Don’t discount the small referrals

Recently,  I heard a great story from A.L. Kawaja, a financial advisor since 1999.  He told a story about one of his best clients and how he got them.

When he first started in the business he had a gentlemen walk-in who wanted to buy $5000 worth of Abercrombie & Fitch stock.

A.L. said, “I took the time to get to know the guy.  We had similar philosophies on life and business.  It was a small account, but I enjoyed helping him. Then, a year later he called me and said he really enjoyed working with me and that he had $1,500,000 in assets that he’d like to move over for me to start over managing.  At that moment he became my biggest client.  I wouldn’t  have gotten this business if I hadn’t treated him right when he had a small account.  You never know what people do or don’t have and he was testing me out a year before.  Even better is that over the years he has referred several other high net worth clients over to me.”

Over the past decade I’ve heard countless stories like this one.  I love hearing all of them because we all need reinforcement on both how and why to approach relationships in life and business.

1- He treated his smallest client no differently than his largest client.

2- Small clients turn into big clients over time.

3- Relationship building is a lot like farming.

4- Nothing happens overnight.  Treat people the right way and good things will happen in return.