We look forward to the Van Mueller newsletter every month. It's chock-full of sound bites, sales tips, and eye-opening statistics. Here are our favorite parts of the October 2016 edition. We're sharing his introduction and 2 of the 7 monthly sales ideas. If you like what you read, we encourage you to click here and become a subscriber.
Reprinted with the author's permission.
October, 2016 – 7 Ideas and Views Newsletter by Van Mueller
Last month we shared foundational ideas for developing the proper attitude to achieve success, real success in our business. Success is not measured by how much money we make, although many agents and advisors mistakenly use that as a measuring stick.
True success is measured by how many people we help and serve. Repeating from last month, it is not about what we get, it’s about what we give that provides true happiness.
Success is also measured by how much we love what we do. When you can wake up every day excited to do what you do, that is the secret to real joy. I am ALWAYS astonished by my good fortune. When I write these newsletters or give my speeches the first thing I always ask is “Can you tell how much I love what I do? Are you able to see how passionate I am about my profession?”
If you are able to develop that passion you have accomplished most of what you will need to find the success you desire.
Now, we will proceed with the process. Professionals use a process! They NEVER deviate from that process. It is meant to be so easy, conversational and effortless that people feel very confident that you have covered all the bases. They are confident because you are confident and comfortable. That only comes from doing something so many times that it becomes instinctive. It should look and feel as natural as talking about your favorite food or movie. You must know YOUR process intimately. You will get better and better the more you do your process. Don’t stop because the first ten or twenty times it looks and feels difficult. Repetition will get you to that point where you feel extreme confidence.
We will start with the most important part of the entire process. How do I get enough appointments to fill my appointment book?
For most agents this is the make or break part of the process. There are many ways to accomplish this requirement and we will review them here. You must, however, have a fundamental skill which we will review at the end of our discussion on this most important subject of prospecting.
There are many ways to prospect. All require an expertise that must be developed and practiced.
Let’s start with the hardest one of all; COLD CALLING. I still cold call occasionally to stay sharp. I don’t feel the same pressure to excel at this method because I have an abundance of appointments; however, I do it regularly so I can help teach other agents how to fill their appointment books or seminars. To have success with cold calling you must have a script. I have one that I share on my “Successful Selling” CD’s. It must be rehearsed in the same manner as an actor rehearsing and preparing for a movie or a play.
The actor, Sir Anthony Hopkins who played Hannibal Lector, when asked how he did such a masterful job performing his characters, actually said it was easy. He explained that when rehearsing for a role he practiced his part and everyone else’s part 150 times. He said this allowed him to not have to think of his lines. He could listen and respond to the other actors in a natural manner.
That is how you make cold calling successful. You practice until you can become conversational on the phone call.
That is how you make cold calling successful. You practice until you can become conversational on the phone call.
It is a grueling and for most, a moderately successful way to prospect. We must continue to teach and learn it because it is free. Many agents cannot afford the prospecting methods we will discuss next.
Lead generation developed by direct mail advertising. This is costly and is only cost effective if you can convert some of those inquiries into appointments. That is why you must become skilled at cold calling on the phone. Response to generated leads is a warmer version of cold calling but it still requires you to have a cold calling skill level.
Buying actual leads is another methodology. This is also very expensive and again requires that you have a script that can convert those leads to sales.
Advertising and seminars are another method for getting appointments. Advertising is expensive, especially when you don’t have any money. Again, I return to the same conclusion. Advertising must be converted to appointments and then sales.
Seminars can be expensive or inexpensive depending on the venue and whether food is served. It is important to have great subject matter. Social Security, Retirement, Medicare, Healthcare costs and taxes are a few of the different subject matters that can be promoted.
Again, a script and a certain skill level of presentation is necessary to both create attendees and then convert them in to appointments. Are you beginning to see a pattern? Then there are referrals. Not a very beneficial prospecting tool for new agents or experienced agents with few clients.
By the way, the greatest fallacy in our business is that you get referrals by asking for them. You actually get referrals by being REFERRABLE!
By the way, the greatest fallacy in our business is that you get referrals by asking for them. You actually get referrals by being REFERRABLE!
I have one more prospecting tool. The one I use and train both new and experienced agents to use. Before I go through it, please be clear. This is just an overview. There are many, many prospecting tools that involve media of all kinds, including the internet.
If you take the time to develop what I am about to share with you, all of the above methods will work because you will have learned and built the foundation necessary to have a successful career in our industry.
Here’s the secret: NEVER TELL ANYONE ANYTHING AGAIN. BECOME AN AMAZING CONVERSATIONALIST. WOULD YOU CONSIDER FROM THIS DAY FORWARD, ONLY ASKING QUESTIONS?
Consider this:
- Questions are actually powerful statements in disguise.
- People love to talk about themselves.
- Most people are not great listeners. The current attention span of an American is 8 seconds.
- If you ask someone 5 or 6 questions in a row that they don’t know the answer to, they will become nervous and desirous of learning the answers to those questions, especially as they pertain to their own particular situations.
The easiest way to explain this method would be to describe it as prospecting where your feet are. Become very interesting. Ask your mechanic, your dry cleaner, your grocer, your family, and your friends, your neighbors disturbing, interesting and intriguing questions and you will have all the appointments you will ever be able to handle.
Here are a few examples. A couple are new or are twists on a question on the 2015 “Questions, Questions, Questions” CD.
I ask everyone “Is there someone at the Internal Revenue or local nursing home who you are so madly in love with that you want to leave them an enormous pile of money?” They will ask how I know that. I then ask another question. “If you think taxes will be higher in the future, why would you not pay your taxes now and eliminate them in the future rather than building an enormous pile of money for the government to use in the future?” Or, “With all the work you have done building your financial future, would you be surprised that your life’s work could be destroyed by one or two or three years in the nursing home?”
I ask everyone “Is there someone at the Internal Revenue or local nursing home who you are so madly in love with that you want to leave them an enormous pile of money?”
They transition into asking for an appointment. Make is as non-threatening as possible. If we, (Never I,) If we could show you ways from preventing those things from happening and all we would do is ask some questions that would help you clarify for yourself not only how to not be hurt by those situations and even better, take advantage of those situations and there was no cost or obligation do you think you could find forty five minutes in the next week to visit with me? I even promise I won’t try to sell them anything. I also promise they will be so pleased with the process that they would walk me to my car and hold my car door open for me.
It’s okay to not sell them anything. Americans love to buy. Americans hate to be sold. The questions position you to be an advocate, an advisor or counselor rather than a sales person.
Here’s another great question. Take the time to set it up and make it conversational; even a little self deprecating. Introduce yourself; “Hi, my name is Van Mueller and I am an insurance and financial advisor. I’ve been doing this for a long time and I know the last thing you need is to be bothered by someone like me. However, we believe there is another serious economic catastrophe about to happen and we don’t understand why people are going to allow themselves to lose 30 or 50 or even 70 percent of their money again because it doesn’t happen to any of our people. You would really help me a lot to understand if I could just ask you a few questions. “Where is it written that you have to lose a lot of money in order to make money? What if you didn’t have to lose any money, and as a result you were always in a position to only make money, when you want to be able to do something like that, before or after the next downturn? Again, you transition to asking for the appointment. “If there was no cost or obligation and all I am going to do is ask some additional questions to verify how to do this, could you find me 45 minutes in the next week or two? How about Tuesday at 3 PM?”
These are just a couple of examples on my previous CD’s and the new “More Questions, Questions, Questions” there are dozens of these types of questions.
Here’s the key: Become conversational about asking prospects and clients questions about the issues of the day and how they can be hurt by or take advantage of those issues.
Here’s the key: Become conversational about asking prospects and clients questions about the issues of the day and how they can be hurt by or take advantage of those issues.
Here’s a short list of issues:
- Taxes
- Inflation
- Volatility of Markets
- Longevity
- Social Security
- Medicare
- Healthcare
- Promises Not Kept By Governments At Every Level
- Zero and Even Negative Interest Rate
There are many, many more; these are just a few. I ask questions about all these and more. Prospects and clients want to know how these things will affect them. Will it be a bad way or a good way? Ask them if they know and, would they like to create more certainty about the outcome. You will get a lot of appointments.
Remember that this is only a guide and not a full scale description of the process. The next step is the appointment. I ask only four major questions which turn into many, many questions. The reason people don’t buy from you many times is that they do not have a method to judge whether what you are asking then about will hurt them or could help them. They don’t have organized thinking about investing, taxes, retirement or benefits. Our questions will help them to organize their thinking so they can determine how vital and amazing the information you are sharing with them is.
Here are the four questions:
- Do You Think Taxes Will Be Higher In The Future? Do You Want To Pay Them?
- Do You Think Benefits Will Be Lower? How Will You Replace Those Lost Benefits?
- Do You Think We Will Have Inflation? Do You Want To Be Hurt By That Inflation Or Benefit From It?
- Will We Have Increased Volatility? Do You Want To Be Hurt By That Volatility Or Would You Rather Take Advantage Of It?
Most times your client will want to go forward after the first question. Paying too much in taxes really upsets people. Ask all the questions anyway. The reason for all four questions is that sometimes taxes don’t inspire people to take action. That’s why there are four questions. Almost everyone has a concern about one of the four questions. It is our job to inspire action.
One additional question I am considering and you should give consideration to is about longevity. Do you have enough money to live in retirement until you are 95 years old? Are you concerned about outliving your money?
One additional question I am considering and you should give consideration to is about longevity. Do you have enough money to live in retirement until you are 95 years old? Are you concerned about outliving your money?
The customer is inspired to go further. Now begins the most important segment of the sales process: The Fact Finder. I have two. I have an emotional fact finder and a factual fact finder.
The emotional fact finder has 5 questions which turn into dozens and dozens of questions. The factual fact finder just asks to see their taxes, their policies, their investments, etc. to determine if they can meet the requirements of the emotional fact finder.
You transition to the fact finder easily. You share with the prospect that it is important to truly understand what they are trying to accomplish so you will need to ask some additional questions to help clarify exactly what the prospect is trying to achieve and what risk or lack of risk they wish to take.
Let me repeat again: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE SALES PROCESS. You will also note that I repeated; this is a process. Please consider these 5 questions. If a customer goes through this process with you they will usually buy.
Let me repeat again: THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART OF THE SALES PROCESS. You will also note that I repeated; this is a process. Please consider these 5 questions. If a customer goes through this process with you they will usually buy.
Here are my basic questions:
- What do you want to have happen when you die?
- What do you want to have happen when you become disabled?
- What do you want to have happen when you have a critical illness?
- What do you want to have happen when you go into a nursing home?
- What do you want to have happen when you retire?
Again, if you own the CD’s or you read the newsletter regularly you will understand that I go into much more detail. The purpose of this introduction is to provide a guide for a process.
I hand deliver every policy. I also include a poem with every life policy which you will find at the end of the newsletter.
We do client reviews whenever necessary with once per year being the minimum.
You must have a spectacular assistant and you must allow him or her to do their job once it is defined. I do not waste very much time managing. My personal assistant knows her job and does it. I have no life without her. She is integral to everything I do as an agent, speaker and writer. If you wish to succeed, you must have a great assistant or assistants.
You must also rest. I don’t mean sleep. I mean rest. You have to play as hard as you work. You have to spend time with your family. For most of us it is the reason why we do what we do. If you don’t spend time with them, you lose one of the main reasons for excelling at your profession. This is one example: There are so many more. The key is to take time for yourself so you can approach your profession with a fresh perspective. Remember, fatigue makes cowards of us all.
Finally, and my mother used to say this to me all the time, “No man is an island unto himself.”
Finally, and my mother used to say this to me all the time, “No man is an island unto himself.”
I belong to charitable organizations at home. I belong to NAIFA and to MDRT and Top of the Table. I belong to the Society of Financial Service Professionals. Many in our industry belong to men’s and women’s clubs, country clubs and other social clubs. You must expand your world.
Belonging to these organizations is the easiest way possible to do that. Be a joiner. By the way, it also helps with the rest requirement.
This is an example of a process. I hope you will use mine or create your own. Great salespeople have great processes that they NEVER deviate from. It is key to your success.
Next month I will return to the August Newsletter goal of providing important websites to build your access to resources to help you become better insurance and financial professionals.
Be sure you go to www.vanmueller.com and order the new CD, “More Questions, Questions, Questions.” From the feedback we have received so far, many of you have been telling me that these are the best CDs I have done so far. Let’s get started with the rest of the Newsletter.
We're passing on two of the newsletter's monthly sales ideas - every issue of the newsletter contains 7 ideas. Subscribe to get them all.
Idea #5: Social Security Makes Lots More Mistakes with Your Benefits
The Government Accountability Office has discovered in an overwhelming number of cases that when you go to your Social Security office it is highly probable that you will receive incorrect or misleading information.
The mistakes being made have cost the Americans thousands and tens of thousands in lost benefits. My friend and hero who is running for President as a write in candidate is Laurence Kotlikoff who is a professor at Boston University and is considered one of the foremost experts on Social Security in our nation. He has written the popular book on Social Security that is called, Get What’s Yours. You have to read it. He also created the website, http://maximizemysocialsecurity.com/. It has prevented many people who have used it from making terrible mistakes when claiming Social Security benefits.
Please read these articles. Get the book written by Professor Kotlikoff and visit the website. You and your prospects and clients will be rewarded greatly. Social Security planning is very important.
Title: GAO study documents mistakes by Social Security Administration staff
www.investmentnews.com (Investment News, September 20, 2016)
https://www.investmentnews.com/article/20160920/BLOG05/160919934/gao-study-documents-mistakes-by-socialsecurity-administration-staff
Title: New GAO Study Confirms That Social Security Staff Are Routinely Making Mistakes
www.forbes.com (Forbes, September 15, 2016)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kotlikoff/2016/09/15/new-gao-study-confirms-that-social-security-staff-are-routinely-making-mistakes/#71dbdc974e80
Title: Why Most Retirees Lose Thousands in Social Security Benefits
www.nextavenue.org (Next Avenue, September 21, 2016)
http://www.nextavenue.org/retirees-lose-thousands-social-security-benefits/
Idea #7: Pascal's Wager
This is a 350 year old idea that inspires people to change their minds. It is now backed up by psychologists who clearly state it is impossible to change someone’s mind by telling them that they are wrong.
That is why I am always begging you to only ask questions. You know instinctively that the correct way to sell is to ask rather than tell.
Frank Luntz, the pollster who spoke at Naifa confirmed in the last half hour of his speech the polling and science that confirms that people many times hear something different than you say. That’s where the trouble arises. We should never say anything we should only ask.
This is Pascal’s second persuasive suggestion and I quote, “If I have an idea myself, I feel I can claim ownership over that idea, as opposed to having to take your idea, which means I have to explicitly say, I’m going to defer to you as the authority on this.” Not everyone wants to do that.
Please read this very short article. It will change your career for the better, instantaneously.
Title: A philosopher’s 350-year-old trick to get people to change their minds is now backed up by psychologists
www.qz.com (Quartz, September 11, 2016)
http://qz.com/778767/to-tell-someone-theyre-wrong-first-tell-them-how-theyre-right/
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