The Elevator Repair Story
I met an Advisor at Merrill Lynch in Detroit who told me a very interesting story.
Listen to the audio episode or read the transcript below, adapted from the video, to learn an important lesson about client service.
While he was prospecting, he came across a very wealthy person. And the person said he couldn’t invest at that point because he was selling a house, a multimillion-dollar home, and he wanted to get rid of the house first. And he mentioned, in fact, he had a malfunctioning elevator in the house and he couldn’t find a repair person that was any good to repair the elevator.
So, the Advisor went online and found several elevator repair people. He called them and asked all the right questions: how long they’ve been in business, what’s their reputation, are there referrals, etc. He really vetted them. When he had a condensed list of people that he thought were excellent at repairing elevators, he emailed the prospect and said, “Here you go. Here are people that can fix your elevator to help you facilitate the sale of your house.”
Now, when I talked to the Advisor that day, the man had not sold the home. But that’s the kind of service that really attracts people. We’re in a commoditized industry in the sense that we’re all delivering the same or similar experience. You swill stand out if you offer a better experience. This Advisor demonstrated that he is somebody who’s very, very conscious of client service.
A great service model will set you miles apart from those Advisors who are offering nothing more than basic value.
*This video episode first appeared on Don Connelly 24/7 – a learning center for Financial Advisors, designed to help you become brilliant at the basics and take your business to the next level.
