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When the Right Thing
I entered the life insurance business four decades ago and was representing one insurance company. In those days, once agents were trained and licensed, our value to the company could be measured by “policy count.” Companies believed consumers preferred to work with agents who sold the most policies.
In the meantime, I learned from my high net worth clients that they valued my knowledge and experience to help them make informed decisions. They appreciated my ability to listen, understand, and empathize with them. They were comfortable when I sat on their side of the table. That was the right thing.
Scores of highly skilled agents were learning the same lesson, leaving their “captive companies” and the inherent agent-consumer conflicts of interest. In the new independent model, we became advocates helping our high net worth clients solve problems and achieve objectives with life insurance tools.
The Power of Objectivity
The independence we won brought waves of creative applications of life insurance for tax and other funding strategies. Consumers, clients, corporations, and insurance companies all benefitted. Yet, eventually, a hitch in the model showed up—the need for continuity.
At its foundation, life insurance is a face-to-face promise to make funds available after a specified event that could be years in the future. Will the life insurance advisor still be around? Maybe, but if not, what client services will be available? Who will service, manage, and ultimately guide the stewardship decisions for the beneficiaries?
Clearly, not the life insurance companies. Instead of addressing those issues, they have borrowed Mark Twain’s complaint about the weather, “Everybody talks about it, but nobody does anything about it.” The client continuity dilemma comes back to independent firms—like ours.
The Test of Commitment
I value my clients, my work, my team, my professional partners, and I am proud of all our firm has accomplished; so, I’m not leaving all of it any time soon. On the contrary, C3 Financial Partners extends our future to permanently protect and preserve continuity of client services.
Here’s how C3 Financial Partners initiatives anticipate your future:
- Structure our firm as the leader in client continuity planning.
- Leverage our Clarity-Confidence-Coordination maxim to a new level.
- Expand our advisory capabilities to four generations of professionals.
- Diversify our team mindset to respond to each tax and regulatory change.
- Prepare for planned and unplanned ownership transfer.
- Develop proprietary client and beneficiary service systems.
- Focus on next-gen challenges and stewardship coaching.
Client Continuity problem? Solved.
