Articles: Business-to-Business
Corporate Magazine Articles
Hankinsons Follow ‘Old School’ Rules
to Premier Partner Status
Buzz, Hank and Ben Hankinson Become the First
Three-Member Family of Premier Partners: How They Did it Holds
Lessons for All Jefferson Pilot Producers
Theirs
is an American Dream-like success story: A young man repeatedly
told he didn’t have what it takes to attend college, become a
salesman – to be successful – achieves everything he sets his
sights on through sheer force of will, determination and self-confidence. He
builds a highly successful insurance agency in Augusta, Ga.,
then an investment advisory firm, and his two sons follow him
into the business.
Last year, in only their second year of representing Jefferson
Pilot Financial, all three reach the pinnacle for JP producers,
becoming the company’s first three-member family to achieve Premier
Partner status.
But to Buzz Hankinson and his sons, Hank and Ben, the achievement
is nothing to crow about. They lead their lives – both business
and personal – by what they term their “Four Rules of Success,”
and they always work toward goals, not toward making money. Becoming
Premier Partners was one of those goals.
The “Four Rules” are elegantly simple, and illustrations of
how the Hankinsons abide by them hold lessons for anyone striving
for success:
- Always be on time. For years, Buzz,
56, has believed in “Lombardi time,” a reference to the great
football coach Vince Lombardi. Lombardi time means setting
your watch 10 minutes fast to make sure you’re never late.
“Under no circumstances would I have a person wait on me,”
Buzz says. “I treat people the way I want to be treated.”
- Always do what you say you will do. Hank
Hankinson, 32, joined the business in 1996 after working as
a tax accountant with an Atlanta firm for a couple of years
after college. He relates that Hankinson Retirement and Investment
Specialists Inc. occasionally receives a call from a policyholder
with a company his father hasn’t been associated with for years.
“But as a matter of principle, we’ll answer their questions
and service them as best we can,” Hank says, because the family
feels that even a former association created an obligation,
of sorts, that remains in place.
- Always finish what you start. Educationally,
the Hankinsons start – and finish – a lot; their professional
designations read like a 3-letter alphabet. Buzz has a degree
in economics/finance from Georgia Southern and has earned his
CLU, CFP, CHFC and CSA designations. Hank, a University of
Georgia graduate, earned a master’s in Taxation at Georgia
State, and is a CPA, PFS (personal financial specialist, a
designation only for CPA’s), CFP and will earn his CFA next
year. Ben, 27, who joined the business in 1998, has a management
degree from Augusta State, has earned his CSA and is working
toward a CFP designation.
“If I didn’t absolutely believe in
finishing what you start, I never would have passed the CFP
exam,” says Buzz. “I hadn’t taken a test in 16 years, and it
took me three tries to pass it. But I would have taken it 30
times if I had to.”
- Always say “please” and “thank you.” Some
might refer to the Hankinsons as prototypical “Southern Gentlemen,”
and any interaction with them will bear this out. They mind
their manners to a degree that surely makes the family matriarch
– Buzz’s wife, Judy – proud. “It’s real simple,” according
to Buzz. “Treat people with respect.”
Of course, the Four Rules alone do not make the Hankinsons successful.
But with the Rules serving as the foundation, with every customer
they strive to build a trust-based relationship, develop a personalized,
comprehensive written financial plan, and cement their work with
unparalleled customer service.
“If you don’t have a trustworthy relationship with your client,
you’re not going to succeed, and you’re not going to grow,” says
Ben.
“We don’t do planning in a vacuum,” adds Hank. “We sit down
with each client and work hard to understand their values, their
goals, and earn their trust. Developing a written strategy shows
them we really care, and it gives them a clear picture of their
financial path. Without this type of personal service, we wouldn’t
be where we are today.”
Neither would the Hankinsons be where they are today if both
Hank and Ben hadn’t decided to follow in their father’s footsteps.
The three are often asked how they ended up together in business,
and all agree that Buzz never pushed his sons to join him. Rather,
as one might guess after understanding his principled approach
to business – Buzz set an example that both his sons chose to
follow on its merits.
Ben knew from an early age that his dad’s business was for him.
“From the time I was 5 years old,” he says, “I would dress up
in my Sunday best and come into the office and highlight papers
or staple papers together – anything that seemed like I was working.
I never thought of doing anything else.”
Hank, too, chose his own path, with no directional help from
his father. “Hank came home over the Christmas holidays when
he was a freshman at the University of Georgia and asked me what
I thought would be a good major for him,” Buzz recalls. “I indicated
it was all according to what he wanted to do in life. I will
never forget what he said: ‘Daddy, you know what I want to do;
I want to come in business with you.’”
With two generations working side by side every day, the firm
has a built-in succession plan, unlike many smaller businesses.
And Hankinson Retirement and Investment Specialists is much better
off for it, according to Buzz.
“Working together and having a succession plan in place has
helped our business tremendously,” he says. “Our clients feel
comfortable knowing that they will receive the same level of
service no matter which of us they deal with. If a business isn’t
able to offer its clients that, they’ll throw you to the wolves.”
Just as their business benefits from a succession plan, the
Hankinsons work with many of their clients on succession planning
as well. “Business owners have to plan for succession from Day
1,” says Hank. “Successful entrepreneurs will incorporate succession
planning from the moment of inception. You can either have a
job or a business. A business is not just a way to make money,
it’s an investment. And a business owner should earn a return
on that investment. Succession planning is a key to earning that
return on investment.”
Independence, Hank adds, is the most important aspect of business
succession planning, in two ways. First, a succession plan should
be structured to allow remaining owners to fairly buy out the
shares of a co-owner who has passed away, enabling them to continue
to run the business without outside interference. Second, if
a business owner wants to retire, the owner’s retirement should
not be dependent on the business continuing to perform well without
him or her at the helm. The owner should be financially independent
both before and after retirement.
While Buzz himself has no immediate plans for retirement, the
Hankinson’s business seems well-positioned to remain in good
hands for decades to come. Both Hank and Ben have two children
of their own. Although they’re too young now to consider joining
the family business, they – like their fathers and grandfather
before them – may well gravitate toward the “old school” approach
to business at Hankinson Retirement and Investment Specialists
Inc., where character and integrity rule the day.
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