Last weekend, a very special lady came to the Pacific Northwest for a long Mother’s Day weekend.  We had a great visit, and Mom has since returned to her little retirement community in Florida. This was her first trip to our area since the founding of Upleft, and it gave me an opportunity to reflect on some questions she asked me several times as I was getting the business off the ground.

“Are you going to name it Miller Investments?”

“Why don’t you name it Miller Advisors?”

“What about Miller Financial?”

Let be clear on this.  I couldn’t be more proud of my family or our family name.  When I consider the opportunities I’ve had and the risks & sacrifices that were made to provide them to me, I stand in awe of the achievements of my ancestors.  I am, after all, a first-generation college graduate and (on one side of my family) the first generation born in this country. I could write a whole essay on where the name “Upleft” came from, but the point here is that the very last name I would choose for a financial planning firm is my name.  I’m sorry, Mom.

When a client chooses to share their story and allows me the privilege of helping them, they are entering into a long-term trusting relationship that will touch on the most important aspects of their life.  In this equation, it is their name that matters most.  If I could, I would let every client have their own planning firm.  As it is, we work to personalize their client experience in as many ways as possible.

My industry is full of businesses who have gotten this backward for decades.  A client experience starts with a business name that subtly (or not) informs them that the advisor is the most important part of the equation.  When you first encounter the firm of John Q Windbag & Associates (I just made them up), all you really know is that there is a guy named John Q Windbag, and someone (even if it is just John) must believe that he is at least somewhat important.  What happens next? You see the name again and again. It’s on the letterhead of a mailer, it’s on a business card, and it’s on the exterior of the office when you go to your first appointment. By the time you actually shake Mr. Windbag’s hand, you’ve been surrounded by his name dozens of times on everything from certificates on a wall to the side of a ballpoint pen.  My point is this: clearly, a great deal of time, effort, and money have been spent to convince you that John Q. Windbag is a very important man. How much energy has been spent to tell you how important you are?  This process is about you, your story, your needs, and your future after all.

This positioning would be bad enough, but in many cases, it gets worse.  How long do you wait before your meeting starts? Is this person communicating that their time is more valuable than yours?  Have they claimed the “power position” (the corner furthest from the door) in the room? Do they sit behind a heavy wooden desk in a chair that is notably taller than yours?  If you feel like a student sitting in the principal's office, it is not an accident. A scene has been carefully constructed so that you will be influenced, if not intimidated, by a sense that you are not the most powerful or important person in the room.

As a client, you are the single most important person in every meeting.  You deserve to have that importance acknowledged, and not to be subjected to tactics like those described above.  You deserve to work with a professional who is more concerned with being interested in you and less concerned with trying to prove how interesting they are.

It would be impractical to name a business after every one of my clients, so I did the next best thing.  I chose a name that spoke to our northwest roots, the values we share, and our mission to improve the lives of those around us.  I hope Mom understands.