Guidance for New Life Agents

[DHK]

I just found these on YouTube, so I thought I'd post them here. I haven't heard them yet, but I'm sure it's GOOD!

 

[somarco]

Thanks for your posts. The Ben Feldman post triggered memories of the great life insurance salesmen of the past. There may have been women as well but life insurance has traditionally been male dominated.

Are there any people today who can match up with Feldman, Mehdi Fakharzedi, Joe Gandolfo or Marshall Wolper? Or trainers like Al Granum or Frank Sullivan?

 

[DHK]

Are there any people today who can match up with Feldman, Mehdi Fakharzedi, Joe Gandolfo or Marshall Wolper? Or trainers like Al Granum or Frank Sullivan?

There's Marvin Feldman, but he wasn't quite as ambitious as his father as Marvin wanted more balance in his life. I can't blame him for that. He's the CEO of "Life Happens".


The top agent I can think of today is Van Mueller. He had written a lot of articles for Senior Market Advisor, lots of speaking for NAIFA, MDRT, and various companies. He has a newsletter that he publishes for $15/month for agents to talk about current economic concepts and sales ideas. (If he has only 10,000 subscribers, then he gets paid $150,000 a month to publish that thing! Pretty good side business!)

www.vanmueller.com




I bet Mehdi Fakharzadeh is still producing in his 90's! (Lots of joint work with other agents, I think.) He spoke at a live training event at Insurance Pro Shop a few years ago, so that might tell you something about the quality of training from IPS.

Lew Nason & Jeremy Nason the leading insurance sales trainers

“Working with IPS, there is no reason on earth why you can not become a sales super-star who ranks equally among MDRT all-time sales leaders like Ben Feldman, Norman G. Levine, Lew Nason, Tom Wolff, John Savage, Guy Baker, Walton Rogers, and other top producers.”
Mehdi Fakharzadeh, RFC - "MDRT Life Member"
World’s most successful living and active insurance sales agent according to the MDRT.

Wayne Cotton also comes to mind as an industry trainer and speaker - a big believer if procedurizing as many aspects of your business as possible. Check out his video posts on LinkedIn. I understand that Wayne Cotton and Frank Sullivan were supposed to write a book together about "The Critical Path" - a project management concept and applying it to financial services. It never happened because Frank died by then, but Wayne has certainly applied those concepts into how he trains agents and advisors.

https://www.linkedin.com/in/waynecottonclu/

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/your-business-processes-clearly-defined-wayne-cotton-clu/?trackingId=1Nfpmezi+jxDdeGkI+NbBw==

He also did a series of "shows" with Steve Savant a few years ago:


Wayne Cotton's Precision Growth Newsletter Archive:
Precision Growth Newsletter Archives

Wayne Cotton's Precision Growth VIDEO Archive:
Precision Growth Newsletter Archives


Those are the bigger names that come to my mind.


Personally, I think there's been an overall trend of the notion of "leveraged work" or "working less" to try to generate more. Everyone seems to have a "system" to sell to make the job of selling insurance easy "without cold calling" or other HARD or UNCOMFORTABLE work - particularly with as many internet resources as we have today. I think of all the articles about "how to get rich on LinkedIn" or whatever... rather than learning how to BE a great insurance agent or financial advisor. In my mind, being a great advisor means that you can start engaging conversations and/or drop a 30 second commercial and get people interested in who you are and what you do. Yes, referrals is superior, but having these skills is, I believe, critical in being a fully trained advisor.

That doesn't seem to be taught these days, at least not with much modern skill. I still remember an old GA of mine saying "It's only 25 years of experience talking." Well, based on what he was teaching, it was certainly over 25 years ago when it was quality training. Not much gets updated in terms of teaching real communication skills.

 

[somarco]

Thanks for the long response and updating me on who is who (or is it whom) in today's world.

While life & financial planning is not my bag today, I started my career in the agency system and learned a lot of things about how to work the business. Exposure to seasoned producers was invaluable and something I suspect no longer exists.

Early on I spent time at MONY and later Penn Mutual. "Old timers" would frequently invite me in to sit and chat. A few of them even took me out on appointments with them.

What a wealth of information even though a lot of their ways were "old school" even in those days.

I recall hearing a GA/Manager for Home Life speak at a local Life Underwriters meeting many years ago. A tall, nice looking gentleman who had retired from management but still producing. He was probably mid to late 70's at the time and had a slow, deliberate cadence that reminded me of Gregory Peck's version of Atticus Finch.

When he opened it up to questions a young agent noted his comment about earning $40 per month in the 1940's when $40 (according to the youngster) was "a lot of money".

Jim's response was, "Son, I am here to tell you that $40 was never a lot of money".

And I suspect you are right that agents coming up in the industry these days are not taught the finer points of fact finding (Tom Wolff Capital Needs Analysis) and client development.

And that is a damn shame.

 

[DHK]

While life & financial planning is not my bag today, I started my career in the agency system and learned a lot of things about how to work the business. Exposure to seasoned producers was invaluable and something I suspect no longer exists.

I don't know this, but I bet there was either something in the higher-end producer's contract, or because of their in-house profit-sharing program... there was SOME kind of incentive for seasoned producers to speak and share their wisdom with others. I know that Ohio National has their NQDC plan based on overall profitability of the company and they do regional meetings featuring a top producer twice a year. These have been quite valuable as I heard from Tom Love, Rich Wesselt, Phil Cavender, and others.


However, today, most of the premium generated is by independent channels... and most seasoned producers don't remember HOW they got started. Plus, it can generally be considered that "anything before DNC laws (and the internet for that matter)... was the good ol' days and they won't be coming back."

Back then, people VALUED salespeople calling on them because they had information that people wanted and couldn't get anywhere else. With the internet today, people THINK they don't need you, but they do. They just don't know it. We simply have to be better than some of the methods of yesterday.

For example: I remember reading about Joe Gandolfo talking about "sharing ideas" in his book "How To Make Big Money Selling". Ben Feldman talked the same way about his "packages". But today, I think it's more important to be able to summarize the benefits of what we do, not just want to "stop by, shake hands, and share an idea or two". It implies that you have time to waste, and maybe they do too, and you want to join them in a meaningless activity. And it wasn't specific about the ideas. It was vague and mysterious - I suppose to keep the curiosity factor working.

I find the notion quite annoying myself. I remember always hearing "If they knew how life insurance worked, they would beat a path to your door to buy it!" Well, I don't market with mysteries anymore. I talk about benefits of working with me - specifically geared around the benefits of life insurance strategies. It simply doesn't pay to be mysterious - but an agent DOES need to know their stuff so they can be clear and concise on exactly how they can help people.

Today, people are sharper, more jaded, and disillusioned more than ever before, so we have to be even better. We have to get right to the point as to what the benefits are for giving up their valuable time to (gasp!) spend it with a salesperson who CLAIMS to be able to help them. All we have to do then... is not mess it up!

 

[somarco]

most seasoned producers don't remember HOW they got started.

I actually chuckled at that one. But you are right.

My "war stories" start in the mid 70's and I was talking with guys that had been in the business for 30, 40, 50 years or longer. Definitely before DNC, called ID, etc.

I do remember asking one guy how he got started and his response was, "I just went out and DID it".

Yeah, that was helpful.

One of my mentors at MONY started as an office employee collecting premiums. MONY didn't have a debit operation but people would come into the office and pay their premiums by cash. He was OLD in the late 70's when I met him and had probably started at MONY in the 1920's. He worked in the office by day and orphan leads by nights and weekends. A real sweetheart of a guy, very shy. He couldn't SELL anything but was willing to ASK people if they wanted to buy some insurance. Many of those folks already knew him from coming in the office to pay their premiums.

I started with my list of 100 (or maybe it was more) but soon found out that wasn't going to work. Was handed a Criss-Cross directory and cold called.

That didn't go so well either.

But I got to know the agency office manager pretty well and he started feeding me orphan leads. Didn't make a lot of $$$ but managed to validate my contract long enough until I could get a "real" job in the employee benefits arena where I really wanted to be any way.

It implies that you have time to waste, and maybe they do too,

Another guy I knew from the same time period got his start with MONY in DC. He spent a lot of time at the Pentagon, walking the halls and poking his head in. (Couldn't do that today). He said he was amazed at how many people worked there, had nothing to do, and would spend hours talking to you.

And some of them actually bought insurance . . .

Today, people are sharper, more jaded, and disillusioned more than ever before, so we have to be even better.

A college friend "retired" from international banking a few years ago and wanted something to do so he hooked up with another college bud and signed on as a life agent with Mass. He worked his butt off for 3 years. Validated his finance agreement every month and made good, not great, but good money.

The last day of his contract he quit. He said "no one wants to buy this chit". His manager said "Of course, that's why it is still SOLD, because no one DOES want to buy this chit".

Thanks for indulging me. Have a nice day and keep up the good work.

 

[DHK]

The last day of his contract he quit. He said "no one wants to buy this chit". His manager said "Of course, that's why it is still SOLD, because no one DOES want to buy this chit".

Of course they want to buy it! They just don't know why! (And neither do most agents for that matter.) Companies suck at communicating the holistic value of their policies to their agents so they could actually SELL their products. That's just one reason why all these "selling system" companies have sprouted up - because the companies won't step up and do it themselves. (Well, other than Guardian Life that has their "Living Balance Sheet" system - so I give them credit for that, but it's still expensive and cumbersome.)

 

[Life Hawk]

I just found these on YouTube, so I thought I'd post them here. I haven't heard them yet, but I'm sure it's GOOD!

Hey DHK, thanks for sharing your Feldman links. Very unique delivery, very deliberate. Made me rethink some of my own wording in my own presentation. Good Stuff!

 

[DHK]

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Sign up and start absorbing his material. It's well worth your time.
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For more information on Sid Walker, click here: Sidney C. Walker ~ Sales Training, Sales Coaching & Sales Tips

 

[billdozer]

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