Creating miracles, helping clients to understand why managing money is more important than making money and seeing past appearances can all be some of the skills it takes to be a financial advisor. Find out more from MDRT members worldwide with these simple ideas to think differently and perhaps see what others miss.
Daily miracles
My team is made accountable to each other through a scorecard that we review as a team every Monday. Included on that scorecard are intangibles like a goal of performing five “minute miracles” each day. We all take three minutes each day for reaching out to someone to compliment, congratulate or just communicate good thoughts. With a six-person staff and five days a week, 30 miracles are coming out of our little office each week.
—Vanessa Y. Bucklin, MBA, CLU, Conrad, Montana, USA, 11-year MDRT member
Financial planning pyramid
My theory is that earning money is important, but managing money is more important. Two big goals in life are early retirement and financial freedom, and being able to manage money wisely is a basic element of a happy life. However, in my experience, many clients are completely clueless about managing money. Therefore, I often use the financial planning pyramid to help them understand. I start with lower-risk investments, like insurance, as the foundation and move up to the next layer with products for savings and wealth accumulation, and finally, to the peak with higher-risk investments. The pyramid shows the different allocations available to prepare for retirement and makes the concept of financial management easier for clients to understand.
—Pecky Wong So Ping, Hong Kong, China, 32-year MDRT member
No expectations
When meeting a client for the first time, it is crucial to arrive without expectations. Sometimes prospects drive a big car or dress fancy, giving the appearance that they are wealthy, but we don’t really know how they are doing financially. Maybe they’re showing off, and the luxury car and clothes are all they have left, leaving little money available for savings. There is also the other side of the coin. When we see prospects dressed super simple and driving an inexpensive car, that can mean they have a lot of saving capacity.
—Gerardo López Strozzi, Saltillo, Mexico, five-year MDRT member
These are excerpted from “Promoting charity and making miracles” in the the September/October 2024 issue of Round the Table.
In this Era, Clients are highly Analytical, Conversant and Wise,on the contrary they have their own Environment and Own Think Tanks(Like their Chartered Accountant and Their own Accountant and Their Financial Advisor and their own Gut Feelings)…We could suggest Good solutions but without Expectations…If they feel our Advice is perfect for them…They will contact back to us and Happy to go ahead according to our suggestions..