Here at Clients First Financial, we specialise in working for you, not the Banks or Insurance Companies. We were working for a large international insurance company in Auckland, where both myself and Ioana did very well due to our passionate nature and our belief in the company and its products. As a result we were promoted quickly and won many awards along the way, even broke a company record. Al
l was well until in one appointment, we came across a client who was not paid his Trauma Policy. Even though the gentleman had a severe heart attack and had his heart removed from his body during the operation, he was still not paid! As you can imagine we were both outraged and shocked as we had told many clients that this Trauma Cover would pay in the event of a Heart Attack especially one this severe. After many phone calls and emails the Head Office in Australia informed us that the gentleman needed to have more than 25 percent of his heart permanently dead to qualify. We were very unimpressed with their response and remember asking how he would even go about proving this even if his heart was more than 25 percent dead? As far as they were concerned it was the client’s responsibility to prove this. We stressed that he could hardly have his chest opened up again and how ridiculous this entire situation was. Unfortunately there was nothing we could do and our dear client had no leg to stand on. The insurance contract that he signed had this 25 percent qualification in its policy wordings. As you can conclude it was not worth the piece of paper it was written on and that is all the insurance company had to honor. You can imagine that by this stage, we had lost all faith and trust in the company and could certainly no longer continue selling its products. As a consequence we decided to look at changing professions so we sent out our CVs. However in that time, we met with a Financial Adviser who tried to recruit Ioana while we were still both working for the insurance company in Auckland. He let us know that we could have access to companies that specialize in insurance, that not only offer covers with superior policy wordings that would pay, but were also more affordable. Our new mission was to help put in place the best possible covers available on the market at the most competitive prices now and long term, that will come to the party come claim time! We were very excited about the new adventure we were about to embark on as this meant becoming Independent Financial Advisers as well as starting our own company and so we did. Once we were registered we started Holistic Insurance Solutions. This however seemed to be somewhat airy fairy and too New Age so we then changed our name to Family First Financial. Sometime later we found out that this was actually a Christian Political Party which we somehow missed when we checked the name online. So this is how Clients First Financial came to be. A great name and constant reminder in terms of what it is all about, you the client. We have been in business over two years now and are proud to say we have placed over 25 million in personal covers for our constantly growing client base. Through Steven and Rebecca Harris, our first clients, we found out about a way to shave years off a mortgage without making extra monthly payments! We remember thinking at the time that this sounded too good to be true however we knew little about mortgages and were very curious. I then called the banks with the intent to be put in contact with a Mortgage Broker. Many refused saying it was a conflict of interest. After much probing I found out why. They feared we would take the insurance off them. The conversation went along these lines:
Daniel: “Of course we would take the insurance off you, when many clients along our journey have not been paid and many bank covers have similar if not the same policy wordings just like we experienced firsthand.”
The man at the bank: “Hey it’s all about the money that’s why you’re in this game right?”
Daniel: “Of course all businesses and people in general need money to survive and prosper however where do you think money comes from? The Client is where money comes from not thin air and maybe this is the problem with the banks and big businesses. You forgot what it is all about and who keeps you in business. It’s all about the money and we are all just another number to you.”
You get the idea. It was like this while we were working for the insurance company in Auckland. “What’s your target this week? How much will you sell?” We remember thinking how on earth can we know what we will sell when we do not even know if the prospective clients need cover let alone how much they would need. This approach was definitely not our way of doing business let alone running a company. The Chinese have a saying “If you want to kill the big fish all you must do is take away the water”. Well the clients are the water. And we do not have to stand for this. We have seen a huge and increasing trend firsthand where people want more specialized service. Most companies are only functional for about 5 hours per day. We know we can do better and we have. Finally an old friend contacted us through a post on Facebook and showed us the mortgage we have been dying to see. It was one of the most beautiful things we had seen. This led to us becoming Mortgage Advisers also and in doing so being able to add more value to people's lives. We have been so eager to help our clients increase equity and be mortgage free, something some people have no hope of sadly ever achieving. We have put forward millions in mortgages already however are only scratching the surface in terms of how many New Zealanders need to know about this product and how it can change their lives. The truth is many have received little financial education in regards to mortgages. We have found that clients only truly understand how it works once they see how this applies and the impact it has on their own situation. With a personal example we demonstrate the financial difference in black and white. And just like King Louis XV said “We sometimes do not know what we need or want until it is shown to us”. We have a speedy presentation that helps explain the mortgage and can do a simple financial comparison to show how this may work effectively for you also.
