Self-sabotage – 10 Behaviors to Avoid

Self-sabotage – 10 Behaviors to Avoid

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.

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Take Charge of Your Own Destiny if You Want to Be a Successful Advisor

Take Charge of Your Own Destiny if You Want to Be a Successful Advisor

If you want to succeed as a financial advisor you need to understand that you, and you alone, are in control of your career. Your future success relies on the choices you make, so take control without delay.

Take some time out to analyze your current practice and identify areas requiring improvement. Commit to change and to getting better at the basics. Change your mindset to re-inforce the idea that you are doing things out of choice rather than necessity.

Take note of Maya Angelou’s words of wisdom: “If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.”

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Why Both You and Your Client Need the Skill of Visualization

Naturally your clients read the papers, watch the news, and use the internet to see what’s happening to their investments, they’re interested. And there will be bumps in the road. Keeping clients fully invested in the face of bad news is hard to do, so how do you get them to grin and bear it?

When someone sees their portfolio go down it’s your job to refocus them on the road ahead.

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Success Is a Team Sport

How to Build an Effective Team for Success

You can’t do this by yourself. You need a team. Even if the team is just you and a part-time person.

This seems like a no brainer, right? So, how come so many people get it wrong?

Too many financial advisors hire bodies to do the menial work of the business. Too few hire effective people to be part of their team.

Think of running your business like you are playing a team sport.

Your primary role should include “rainmaker”, “closer”, “presenter”, “relationship manager”, “planning and product expert”, etc. Somebody else should be doing the rest. Your team members should not be clones of yourself. They should be people who can fulfill the duties that you shouldn’t be doing and do them better than you can do them.

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Developing Your People Skills Begins with Understanding Yourself

Developing People Skills Begins with Understanding Yourself

People who are able to discern the feelings of others have a distinct advantage in life. They generally out earn and outperform those who cannot. Having this ability is a reflection of one’s emotional intelligence. People with high emotional intelligence understand themselves and they understand the impact they have on others. They know when and how to make the other person feel good. They are able to influence decisions. They have great people skills.

As an Advisor, it is to your advantage to have or develop great people skills.

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Emotional Intelligence Enables Us to Manage The Emotions of Others

Don Connelly audio blog post 3

You and I like to think of ourselves as objective thinkers. We try to put our emotions aside. We live in a world of research and numbers. Our recommendations are black and white. Investment results are there for all to see. Our advice is either good or bad. The plans we recommend either work or they don’t. Clients say yes or no. We open the account or we don’t.

Our clients, on the other hand, are subjective thinkers.

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Self-Confidence Will Make You Unstoppable

From Don Connelly Blog - audio post

I was speaking at a Financial Services conference in Australia and heard an insurance company CEO issue a provocative challenge to the audience members.

“If you stand on any street corner in Sydney and ask everyone who walks by to buy life insurance, every eighty-fifth person will. The questions is, do you have what it takes to hear the word ‘no’ eighty-four times in a row?”
The failure rate in the Financial Services industry is north of eighty percent.

This industry hires a small fraction of the people who apply. We provide good training, good products and good internal and external support. Yet most fail. And they are good people who got hired for good reasons.

Lack of self-confidence doesn’t mean lack of ability.

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