It is my sad duty to report the passing of a true Broker World and industry icon. John H. Melchinger, The Marketing Coach, passed away March 12. John graced the pages of Broker World for nearly 25 years, many of those as a monthly columnist. In the early days, his columns were run under the apropos moniker SMART Marketing; subsequently under Private Practice Marketing; and as semi-retirement inflicted itself, John wrote several articles per year appearing in our general interest section, espousing the theme “Do these simple things to get one more hit every ten times at bat.” He was a prolific author, writing several books and many articles for other trade journals and online resource sites.
John was a marketing coach extraordinaire, coaching hundreds of advisors in his 35 years as a “behavior modification specialist.” John often explained that “you have to give it away to keep it,” and nowhere did that ring more true than in his near gluttonously treat-packed marketing columns for this magazine. John held nothing back, confident that those “above average advisors who are trying to be great” would still seek him out. For those who might not, he was passionate that his articles still offered them great benefit.
John was born in 1948 into a life insurance family in northern New Jersey. He served in U.S. Army Intelligence as a “spook” and Chinese Mandarin translator from 1969-1979, eight years active, two years active reserves. He was involved in financial services since 1977. Originally a life insurance agent selling estate planning services, John became a pioneer of target marketing in life insurance and financial planning and a personal marketing consultant to many of the highest performing advisors and planners in financial services today, specializing in personal branding, ethics and relationship building. Another sage “Melchism” was “Change does not always mean progress, but progress always means change.”
A disabled veteran, John’s service to people extended beyond the inestimable ripple effect benefit his financial services coaching brought to insurance consumers. He was a member of Sertoma, a former Big Brother, and performed notary services for shut-ins in need in VA and other area hospitals. He also worked to constructively help the hearing impaired. He believed that “helping those in true need gives back for all those who have helped me throughout my life. The world needs all it can get now.”
John leaves behind his wife, Jayne Alford, and a legion of Broker World fans and successful advisors. Long-time Broker World Editor Sharon Chace said, “I only met John in person twice, but we had so many great conversations I considered him a dear friend.” Less involved, but a great admirer, I was fortunate to have a few of those conversations with John and always took away feelings of optimism, positive challenge, enthusiasm and a mutually held mandate and love of service to others.
I’ll end my tribute by quoting my favorite John Melchinger article close—November 2013: “I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright no matter how gray the day may appear…enough rain to appreciate the sun even more…enough happiness to keep your spirit alive…enough pain so that even the smallest of joys in life may appear bigger…enough gain to satisfy your wanting…enough loss to appreciate all you possess…enough hellos to get you through the final goodbye…I wish you enough…no more, no less.” [SPH]
