Over the past summer I was given the amazing opportunity to work with the well-experienced Capstone Investment Group as part of a summer internship program through Cornerstone Bank. During my time with the team, I was given different jobs and tasks that ranged from calling customers from the bank to encouraging them to attend events that we hosted, to working internally with our online system to update customers’ profiles to make sure all information shown was correct. Outside of job assignments, I was given the opportunity every day to sit down with the lead financial planner with any questions I had about anything that I could think of. He would give insight into the stock market as well as showing me the daily tasks that he would fulfil as the manager of the operation.
Throughout my time at Capstone, I was able to come to a full understanding as to what the financial planning industry truly is and what the day-to-day operation of a financial planner looks like. While a crucial part of the job is understanding the stock market and being able to make the best decisions for the clients that a financial planner has, what seemed to be the most important skill that every employee in the group had was great customer service skills and the ability to create a real relationship with clients that helped create a bond that felt natural and allowed for a great client experience. I was able to see this firsthand by sitting in on some phone calls held between the planners and their clients, these phone calls showed me the care and time that was put into the relationship by the group’s employees. Through conversations that were held with my manager, I was able to realize that knowing who your client is, knowing about their family and any interests that they may have, creates a relationship that allows for great work to happen as it flows naturally and freely.
A skill that I was able to grow while working with the Capstone team was my customer service skills while on a phone call, a skill I did not realize was something that I would need but used and served to my benefit. One of my main objectives while I was working there was to book clients of the bank to come to an informative seminar hosted by Capstone explaining the recent changes that were coming to social security and how to plan for the future. Our goal assigned by our manager was to get a total of 30 attendees signed up between me and the other intern I was working with. Through our dedication and personable customer service skills we were able to get a combined 75 attendees to sign up for the event. Another time that my customer service was put to the test and was shown as a success was the last assignment that we had been assigned before the summer ended, which was signing up clients of the bank for a meeting with one of our planners to possibly open an account with us. This ordeal was not as successful as the last as it was harder to plan a one-on-one meeting than it was to get someone to attend a meeting. However, because of a simple conversation that I held on to the phone with a bank client, I was able to book a meeting with the bank client and one of our financial planners. It turned out that this particular client had been invested in other banks and wanted to bring all his assets over to Capstone, an in total 1.4-million-dollar deal that was great for the bank. Through calling countless members of the bank and never giving up I was able to help broker a million-dollar deal that was a huge win for the investment group. This internship taught me a lot but more than anything it taught me that dedication and showing a kind-personable side gets you farther than ever.
When looking back at my time working with Capstone, I realized just how much I learned throughout the summer I spent there. Whether it was working the phones improving my on-call customer service skills or when I would sit down and talk the industry with my manager, I was constantly improving myself in the industry and the professional work scene as a whole. The entire internship taught me so much that I am grateful to have had the opportunity to learn. I recently was invited to come back this upcoming summer for another internship, and I could not be more excited to get back to work learning about the investments world and improving my professional skills in a real-world situation.
The picture shown attached to the blog was taken during our intern volunteer day that had myself and the other interns working with El Buen Samaritano Food Program in Worcester by helping pass out food to those in need.
