Maybe it’s the business model I operate in, advisor to advisor, but I have difficulty understanding why collaboration is so difficult for so many. To me, it seems to be the most natural way to work, for other financial professionals, it appears to be a mystery yet to be solved. Is collaboration really too hard to figure out? Too risky? Too threatening?
Last week, I did a client meeting online. On the Zoom were the client, the original advisor, me, and a premium financing expert. The task was to answer all the client’s extensive questions about the proposed financing arrangement. There was healthy, open give and take with all of us. At the end of our hour call, the client was comfortable and confident. He still had more questions and requests which were all fulfilled by a later email. The teamwork did nothing but help the client to move closer to his desired outcome. The team didn’t step on each other, allowing expertise to shine through. The client won. Why is this hard?