My CFP® Mentor Story
CFP® Mentors Pay It Forward
As Wealth Advisors, we’re all in the business of helping families build wealth and protect assets. As CFP® Professionals, we have a unique opportunity help individual investors, families, and business owners manage the risk and opportunities of everyday life, recover from the unexpected, and realize their highest purpose.
“Trust men and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great.” —Ralph Waldo Emerson
I always wanted to be a hero. I knew I had it in me, but nagging doubts and fears prevented me from being the person I wanted to be. For years, my roles at State Farm gave me plenty of opportunities to help people. When I saw that my efforts helped them fulfill their dreams, I felt fantastic! But far too often, my heart was burdened by misguided goals and divided loyalties. I worked very hard, but I still felt frustrated and discouraged.
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Not so very long ago, the lights came on for me. I had an insight that has been a turning point in my life. It has both liberated me and challenged me. Because of this insight, I am more passionate about my job than ever before, and not incidentally, I am more successful in my business.
This turning point came when I signed up for the Financial Planning Association Residency Program. I went to the conference center a day early to spend time with some friends. That morning I walked down to the restaurant to get some coffee, and I saw a man in his 50s coming out of the exercise room. He was handsome and buff. I would guess that he pumped iron and ran about five miles every day. He was the epitome of a handsome, fit, fabulously successful, got-it-all-together businessman. Instantly, I hated him. Our eyes met for a second, and we smiled and nodded to each other the way polite businessmen do. I hoped I would never see him again.
That afternoon, I walked in to the first meeting of the Residency Program and there he was. He introduced himself, “Hello, my name is Rich.” I hoped to avoid him as much as possible, but as luck would have it, he was to become one of my mentors for the entire week. A few minutes later, all the mentors were asked to give thumbnail sketches of their business philosophies and how they serve their clients. The rest of the week would be devoted to putting meat on the bones of these brief value statements. That’s what we were there to learn. All of us attending the conference aspired to earn the mark of a CFP®, but we needed to know what that credential means in the real world of priorities and relationships.
When Rich’s turn came, he told the group that he hoped to impart to us how much he treasures his clients.
“My clients,” he told us, “are more than account numbers and sources of commissions. They are people who entrust their hopes and dreams to me.”
He assured us that what matters most is not how much we know about investments, tax law, or retirement planning, and it’s not how well we’ve perfected a particular set of sales techniques to get them to say yes. It’s about the people themselves.
Our calling, he said, is amazingly simple and immensely profound: to connect with people on the deepest level to earn their trust so they will share with us their dreams for their families and themselves. Instead of focusing on our own goal of getting them to buy a policy or invest some money so we can earn a commission, the focus shifts dramatically to their needs, their hopes, and their deepest desires. At the end of Rich’s introduction, he spoke a sentence that has resonated in my heart ever since:
When clients share their most heartfelt dreams with me, I consider that a sacred trust.
Rich’s words and his example were like focusing the lenses on a pair of binoculars. Things that had been so overwhelming suddenly became clear and simple. What matters most is not knowledge but relationships, not details but dreams.
Please don’t misunderstand me. I’m certainly not saying that knowing products isn’t important. It is very important, but it is not most important. It is a question of what is paramount in our hearts, and then in our actions and relationships.
The very reason I joined State Farm way back in 1989 was because I cared about people. I wanted to help them. That’s what motivated me in the early days, and that was the driving motivation Rich was bringing me back to. That week, Rich’s insight was like a cool breeze on a hot day. I felt refreshed, energized, and more passionate about my job than ever before. Finally, after years of frustration and doubt, I “got it.”
CFP® Training Wheels
In my meetings with clients, I’ve learned to think far less about selling stuff and far more about fulfilling their dreams. They sense that I care—really care—about them. This new foundation of our relationship has opened doors incredibly wide for me to serve them. The transformation in my own life and my business motivates me to help other CFP® professionals learn Rich’s lesson, too. That’s why I write and speak and its why I love my career as an independent “fiduciary” CFP® Practitioner.
And that’s why I’m thrilled to be a CFP® Mentor. I simply want to pass along the life-changing lesson Rich taught me: What matters most is the sacred trust we earn because we genuinely care.
