For some reason, my unincorporated village doesn’t have a mayor or village board of trustees, but we have our own sanitation district where we elect the commissioners. For many years, a party boss and his son controlled the district through their handpicked and elected commissioners. After Hurricane Sandy and the poor response by the Sanitation District, there has been a lot of reform and the old-timers who financially benefited from it are gone and the unionized workers finally got a contract with a better raise.

So for some reason, a newcomer decided to run because of his ambition and because there has been a lot of fighting between the current board and the old-timers who lost their power and jobs. The problem with the newcomer is that while he has a strong branding campaign and a likely paid strategist behind him, his campaign isn’t making a ripple because his message is failing to resonate and catch on with the voters. He’s talking about listening and respecting, without bothering to learn the issues that affect the Sanitation District. The current board is doing a good job, the workers are doing a great job, and people are happy with the service.

When dealing with a potential client, I think it’s important that your message to them resonates and brings up a call to action that they might want to pursue. It’s hard to talk about fiduciary issues when a potential client has hired some good fiduciary providers. It’s hard to talk about investment costs and rate of returns when the potential client is using Vanguard funds. There needs to be a connection and an understand, there needs to be something you’re selling that a potential client is willing to buy. Generic, positive messages aren’t going to get the job done, whether you’re running for Oceanside Sanitation Commissioner or being a plan provider.