I had lunch today with a financial consultant. He’s one of these guys that works for a big financial services firm (Smith Barney, I think).

Normally, I hate these lunches. They’re usually a huge waste of my time and are excruciatingly boring.

I suppose this guy sells a wide variety of investments. I say that “I suppose” because we never talked about what he sells. He never gave me his card. He didn’t give me that slick brochure filled with crap that I’d end up throwing away.

Instead, we talked about my favorite subject – ME. He asked me questions about my practice. He asked how I had built the firm. He asked me what I thought about issues affecting our field. He let me talk most of the time by asking good questions and being a good listener.

I gave him ninety minutes for lunch since I was having so much fun. I could have kept talking all day.

I’m ready to have lunch with this guy anytime. All he has to do is call.

Next time, I suspect, I’ll find out more about what he does and how he can help me and our clients.

For now, he’s built up a credit in the bank of good referral source relations. He walked away from our meeting having created a fan and a friend.

He has successfully taken the first step that will create a productive, long term referral relationship.