Marcellino Porcello, Financial Associate
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Q: What is it that you enjoy doing in your time away from work?
A: I’m an avid golfer, I say, “I’d rather golf then breath; I just breath because it’s instinctive.” In addition, I’m married and I have seven grandchildren who I love to spend time with. My wife and I love to vacation at the beach.
Q: What did you do before you joined Thrivent?
A: Prior to working with Thrivent I was in the steel industry. I have a metallurgical background working in heavy manufacturing and the steel industry in various positions such as manager of quality assurance, manager of technical services, I’ve been a plant manager and also outside sales, account executive with a steel company, which was my last assignment before I came to Thrivent.
Q: How many years were you in the steel industry before making the change?
A: I started in the industry about 1975 and was there until I came to Thrivent in 2010. So, it was a very long time... 30 plus years.
Q: What attracted you to financial services and Thrivent in particular?
A: A little bit of background, working for a company as a plant manager I was always responsible for financials, the PNL and setting budgets so I worked with numbers all the time. Then of course working on the sales side as well and I've also done some of my own 401K planning throughout the years.
When I was transitioning from one job to the other, I was actually downsized and Mary Jo Boswell was my FR at Thrivent at the time. I was looking for another job in the steel industry and being 53 years old I was concerned about what was going to happen next. So, I sat down with Mary Jo and she had suggested that I give some consideration to coming to work for Thrivent as a Financial Representative. Considering the idea as to what it takes, she walked through the process with me and I took some time to talk to my wife and pray about this, because it was going to be redefining my entire career and redefining myself.
Fast forward, I did a lot of research on Thrivent before I decided it was right for me. I was extremely intrigued by the not-for-profit faith based organization, the fraternal benefit whole side of the business. I just felt that Thrivent was such a good fit for me because of my spirit to want to help people, work with people and it really was an extension of who I am.
Q: Tell us how things are going now, what’s your experience been like?
A: Well, it’s been pretty amazing, quite honestly. I’m into my fourth year now, there was a fear factor coming into this because I never worked on a commission only position, even in sales I had a salary base plus commission, so this was a whole new step moving forward. Fortunately, I had a really good launch manager, my Partner was awesome and of course the training that Thrivent provides and the CAPS™ Training was a part of that.
I actually have been fairly successful at it, my first three years in the business I have made conference, which was pretty cool and I just made conference again this year for 2013. I don’t know that I will ever get used to the pressure of day-to-day of who’s my next client. I look at everybody I met as a prospect or as a future client and they just don’t know it yet. I figure out how do I introduce myself, what I do and my company to these people, it’s been exciting and I just love every minute of it.
Q: When you think back, who was the Partner that brought you into the business?
A: It was actually Mary Jo; she was transitioning from FR to Partner. Unbeknownst to me at the time she was actually trying to hire her replacement.
I actually do joint field work with another gentleman here in the office, Jeff Shinabery, who is a hall a famer, a million dollar round table member, and CFP certified. He has been in the business for 25 years and we do a lot of joint field work together. I owe a lot of my success to working with some really great people.
Q: You mentioned that you see everybody as a potential client, do you have an ideal client profile?
A: In my target market the ideal client for me is pre-retired. I really like to do planning, put together retirement strategies, do estate transfer planning and legacy planning with folks. I find the people that are somewhere in the 40/ late 40 to those moving towards retirement age is really an ideal sweet spot for me to work and be able to use my skills. Overall, the ideal candidate for me is right around 50/52 years old with retirement plans but with no strategy to retire yet.
Q: When you think about the work that you are doing day-to-day and joint field work with Jeff; how has the experience of going through the CAPS™ Skills workshop and applying the skills making a difference in your results?
A: I am a “type A” personality; I like to be in charge, which can be a positive and a negative attribute all at the same time because I have a tendency by nature to take over. CAPS™ training has taught me how to listen, evaluate the attitude of the client and let them speak.
Another guy in the business introduced me to the acronym "WAIT", which stands for “Why am I talking?” and I use that going into every meeting. If I am talking for any reason other than to help the meeting progress or to ask probing questions and get the client to talk to me, then it is useless talk.
We use an advisory process here which is really a connect process. We are connecting to find out if we can work together, whether we like each other, whether there is a possibility for a relationship here and then of course, the fact finding or gather data then take action, review and continuing to work with that particular client. It’s really helped me to evaluate, to listen and a way to gather my thoughts because I sometimes get anxious and get out of myself and that’s the worst thing you can do in a meeting.
The other thing that it has really helped, I don’t like objection or rejection so it taught me how to handle objection in a meeting and turn it into a positive. For example, to restate their objection and rephrase it as a question back to them, it allows me to take a step back and listen to them, then insert a quote and apply authority to their objection. It has taught me to handle objection without allowing it to become personal.
Q: So, being able to handle those objections, hear them out and, if there is a need, go to those authorities; you feel like you are able to present it to people and its making an impact?
A: Yeah, it’s a methodology to get some order and bring them back to really find out the true meaning. I think sometime objection is just, fear or a lack of knowledge and with the skills you are able to walk them through intelligently and apply what authorities are saying with quotes or other articles.
Q: Anything else you would like to add where CAPS™ is making a difference?
A: I think CAPS™ is helping my closing skills. I’ve been in sales for a very long time and I used to, when I was in the steel business, feel that if I left a meeting and didn’t leave with a purchase order or at least ask for a purchase order then it wasn’t a successful meeting. I didn’t always go into a meetings then expecting the client or customer to buy. With the Closing Skills, it is to expect that prospect to buy.
Q: When you look down the road, what do you see in your future?
A: Every year I put together a strategy and a business plan, I won’t be here long enough to be in the Hall of Fame, although that would be a goal of mine, but I am just too old to do that. For my future, I see myself being a lot more like Jeff Shinabery and successful FR’s in this organization as top producers, if not the state certainly the region.
I’m really a goal oriented kind of guy, not motivated by money but motivated by helping people and being successful and the money will come. My goal is to make conference every year until I walk away from the business.
Q: When you think about your personal relationships with your spouse, your kids or grandchildren, have you thought about if the CAPS™ skills have had an impact on those relationships?
A: It’s funny you say that, I actually have three boys and girl, they’re all married, and we spend a lot of time together. All of my kids are pretty deep thinkers and when we sit around and start to discuss and/or debate (we’re all Italian, so we get a little bit excited) the skills have helped me sit back and bring the conversation back full circle to where we started.
I have actually shared some of the skills with my two oldest boys. One’s a principle at a high school and the others a math teacher at a high school. My son who’s the principle has to be a good listener and be able to conduct meetings, he has to sell what he is trying to do in his building. Overall, they have helped me and my family.
Q: When you think back to when you were first invited to attend the CAPS™ workshop, what were your feelings as that time?
A: Because of my nature, I am sometimes a little cynical and I’ve gone through plenty of workshops with previous companies and different training sessions. I thought, “oh boy, here we go, just another training” but it really was, out of all the programs I have been through, probably one that I can say is the most beneficial to me both personally and professionally.
Q: Now that you have another year under your belt and you have made conference again, what suggestions or feedback could you share with me as to what we could do to make the workshop experience and follow-up better?
A: I’m not real sure, I think you guys did a real good job with the follow up, staying in contact on a regular basis and sending us emails to keep us updated on things that are happening.
Q: In terms of the follow up, the coaching and the tools that you were offered to start integrating the skills, do you feel like they have been helpful to you?
A: Oh yeah, the 5x7 skills card I still have them sitting on my desk, in fact they are sitting right in front of me right now. I look back at the workbook every once in a while because I still struggle with probing question, open/closed probes and when use what but I eventually figure out how to get to where I am going or where I want to be.
The other thing I thought was really beneficial was the pre-conversation checklist. You asked us to commit to using those for some period of time and I used those faithfully for 21 days. I would take the time to write them out and eventually forming the mind set of how to conduct a meeting, what I am looking for and going in with a plan.
Q: If someone were to ask you your opinion of whether or not you would recommend the workshop and at what point in a person’s career would be a good idea to go through it, what would you tell them?
A: I would tell them “definitely!” to go through the workshop. I actually think within the first year, would be really beneficial, regardless of what their skill set is already. I came out of sales in the steel industry, the only difference is two different product, you still need to use these skills, but I think early on in someone’s career would be beneficial.
Q: Any additional comments that you would like to make?
A: I certainly valued the training, that’s for sure.
