Our report on a presentation at the 2023 MDRT Annual Meeting that great advisers should do just enough for their clients – and no more – caught the attention of Riskinfo readers this week…
Great advisers should do just enough for their clients, and no more. That’s the view of MDRT guest speaker and independent financial adviser Jerry Wellington.
UK-based Wellington told an audience of finance specialists at this year’s MDRT conference in Nashville that advisers are by their nature helpful people who want to do the best for their clients.
“However, I sometimes wonder whether we try too hard, whether we are doing too much,” he said.
“We are adding services for our clients, but we are not removing stuff at the bottom. We are just adding more, and more, and more. If we do too much we run the risk of burn out.”
Wellington, who has been a member of MDRT since 2006 and is a global thought leader, said while it’s fine to check-in with clients to make sure you are doing enough for them, “…don’t do things that they don’t value. It won’t add anything to the relationship”.
“We need to do the right things to give our clients success,” he said. “Giving good service does not mean success.”
He then asked members of the audience if they are aiming to please, or aiming to succeed?
“There is a big difference,” he said. “The bottom line is, how do the niceties we provide produce income? That’s the bottom line. It is easy to lose sight of what we do for our clients.
“All clients want is a better life. They don’t want a plan, or a life insurer, they don’t want a pension. They want a better life.”