Shane Westhoelter Makes Passion for His Business Routine

By Mark Briscoe

If it’s 7 a.m., Shane Westhoelter, AEP, CLU, LUTCF, LTCP (loyal member since 1994), is up and running.

As part of a routine he established years ago, he begins his day at the same time every morning, even if he’s in an unfamiliar time zone and even if he has stayed up later than usual the night before.

Sticking to a proven routine is part of what made him a world-class distance runner and a competitor in the U.S. Junior Olympics. He was poised to take his talents to the summer Olympics until a U.S. boycott of the games upended those plans.

More recently, adhering to his proven routine has made him a hugely successful financial professional, as the President and CEO of Gateway Financial Advisors, and a valued thought leader and frequent speaker for NAIFA’s Business Performance Center.

It has earned him distinction from his broker-dealer, Cambridge Investment Research, as a recipient of their Spirit of Cambridge Award given to independent financial professionals who are dedicated to serving their clients while reflecting the core values of integrity, commitment, flexibility and kindness.

Dignity When It Matters Most

After his Olympic dream was disappointed, like any good distance runner, Westhoelter continued moving forward. He entered the insurance and financial services industry in 1988, selling $5,000 and $10,000 face-value life insurance policies door-to-door in Ferguson, Missouri.

He delivered his first death benefit to a mother who had lost her sevenyear-old son in a drive-by shooting, and he told the story to attendees at NAIFA’s Business Performance Center Impact Week earlier this year. The woman, during her grief, told Westhoelter that the $10,000 check allowed her to keep her dignity by doing the decent thing for her son without turning to friends, family or the members of her church for financial help.

That experience gave Westhoelter a strong motivating principle — his “why” — that guides him to this day: “We provide people dignity when it matters most.” It’s a simple phrase, but it’s something he is passionate about.

Having “a passion with a purpose” has been a driving force in Westhoelter’s success. He went from selling policies door-to-door to founding Gateway Financial Advisors in January 2000. Today, the full-service financial marketing organization has 180 offices nationally, $25 million in gross revenue and $3.2 billion in assets under management.

“To me, the difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a person’s determination,” he says. “When you have a passion, when you have a drive, and when you have determination, there’s nothing that can hold you back.”

Keys To Top Performance

Westhoelter has experienced nearly every aspect of the insurance and financial services industry, and he has a few ideas about what advisors can do to make themselves more successful. Among the tips he offered NAIFA’s Business Performance Center Impact Week attendees:

• Have a story and share it. The key to sales is making emotional connections with people and building trust. Simply pitching products doesn’t make connections or build trust. Stories help people understand the value of what you can give them.

• Provide solutions, not products. “Be a problem solver, not a product seller,” he said. Learn what clients want to accomplish and help them do it.

• Be a brand and become your brand. Branding makes sure that everyone knows what you do. Westhoelter says his clients associate him and his firm with a pair of “power phrases”: 1) “We provide people with dignity when it matters most” and 2) “We take the ‘if’ out of life. What if you live? What if you linger? What if you leave?”

But telling stories, providing solutions and establishing your brand all tie back into finding a successful routine and building a passion for what you are doing.

Like a successful musician, actor or athlete, a professional creates a repeatable script and then practices relentlessly. “Get your stories down. Solidify your brand,” Westhoelter said. “And once you find that they work, there’s no need for reinvention. The repetition will lead to perfection.”

“What I did in 1990, what I did in 2000, I’m still doing today,” he said. “I get up, I stick to a script, I stay focused in my path, I do routines, and I keep score.”

Then the passion with a purpose takes over.

“If you find your passion in this industry, what it is that drives you and why you love this industry, it’s probably not going to be the money,” Westhoetler said. “It’s going to be something with an emotional attachment. Maybe it’s a family story, maybe it’s a situation you went through. Maybe it’s loved ones that you’ve lost in your own family. If you find that passion, it will make you a success.”