/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Most advisors believe they are good listeners. And many are. After decades of client meetings, market swings, and late-night planning sessions, they have learned to catch the tremor in a voice, the hesitation before a number, the glance that says more than words. They nod at the right moments. They remember the names of children and the dates of retirements. They guide conversations with a competence that feels earned and effortless.
But listening rarely disappears overnight. It fades over time. What begins as authentic engagement gradually shifts to something smoother and more efficient. The very experience that makes advisors valuable, the thousands of conversations that teach them patterns, pitfalls, and probabilities—can also dull their curiosity. We start to see clients not as new stories unfolding in real time but as familiar variations on themes we’ve already mastered.
The danger isn’t that you stop caring. It’s that you start assuming.
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Common Listening Mistakes Advisors Make When They Start Assuming
/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments
Most advisors believe they are good listeners. And many are. After decades of client meetings, market swings, and late-night planning sessions, they have learned to catch the tremor in a voice, the hesitation before a number, the glance that says more than words. They nod at the right moments. They remember the names of children and the dates of retirements. They guide conversations with a competence that feels earned and effortless.
But listening rarely disappears overnight. It fades over time. What begins as authentic engagement gradually shifts to something smoother and more efficient. The very experience that makes advisors valuable, the thousands of conversations that teach them patterns, pitfalls, and probabilities—can also dull their curiosity. We start to see clients not as new stories unfolding in real time but as familiar variations on themes we’ve already mastered.
The danger isn’t that you stop caring. It’s that you start assuming.
Read more
How to Command and Maintain Control over Conversations with Prospects and Clients
/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments
How often have you been in a meeting with a client or prospect and felt like you lost control of the conversation? After starting on one subject, the other person goes off on tangents or takes the conversation in a new direction. Clients who are upset may launch into a rant with no particular point or one that isn’t related to the work you do with them. Or they simply want to talk about something other than the subject matter you broached with them.
Whatever the reason, when a client or prospect conversation goes off the rails, it’s incumbent upon you to steer it back in the right direction. Otherwise, your value to that person diminishes as long as you’re not in control. Taking control doesn’t mean taking over the conversation and dominating the talking space. Instead, it means getting it back on track, on the path to where it can achieve a productive or desired outcome. That can’t happen if you’re doing all the talking.
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