for High End Prospects
March 24, 2009
As a matter of courtesy, he paid a personal visit to his top ten clients to let them know of his plans. All of the conversations about this went well.
All except the talk with one of his very largest clients, a highly successful serial entrepreneur.
This client’s response took him aback:
“Joe, I’ve really enjoyed our relationship and you’ve done a great job for me. But I have to tell you that I’m going to be moving my account.”
Caught completely off guard, the broker replied that this was obviously his prerogative but confessed to being surprised. He asked his client to tell him more.
“This is no reflection on you or your daughter” was the reply. “Let me tell you what happened.
“For some time, I’ve sat on the board of a local hospital - among the other board member is one of your competitors. Over the course of time, we chatted at meetings and got to know each other a bit.
“About three years ago, this guy called me and said he’d like to buy me breakfast, to talk about some investment strategies he’d put in place for some business owners who he worked with that might be a fit for me.
“I told him that you and I worked together, that I was happy where I was and that this wouldn’t be a good use of his time.”
The client paused and then went on. “The other broker’s response surprised me.
“He said - I’m delighted to hear that. First, I’m delighted that you’re being well served. And second, in light of that I’m happy to hear that you aren’t looking at alternatives – because I wouldn’t want my clients who I’m doing a good job for to be talking to competitors either. But why don’t we have breakfast regardless.”
“So we had a very pleasant breakfast, talked about what was happening at the hospital and our families, didn’t really talk about investments much at all.
“But I started getting his newsletter and invitations to things he was putting on for his clients.
“And about six months later, he called and invited me to a luncheon to hear a money manager in town from New York.
“Since then, he’s been in touch two or three times a year. We’ve had lunch a couple of times, we played golf on one occasion.
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