stick to the basics Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

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

/ 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.

Coronavirus: An Opportunity for Financial Advisors to Strengthen Client Relationships

/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom, Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

As I write this after the market close on March 9th, 2020, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1,800 points on the day, for a loss of 7.8%. The S&P 500 is down by 7.6% – the worst single day on for U.S. equities since the 2008 crisis.

This Monday loss follows some significant volatility late last week that already had a lot of investors on edge.

No doubt, most of you advisors out there are receiving some nervous calls and emails from your clients, wondering what’s going on.

This is where great advisors can earn their money. As a matter of fact, you as financial advisors may well not have as great an opportunity to add value for your clients for a very long time as you do today.

Why You Need a Referral Strategy and How to Develop One

/ by Don Connelly / Prospecting / 3 comments

Many advisors are uncomfortable asking clients outright for referrals, finding it hard to strike a balance between being aboveboard about wanting to acquire new business and being pushy or needy.

If that sounds like you, then you need to change your mindset because there are only three ways to gather new clients: From existing clients, people you know who are not yet clients, and people you don’t know yet. The best way by far to find new clients is via referrals.

How to Develop a Repeatable Process

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

If you want to make your life easier and become a truly elite advisor, make sure you have repeatable processes in place. This especially applies to tasks such as prospecting, presenting, following up and servicing your accounts. Remember: Repeatable processes produce repeatable results so make your goal consistency, not perfection.

In this post we’ll look at some practical steps you can take to incorporate repeatable processes into your working life.

Focus on What’s Important

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

If you want to reach the top of your profession as a financial advisor, you need to focus on the basics. Dedicate your time to prospecting, asking for commitments and managing client relationships. Success will only come your way if you think gathering assets rather than DOL rulings and falling fees. So stop getting distracted. If you want to build a successful business, focus on what’s important.

Here are six things to focus on, starting today.

What Happens If You’re Not Brilliant at The Basics?

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Only a tiny percentage of financial advisors get to the top and there’s no mystery about how they got there. It’s because they did what unsuccessful advisors didn’t: they became brilliant at the basics.

Unless you nail the basics there’s no way you can become an elite advisor. If you don’t set goals, work hard, organize your time efficiently and practice your soft skills to perfection you won’t have the underlying tools to take your business to the next level.

There are no shortcuts to getting the basics right. It will take time, years in fact. But if you don’t put in the effort, you won’t reap the rewards. If you don’t get brilliant at the basics your career will fizzle out long before you achieve success. Here’s a look at some of the basics and what happens when you don’t get them right.

Stick to the Basics – Success Tip for Financial Advisors

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Let’s talk a bit about sticking to the basics.

I had the good fortune one time of talking with Quinn Buckner. Quinn Buckner, I believe, won a national championship in college in basketball, played in the NBA for the Boston Celtics. I’m a basketball fan and a big Celtic fan. Quinn played with Larry Bird who I think, along with Michael Jordan, is the best that ever lived.

I asked Quinn Buckner what the most amazing thing was that he ever saw Larry Bird do. And he said:

Success as a Financial Advisor Is Easy to Explain, but Difficult to Replicate

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 4 comments

The good news for every Financial Advisor is that how one becomes a Top Tier Advisor is simple. The bad news is that it is not easy.

To rise to the top one begins by doing things right, by doing the right things and by working hard.

We lose a lot of people in the first twelve months.

The reason they fail is that,