Green means go

The financial services industry is one of the most amazing and rewarding industries that I’ve ever participated in.

I saw the difference financial planning could make when I was a 30-year-old stay-at-home mom with a young child. That’s when my dad was diagnosed with mesothelioma and was given six months to live.

How financial advisors make a difference

When my dad passed away two years after his diagnosis, the only thing left for my mom was a very small life insurance policy. Thank goodness there was that, but that was it. My dad had been an entrepreneur his whole life and never put any money away, although my mom always worked hard to help make ends meet. Still, I saw how other people’s lives who had planned better were different from my mother’s. I just wanted other people to not go through the same thing that my mom did after my father died.

I had never thought about being a financial advisor before. Then a friend in the financial services profession told me I could do miraculous things in this industry to help others like my mom as well as have a flexible schedule. I immediately got my licensing and started with a small firm in town. I had some great mentors along the way, and I continued to learn.

Mentors who inspire

Mentors are a fantastic thing in this industry. My first mentor is my best friend and someone I can always turn to. I also had another mentor who took me to an Annual Meeting. It was absolutely amazing to be in the room with all these people who were so successful and had ideas that I had never heard of before. And they wanted to help me.

I remember at my first meeting talking to a mentor who asked me what color highlighter I used on client documents. I said, “Yellow.” He said, “Try green highlighter instead. Green means go. It’s going to make your closing ratio significantly increase because yellow distracts people from signing their names. Green means go.”

Watch Heather Lindsley in her video “Working with other professionals: A referral source that doesn’t stop.”

I went back to my office and changed every highlighter. I threw out my yellow highlighters and bought all green ones. It was difficult to find green highlighters at first. Once I did, I honestly can say it did make a difference in my closing ratio.

Heather Lindsley, of Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, has been an MDRT member for eight years and is a Court of the Table member.

For more information:

• Read “The mentoring advantage”
• Watch “Inspiration from mentors” (MDRT members only)