Easy confidence-building tips

Every financial advisor has moments when their confidence wobbles. It’s only human, yet you have to move past that so you can confidently talk with prospects and clients.

First of all, understand that every financial advisor with any clients has success stories — even advisors who don’t think they know enough or are good enough yet. Keeping that in mind, try these two exercises to kick up your confidence levels:

1. Think of five occasions when clients expressed gratitude for something you’ve done. Perhaps it was finding coverage for them that they couldn’t find elsewhere or putting a plan or product in place that helped them. Maybe it was explaining a concept to them that they hadn’t previously understood. Write these stories down, print them and put them in your desk drawer. Share them with prospects and clients. Most importantly, though, whenever those insecurities about your value or abilities surface, such as after a phone call or a client meeting that didn’t go as well as you hoped, take the stories out of your desk drawer and re-read them.
2. Spend the next month asking your clients what they get from working with you and listen carefully to their answers. They may surprise you by revealing and reinforcing your value. And as a side benefit, it will make referral conversations easier.

For example, a client told one advisor that he was the best marriage counselor he and his wife had ever worked with.

“But I’m a financial advisor, not a marriage counselor,” the advisor protested.

In response, the client told him how his explanation of the couple’s finances finally put the couple on the same page financially, which benefitted their overall relationship.

Find out who you are to your clients and write down those testimonials. Share them (without names, of course) with clients and prospects, but also re-read them when you’re having doubts about your value.

Sandy Schussel is a performance acceleration coach who has been working with financial advisors for more than 20 years, helping them break through to a higher level of production.

MDRT members can see more from Sandy Schussel, watch “Begin asking for referrals with these questions.”

Find more tips for building self-confidence:

• Choosing self-confidence — Understand how to recognize and strengthen your unique gifts to shut out doubt and fear and become more confident and successful after watching this 2020 MDRT Annual Meeting and Global Conference Virtual Event presentation from Lisa Sun, the founder and CEO of Gravitas. (MDRT member exclusive)
• Reframing our fear of failure — Learn to effectively manage your fear of failure and regain your confidence with this 2017 MDRT Annual Meeting presentation from Adam Kreek, an Olympic gold medalist turned engineer, journalist and adventurer. (MDRT member exclusive)
• Why it’s important to identify your “special” — Bruce Lund, Ph.D., discusses in his 2019 MDRT EDGE presentation how to leverage your competitive advantage and sell your “special.” It’s a process that begins with celebrating your past instead of suppressing it since it’s what makes you different. (MDRT member exclusive)