A Client’s Highest Compliment

I remember working closely with a family and their young adult children who, over several months, asked us to take them through our planning process and bring their portfolios under our management. 

Small business owners, we learned this family also owned property that, in future years, would be a prime tract of land for residential development. Over the span of a couple of years, we were able to help them connect with a developer who, with them, had a vision for this beautiful land imagining its full potential. 

Then it happened. As part of a routine review of their portfolios, they told me about a meeting with the developer coming up and asked me if I could join them. I’m not sure what the look on my face conveyed, but they quickly said, “We need and want you to be with us every step of the way.” It was humbling to think that we had gained such a high level of trust with this family, they would not think of going forward with this project or any other without our involvement.  

This high level of trust did not happen quickly. Yes, they brought their business to us because they like, trust, and respect us. They now keep their business with my former team. Over a span of 10-15 years, they have committed to bringing the proceeds of the land’s sales to the team for management. It’s been quite a friendship, business relationship, and journey to say the least. 

Growing a comprehensive advisory relationship with clients takes time. Even more so, it demands a keen awareness that such a journey doesn’t happen without seeing so much more beyond asset management. There is no higher compliment for an advisor than the invitation this family gave us. We gained that trust not so much by outperforming the market, but by out-serving everyone else in their life.  

Along the way, we supported them through the death of a parent, helped them wisely invest their children’s assets, and showed them effective ways to use our lines of credit facilities. Most of all, we have engaged them beyond the business in deeply personal and caring ways.  

We tell our clients that investing is a marathon, not a sprint. We would be wise to hear that metaphor as we build client trust, deepen client engagement, and listen until we sometimes think our ears will fall off to hear accurately and deeply what a client is saying. When we do our work well, clients want us with them when major life decisions stare them in the face. 

Build your business with such awareness of the big picture. When you do, a client’s highest compliment will fall on your ears more and more and more.