What would you think of a financial adviser or stockbroker who had told you to get out of the stockmarket and into cash back in June/July of this year?
Would you be just a little bit pleased with that advice?
Well I absolutely would.
This adviser would have steered me away from a huge chunk of the biggest stockmarket meltdown in most people’s lifetimes.
In fact, while everyone else was watching their hard-earned assets evaporate I would have been earning a trickle of money, and now be cashed up to pick and choose.
Now…
What if I told you that there is an adviser who did just that for his clients…
…but he has had to leave the company!?!
Incredible, but true!
By advising his clients to get into cash he lost all the income from commissions he was making by having people in the stockmarket. Therefore, to make ends meet he has gone off to get a job at a bank!
This guy is in Canada where the stock market has fallen around 30% in the quarter.
This means he saved all the clients who followed his advice a whopping 30% of their savings (and remember that if you have suffered a 33% fall, the maths sayd you need a 50% rise just to get back to where you started!)
His clients are now in a position where their cash can buy up stocks that are 30% or more cheaper than they used to be. A double advantage!
And yet in a couple of weeks time he will begin a new job with a bank to get back the income he has been losing.
This a cautionary tale of what can happen when someone doesn’t know how to apply Word of Mouth and referral marketing.
So when I heard of his plight I arranged to give him a call.
Do you think he is pleased to have lost an income because he gave good advice?
No, certainly not.
Do you think his client’s want to lose him as a financial adviser?
Not if they have any interest in their financial future they don’t, but they don’t know this is happening. He hadn’t told them a thing!
Do you think this is an fantastic dinner-table conversation starter that would have word of mouth recommendations flocking to him, if only this story was out there?
I absolutely do!
The tragedy is that this adviser had no idea how to turn this situation into an event that MAKES his career, rather than ends it.
Heck, this would be worthy of a page in a local newspaper…
“Elderly Widow’s Home Saved From Stockmarket Crash”
“My friend’s are all worried about how they are going to survive with bills increasing and their savings way down, let alone whether there will be anything to pass on to the kids.”
“But my financial adviser steered me clear of this and I sleep so much easier at night. I am not having to cut back on prescription medicines, or buying my dog his favorite treats!”
[Okay, so I never wrote for newspapers. Radio was more my thing.]
Let me get personal for a moment.
What are you saying about YOUR financial advisers at the moment?
Where do you think their real interests lie, and what word of mouth are you giving them?
Finally, what would it have been worth to you to have had THIS adviser looking after your money?
What’s your opinion?
Enter a comment on this post, and I will make sure to pass it on to the adviser himself for his learning.
-Martin Russell
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2 Comments
Martin - You make a great point here and unfortunately I do not see a lot of it happenning in the sales world where I am.
A lot of sales people only have their commission on their minds and not what’s best for the prospect or client.
The “hard sell” may get sales today but not for tomorrow and will not foster word of mouth.
Sometimes a sales person/financial advisor has to advise or recommend something that is in the best interests of their client and not for themselves.
This is what a TRUSTED ADVISOR does.
I’m sure the financial advisor will do well long term with an attitude that he has.
Thanks
Sean
Congratulations Sean! Great to meet someone in sales with the long-term view.
Spot on with TRUST being the key. I love this financial adviser’s attitudes.
However he WON’T do well long-term if he can’t market properly. Just being a good person, or providing a good service is not enough. If you can’t COMMUNICATE well (the business term is ‘marketing’), then you go out of business or change jobs, and your clients lose the value you offered them.
That is a lose-lose tragedy, that good word of mouth marketing and quality sales training can be part of solving.
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