7. Communicating Better
“Advice has been commoditized. Get away from commoditization,” said Don Connelly, president and CEO of Don Connelly & Associates LLC. Ask yourself, “If I wasn’t around tomorrow, would I be missed?” Be irreplaceable.
Connelly explained we can get a vendor anywhere. He used Starbucks to illustrate how customers go where they get the best experience. Google was another company that dared to be different.
“Ramp up your EQ [emotional intelligence]. This business is soft skills. Hard skills are how you do the job. Soft skills are who you are. If you are confident in your soft skills, it is a layup,” said Connelly.
He urged attendees to find the right combination of competence and likability. He added, “If you sell investments, sooner or later people are going to be mad at you. Likability is silly stuff, like smiling.”
One great recommendation was to ask what wealthy prospects like to do and say, “I’d love to do that with you.”
Also, when advisors know too much, it can be a curse, since their technical knowledge gets in the way of effectively communicating with others. “It is something that afflicts really smart people. You forget how smart you are,” said Connelly. “People don’t buy what they don’t understand. All they want is someone they can trust.”
“Over time, we have made this business very, very complicated. It is not logical, it is emotional. Tell stories. Never forget you are a techie talking to non-techies.”