Clients First: The Two Word Miracle

It Was Our Fault

Didn’t she get it? I think if she had, she would have been the one standing on the stage instead of us. She was better dressed. She had worked at least 17 more years in the business. She seemed ambitious and determined. But she just didn’t get it.

This lovely, well-intentioned woman had been searching for years, her lifetime perhaps, for the secret that would make her a success. We’ve met thousands of seekers since that day at the Mustang Library, and they all asked the same what-is-the-secret-of-your-success question, and they all dismissed our take-care-of-the-client answer. Were they not listening? No. It was our fault.

We hadn’t found a way to explain that real reason. Our answer seemed too simple, too obvious. We didn’t have charts or a pyramid diagram or a list of rules. We talked about taking care of clients, and people would say, “Oh, we already do that.” Or they would ask, “Is that some kind of customer service thing?” We knew even then that Clients First was a two word miracle that, once understood, had the power to change peoples’ lives, to transform businesses, and to bring about financial security. We just could not explain it.

For the first half of our lives, we had been just like the blue-suited woman who persevered in her stylish attire. We were fellow travelers. We had struggled with the same question and were left wanting for an answer. We looked for the secret as though it were something others knew and kept from us. We didn’t discover Clients ...