By Beth Lachance Hesson, CLU, CFP
In our office, we have a high-end cappuccino/espresso coffeemaker. My son makes wonderful coffee with the little designs on the top, and it really makes the clients feel special. We have a lot of mutual-fund reps and insurance-company reps who come in and always want to take us out for lunch, but it takes a lot of time away from your day just to go out for lunch.
So we have started having lunch for them at our home office. My husband is a fabulous chef. He says he’s a cook, but he is definitely a chef. The reps come in and say, “Have you picked a nice place for lunch? Are we going to be leaving?” I’ll say, “Shortly, in due time.” So we’ll have our little meeting and they’ll say, “Where are we going?” I say, “Well, let’s just check.” And we’ll go upstairs, and usually are out on the patio. We have a beautiful backyard patio, and we have lunch set up for them. They love it.
They remember me all the time. I get lots of little gifts from them, thanking me for providing them lunch. It works so well that we started doing it for our clients as well. They’ll come and we’ll have something simple — a salad with grilled chicken on top. Maybe if it’s later in the afternoon, a glass of wine for some good clients. And it just makes the trip to our office very memorable.
Hesson is a 24-year MDRT member from Midhurst, Ontario, Canada. Read more in “Build a brand that sets you apart.”
Great food combined with conversation is so memorable. If it makes our business hours feel less like “work”, that will put our guests at ease as well.
What a fantastic idea to include the family talent! Thank you for sharing.