soft skills Archives - Page 3 of 6 - Don Connelly & Associates

Becoming a Financial Advisor Is Not All About Getting Licensed

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Naturally, you need to be sufficiently educated and qualified if you are to do the job of a financial advisor. But that’s not nearly enough. Financial advisors require a unique skill set that consists of not only technical knowledge and business skills but also excellent interpersonal ‘soft’ skills.

Many advisors enter the industry mistakenly believing the former skills are more important than the latter. That’s why so many advisors leave the trade in their first year – because they weren’t able to cut through the noise and attract enough clients.

4 Tasks You Can Delegate to Grow Your Business

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To grow your business, you need to focus on what’s important and this generally means prospecting and meeting with clients. There will be a host of routine tasks that don’t require your continual, personal, input. Hopefully, you work with an assistant.

Identify your non-revenue generating activities – as well as activities that lie outside your core competencies – and delegate them. In this post we’ll look at 4 tasks you can and should be outsourcing – leaving you free to take on key areas of your business.

Sacrificing Instant Gratification

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Don Connelly audio blog post - featured image

I was talking with an advisor in Beverly Hills and she asked me a question. She actually made an observation, but it was in the form of a question. She said to me that she finds it a bit odd that financial success is a function of delayed gratification in a world that insists on instant gratification. Do I have any thoughts about that? And the answer is ‘Yes, I do!”

Listen to this audio episode or read the transcript below to learn what Don Connelly thinks about sacrificing instant gratification.

Three Types of Prospects Most Likely to Object and How to Win Them Over

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During your career, you will meet with prospects who are ready with a reason not to invest. It’s up to you to recognize what camp they fall into objection-wise, so you can counter with the right response. Make it your aim to deal with their objections before you give your presentation.

Here are three types of prospects – and objections – to look out for.

11 Best Practices for Gathering Referrals

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

People trust recommendations from people they know, and the lifetime value of a new referral customer is higher than of a client acquired in another way. Despite this, advisors shy away from asking for referrals – citing that to be one of their most awkward tasks.

The good news is that, if asked at the right time, most clients would be happy to advocate on your behalf. Less than a third of advisors ever ask though. Don’t act like the majority – because referrals are at the core of growing your business.

In this post we’ll look at some best practices for gathering referrals.

There Are Three Main Ways to Gather New Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 0 comments

There are three main ways to gather new clients and grow your business. To excel, you should put your effort into mastering all three of them.

1. Acquiring new clients from existing clients
Referrals are by far and away the best way to gather new clients. And the only way you can earn referrals is by becoming referable – which will only happen once your clients feel you’re delivering them a 5-star service.

Clients won’t refer you until you become part of their inner circle, when you become someone they like and trust on both a personal and professional level.

Self-sabotage – 10 Behaviors to Avoid

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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.

How to Respond to the Comment ‘I Don’t Want to Lose Money’

/ by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments

I received an email from John in Texas with an interesting question. He said, “Every time I go into an appointment now, the first thing out of somebody’s mouth is, ‘I don’t want to lose any money.’

And I’ve been saying, ‘I don’t know anyone that ever does,’ as an ice breaker but I don’t feel comfortable. Can you give me a suggestion how to respond to that comment?”

Watch the video or read the transcript below to hear Don’s thoughts on how to respond to this question.

4 Misconceptions about Market Volatility Your Clients Need to Be Aware of

/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments

As a financial advisor it’s your responsibility to get your clients to stick to their financial plan for the long term. This means you’ll need to change any pre-conceived notions they may have about market volatility. In particular, you need to get across that volatility does not equate to risk or loss.

Here are some common misconceptions about market volatility your clients may have and how to address them.

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