Situations Have A Way Of Changing

"Situations Have A Way Of Changing"
By: Chad Soileau
August 19, 2019

15 years ago, when I first started my career in the Financial Advisory business, Mr. Neal, a very tenured and successful advisor, gave me a bit of sage advice after seeing me become frustrated with a client I was dealing with. The advice came in the form of a quote he’d come to learn to be true from his many years of experience.

“Situation have a way of Changing”

At the time, I took the phrase for its literal meaning. I remember thinking “Yeah, situations are always changing, this one sure the hell just changed on me!”. Over time, as I have gained much more experience and patience, I have come to understand it in a much more meaningful way.

In this instance, he and I were discussing the term as it related to our business and how frequently deals can easily come together or fall apart. Needless to say, I was quite frustrated with my situation at the time and for those of you that have experience working in sales and the general public, I’m sure you can relate.

On that day, I was working with a potential client that had a certain situation that I had a very good solution for. At that time, I remember thinking, I’ll never see them again and that deal is gone forever. 

At that time, Short term interest rates were high and the stock market was soaring, setting new records on what seemed to be a daily basis.

Now time has passed, the market has since crashed, losing some 40% of its value in a very short time and the federal reserve cut short term interest rates from above 5% to almost 0%. Banks are failing and everyone is in a complete panic. In our previous meeting, I pointed out that this would happen and the solution I presented would have protected them from the fall.

One year later, those same clients are sitting in my office, asking me about the exact advice we had spoken about previously.

The situation had changed, Mr. Neal was right!

As such, I too, had now come to learn and witness the deeper meaning of his statement. If you think about it, a person’s situation can change very quickly. Every day, someone is dealing with some type of change, some of them pleasant some of them not, you can fill in the blanks.

They all present new opportunities and occasionally bring back ones that were once thought to be lost.

You have to remember that sometimes it’s the right “whatever” you are offering or are presented but may be the wrong time for it to make sense or be relevant.

The idea is to never give up and that things can change quickly. Keep your head up and never stop moving forward, keep doing what you do, consistency and patience go a long way in your overall success.

Your situation may seem impossible or bleak, but if you keep moving forward, things will eventually change. There’s always going to be new opportunities and new situations that may have not been there the day before.

Use this line of thinking to look back over the last couple of years to prospects who passed on your initial offer to help and just make a few phone calls to check in and see how things are going and if they are open for taking another look. All you need is one to surprise you with a “Hey I’m glad you called” and you are in business.  But let’s face it, it won’t be a surprise because you now know what I know…situations have a way of changing!”