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Two good sized financial service firms in January 2006 approached me to become Vice President of a new Long Term Care Insurance division for their firms here in Massachusetts. Each discovered I was retired from my own highly successful
financial planning
firm. They had learned of my outstanding background and credentials.
My job with either of them would have been to launch a new Long Term Care Insurance division within their financial services company to address the long-term care issues of their clients. I would have to work with and train their reps that wanted to be trained with the objective to sell Long Term Care Insurance to their clients through seminar-selling or one-on-one in their offices or in the homes of the clients. I would also hire and train a new sales force specifically for long term care issues of their clients.
To make a long story short, I knew the industry, the major players (long term care insurance companies and the various wholesalers as well as many of the leading insurance sales people ... nationwide), the financial services industry, what could be done and what could not be done legally and above board. I also had high morals and standards not common in the sales field. I knew I was the best and ONLY
potential candidate
nationwide to be able to do what each of those firms wanted done.
And done
quickly.
I told their
leaders
(one was a CEO
and the other
was a
President) that I was willing to do what they wanted and more and would earn their
real high 6 figure to 7 figure annual income depending on the respective company my first year.
But I had one stipulation - we would have to put the client first ... AND ... mean it. I told them that bottom line - I could not sell number two or number three insurance company as number one. I can't do that. I won't lie. If people couldn't qualify with number one, then we could look at the number two or three or what was appropriate for them - the client. My reputation was too valuable to me to do otherwise. And I knew they could do what I proposed.
I
also knew
from
experience
and
observation
that those
companies
that really
do put the
client first
offering a
good product
and/or
service at a
reasonable
price as a
great value
always grew
leaps and
bounds over
their "competitors".
As
a little
digression,
I, as
Operations
Manager,
helped a
former
service
company in
New Hampshire
double the
size of that
company twice
in two
years
with that
principle.
I had an
outstanding
President of
the company
that set the
example.
And a Sales
Manager who
also executed
that
principle as
well.
The question
in
January 2006 was were
these two
financial
service
companies
seeking me willing to put their ego and their vanity in their back pocket and do what was right for the client or did they want to pad their egos and vanity as most companies and individuals do today,
unfortunately,
and promote
and sell
their own
company's
product over
all others in
the industry?
You see, neither firm represented the number one insurance company for long term care and actually not number two but they did represent another major insurance company as their number one carrier of choice.
Again, I knew each of these progressive firms were seriously interested in creating this prestigious position as they saw the need was there as I did and still do, but I was willing to put my money (a
real high 6 to 7 figure annual income depending on which firm) where my mouth was.
To my knowledge
now over
5
years after my ultimatum to them neither firm has launched that division yet and I don't believe they ever will. Their egos and vanity simply got in their way for huge bottom line profits and a super win
not only for
their
employee /
independent
reps but
especially for the clients. Their clients
and potential
clients really are the ones that lost.
In other words,
we
are not putting this out there to brag how great
he
he, but so he may be used as an example NOT to short-change YOUR values. BE TRUE TO YOU regardless of the money someone wants to pay you. In the long run integrity is not worth compromising your values, whatever they are. You WILL be much much happier with less stress and more peace of mind ... and your reputation will remain high as it should be.
The profits
will also
come and
rock-solid
profits with
no regrets.
Remember,
opportunities
really are
everywhere.
Do it legally
and above
board. More
importantly,
remember...
It's YOUR decision! It's YOUR reputation!
It's YOUR future! Don't
compromise in
YOUR values. Raise
the standards
and smile all
the way to
the bank. |