professional listener Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Seven Things to Do to Set Yourself Up for Success as a Financial Advisor

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All Financial Advisors need a track to run on. That is, a set of activities that you know are productive, and that will continue to guide you on your path to success, even … and this is key… even if you don’t feel like working!

Here is a set of seven principles that will help keep you focused and moving along your path to the very top of our profession.

Becoming a Financial Advisor at 40? Yes, You Can!

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This is for all you career-switchers, and those considering a career change move into financial advisory services:

Don’t listen to the nay-sayers and the haters: You absolutely can become a successful financial advisor as a second career. In fact, as a career-switcher, you’ll have many advantages over your younger peers in your training classes.

Here are some of the many pros of becoming a financial advisor mid-career – and a few of the obstacles you may encounter.

How to Become a Better Listener

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

As Calvin Coolidge once said “No one ever listened themselves out of a job” so why do so many advisors find it difficult to stop talking and listen to their clients?

In order to become a great advisor, you need to be a good listener. It’s the only way you’ll get to understand your clients’ and prospects‘ goals. It’s the only way you’ll be able to overcome their objections. Plus, the more people are given the opportunity to talk the more they will feel that you’re interested in them. And they will like you for it. Listening will help you start a client relationship and keep your existing relationships on a firm footing.

5 Reasons to Develop Effective Listening Skills

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Prospecting / 0 comments

The fact is, most of us simply don’t listen enough. That could be because of the increasing number of distractions going on around us, or because we often find it easier to focus on non-verbal clues – such as body language – rather than on what people are actually saying. But if you want to get ahead as a financial advisor you need to develop effective listening skills.

What Are The Most Important Networking Skills for Financial Advisors?

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

Networking is an important prospecting tool, especially for newer Advisors who have a paucity of clients. Probably the two most common ways to network are via social media or face-to-face. Both methods are effective if done correctly.

The concept of networking is not new. In fact, it is two thousand years old. It would not have survived if it didn’t work. Getting ahead in the business world has a lot more to do with who you know than what you know.

While networking is pretty straight forward, there are specific skills involved. It involves a lot more than simply handing out business cards. Like other prospecting methods, networking entails being brilliant at the basics.

Effective Communication Is an Acquired Skill

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

Effective communication occurs when the listener understands everything you just said. You made the complex simple. That’s not an easy thing to do.

It takes a long time and a lot of practice to become simple.

The effort is worth it. There is nothing more important to a Financial Advisor than being understood. After all, if everyone understood everything you said, you would be one of the highest paid and most influential people in the world.

Fortunately, effective communication is an acquired skill, not an innate skill.

Never Forget That Your Client’s Original Goal Was to Beat the Bank

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I’ve been mingling with clients for years and it never fails to shock me just a bit to hear how simple both their goals and their reasons for investing really are. For the most part, clients simply want to beat the bank, especially in low interest rate environments. They want to educate their children and build a retirement fund. That’s it. They aren’t trying to hit home runs. They are trying to hit singles and doubles. You can deliver singles and doubles all day long.

Are You a Professional Listener?

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Professional Listener - Are You Listening

Most people never listen, period. That includes my doctor, my handyman and the last car salesman I visited. I can only hope that air traffic controllers listen.

Why is listening so difficult? Why is listening so important? Do people who listen do better than people who don’t listen? Can you become a great listener?

All are rhetorical questions and all are worth exploring.