reputation Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Being Accountable May Be The Key to Your Success

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Being accountable will benefit not only your business, but every aspect of your life. Being accountable to yourself will help you focus your attention on your performance, encouraging you to set and achieve personal goals. Being accountable to your clients will help you keep them on track and invested.

Here’s how being accountable will help you succeed as a Financial Advisor.

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.

It Takes Extraordinary Patience to Build a Successful Business

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 2 comments

Building a Successful Business Takes Extraordinary Patience

There is a great chance that you have a can of WD-40 under the sink or in the garage. Most people do. In fact, you can find it in the garages of homes in 160 countries. Everybody knows WD-40. What most people don’t know is the origin of the name.

The Rocket Chemical Company was founded in San Diego, California in 1953. It created a product to displace the standing water that caused corrosion in nuclear missiles. The first thirty-nine attempts to perfect the formula failed. Success was achieved on the 40th attempt. WD-40 literally stands for Water Displacement, 40th attempt. In 1969, the company name was changed to simply WD-40.

We have all heard of similar struggles by Walt Disney, Theodore Seuss Geisel and the Coca-Cola Company. If we’ve learned one lesson from these stories, the lesson is, don’t be in a hurry to become a success.

Good Manners Will Endear You to More People than You Realize

/ by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 1 comment

Importance of Good Manners for Financial Advisors

The euphemism ‘Silent Majority’ most likely dates to the 1830’s in America. It originally signified dead people, there being more dead people throughout history than living people at any moment in time. It slipped into our political vocabulary in the 20th century. Today the phrase denotes an unspecified large majority of people in a country or group who do not express their opinions publicly. There are so many things about which people simply do not speak up. One such thing is rudeness.

Without Integrity, There Is No Credibility

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Without Integrity Financial Sdvisors Don't Have Credibility

If you are to be chosen as someone’s Financial Advisor, you must pass three tests. The person must like you and think you are smart, but, most importantly, the person must trust you. There is no substitute for trust.

When mom and dad leave you after that first meeting, they do not talk about convexity or tactical asset allocation.

They ask themselves one question: “Do you trust him? Do you trust her?” If the answer is ‘no’ or ‘not really’, you stand no chance of getting those folks as clients. There are too many other Advisors they can turn to.