PERSPECTIVES: Immeasurable Contribution
I was fortunate to meet Eren Niederhoffer through a most unusual introduction.
Unbeknownst to me, at a local church job networking event in April 2013, Diane Prindle of Briggs and Associates heard my presentation describing a summer internship at my firm, the Piedmont Group of Atlanta. Prindle tracked me down after my presentation and shared with me the information about one of her clients, Eren, a recent college graduate with a finance degree who was looking for employment within the industry.
I met with Eren and the folks at Briggs numerous times over the next several months and we decided he could be a valuable asset to our firm. We brought him on to assist with case preparation and marketing, which quickly evolved in Eren managing, growing and enhancing our LinkedIn presence for a number of colleagues here and myself.
The fact that Eren had any disability was irrelevant. He wanted to work hard, and help other advisors and myself grow their practices and utilize LinkedIn marketing to add prospects and build new relationships without picking up the phone. Needless to say, almost two years later, Eren has become an expert in this area and created hundreds of new meetings and tens of thousands of dollars in new revenue for our firm.
If I had been short sighted, I would not have moved forward with hiring Eren. He works harder than most of my full time advisors and has great attention to detail, which helps our advisors add new contacts and clients to their practices.
To increase our commitment, I added the Chartered Special Needs Consultant (ChSNC) professional designation to my resume and have begun to work significantly with families who have members with disabilities. The Chartered Special Needs Consultant™ provides financial professionals with the technical, collaborative and quantitative skills necessary to provide people with disabilities and their families guidance in tax deductions, healthcare issues, Medicaid complexities and the emotional aspects of providing for a family member with a disability.
Since hiring Eren, our firm’s capabilities have expanded and he has added a value to our working environment that is immeasurable – professionally and personally. I am lucky and thankful to have Eren as part of our team, and look forward to working with him for many years to come.
Michael S. Kipniss, CLU, ChFC, CASL, ChSNC is an assistant general agent at the Piedmont Group of Atlanta
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