Be the advisor who gives people a chance rather than judging by their clothes

Early in my career, I had a couple of clients who used to come into one of the offices I worked for. Their clothes looked like they could have come from any thrift store. Their T-shirts were usually stained and had holes, and their hair was unkempt. You wouldn’t think they had a penny. And because of that, the majority of the time that they walked in, they got ignored. It was a home and auto insurance place where I was working, and other advisors would accept the $50 for their bill and not ask them any questions.

I stopped them one day and had a conversation with one of the spouses. I said, “What is it that you need to get done? What’s your goal? I’ve heard that you have some different things go on in your life. What is it that you need?”

Turns out that they had a half-million dollars sitting between different savings accounts. They got ignored by many different advisors because they didn’t look the part. Because I took the time to ask them the questions without knowing the dollar amount in the accounts, the couple is now one of my closest — actually, we’re more friends than they are clients at this point in time.

Terri E. Krueger is a six-year MDRT member from Syracuse, New York. Hear more in the MDRT Podcast:

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