Beating The Recession...
2009 Has
Been A Tough Year For Many
Agents, Advisors and Planners!
Can you
believe it! August is almost over? We're almost three quarters
through the year. It’s less than three months until the holiday
season sets in. Where does the time go?
How are you doing this year?
Is your income up this year - or is it down?
Will you reach your goals?
How do you feel about that?
Because of the nature of our business, most of the agents, advisors
and planners who call us are the ones who are having problems.
Their income is down. It's getting harder to find leads, set
appointments, let alone close the sale.
However, it doesn't have to stay that way! Sometimes a simple idea
can make a big difference, in only a few weeks.
(Our FMM Boot Camp, June 2009.
From left to right Gary Sheer, John Stewart, Gwen Westoff, Tad Hill,
Bruce Ponder, Gary Phipps, Mrs. Belshaw, Paul Belshaw and Tim Neidin.
Center at microphones is Beau Hendersen.)
Here are
some recent success stories from advisors who have invested in our
systems, called for coaching, and have attended our live training
events:
-
John Stewart,
in Georgia… “Lew, it
worked again! Friday, I had a lady call for a term policy… just
enough to bury her, pay off the house and send her girls to
college. She also informed me that she would only need it for
ten years since the daughters will be out of the house in less
than 8 years. I began to go through the fact find with her and
immediately her interest began to grow. Long story short… she
is coming in this evening to my office to learn about tax-free
retirement. She hadn’t believed that she could have a tax-free
retirement since she makes too much to qualify for a Roth!
Thanks again! It’s working.”
In the past three months John
has placed 12 life
insurance policies with annual premiums ranging from $800 -
$30,000. Each of these cases was from offering an annual review
to his existing clients, and then conducting a full fact find.
-
Bryan Schurter,
in California… “Lew and Jeremy, thanks again for all
your help with the three retiring couples that we have been
working on over the past two months. It’s great to know that I
can always count on you to find creative, helpful solutions to
assist my clients. Jeremy, you must have saved me at least a
week’s worth of work over the past two months with all your
help. You guys are the best, and although I’ve told you many
times before, THANK YOU!!” These three retiring couples
were from the free educational workshops he has been doing for
teachers, and total over $2,000,000 in annuity premiums.
-
Beau Henderson,
in Georgia… “Lew, we have put together our two
most successful months in a row! I took your advice and focused
solely on the things that would bring revenue into my business
and cut all of the things that were distracting me from that
core focus. For me, that effort is primarily speaking to groups
of people. We have put together back to back 30k months
(commissions) and are speaking to 2-4 audiences per
month. The beautiful thing is the more people we help, the more
referrals and momentum we build. I’m on track to finish the
year two months ahead of my personal goals.”
-
Tony Filippone, in Illinois… "Last
year between October and December things were looking pretty
bleak. I was running a little scared due to the horrible
economic news. It seemed as though people were not doing
anything and my business was feeling it. I even decided to
scale back my operation. However, thanks to Lew’s and Jeremy’s
coaching and support I was able to hang-in-there, and this year
seems like it will be one of my best ever. Even during this
economic downturn, I never stopped sending out my newsletters,
or doing my workshops. In fact, I’ve even uncovered several
free speaking engagements and I am starting to profit from
those. I have stopped doing expensive dinner seminars and now I
am doing much cheaper workshops at the local Library. The last
one I did, I literally had to turn people away because I had
more people sign up than I could fit in the room. Not only
that, but many of the people who were too scared to do anything
last year called me back this year and told me they were ready.
In the ten years I spent in this business before I started
working with you, I can't remember anyone ever calling me back
and telling me they were ready to move forward. Now, it happens
all the time.”
-
Kevin Murray, in Florida…
"It's
been some time now since I have talked w/you, hope all is going
well. After thinking how to respond to your request, I began to
realize what a permanent impact you have had on my business.
The tips and techniques that I have learned from you have become
a standard in how I now work w/people. I continue to use what I
have learned from you because it works, plain and simple."
Short Comment to Agents
From Kevin…
"Time tested strategies that get guaranteed results when working
with Middle America, that’s what I have learned from Lew and
Jeremy Nason over the years. What has this done for me
personally? Ultimately it has recession proofed my business.
Now instead of "spray and pray" for any prospect, I hand pick
who I want to work with, tailoring a true financial plan that
suits their exact needs. At the end of the day, it is a win-win
situation for the prospect and agent. By using Lew’s and
Jeremy’s questioning, and presentations, I am able to get right
to the problem, and bring the prospect to the solution. I know
this seems elementary, but it is not. When talking with a
business owner that has no time for sales pitches, you better
have your game face on, and know what to say that will trigger
the appointment fast. Just think of it this way… business
owners are having to do more with less. If you can show them a
plan that suits their needs, with no money out of pocket, what
do you think your odds are now of closing the sale?”
These are just a few of the dozens of
success stories we’ve experienced during these summer months.
Now, the question for you is:
“What are you going to do,
to make sure
you have a strong finish for 2009?”
Here are a few quick ideas that the
advisors we work with are using! These ideas are bringing in
immediate sales…
-
Why not offer 10 of your clients, family,
friends and prospects a free educational workshop on
‘Living Debt Free and Truly Wealthy!’ or on some other
immediate problem you can solve for them. The workshop will
cost you less than $100.
-
How about forming a true ‘Joint Venture
Partnership’ with a P&C agency (or some other business) and have
them offer a free financial consultation from you, to their best
clients. Or, they can invite their best clients to your free
educational workshop.
-
Or, how about you send a letter to your best
clients asking for their help, with a referred lead form? And,
then follow-up with a phone call, a few days later.
-
Are you sending your clients, family, friends
and prospects a monthly newsletter? When was the last time you
included a referred lead form with your newsletter? And, then
followed-up with a phone call, a few days later.
-
When was the last time you offered your clients
an annual review? Annual reviews are a great way to make
additional sales… and get referrals.
-
Why not offer to be a guest speaker at a local
association or religious group? And, then offer them a free
report and a free financial consultation.
Here is a great idea from Lewie Wood. Mr. Wood is a
'Lifetime Member' of the prestigious Million Dollar Round
Table and a recent inductee into the MDRT Hall Of Fame!
The MDRT is an international, independent association of less
than 1 percent of the most successful life insurance and financial
services professionals from 76 countries around the world.
IN TIMES LIKE THESE “PARTNER UP”
"If you are relatively new to this
business, evaluate your personal strengths. Do you have good
contacts with schools, hospitals, cities, counties, state, federal
employees or employers that provide retirement plans? Search out a
top financial advisor / insurance professional in your community who
can help you harvest from your relationships. Harnessing your years
of experience with personal relationships will lead to your best
year ever, and you will solve problems for lots of people who will
refer to others who need your help."
"For those with no connections, host a financial planning party.
Invite friends, relatives, neighbors, clients, etc to a party at
your home. Nothing lavish! Have a guest speaker (i.e. expert
financial advisor) make a brief presentation to show people how to
live debt free and truly wealthy. Start a stream of
inexpensive fun ways to warm referrals that result in significant
production. Partner up for success!"
A Quick Idea From Beau Henderson:
"Don’t forget your current client base. A third of the production
we are doing is from guests that our current clients invite to our
speaking events. It just takes a little work to set up your happy
clients as ‘Ambassadors’ for your business. The guests they invite
are closed before they ever meet you because of your client’s
endorsement.”
A Quick Idea From Tony Filippone:
"As I mentioned earlier, we literally had to turn away people
for my recent workshop. Here is what I did differently. When the
‘direct mail house invitations’ stopped working in my area, I
started advertising in the newspaper. The ad is pulling quite well,
but this last time I did two things to supplement the ad that might
help your readers."
-
"1st.
I had run an ad for a free booklet on the ‘Be Your Own
Banker’ idea and we received about 22 phone calls. I was so
busy when those calls came in that I never even followed up,
except to send out the booklet. So, I sent all of those people
a follow-up letter, with an invitation to my workshop. About 4
people out of 22 said yes. That is an 18% response rate, so I
considered that a success and I plan to use that two-stage plan
again. I also plan to invite the people on that same list
again."
-
"2nd.
I used a flyer distribution service to hand out ‘door-to-door’
3000 flyers in the area around the library. I got about 6
responses from that and it only cost me $350. That is about
$58.00 per lead, but I would definitely do it again. Also, I
may have received more than six, as I did not track the
responses as well as I could have. But, I know I got at least
6, as I did ask people how they heard about the workshop when
they called in."
A Special Message to You From Tony…
"I truly wish every new
agent out there could just spend a few months training with you so
they would not have to go through what I went through in my early
years. I can only imagine the desperate calls you must receive from
struggling agents who never really learned how to perfect their
marketing, especially now with all that is going on in this
economy. I am so glad I not only found you, but I was humble enough
to be taught by you and smart enough to stick with you even when
things did not happen for me overnight. In my case it took me more
than a few days to get on the right track, but the long-term
benefits have been well worth it. (I know my learning curve could
have been much, much shorter if I only applied your advice sooner,
instead of questioning everything you told me. But it is hard not
to be a skeptic when there is so much bad advice out there.) Keep
on doing what you are doing Lew, and let your readers know that
there are agents like me, who are loving this bad economy and are
prospering. Don't get me wrong, I hate what it is doing to the good
people that are being hurt by it, but I love that it is giving
people a wakeup call and forcing them to look outside the box for
safer alternatives that I can help them with. What a great time to
be a good financial advisor, with all of the problems people are
facing we have the opportunity to really help people weather this
storm and we can literally pick and choose who we want to serve.
What a business!"
These are just a few of the ideas
that the advisors we work with are using to bring in some quick
sales.
What else can you think of?
Lew
and Jeremy Nason
'The 9 Out Of 10 Guys'
Marketing and Sales Coaches
Message to
Financial Advisors…
What have you done in the last sixty
days to increase your sales? Is there any question that during
the year, you're going to spend thousands of dollars in time,
money and effort bringing in new clients to your business? Then
wouldn't it make sense to do it the most cost effective,
money-making ways? Why not learn the marketing, prospecting,
appointment setting and sales strategies that most of the leading
agents, advisors and planners on the planet use? Jeremy and Lew
Nason
