use stories and analogies Archives - Don Connelly & Associates

Advisors Must Master Communicating Complex Financial Concepts in Simple Terms

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Whether planning for retirement, investing in volatile markets, or managing tax implications, clients are often presented with intricate information that can leave them overwhelmed, confused, and anxious, undermining their ability to make informed decisions.

Of all the key roles and responsibilities of a financial advisor, one of the most essential is communicating complex financial concepts into simple terms the average person can understand. This is critical to helping clients understand their options, feel confident in their decisions, and build lasting trust.

When clients clearly understand their financial plans and the reasoning behind recommendations, they’re more likely to remain engaged, ask insightful questions, and feel empowered to take ownership of the plan.

How to Motivate Your Prospects to Take Action Now

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

No doubt you remember the last car you purchased. If you’re like most people, you spent hours, days, maybe months researching, comparing prices, features and specs. You knew what you wanted but were hesitant to pull the trigger. Ultimately, it wasn’t the gas mileage, sporty interior, or five-year bumper-to-bumper manufacturer’s warranty that moved you to action.

While those are nice features and may be important to you, they’re not the reason you bought the car. The reason you acted was how those features made you feel. They made you feel smart, secure, and proud. You may even feel like a million bucks. The smile on your face as you drove your new car home was not from having made a good decision based on the car’s features; it was from how your decision made you feel.

Three Stories about Trust to Use with Prospects and Clients

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

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.

Educate Clients about Market Volatility so They Can Confidently Stick to the Plan

/ by Diana Marinova / Best Practices, Connelly Corner / 0 comments

Happy New Year from all of us at Don Connelly & Associates! Hopefully everyone will enjoy good health during the new year, achieving great success both personally and professionally.

As promised, this week we’re posting the second part of the recap blog post, covering two more popular topics our community of Advisors was most interested in during 2020 – market volatility and how to communicate with prospects and clients about it. We’ll also share a few stories and analogies you can use to convince clients to stick to the plan, no matter the market conditions.

How to Build Your ‘Why I Am Here’ Story

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

Your ‘why I am here’ story is an essential market differentiator. First of all, not every financial advisor even has one – other than to make money. And out of those who really do have a client-centered reason for being in this business, not all of them are able to express it. So if you have a real reason you come to work every day, and you’re able to articulate it in a way that makes sense to the clients and gives them a reason to work with you, you’re already way ahead of the competition.

That’s why you need a “why I am here” story.

But the ability to articulate your story in a way that makes it stick is essential. You don’t want to get lost in the details. You don’t want to get sidetracked. You don’t want to get interrupted while you’re trying to tell it. And you don’t want to bore the listener!

Why You Should Create a Story-Benefit Matrix

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

Recently, in my post ”Never Underestimate the Power of a Good ‘Who I Am’ Story,” I mentioned the concept of building a good “story-benefit” matrix. I wanted to take a little time and drill down that concept.

Many salespeople are familiar with the concept of a features-benefit matrix – a handy little cheat-sheet that helps sales and marketing people translate product features into benefits for the customer.

Here’s how a features-benefit matrix works in a nutshell.

Tell Prospects What You Do instead of What You Are

/ by Don Connelly / Presentation Skills / 0 comments

In social settings, people will often ask what you do for a living. If, like the majority of advisors, you reply ‘I’m a financial advisor’, you’re missing an opportunity to pique others’ interest and possibly win new business.

Instead of simply sharing your job title, use this opportunity to establish your value, and give people a reason as to why they should want to work with you.

How to Help Clients Make Good Decisions

/ by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Your job is as much about managing relationships as it is about managing money. You need to establish close ties with your clients so you can become a positive influence in their lives over the long term. Unless you can steer your clients into making good decisions you not only risk losing them as clients – but you are doing them a disfavor – because you are allowing them to make potentially disastrous financial decisions.

Here are a few things you can do to influence your clients’ decisions positively.

How to Prepare Yourself for Market Corrections

/ by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

Stocks will edge higher, sometimes for prolonged periods of time, but this should never give rise to complacency. Because there’s always a ‘bear market’ waiting just around the corner.

Don’t get caught out when the markets start to fall. Prepare yourself in advance, both for your own peace of mind – and so you’re ready to reassure clients that there’s no reason to panic.

Here are some things you can do to make sure you’re in command when market corrections take place.

How to Keep Clients Motivated and Stop Them from Making Bad Decisions

/ by Don Connelly / Investing Wisdom / 0 comments

According to leading psychologist Danial Kahneman, people often form responses instinctively – accepting the first judgement that comes to mind. When left to own devices, we’re apt to make poor decisions based on fallacies or personal biases. And this is never truer than when it comes to investing.

The greatest challenge faced by any financial advisor is that of keeping clients invested for the long term. When the markets are down clients become anxious – they instinctively want to move their money out. Alternatively, they may want to start chasing ‘hot stocks’ in a bid to boost performance. Either way, they’re at risk of abandoning their long-term financial plan.

It’s your job to step into the breach and stop clients from making bad decisions. You need to act quickly to keep them invested.

Here’s how to stop clients from making bad decisions and help them stick to the plan – no matter what the market conditions are.

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