Ask an advisor: what’s the strangest place you’ve met a client?

Finding clients is often top of mind for advisors. With AI systems and technology expected to smooth the way for advisors to do more client-facing work, the hunt for new business is likely to go into overdrive for an increasing number of advisors. 

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It turns out that something as simple as going about one’s daily existence can be a massive benefit that tilts in the advisor’s favor. Here are five advisors who answer the question: What’s the strangest place you’ve met a client?

Hiking and landing business

Catherine Valega, an investment advisor with Green Bee Advisory in Burlington, Massachusetts, considers herself to be a “chatter” and enjoys hiking in her downtime. As such, she has met plenty of fellow hikers along the way. During a weekend of hiking in the White Mountains of New Hampshire, she came across a fellow hiker.

“When you find hikers, you tend to walk with them for a bit,” she said. “I love hearing people’s stories.”

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It turned out the gentleman was a business owner. Valega, who works with entrepreneurs, shared that she advised many just like him, “and the conversation flowed from there,” she said.

During their conversation, she told him to look her up after the weekend hike was over to schedule a call, and he did. 

“Do what you love,” she said. “And always be ready to share how you can help people.”

Bringing expertise to fitness class

Diane Pearson of Wexford, Pennsylvania-based Pearson Financial Planning, participates in water aerobics classes to keep fit. During one of the classes, she met a fellow splasher who brought her a dilemma Pearson was more than happy to assist with.

The woman, she learned, was “working with another advisor who was attempting to sell her a product that did not make sense in her situation,” she said. Pearson quickly set her straight about the unnecessary product, and the woman soon became her client. 

The bonus: she has a fitness buddy and a client from the exchange. “We continue to splash together,” she said.

Closing on the home, and closing in on a client

One longstanding client of Robert Schultz at Rollins Financial Advisors in Atlanta entered his life during a difficult transition. Schultz and his ex-wife were in the process of selling their home, but it wasn’t going as smoothly as he had hoped. On top of communication struggles during that time, “everyone associated with the sale knew what was happening,” he said. 

But a few days before the proposed closing on the property, the new buyer asked to meet him at the house to walk around and discuss everything. “We had a great chat,” he said, “then we got drinks at the neighborhood club.”

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Throughout the conversation, the new buyer learned what he did for a living and wanted to know more. “Six months later, he was a client,” said Schultz. “And he still is after 15 years.”

A memorable activism connection

One summer day in 2017, Karen Van Voorhis of Norwell, Massachusetts-based Daniel J. Galli & Associates got a ping. On the other end of it was a woman who worked as a psychiatrist in San Francisco, asking, “Do you remember me?” 

Courtesy of Karen Van Voorhis

The woman in question said she and her husband were hoping to get financial guidance. Van Voorhis did remember her. In January of that same year, she had traveled from Boston to Washington, D.C., for the Women’s March planned for the day after the presidential inauguration. 

“A friend of mine from college, who lived in Virginia with her husband, allowed a hodgepodge of their faraway friends — none of whom knew each other — to descend upon their house for two days so that we could all participate in the march,” she said. 

The group formed a youth hostel of sorts, sleeping in their friend’s basement in sleeping bags. They enjoyed making pizza and drinking wine together in the evenings, she said. “We [also] hauled our poster board signs across DC together.” 

Van Voorhis and the woman connected all those months later. “They have been my clients ever since,” she said.

Turning down a date, but gaining a client

Lillian Turner of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Daring Greatly Wealth has favorite clients, one of whom she met in the Kleenex aisle at her local Target store. “He came up to me and essentially asked me on a date,” she said. Turner, who was engaged at the time, politely declined the offer. 

The pair continued to chat; as he shared his story, he also revealed that he was about to take a sabbatical from work. Turner decided to put on her advisor hat then and there, “helping him open up a high-yield savings account to start saving up for his travels abroad,” she said. “And he ended up hiring me as his financial planner. It’s genuinely turned into one of my most fulfilling client relationships.”

Cross-country flight, 12-year client relationship

A second story from Robert Schultz of Rollins Financial Advisors comes from a trip he took. “I was flying across the country to visit a client, and the woman next to me was having an issue with her laptop,” he said. 

Courtesy of Robert Schultz

Schultz said he watched her struggle and ultimately asked if there was anything he could do to help. 

“She asked if I worked in IT, and I said not exactly, but I am over the IT department,” he said. 

The woman handed him her laptop, and he made a few adjustments to get it up and running again. When he handed her back the now-working laptop, she began to ask him about his background and the work he does.

“After finding out I was a wealth advisor, she told me everything and scheduled an appointment for two weeks later,” he said. “That was 12 years ago, and she is still a client.”