simple stories Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Two Stories to Help You Explain What You Do

June 6, 2022 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

I have a thought I want you to pass on to your clients. Tell them this from me. The only people who lose weight are the people who hire trainers. People that buy equipment and put it in a house don’t use the equipment. How many times have you seen a treadmill with a neck tie or a blouse hanging on it? You’re the trainer. You make them do sit ups and you get them on the treadmill. It’s a great analogy.

Listen to this audio episode or read the transcript below to learn two more quick simple stories about advisors who were great at getting people on the treadmill.

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

June 1, 2020 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

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.

5 Dos of Developing Good Storytelling Skills

August 13, 2018 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 2 comments

The ability to tell interesting stories is an essential skill for all advisors. Stories are an effective way of letting people get to know the real you, and they’re also useful when it comes to educating clients.

Few of us are born natural raconteurs – but if you commit to developing your skills and practising them regularly, over time you can become a great storyteller.

Here are 5 best practices when it comes to developing good storytelling skills.

How to Make Sure Your Message Sticks

March 6, 2017 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

We tend to forget most of what we’ve been told within a week, unless that message has been repeatedly reinforced. So, unless you reinforce your messages and deliver them in an interesting way, there’s little chance clients and prospects will digest your information and act on it. There are however some key ways to make sure your messages are understood and remembered.

Storytelling for Financial Advisors – Acquiring High Net Worth Clients through “Storyselling”

April 25, 2016 / by Diana Marinova / Connelly Corner, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Nowadays “storyselling for financial advisors” is a big search trend. I found a book with that title but I doubt that’s what people in the industry are looking for. My guess would be that they are after high net worth clients with yet another “modern technique”. Truth be told, storyselling is just a catchy name for good old storytelling that Financial Advisors so rarely master completely.

5 Ways Storytelling Helps Financial Advisors Succeed

August 14, 2014 / by Kirti Anand Sharma / Connelly Corner, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Think about the last “Great Presentation” you attended, where you felt as if the speaker was speaking your mind. How did this experience make you feel about the presenter?

Did you think he or she was so smart? Were you moved to ask for their business card or connect over LinkedIn? Or maybe you just walked up to say how much you loved their presentation? When you went back home, did you share your experience with someone?

For a truly great presentation, I believe the answer to at least one of these questions would be a “Yes”.

A Simple Story – Financial Advisor’s Best Friend

May 19, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Simple Stories – Financial Advisor’s Best Friend

Being misunderstood may be funny in burlesque, but it’s not funny when you’re trying to make a living as a Financial Advisor. There is nothing more important to an Advisor than communicating clearly.

The safest and surest way to communicate in our business is to make your message as simple as possible, to make the unfamiliar familiar. Stories and analogies do that better than anything else. They allow you to make your point concisely and they make people feel comfortable.

5 Simple Stories Any Financial Professional Can Use

May 8, 2014 / by Kirti Anand Sharma / Connelly Corner, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 4 comments

Webinar Relay - The Greatest Equity Story Ever Told - Don Connelly 247

It’s a proven fact that stories can influence the way we think, our decisions & how we feel, when used in personal or professional communications.

Ever felt like buying the same Smartphone as your friend did, after listening to his/her experience with the set?

That’s one form of storytelling in play! Because of the tremendous power of persuasion these narratives have, storytelling has become an integral tool for successfully running any type of business. Speaking of Financial Services in particular, we know that it is a relationship building business and three things must take place for you to get a new client –

“That person must like you, trust you and think you are smart.” – Don Connelly.

Effective storytelling is therefore, a great tool by which Financial Advisors can instantly establish initial personal connection with their prospects and make those 3 things happen because:

Tell Simple Stories

March 20, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Clients, as we’ve discussed in the past, love word pictures. What we find very, very simple, people find very, very difficult to comprehend. This is much the same as you and I having difficult time understanding two lawyers when they talk. It’s because of lingo.

Because our lingo in the financial services industry is just as confusing to people you need to use stories when communicating to current and prospective clients. So tell them stories.