Friends can be great clients. You have already discovered clients can be great friends.
Years ago, the New York Times ran an article indicating the average American knows about 600 people. Your friends have likely put you in that little box that used to be labeled stockbroker, but now has a new label, financial advisor, pasted over it. You do more than that. Why tell them? How do you tell them?
Time out for a joke: Did you see this old one from Woody Allen? “A stockbroker is someone who invests other people’s money until it’s all gone.” If that’s what your friends think, don’t sit by the phone waiting for it to ring.
Why Remind Your Friends About What You Do
You know all about lights hidden under bushel baskets and “best kept secrets.” It’s time to think about what you do in a different way.
You know something about wine. You know a $50 bottle generally tastes better than a $10 bottle of wine. Now suppose you came across a $10 bottle that tasted as good as the $50 bottle! Would you tell anyone? Most people would! Why? The answers are obvious: You feel you would be sharing knowledge useful to them. They would personally benefit. They would thank you for making the effort.
You are the $10 bottle of wine! You have helped people you never met before get their lives and goals in order utilizing financial planning. You have saved people from making mistakes. You have helped them make money in the stock market. If you would do this for strangers, why not do it for someone you care about? Everyone should have the opportunity to say no.
Time for another example. You didn’t “buy” the first one. Friends have told you “I already have an advisor.” They might trade on their own, relying on their own advice. Some said: “I don’t do business with friends.”
Now try this exercise: Think of the smartest investor you know. They have a public persona and are quoted in newspapers, magazines and financial news shows all the time. Image this famous investor with a household name decided to take on twenty private clients. The account minimums were low. You and only you were selected to find these twenty investors. You are front page news!
If you told your friends and invited them, do you think they would say: “I don’t do business with friends?” Would they say: “I already have an advisor?” No! They would leap at the chance! They would turn “I don’t do business with friends” into “You must take me on as a client. We have been friends for a long time! You owe me!”
But the world’s most famous investor hasn’t made that offer to you. Maybe they did! There are plenty of famous investors with household names. They often have their own money management firms and mutual funds. Your friend can literally hire those famous investors to work on their behalf. You make that possible.