5 Common Mistakes Financial Advisors Make When Developing Their Storytelling Skills

5 Common Mistakes Financial Advisors Make When Developing Their Storytelling Skills

Financial advisors are increasingly recognizing the power of storytelling in their practice. Storytelling helps them earn the trust of prospects, build stronger relationships with clients, simplify complex financial concepts, and inspire action. However, developing this skill comes with challenges, and many advisors make common mistakes that hinder their storytelling effectiveness. Here are five of the most common mistakes and how to avoid them.

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The Importance of Your Storytelling Skills in Building Trust

The Importance of Your Storytelling Skills in Building Trust

Now and then, financial advisors must be reminded that they are in a relationship business and that what they have as a clientele is a direct by-product of trust.

The cold hard reality is that people need to trust you before they will engage with you. Especially these days, people are almost instinctively cynical, overly careful to approach others they don’t know with a heavy dose of skepticism. So, when we want to connect with any group of people, our first task must be to break through their defensive shells so we can build trust. Without trust, there can be no connection, no relationship, and no channel through which vision and ideas can flow.

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Three Stories about Trust to Use with Prospects and Clients

Three Stories about Trust to Use with Prospects and Clients

The most fundamental principle of building a clientele is understanding that people do business with people they like and trust. While it’s easy for many advisors to be likable, trust has to be earned—quickly and often. As an advisor, you can never lose sight of that because trust not only binds a client to you but it also enables them to follow your guidance with confidence and conviction, which is critical to their long-term success.

If you’ve been following this blog for any length of time, you know I believe in the power of storytelling to drive home concepts and change a client’s perspective. I offer these three stories about trust to you as an advisor to drive home the crucial role trust plays in your client relationships.

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How to Make Each Day a Success

Secret to Success - How to Make Each Day a Success

I think when an advisor is young or new in the business, he or she is always looking for the silver bullet, the magic bullet – the escalator instead of the stairway to success. I want to tell you a great story about the secret to success.

Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn this story about the secret to success.

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What Makes a Story Good?

What Makes a Good Story

“Tell me a fact and I’ll learn. Tell me a truth and I’ll believe. But tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever”. This ancient Native American proverb still resonates today.

Everyone loves a good story. Good stories can captivate, teach, and persuade people to act, making them an excellent way to communicate with prospects and clients.

In this post we’ll look at how to create great stories and inspire listeners to take action.

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Five Analogies Financial Advisors Can and Should Use with Clients

Five Analogies Financial Advisors Can and Should Use with Clients

What we find very easy clients often find difficult to digest. Even when you think you’re getting across your points well clients can be baffled by your financial knowledge. To get across your ideas so that clients will understand, use analogies.

Advisors who use storytelling and analogies to convey strategies and concepts have a competitive advantage over those that don’t. Analogies help to paint a powerful mental picture that connects to a client’s emotions. Using vivid analogies also helps to leave a powerful impression once clients have left the office – both of you and of the message or takeaway.

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Why You Need a “Who I Am” Story to Succeed

Why You Need a Who I Am Story to Succeed

When someone tells you they want to ‘think it over’ it’s a sign they haven’t invested in you. They are most likely not deciding about your recommendations. They are deciding about forming a relationship with you. Remember, the three most important things in this business are to be likeable, smart and trustworthy. A great way to be likeable and build trust is to tell a ‘who I am’ story to prospective clients. By telling them a story about yourself you can influence people and establish your credibility. A great story will resonate with clients, stir up their emotions and get them to act.

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Digital Marketing Trends 2015 for Financial Advisors

Digital Marketing Trends 2015 for Financial Advisors

Did you know that according to recent Gartner research, digital marketing accounted for 25% of all the marketing dollars spent in 2014 and it is expected to reach 33% in 2015?

Though traditional marketing methods like seminars, telemarketing, trade shows, print media, exhibitions, and networking groups are still effective, let’s face it – Top Financial Advisors have stayed ahead of the game by adapting their marketing initiatives to the digital world we live in.

So don’t get left behind! Update your marketing strategy for the year ahead and build a competitive advantage by following the digital marketing trends of 2015. Start with these four areas of improvement:

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A Simple Story – Financial Advisor’s Best Friend

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.

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