My "Bersonal" View

Barry Slocum, President of Gryphon Financial Solutions writes a great newsletter for his group. Since I am packing up today to head to the Gryphon “Soar and Roar 2015” Conference in Galveston, TX, I thought it would be a good time to share a piece from his newsletter.  In this article his idea of what to do with Life Policies that are under water is a good one. Often times if a clients policy was purchased before 2000 they can find themselves underwater. This is a great way to use a 3rd party authority (The Wall Street Journal) to help you help your clients make a decision. Thanks b.! See you in TX!

The Sinking Ship

Many advisors have either clients with old universal life policies on the books or have come across new clients who are furious with their old advisors because the life policy that they were sold did not perform to their expectations.

Rates that were illustrated two decades ago have dropped dramatically and that means that many contracts are at risk of not performing as intended or lapsing due to insufficient cash values. Knowing that there is not much that can be done to save these contracts aside from pumping even more money into a sinking ship, as your clients’ trusted financial advisor how can you rescue them from this scenario?

You have a few options, one of which is the subject of the linked WSJ article that suggests a 1035 exchange of your clients remaining cash value into an annuity. A 1035 occurs tax free and the funds will grow tax deferred until your client decides that they either wish to withdraw money from their account or trigger an income stream.

One advantage of this life insurance to annuity 1035 exchange that your client may not be aware of is that you can help them shield the amount of taxable income from their annuity dollar for dollar by the amount of loss that they experienced in their life insurance contract. The loss is calculated by the amount of money being 1035’d to an annuity compared to the original life policies cost basis. If the life insurance policies cost basis is higher than the amount being transferred to the annuity then you have just turned your clients Sinking Ship into a tax cutting treasure.

Please read the linked article for important caveats and contact your Gryphon Financial Solutions Sales Coordinator with any questions.

WSJ ARTICLE

I was reading some great information recently on social selling and how social media has changed the sales process. The power is often in the hands of socially savvy buyers who come to the table armed with as much—or even more—information than the sales professional. These days, the consumer’s sales journey might be complete before they even think about interacting with a salesperson.

So what’s a traditionally trained sales professional to do?

Research by social sales specialist Jim Keenan in his report Social Media and Sales Quota has shown that sales professionals who use social media to network and build relationships outsell their peers who don’t. And let’s face it: Sales is all about building relationships.

Integrity-Based Relationship Building

But how exactly do they do it? Kevin Thomas Tully, a sales professional and a principal of Toronto-based social selling training company Sales for Life, credits the three Cs of social selling—content, conversation and conversion—as pillars of the sales process, and he’s right. But he also notes that the linchpin to the whole engine is the ability to build integrity-based relationships. And that, in my opinion, is truly the key.

Building integrity-based relationships means making a human connection without trying to sell and nurturing your connections from a human fellowship perspective, not a sales or brand-side perspective. From initial connection through conversation and even conversion, when you forge relationships the right way, better sales results come naturally.

Anyone can benefit from honing their human skills to build good relationships. The trick is to:

• Be genuine.
• Get excited about finding solutions for people.
• Be proactive in both reaching out and following up.

Trust and Your Reputation

It all comes down to trust. The trust that others put in you goes beyond any form of measurement. Trust is closely tied to integrity, and brings with it boundless opportunities and possibilities, and it can be contagious! Every person who trusts you is likely to spread the word of that trust to at least a few others. And remember: A brand is what a business does, but a reputation is what people remember and share.

So instead of thinking in terms of quotas, sales figures and bottom line when you’re talking to people, think in terms of how you can weave integrity into how you connect and converse with them. Think about how you can add value to their lives at every touch point. Trust me, the conversion will likely take care of itself

When I was growing up my parents taught me the value of money. Not by giving me money but by making me earn it. From a very young age (age 9) if I wanted to buy somethiong I had to earn the money to buy it. Having a paper route was the only way I could do that. My brothers and I delivered newspapers every morning for almost 6 years…until each of us was old enough to get a “real” job.

It’s never too early to start teaching children about money. Otherwise, until they start earning a living, it’s easy for kids to think that money, indeed, does “grow on trees”!

Even young children can understand the concept of money…exchanging a sum of money for something they want.¨

Consider giving children an allowance beginning in elementary school,teaching them how to split their “earnings” into three piggy banks or glass jars: savings, spending and sharing.¨

Teach them how to allocate money, such as 20% for savings, 10% for giving and the balance for spending.¨

Show your kids how to reach a savings goal…how saving X amount of their allowance each month will add up to the amount needed to buy a toy or new video game in a certain number of months

Anybody who has seen me present has probably heard at least one of my “hunourous” anectdotes. Most often if I am telling a story it is laced with some humor…and humor that can be related to the topic or our industry. Humor can be an ice breaker to relieve tension but it is also a great way to bond with clients and your audience. Some of the best presenters of our time used humor as part of their presentation, but also some who you might not suspect went further bcause of their sense of humor. For example:

In 1960, few expected National Football League owners to pick 33-year-old Pete Rozelle as their new commissioner. At the time, Rozelle was the low-profile general manager of the Los Angeles Rams. After several rounds of balloting, the owners decided Rozelle possessed the right mix of qualities to lead the league. Before the final vote, the owners asked him to leave the room. He learned of his new job while in the bathroom. Returning to the conference room, he began by telling the owners, “I come to you with clean hands.”

Known for his humor and good nature, Rozelle (1926-1996) realized that his agreeable personality helped propel his success. He later concluded that he got the job because he was “the only one who hadn’t alienated most of the people at the meeting.”

This can work in client meetings as well. Reps who are likeable tend to have more success and a good sense of humor can help.

— Adapted from “Pete Rozelle Commissioned A New NFL Business Model,” Michael Mink, http://www.investors.com.

Everyone expects you to lean heavily on PowerPoint for that next presentation. But before you give in to the allure of slides, just play a little game in your mind by asking yourself: How could I pull this show off if I had no visuals? How would I make this topic intriguing? Imagine yourself commanding the room with only your voice, because that’s always where a talk’s true power should come from.

I have heard Steve Lewitt speak on several occasions. I don’t know specifically if he is a Sandler Sales expert…but when I read his newsletter I saw a lot of similarities. The idea of finding the clients pain is a classic Sandler technique and in this guest article from Steve we see how he helps us apply this to our practice.

Steve Lewit’s Selling World

Key Landmine #1:
Clients have little emotional motivation to make a change

This is a research based landmine.

It says that people are either moving away from those things that cause them pain, or they are moving towards those things they feel they are missing in their lives. These are emotional urges, and of the two, the drive to reduce or eliminate pain is most predominant.

In our business, we are seeking to see if the client’s pain is so strong that he or she is no longer willing to live with it, what I call a “breakthrough pain”. If clients are able and willing to live with their pain, they will not make any changes and you should disqualify these clients as your sale will end with a “think about it”. We are looking for real toothache type pain, where the person doesn’t just take an aspirin but instead goes to the dentist to get an extraction or some other solution. The rule here is “no pain equals no sale”. Always defuse this Landmine first and foremost.

Key Landmine #2:
Each meeting begins with an Up-Front Agreement that the meeting must end with a clear “Yes”, a clear “No” or a scheduled Next Appointment

Prospects know that they can always fall back on their most reliable stall tactic—to “think about it.” To avoid doing a lot of work only to lose your client to this most common stall, you need to change the rules of the game.

By getting agreement from your client that they will give you clear decisions at the end of each and every meeting you establish a different and more satisfying rule that delivers what you want—no “think about its.” It’s your job to stand by the rules that you and your clients agree on. So, if your client can’t give you a clear “yes” or “no”, then you must get another appointment in the books. If the client won’t make that appointment then you know it’s a stall. Your job is then to go for the “no” and make sure that you get what you and your client agreed to—a clear decision or a clear direction. Remember that the rule is “no chasing.” That means you must get clear decisions.

Key Landmine #3:
Prospects must be willing to leave their adviser

When clients feel “married” to their current adviser you could give them the best plan in the world and they just won’t have the courage to leave. Financial professionals waste extraordinary amounts of time working with clients who are never going to move from their current adviser.

I suggest eliminating this landmine very early in the first meeting. Just ask when they sat down with their current adviser if they liked the “fix-it” plan that the adviser prepared for them. In most cases they will tell you that they never had that conversation and they never got a “fix-it” plan. You could then suggest that their meeting with you might be premature in that, perhaps, they would prefer going back to their current adviser since they are so comfortable with him. 99.9% of the time they will tell you all the reasons that their current adviser didn’t get the job done for them. In other words, by having your client consider going back to their adviser they actually create a self-imposed wedge, opening the door for their doing business with you.

Conclusion

Have you ever had a prospect say to you- “just send me some literature?” In our training we refer to this response as a “push back.”  A “push back” is an automatic response that has been conditioned within a prospect because of years of dealing with sales people who approach them in a certain way. I bet you have even said that once or twice to a sales person…right?

Next time you hear that response try something different. Thomas Freese, the master of the question based approach believes that “the underlying strategy here is a negotiating strategy we call tit-for-tat. The way it works is when a potential buyer asks you for something, you earn the right to ask them something in return.”

For Freese, the idea is to say yes to the literature request, but now you have earned the right to ask for something in return. In this case it is the right to ask a question.

“I will be happy to send you some literature. Can I ask you a question first?”

The majority of people will instinctively say yes. It is then and there where you have to change the prospects perspective. We preach that the question you should ask next should always be one you already know the answer too.

“Should I send a stack of our standard marketing material or would you rather know more about how the product actually works?”

Once again the prospect will most likely say they want to know more about the product. This then gives you the chance to change their perspective. Remind them of other prospects who first wanted literature but learned more about the product with a sit-down meeting and a white board to outline their specific goals and concerns.

Clients will push back. It is only natural. But with a question based approach there is always another question to ask – questions that can stimulate rational thinking and illuminate ideas.

Dear Jeffrey,

I’ve built my business for the last 10 years and although I was not ready to retire, I wanted to have a plan in place to do so. I wasn’t sure if my children would want to take over the business, if I should  sell it to my key employes or find a buyer who is willing to pay what it is worth. But then I met you.

My dilemma when I met you was that neither my children or my key employee could pay the full value of the business up front. I was not sure if I could retire without that money. I had some savings in my pension, but not nearly enough. For me, the business was my retirement but I could not understand how to cash that in.

Jeff…thanks for taking me through some simple steps to provide me with options. You said it would be just 6 simple questions and you were right. In fact, I do believe, as you told me, that these are 6 questions that every business owner should be able to answer.

After our discussion, and you had my answers – I was pleased to get your thourough and complete analysis report. It was focussed on my family, my employees and my needs. I was also relieved to discover that I did not have to do everything all at once. You provided me options on how to protect my business until I am ready to leave, a succession plan, a buy-sell agreement, what a buyer might pay for my business and an overall exit strategy. Everything was clear and concise and I could clearly see the path and options that best worked for me.

As a result of going through the steps, I see how I might be able to retire with some confidence. I hope that my business, employees, and ultimately my family, will be taken care of. Thank you Jeffrey…I feel more confident now that I have a plan for my future.

Please feel free to use me as a reference to anyone who you think would like to hear my story.

Gratefully,

Peter Cummings

Dr. Robert Cialdini is considered one of the top persuasion experts on the planet. And in a recent audio clip, Dr. Cialdini reveals how you can get your clients and prospects to say “yes – I want to get started” to whatever product you’re selling a lot more frequently.Cialdini says from the outset of the interview: “Before you deliver the strongest argument in favor of your (product), you mention a weakness. You mention a drawback.”

Why? What does that do to that do to the psyche of the consumer? How would that increase their chances of saying yes?

According to Dr. Cialdini, doing that establishes you as knowledgeable and trustworthy. It tells a consumer that you are willing to talk about the negatives, which indicates that you will engage them realistically, honestly and ethically. It gives them a reason to trust you and like you.

Simply put, people say yes to people they like.

Now, Cialdini doesn’t mean that you begin a prospect meeting by reading a list of drawbacks to your products.

He merely suggests that you state one drawback immediately before delivering your product’s greatest strength. Nothing more, nothing less.

Dr. Cialdini makes one more suggestion to get prospects to say yes.

Often, sales agents build their selling points around what a prospect will gain from their product. While it has proven effective and important, it’s also an antiquated and mainstream method.

It’s such a widespread technique that millions of people who aren’t in the sales business use it to sell used lawnmowers and old furniture on Craig’s List.

That’s a clear sign that it’s time to move past Sales 101.

Instead of just highlighting a product’s benefits, Dr. Cialdini suggests that you also show prospects what they would lose if they didn’t buy your product.

People – especially Americans – are frightened and motivated by the idea of losing. We hate losing. We hate losing so much that we are driven by our fear of losing more than our desire to win.

This concept is utilized all around you.

Parents revoke privileges from their kids if they misbehave. A 6-year old isn’t allowed to play with her favorite toy because she talked back her parents. Parents take the car keys from a 17-year old after he stays out past curfew.

Department stores tell you that if you don’t get your butt in their doors at 5 a.m. on Black Friday, you will miss the chance to save 75% on certain items. Do most customers really need another DVD player? No, but buying it (a win) prevented them from missing out of the chance for savings (a loss).

Coaches bench the star player for insubordination, sending a signal to the team that its chances of losing increases when players project an unprofessional attitude.

Keep this in mind when selling insurance packages or financial advice. Learning what a prospect wants will help you show them what they will lose if they don’t buy your product.

Make them recognize what they are about to lose by walking out empty-handed.

Be valuable.

People don’t want to appear stupid. Therefore they will neglect to ask questions if they perceive they are expected to understand the topic at hand. This is a natural and prevalent human insecurity. I know it is true for me because I experience it every day with my 9-year-old son. This kid knows so much about Pokemon it is mind-boggling. Every day he is telling me stuff, complicated information and I just can’t seem to learn it or retain it. I am at the point now where I just do not ask questions any more. Why? Well he is 9 and of course when I ask a question on something he already explained he does get mad…but then he is only 9. But I think you get my point. I don’t ask because I don’t want to appear stupid.

As an advisor, it is much safer to stop in your discussions and define an industry term rather than assume they know what it means. It is better to have the client tell you they already know that than it is to breeze through under the assumption that they do comprehend. Again, the idea is to educate the client so they can make decisions. By taking the time to be sure they understand you will be building a much higher level of trust- and you will help them make smart decisions.