Get Over It

ach of us would like to be appreciated for who we are, but also recognized as being worthy of appreciation. Maybe I’m just projecting here, but if I have to prove to you that I’m a great guy, I don’t want to do it. You’re only worthy of my consideration, you only have the right to praise me, if you first are insightful enough to realize that I’m really special.

That’s a false premise. However, years of association with advisors of every persuasion lead me to argue that many of you feel the same way about yourself and your practices. Yes, you know you’re good, and you do your utmost to serve your clients while trying to build enduring businesses, but beating your own drum seems so, well, d?(C)class?(C). That’s why passive referrals are the lifeblood of the independent advisor community. You do a great job serving a client, who then doesn’t hesitate to sing your praises to their neighbor or cousin or colleague or fellow beach club member. You wind up with a very hot prospect who walks in the door for meeting number one with an already keen appreciation for your wisdom. That prospect will make a worthy client.

After all, the alternative is to be one of those distasteful salespeople with a highfalutin, overblown sense of their own importance. In fact, weren’t those the exact people you wouldn’t want your children to grow up to be, and in fact didn’t want to be yourself? Aren’t they the folks who stretched the truth at best and downright lied at worst about their own qualifications, who oversold their products and services, who closed the deal but then turned their back on the client as they jetted off to Maui to enjoy the top producers’ luau?