Carey Joshua Jackson IV, MBA, joined the U.S. Army National Guard with a goal to become an officer and full-time military. The private eventually became sergeant and earned his current rank as lieutenant colonel, serving as a staff officer in an MP Division. Along the way, the three-year MDRT member from Troy, Michigan, USA, also mentored and taught as a military science instructor at several Reserve Officers’ Training Corps programs at Michigan colleges.

But after 15 years in the Army National Guard, he began to rethink his career path. Before he earned his bachelor’s degree in military and strategic leadership, he had started working on and eventually finished a bachelor’s degree in finance.

“I realized that I went to school for finance, but I hadn’t done anything in the field that I really enjoyed and was passionate about,” he said. “One thing about longevity in the military is you could find yourself chasing those opportunities and before you know it, you’re 60, have to retire and you haven’t done anything in your field or created skills.”

But there were skills he regularly practiced as a National Guardsman — leadership, discipline, being goal oriented and attention to detail — that he could apply to being a financial advisor. As an Army officer, he was responsible for fulfilling the administrative, planning and projected future needs of his unit, and he frequently referred to relevant metrics to create and maintain positive trends. Those attributes and that experience can come into play for a profession that calls for consistent prospecting, meticulous client service, and meeting performance targets such as number of clients and assets under management.

“I knew being an advisor was what I wanted to do, and I don’t want to be at the point where maybe I’m a lot older, I don’t have the energy anymore and closer to retirement and not have the skills,” Jackson said. “So, I took a detour, got off the pursuit of being full-time military, got my advisor license and put in the work to start a new career.”

Advisors have to be self-starters, and Jackson already was goal and task oriented in the military. Once he earned his license, he found resources and mentors with his insurance carrier to keep learning, much like he availed himself of GI Bill benefits to further his education and pay for tuition as a guardsman.

“You have to know what is available and go after it. So many companies have tremendous benefits and opportunities, income being one of the biggest ones, because there really is no limit to how much you can earn,” Jackson said.

Retirement comes early for guardsmen compared with civilians, as the usual retirement age is 60 to begin collecting the pension. So, they need to plan for when they step away from the military. Jackson understands the unique challenges career service members face, so they are his natural market.

“They could be leaving service with health challenges when they’re approaching 60 or 70, so as the military phase of their career is ending, they may not be able to work because their health is at a point where they’re not employable. Maybe they have PTSD that makes them unemployable. So having life insurance while they’re currently serving and healthy is extremely important,” Jackson said.

Guardsmen might flinch at the notion that they even need insurance because they have access to benefits like government-paid medical care and low-interest home loans while they are serving and when they become veterans. Jackson tells them that having more options is better than having less.

“Maybe the goals are to have a certain amount in retirement and also fund a college savings plan,” he said. “We might not be successful at both, so we have to prioritize the ones that are most important. Maybe we can finance the first two years of college or supplement with other funding. With military veterans, being goal oriented is already there. It’s just finding out the goals, connecting the dots and encouraging clients to look at their financial services planning from a goal-oriented perspective.”

His sales process is modeled on an operation order, or OPORD in military speak, which is a written plan for directing a unit to carry out a mission. Jackson has written many such orders, which are formatted into five paragraphs. The entire document could be a handful of pages or several dozen with annexes, appendices and attachments all breaking down the mission’s big picture into phases. His process essentially is breaking down the big picture.

“So, if you understand the big-picture concept of the operation before any work gets done, you realize an advisor has to prospect and prospecting never ends,” he said.

From there, the operation or client relationship moves through meetings, making a recommendation, application and funding, and onto the next phase of nurturing the client relationship. He mails every client a thank-you card. “Most people aren’t doing that, so you set yourself apart from other advisors and create an experience.” Then he follows up to confirm that the client received the card and talks about scheduling a review. After every encounter, he uses CRM software to note important events and other information the client shared that he can refer to later for the next meeting.

“Clients buy from people they trust. If you make the product super easy so they understand how it fits into their situation, it will sell itself. But if the client does not understand or has an objection, then there may be information that you’re not privy to and you need to ask more questions,” Jackson said.

But if the client still objects, an advisor can’t give up on the relationship.

“You have to be willing to see it through even if the client is not ready to buy. Just because they don’t buy from you right now doesn’t mean they will never buy from you. They still might not, but you have to see everything through,” Jackson said.

Pivoting from uniform to financial advisor