Are you too close to it all?

As the car sped along the deserted mountain road, the driver glanced across at his wife who was sleeping peacefully in the passenger seat beside him, and allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction.

Everything was perfect.

The stunning scenery…

The empty road…

The smooth ride of the car…

The peace and tranquillity that comes from being the only people for miles around.

And then it happened….

Squeak…   squeak…

Squeak-squeak.

A small but repetitive noise shattering the stillness like a high-pitched morse code signal.

Unsure where the noise was coming from, the driver pulled on the door handle and pressed on bits of interior trim, trying to locate whichever part of the car had come loose and started squeaking.

But all in vain.

And the more he tried to find the source of the noise, the louder it seemed to get.

Eventually, he spotted a petrol station and pulled in to see if anyone could help.

An elderly mechanic emerged from the workshop out the back and walked slowly towards the car.

He poked around inside the car and heard….

Nothing.

He rummaged under the bonnet…

Nothing.

He opened and closed the doors…

Nothing.

Finally he stood by the car and rocked it gently from side to side whilst peering in through the window.

Squeak….  squeak…

And then, his old eyes lighting up and a smile spreading across his wrinkled face, the mechanic walked back into the workshop.

Moments later he returned.

In his hand he was holding an old fashioned oil can.

Without a word, he leaned into the car where the female passenger was still sleeping.

He held the oil can up to her ear and dispensed a small drop of oil onto her dangling earring.

Once more, he stood outside and rocked the car from side to side.

And this time, there was the sound of…

Silence!

If this story sounds familiar, it’s because it formed the basis of a VW Golf advert in the early 90s.

And I was reminded of it a few weeks ago when one of my coaching clients, Peter, got his first mortgage lead via the Google Ads campaign I’d helped him build. 

The enquiry was from a company director. But, for various reasons, this director wasn’t going to be able to get a mortgage just now.

“Did you sell him some protection instead?” I asked Peter.

And do you know what? 

Peter hadn’t even discussed protection with this company director. 

He’d been too focused on the mortgage and so had lost sight of the bigger picture.

Fortunately, it wasn’t too late. 

And, thanks to my prompting him, Peter has now gone back and arranged some relevant life cover and an executive income protection plan that will pay him far more than the mortgage would have done anyway. 

This story about Peter is a classic example of how, as business owners, we’re sometimes too close to a problem or situation. 

And that means we fail to see the bigger picture - just like the driver in the VW commercial.

And so, unless we have a mechanic (or, in Peter’s case, a coach like me) we’re in danger of missing the simple solutions to our problems or the opportunities to generate more income.

If you think having someone on your side who can take a step back and help you look at the bigger picture in your financial services business - whether that’s to help you get more leads or to generate more business from the ones you’ve already got - then we should talk.

Click here to book a call with me

It won’t cost you anything and I promise you’ll go away with at least one new idea for how to grow your mortgage or IFA business.