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 August 2020 edition. We're sharing the full 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.
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August 2020 – 7 Ideas and Views Newsletter by Van Mueller
This is the greatest time ever to sell cash value life insurance, because it is such an important part of any strategy to help Americans build successful financial futures. The information in this month’s newsletter can help you to double, triple, even quadruple your appointments. When you get to all these appointments, this information will get your prospect or clients so emotionally involved in the process that they will beg you for advice and solutions. They will be so grateful for your assistance that they will give you referrals without even asking for them.
Please remember that you are doing important work for our prospects and clients. Not only do you give financial, insurance and retirement advice, you will also be comforters, confidants and psychologists. You inspire people to deal with a more complex world filled with greater challenges and more opportunities than ever before. We must do our job to the best of our ability or the American people will be overcome by the challenges we will discuss in this newsletter.
Here are two reasons that this is the greatest time ever to be an insurance and financial professional.
First, we have a vastly underinsured society.
One of the primary advantages of cash value life insurance is providing income replacement when a breadwinner dies. Now, if our customer has a $50,000 annual income and they have a $1,000,000 face amount life insurance policy, then they are underinsured! Show them the math: at 3% return, that face amount will only provide $30,000 of income. But what if your $1,000,000 earns nothing? Wouldn’t you have to use $50,000 of principle? Because it is forecast that interest rates will remain low for a very long time, this is a serious challenge for anyone trying to provide guaranteed income for a long time. People who only sell investments would be hard-pressed to find tools that could prevent this catastrophe. In contrast, insurance agents could easily provide the required income because we can also use “mortality credits”.
Because it is forecast that interest rates will remain low for a very long time, this is a serious challenge for anyone trying to provide guaranteed income for a long time.
Right now, Americans are dealing with challenges that they have never faced before. They may never happen again, or they may become a regular occurrence in our lifetimes. We know ways for our customers to insure, enhance and even take advantage of these changes, rather than being harmed by them. We owe it to people to share this information with as many people as possible.
Second, we are about to see the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of our country.
It is estimated that between now and 2050, $50 to $100 trillion will transfer from the Baby Boomers parents to the Baby Boomers. The government knows this transfer is coming, and it wants to grab an inordinately large share of this transfer to fund everything government provides in the years ahead. The nursing care industry knows this transfer is coming, and it will become a substantial creditor of the aged in the future. The health care industry knows this transfer is coming, and it is requiring more out of pocket expenses to deal with elderly health care.
Our industry can prevent the depletion of this transfer by insuring, compounding and leveraging cash value life insurance so this transfer will not be lost forever to the challenges listed above.
Our industry can prevent the depletion of this transfer by insuring, compounding and leveraging cash value life insurance so this transfer will not be lost forever to the challenges listed above.
Because of these two reasons, agents and financial professionals play a truly important role. Our country needs you to succeed. You have access to fantastic training and methodologies that can really help. But none of that can help you — nothing in this newsletter can help you — unless you immediately start incorporating it into your every day practice. The key word is “immediately”. Dr. John Norcross, author of The Authoritative Guide to Self Help Resources in Mental Health, has found that unless you incorporate new ideas, information and behaviors immediately into your daily routine, you never will. And you have essentially wasted your time and money.
You have to practice. Sir Anthony Hopkins, one of the greatest actors who ever lived, was interviewed on Dateline. They asked him, “How do you make it look so easy?” He said, “Whenever I read a script for a new movie or play, I read my part and everyone else’s part ‘OUT LOUD’ 150 times. After that, I don’t think about what I’m going to say. I can listen to the other actors and respond to them naturally.” How many times have you been in an interview where you were so busy thinking about what you were going to say next that you didn’t listen to your prospect or client tell you what they needed to solve their problem?
You also have to have confidence. Many agents determine their self-worth by whether or not they make a sale. This puts the cart before the horse. In order to do your best, you must already believe in yourself, regardless of whether you make a sale. During a speech, I sometimes stop right in the middle and declare “I’ve been speaking to you long enough to ascertain that I am, easily the best agent in the room. Not even one of you comes close.” People fidget, there is a long awkward pause, but no one — not once in hundreds of speeches — has ever stood up and said “No, I am the best agent in the room.” After a few seconds, I ask, “Am I really the best agent in the room? I have no idea, but shouldn’t I act like it in every home and business I go into?” They agree. They say they understand, but they don’t, because for the most part they go back doing what they were doing and wondering why they aren’t doing as well as they would like. Most of the people reading this newsletter are smarter than me, better looking than me, more well-spoken than me, have more credentials than me and are nicer than me and yet, don’t write as much business in a year as I do in a month or even a week. Because I believe in myself.
In order to do your best, you must already believe in yourself, regardless of whether you make a sale.
And I believe in my message. Daniel Burris, who wrote the book Reengineering Yourself, said that agents are selling data, information and products, while customers want to buy knowledge and wisdom. So instead of telling people things, I spend my time asking questions. That way, whether or not they buy, they will have had a real discussion about themselves, their families and their businesses that will provide tremendous value. Do you know your mission? Do you have a message to share? Do you change peoples’ lives? If so, you will NEVER lack self-esteem.
There are three things necessary to be a successful insurance and financial professional in the 21st century.
First: RELATIONSHIPS
We are the ONLY professional discipline that on a regular basis, can open discussions about love, hate, fear, security, independence and peace of mind. To be as effective as possible, we must build relationships first. It is the most important thing we do. Without understanding this, even most MDRT qualifiers will have modest results compared to what could have been.
We are the ONLY professional discipline that on a regular basis, can open discussions about love, hate, fear, security, independence and peace of mind.
I submit that you will make more sales going to breakfast, lunch or dinner and discussing their needs than you will ever make showing them illustrations. You will make more sales by getting to know a person by playing a round of golf, attending a sporting event, going to a play or movie with them than you will showing them all the products we sell. People are looking for connection. They want to do business with someone they like; someone they can trust.
Please remember, people buy you and not your products. They do buy your enthusiasm, your energy and your belief system. You are the key ingredient. Show them that you believe in them, and that you believe they can achieve financial freedom. Show how much you believe in your clients and prospects, and you will have them lined up at the door waiting to buy!
Second: CREATIVITY
I love to stay up late at night and watch infomercials. My favorite infomercials are the ones about abdominal stomach machines. They are amazing! The ads say great abs will change your life. People will lust after you, you will be happier, the sky will be bluer, the sun will shine brighter. I have purchased many of these ab machines. One of the machines is plastic with three springs. It cost me $70. I have another one that is a piece of plastic and three rubber bands. It also cost about $70. Why would anyone pay $70 for a piece of plastic and three rubber bands? BECAUSE THEY SELL WHAT IT DOES, NOT WHAT IT IS! Isn’t that what we should be doing? Rather than selling life insurance, disability, annuities and mutual funds – shouldn’t we be selling peace of mind, security, independence, love, freedom from fear and knowledge and wisdom?
Third: INFORMATION BROKERING
I would like to share with you something I do with all my prospective clients. I write down at the top of a blank sheet of paper that there are 168 hours in a week. I then ask them how many hours per week do you sleep, eat, work, commute, bathe, practice your faith, etc. Almost every time we do it, it turns out that they only have eight to ten hours left for fun, study, planning, etc. Sometimes, when we add up the hours, they actually add up to more than 168 hours.
At the same time, people now have access to so much information that it is overwhelming, even exhausting. People fear making mistakes because they didn’t review all the information they have access to. Studies have found that people are dismayed by lack of time to research before making the many important decisions pertaining to their financial futures. So instead of risk doing something wrong, they do nothing. People are paralyzed.
Do people want to spend their ten free hours researching their financial future? Even if they did, would they feel sure about the result? Wouldn’t they rather work with someone who has taken the time to get to know their wants and needs, who can help to filter the information they need so they can get excited and feel confident about the choices they are making?
Do people want to spend their ten free hours researching their financial future? Even if they did, would they feel sure about the result?
I learned a telephone presentation. This conversation has helped me to build a practice that allows me to run 30 to 50 appointments per week:
“Hello, this is Van Mueller with an insurance company. I would like to stop by and share some information with you that I believe will change you and your family’s lives forever. May I see you tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.?” They immediately respond, “I’m not interested.” I respond even quicker, “I know you are not interested; I’ve never talked to anyone who was interested. In fact, if you were interested, I’d be suspicious. That’s not the purpose of my call. I’d like to stop by and share some information that I know will change you and your family’s life forever. I will make you a deal. I promise not to try to sell you anything.”
Americans love to buy; they hate to be sold. When you are shopping, if a salesperson asks to help, most people will say “no thanks, I’m just looking.” Why? Because I don’t want to be sold anything. Americans love to buy; they hate to be sold. Let’s get back to the presentation. When I tell them I’m not going to sell them anything, here is how they respond:
“If you’re not going to sell me anything, why would you offer this information?” I say, “We find that people wait until the last minute to make financial decisions and more often than not, they make a mistake. I just want to stop by and share with you this information that I am positive will change you and your family’s life forever. And when we are finished, you will know something that 95 percent of people in America don’t know. Isn’t that worth an hour of your time if there is no cost or obligation? May I see you tomorrow at 7:00 p.m.?” They will still resist. They will say something like, “I have a brother in the business.” I reply, “Please bring him along, he needs to hear this too.” Or they will say they just bought life insurance. I say, “I’m not coming to sell you anything. I have vital information that will change you and your family’s lives forever.”
If you adapt something like this to your style, you will make so many appointments, you won’t be able to run them all. But to use this successfully, you must PRACTICE. It must be conversational. You must be verbally quick and agile. That comes with practice.
Now, I am sure that some of you are wondering what I share that is so amazing once I get into the home or business. People who have been reading this newsletter for a while already know. But for the new readers (and as a refresher) I will share the “Paradigm Shifts” presentation at the beginning of the September newsletter. For now, let’s get to our sales ideas.
Idea #1: Three Lessons to Be More Creative
The first lesson the article shares is to fall in love with what you do. That makes it easy to do the second lesson in creativity. “Put in the time and do the work.” Practice, practice, practice. I still practice all the time. It doesn’t feel like work because I love what I do. The more I practice, the better I get and then I love what I do even more. It’s a momentum thing. Once you build the habit, you don’t even think about it anymore. It is very exciting when you understand that these are skills you can LEARN how to do. You do not require ANY natural ability. Wow!
Finally, the key to awesome creativity is to never run out of approaches. I share my 40 questions. I actually have hundreds of questions, because I can modify the questions to create different versions for every situation I find myself in.
This is a “keeper” article. You should refer to it on a regular basis. You will realize that the same creative process that applies to entertainers and performers can be learned by insurance and financial professionals.
Title: Sanduski: What Advisors Can Learn From Neil Diamond And Lin-Manuel Miranda
https://www.fa-mag.com/ (Financial Advisor, July 9, 2020)
https://www.fa-mag.com/news/sanduski--to-be-more-creative---fall-in-love-for-a-living-56786.html
Idea #2: What Is Inflation?
Many Americans find it extremely difficult to understand the concept of inflation. Simply stated, inflation reduces the purchasing power of our money. Last month’s newsletter discussed the notion that even in a low inflation economy, the purchasing power of Social Security has declined by 30 percent since the year 2000. What would have happened with high inflation?
Not only does the article explain inflation, it also explains ideas like deflation, hyperinflation and stagnation—which many economists feel the American economy is about to encounter. The article also explains concepts such as Demand-Pull Inflation and Cost-Push Inflation. It gives several examples of how inflation is measured. You mean there’s more than one way? Why? It allows the results to be manipulated. We have the Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index as well as Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index to name a few.
With all the new money being printed, we will deal with more severe inflation in the future. The only thing we don’t know is when. Shouldn’t our customers plan for this dangerous eventuality?
Title: What Is Inflation And How Does It Work?
https://www.forbes.com/ (Forbes, July 14, 2020)
https://www.forbes.com/advisor/investing/what-is-inflation/
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