The Wisdom of the Mentor

The Wisdom of a Mentor

After starting in this business as a junior in college, I spent seven years in mid-market sales, selling life insurance exclusively in the family marketplace. In 1986, at the age of 28, I started a scratch agency. At the time, that was really my only option. No one would hire me because I was interviewing to be a general agent, not an agent! Again and again I was told, “You can’t be a general agent. You have no experience running an agency, no systems, nothing! And you’re only twenty-eight years old!”
I was confident in my own abilities and knew that failing wasn’t an option. When I’m recruiting someone today, I firmly believe that if they have a track record of success, there’s a good chance that the success will continue. Thankfully, that was true in my case, too. I will say, though, that I don’t think I’d attempt a scratch agency at age 28 today, given the complexities of our business!
We were one of the first agencies in metropolitan Richmond to market ourselves as a comprehensive planning firm. That made a huge difference in our success as an agency, but that alone wasn’t enough. What helped us take our success to the next level was when I found a mentor for myself. One of my strengths has always been surrounding me with people who have done this job longer and better than I have.
So I set out to find the best mentor in the business. I had heard a lot about Dick McCloskey, who is the CEO of the Tax & Financial Group in Newport Beach, California. Before mentoring was talked about in this industry, before it was embraced and widely practiced, Dick had 22-year-old college graduates in the business making six-figure incomes. The key to his success was a mentoring culture.
I consider Dick to be the grandfather of mentoring, and I give him credit for the development of the mentoring system in this country. Dick also is an expert in selling to the business market.
I called Dick and asked him if he would mentor me in the area of agent training and development. He traveled from California to see me, and we began working together. He helped me establish both a mentoring culture and a focus on the business market. Within only three years, my agency made it into the top 10 of Securian, and it has been there ever since.
Mentoring has allowed us to take advantage of being a comprehensive planning firm. Sharing and pooling our talent has created a tremendously helpful, productive culture. Many of the advisors coming into this firm are young, right out of college. To be successful, they have to lean on someone else. Being a mentoring firm means that our young and experienced people alike go out of their way to help each other. We don’t have those “prima donnas” who shut their doors and think new people are a distraction. Instead, they know that new people are a part of a successful future.
The mentoring culture also has allowed us to team people up according to their strengths. Some people are great technicians; others are excellent relationship managers.
As I mentioned, Dick also helped me focus on and specialize in the business market. As a comprehensive planning firm, it’s the business owner who benefits the most from the multiple products and expertise that our agency has. We can offer anything from person financial planning to employee benefits.
We operate similar to how large CPA or law firms operate. One person can’t be an expert or specialist in all areas. Our culture through mentoring has evolved so that when a planner approaches a client, he or she does the entire fact-finding but brings in product and planning specialists when needed. As an agent matures and gain experience, he’ll begin to specialize in a particular area. This ensures that our clients get the absolute best advice and treatment.
In building anything¾a practice, agency, or any entity¾I think that, for you to be successful, you’ve got to find yourself one or two mentors. Whenever you get time with them, ask a lot of questions and listen. The wisdom in this business is so much more valuable than the knowledge. Wisdom is something you get from a mentor¾a more experienced person who can help you benefit from their own experience.
Ask anyone who has had a mentor, and they will tell you that it’s the best thing that ever happened to them. And when you provide that type of deeply personal development to your agents, your retention rate will increase.

Michael R. White, CLU ChFC
GAMA International President, 2003-04
President & CEO
Virginia Asset Management, LLC
Securian Financial Network
Richmond, VA




Richaard Wong Best Practices, Training & Development AIA
20/F, AIA Building, 1 Stubbs Road Hong Kong Tel: +852 2832 6762 Fax: + 852 2572 1792 Richaard-kl.wong@aig.com

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