Being a financial advisor is a challenging task, you need to be constantly active and having a pessimistic attitude can land you in trouble. Experts believe decisions are best made when you are optimistic.
Various research studies on emotional intelligence show that optimism is one of the keys to success. Advisors should be confident of achieving the goals otherwise there will be hurdles in their road to success. Your job is to persuade and influence investors to sacrifice their money for a better future. To do this, you have to be confident and optimistic of delivering this promise to the clients. Let us understand how optimism will help you to grow your business.
Have a clear vision
Some advisors may lack desire and dedication for their work because their thoughts are pessimistic. To avoid this, you need to have clear vision about their personal and business philosophy. You need to ask yourself where your passion lies and why clients should choose you to improve their financial health. “Positivity is the route to success. One of the prominent reasons why many advisors do not excel from their peers is because they start doubting the area of their work. Having faith in the work you perform will help your clients have faith in you,” advises Ramesh Bhat of Aniram.
Be persistent
After realising your true passion, be persistent to follow it. Successful people across all walks of life have faced rejection and it is no different in the advisory profession. Negative people cannot stick to difficult situations. “Once you are persistent, it makes you patient. When your resilience leads to success, you get a boost of motivation and you try harder to achieve more,” said Santosh Nair at the recent MFRT event held in Pune.
Don’t fear the market downturn
Markets are volatile – they are rarely if ever in a steady state. That is the nature of the beast. Discussing events such as China, Greece, ISIS on a regular basis can only create anxiety and nervousness among your clients, no matter how vigorously you explain the situation. Learn to shut out all the noise in the markets and encourage your clients also to do so. Instead get them to focus on their long term goals. Bangalore based advisor Deepesh Mehta says, “Take rational decisions. It may happen that your clients’ portfolios get affected in the short term due to many of these events. Assure them that it would not affect their long term investments and you will review the financial portfolio.”
Remember that your clients are looking you as a competent and trustworthy expert. You need to be optimistic and confident to evaluate client problems.
Be curious
Advisors should change and adapt themselves according to the situation. Shift your focus from certainty to curiosity. Commit yourself to learn and excel to grow your business. “Another way of being optimistic is by challenging oneself to learn more. Technology has changed the medium of communication with the clients. If I stick to traditional means and do not learn new techniques, then I will be left behind in the competition,” adds Deepesh.
To sum up, remember that if prospects doesn’t view advisors as helpful and trustworthy, it is unlikely that he/she will feel comfortable to hire you as an advisor. This is dependent on how confidently you approach your clients. Instead of delaying action due to fear, cultivate a more positive disposition.
