Are You A Client Or A Patient?

Earlier this week I was chatting online with a sales guru who posed a question on his Facebook page. The question was "Do you have clients or customers?" Only a few people responded so I felt obligated to jump into the fray with "I'd love to call them patients, but the law says I have to call them clients."

The sales guru immediately responded, wanting an explanation for my comment. I told him that as a doctor promotes "wellness" and preventing disease, I like to tell my clients about "financial wellness", but instead of preventing disease, I help people find the potential problems they will face in their financial plans and remove those hurdles. Needless to say, he was impressed.

It all reminded me of the old concept of thinking holistically. When another insurance agent tells me they only sell one product I instantly cringe. "Specializing" in my world is an issue, because if all an agent sells is, say term life insurance, then he or she is not addressing all of the other potential landmines that could be in front of the client. 

Thinking holistically means looking at as many scenarios as possible, prioritizing and facing them head on. 

Would you go to the doctor that only prescribes one thing for all of his/her patients, or do you want the doctor to give you a complete check-up and get to the root of the problem?  Of course, you'd prefer the latter option. So why would you want to deal with a financial advisor who only sells mutual funds or an insurance agent who thinks everyone should "buy term and invest the difference"? 

Can you imagine going to a shoe store that only selsl size 7 shoes? What if you need a size 10 or a size 5? Making your foot fit "one way or another" does you no good. With that logic, if you need a disability policy, the agent who only sells term life is useless.

Our philosophy is that every investment and insurance product has a need somewhere, but not everything is for everyone.  An indexed universal life may be a great fit for someone, where a term life may fit the bill for someone else.  When certain financial "experts" give blanket advice in the media, they are doing a disservice to those who take that advice to heart.

Which is why we want to talk to you. We want to know what your goals are, what is important to you and, of course, what your budget is, so we can find the right insurance product for you. By doing a little fact finding and asking questions, we can find the solutions to solve your insurance needs. That is what we do. 

No two financial gameplans are the same.  People are different.  Their needs are different.  Their loss tolerance levels and time horizons are different.  At Surf Financial Brokers, we take the time to find out what your goals are - personal, professional and financial.  From there, we start a conversation that can change as situations change.  Events like the birth of a child, loss of a job or elder care make a financial plan a moving target.  

Let us help you with a free consultation. We have even made it easier by adding our calendar to the Surf Financial website. You can schedule an appointment that works for you and one of our agents will give you a call, with no pressure whatsoever. We just want to ask questions that will help us understand what your goals are and make "financial wellness" work for you.

 

Chris Castanes is the president of Surf Financial Brokers, helping people find affordable life and disability insurance coverage. He's also is a professional speaker helping sales people be more productive and efficient and has spoken to professional and civic organizations throughout the Southeast. And please subscribe to this blog!