who i am story Archives - Page 4 of 4 - Don Connelly & Associates

Get Involved in Your Clients’ Decision-Making Process

October 31, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

To win new business, earn loyalty and get referrals, you need to focus on what your prospects and clients are thinking. We all have our own particular ‘mental model’ or way we see the world, based on our beliefs and experiences. According to classic consumer behavior theory we tend to follow similar thought processes when we make a decision whether to purchase a certain product or service.

By understanding this consumer behavior, you can tap into your prospects’ thought processes early on and influence decisions in your favor.

Never Forget that Clients and Prospects Are Real People with Real Concerns

September 5, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

Clients and prospects are real people so the best way to reach out to them and win them over is to appeal to their humanity – not wow them with financial jargon.

People won’t warm to you simply because you know your way around the stock market. Your prospects and clients make their decisions based on whether they like you and trust you – not on your ability to make the numbers add up. People overwhelmingly tend to make decisions based on emotions rather than on hard rational thinking. So put away your graphs, numbers, pie charts and statistics and convince people to trust you rather than the numbers.

The Five Soft Skills Financial Advisors Must Have to Succeed

May 2, 2016 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices / 0 comments

The development of an excellent soft skillset is crucial to your success as a financial advisor. You can find technical knowledge in any book, but practical knowledge involves ‘being’ rather than ‘knowing’, ‘practicing’ rather than ‘being taught’. Soft skills are absorbed through years of experience.

To develop great soft skills, practice them every day, hone them and never give up the quest for perfection.

Storytelling for Financial Advisors – Acquiring High Net Worth Clients through “Storyselling”

April 25, 2016 / by Diana Marinova / Connelly Corner, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

Nowadays “storyselling for financial advisors” is a big search trend. I found a book with that title but I doubt that’s what people in the industry are looking for. My guess would be that they are after high net worth clients with yet another “modern technique”. Truth be told, storyselling is just a catchy name for good old storytelling that Financial Advisors so rarely master completely.

Personalizing Your Services Will Help You Succeed as a Financial Advisor

October 5, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Managing the Relationship / 0 comments

All financial advisors generate income in the same way, by offering similar platforms at essentially the same price. The job description: to help people simplify their finances and get peace of mind that they can reach their goals. Naturally achieving this task is of the utmost importance but if you want to stand apart from the crowd and win more businesses you need to do more; you need to personalize your services.

By treating each client personally and making them feel important you will not just meet their expectations but exceed them. If your clients feel they’re just a number to you they won’t rate your services and they will be unlikely to refer you to others.

How to Develop Your ‘Who I am Story’

March 30, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself, Storytelling, analogies and power phrases / 0 comments

To succeed as a financial advisor you need to find a compelling method of differentiating yourself from the competition. To get to the top you need to stand out as being likeable and trustworthy so that clients will want to do business with you. A great way to build rapport with clients is to tell stories and in particular, you should spend some time developing a ‘who I am story’.

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

March 26, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

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.

How to Tell Clients You Are Raising Your Fee

March 9, 2015 / by Don Connelly / Best Practices, Marketing Yourself / 0 comments

You can show a client how to save for a successful retirement, but you cannot make him act on your advice. You can do everything for a client but make the decisions. Nonetheless, if people take your advice, they will educate their children without borrowing money and eventually retire with no financial worries. It is egregious to think that setting up a successful plan for someone and then politely goading that person into action over the next several years until that person’s financial dreams come true is only worth one percent. But that’s the corner we’ve painted ourselves into.

How to Use Stories and Analogies to Influence and Persuade

July 28, 2014 / by Don Connelly / Storytelling, analogies and power phrases, What's New / 0 comments

How to Use Stories to Influence and Persuade - for Financial Advisors

During our latest monthly webinar, held July 24, 2104, we discussed the importance of speaking in such a manner that our listener understands everything we say. It is the Advisor’s job to influence and persuade and it all begins with communicating clearly. “We want to go home and think it over” is often code-speak for “We don’t really understand you.”

When you give a good presentation full of sound advice and people choose not to act, what went wrong? Why did they choose not to do business with you? Why did you fail to move them?

There really aren’t that many possible answers to this question.

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