By Helen Thompson
Nadeem “Nick” Saleem knows a bit about working with South Asian immigrants—he himself was only 16 when he came to the United States from Pakistan to work in a friend’s restaurant business. But while Saleem was attending Morris County Community College, he had a roommate who noticed Saleem’s easygoing, extraverted nature. Shortly after they graduated, his friend invited him to leave the food industry behind and become a financial advisor.
So in 1999, he joined the ranks of Northwestern Mutual and started out—with the same problems many new advisors face. “It’s just like any business; those first few years were tough,” Saleem explains. “We struggled with how to find new clients, and it was difficult to convince people.”
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Understanding what makes these clients tick goes a long way toward building credibility with them. |
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So what changed? Saleem remembers his first death claim clearly, because it hit very close to home—another friend. But when he saw the difference he helped make for the rest of that client’s family, it changed his demeanor, and people noticed. “From that moment on, for some reason, my business completely took off. I guess people can tell when you believe in something,” he says.
Finding a mentor
Saleem joined NAIFA because of a mentor’s guidance. He had met Richard Beer, then president of Middlesex-Somerset AIFA, during his time as a Northwestern agent. “He came to us and said, ‘You have to become members,’” Saleem recalls. “And the more I researched, the more I liked.” Saleem is fascinated by the advocacy component of NAIFA, and finds those resources invaluable. But he also regularly attends his local meetings once a month and finds that exchanging ideas with his colleagues is a tremendous help.
Saleem was succeeding in the South Asian marketplace and generating a tremendous amount of referral business. He qualified for MDRT within a couple of years, but found that his overhead was eating up most of his expenses, and he had to reexamine his business model. After all, he was living and working in the New Jersey suburbs, just outside New York City, and with its growing South Asian population, he needed to find a better fit for his business.
Meanwhile, Saleem’s success had caught the attention of Nasir Mogul, founder and president of Anchor Financial Services, a Guardian Life affiliate based in Long Island, N.Y. The two realized they were a perfect fit—Mogul, wanting to establish a presence in the New Jersey suburbs, and Saleem, hoping to take his business to the next level and get his young family out of their small apartment and into their dream home.
What he brings to the table
Saleem’s South Asian heritage makes him a natural fit for clients from that part of the world. But South Asian clients are themselves very diverse, coming from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Thailand and the Philippines. Many of his clients are second- and third-generation descendants of immigrants, as well. Often highly educated and having a strong commitment to family, his clients are affluent physicians and business owners and have specific needs related to their occupations.
One of the ways he succeeds with these “subniche” groups is by being very up-front with them about how he can help them. He tells his clients that he cares about their family or their business concerns. “I don’t care what products they buy from me, but if they have a need, I tell them they need to address that need, even if they don’t do it through me,” he says. “That goes a long way toward … getting them to listen and convincing them that they need to do this.”
Another thing he stresses with regard to building relationships is that understanding what makes these clients tick goes a long way toward building credibility with them. For instance, Americans love their baseball and football, but to work with these niches, you need to expand your ESPN palate to include sports like soccer and cricket. Saleem notes the Cricket World Cup, which is held every four years and, coincidentally, wraps up this week. “That’s their life, to be honest with you—even second-and third-generation groups love to talk about it,” he observes. He notes that by keeping up to date with it, he can easily strike up a conversation with a prospect. “It strengthens the relationship and their attention level when you sit down with someone for the first time and find something in common,” he adds.
As it turned out, Saleem did in fact close on his first home this past December. But when you ask him about his success, he dismisses it as being secondary to what his clients are achieving. “When I’m helping clients achieve their dreams and goals, I feel successful, too,” he says. “The feedback and the thanks you get for doing a wonderful job are better than any money you receive. But when you do the right thing for your clients, your own dreams will come true as well.”
April 2007
The Killer Search Apps
What You Don’t Say
Enhancing Your Practice
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