Taking Your Business to the Next Level.en[1]

7/31/2019 Taking Your Business to the Next Level.en[1]

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by Erik Vos

TAKING YOUR BUSINESSTO THE

NEXT LEVEL



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Taking your business to the next level

How to use this manual

You can study this manual by yourself, but agency managers report that advisors benefit greater if theexercises are discussed in the unit meetings. It is particularly useful if one or more of the experienced“star agents” participate in the discussions.

Chapter 1. Can you change the outcome of some of your meetings by changing some of the wordsyou use?

Chapter 2. In 2004 I met 18 medical doctors in Romania who sold life insurance instead of practicing medicine. Isn’t that amazing? But even more amazing was that they were all the number oneor two producers in their agencies. Is there something to learn from this for the rest of us who are notmedical doctors but are just trying to run our business a bit better?

Chapter 3. AIG is among the largest insurance companies in the world, and its legendary Dutch-American founder, Cornelius Vander Starr (C.V. Starr), used to say: “I like to take what I have learned

from business and apply it to my other interests: music, the arts and sports.” How about following thesame principle in reverse: Learning from music, the arts and sports and applying it to your business? Hereare some things I learned from the arts, nature and human nature when I was a tour guide. Applying themhelped me push my sales up from one to 18 a month within a year.

Chapter 4. You probably know some advisors who always seem to have meetings with good prospects. Coincidence? Yeah right. What do they do differently and how could it help you with your business?

Chapter 5. I was fortunate to have started my business in a great agency with a brilliant agencymanager and some great colleagues. Here are some things I learned on and especially off the job.



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About the author

Erik Vos (49) is originally from Holland. Since 1993, he has been working with the sales forces andmanagers of AIG, Allianz, Generali and ING in developing countries all over the world.

His field book Referrals was the world’s best-selling manual on life insurance in 2004. So far it has been published in 14 languages by AIG, Allianz, Aviva, Generali, ING and several other financial

companies for their sales forces. He has also written Referrals for Your Business (Los Angeles, 1983),What To Do To Increase Referrals (Los Angeles, 1994), and Sales Today (Budapest, 1997).

In addition to his native Dutch and English, he speaks fluently German and French. Besides Latin andOld Greek, he also speaks Spanish, Italian, Hungarian, Afrikaans and Swedish at an intermediate level.

IV



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1. Are you using the right words in your

meeting?



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1. Are you using the right words in your meeting?

Over the past 25 years I have seen thousands of the top life insurance advisors in 45 countries givesample sales meetings at my seminars. It is unlikely that these advisors have ever met one another. But Inoticed they used similar vocabulary…vocabulary that average producers did not use as often.

Could it be that there is such a thing as a “life insurance language?” And is it possible that thosewho spoke it made higher commissions while those who did not just struggled along or quit?

And could it be that if you changed some of the words you use you could change the outcome of some of your meetings?

My last manual included a section on commission-building words. Advisors asked me to categorizethe words to make them a bit easier to use.

Of course, words alone will never compensate for caring for people, knowing your business, andlooking like a real financial professional. If you do not have those three things in order the client will

probably think: “Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say.”

Exercise: Do you think that if you were to use different words with the prospect you might get different

results?



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2. Why can so few people make a decision?

You’ve probably heard it a thousand times: “Maybe,” or, “We’ve got to think about it.” One outof five meetings ended with a “yes.” One out of five ended with a “no.” But three out of five times I gotneither “yes” nor “no.” I got a “maybe.” And that “maybe” always turned out to be final.

I realized that my biggest competitor was not the office down the street. It was a company called“Maybe Unlimited.” I am certain that by now “Maybe Unlimited” has more clients than any other insurance company in the world! Maybe “Maybe Unlimited” is even bigger than AIG, ING, Allianz and

Generali combined!

One night I was driving back to Budapest from a seminar in Austria on a dark, winding road throughthe Balaton forest. It was close to midnight and raining. Suddenly a deer jumped out of the woods rightinto my lane. It stared into my headlights and just froze. I frantically slammed on the brakes and myToyota stopped about 20 centimeters from the deer. I was very grateful to the good folks at Toyota for making such excellent brakes. If it had been up to the deer, we would now both be in the Great GrazingPlace in the sky.

As I continued, a bit shaken of course, I found myself cursing the deer: “How can that deer be sostupid? All he had to do was just to decide to either move to the right or to the left. But not just stand

there!” Then I realized that I did not run into this problem only in the woods. I run into it every day inliving rooms.

The problem that the deer had was the same one many clients seemed to have. They looked atsomething they did not like and their reaction was not to move but to freeze. In other words, to respondwith a “maybe.”

I concluded that I earned my commission by moving my prospect. If the prospect was in the same position after our meeting as before, it meant I had not done my job. So I guess this put me not in the lifeinsurance business, but rather in the motion business.

Exercise: Can you think of many prospects who said ‘maybe’ and later called you up to say they changedtheir mind?



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3. Are your action and motion words fighting the prospect’s maybe?

Then is it possible that if you use “anti-maybe words,” such as motion words, you could help your prospect make a decision? Hmm, let’s see, I thought, which motion words have I heard top advisors usethat could possibly be “maybe” fighters?

The ultimate “motion” would be a decision, wouldn’t it? So if you could get the prospects to talk about some of their past big decisions the prospects could feel a bit more relaxed and self-confident abouttheir ability to make a move instead of doing nothing.

How did you decide to get into the building business? (This helps the prospect to realize that he or she can make big decisions and things turn out ok.)

Mr. Prospect, what made you decide to move from Smallville to Bigville?

Yes, Mr. Prospect, you’re right. Other contractors who started their business also put all their money into the business when they began. Now many have decided to put 10% aside and invest into long-term savings.

Mr. Engineer, this plan transfers the risk away from your family onto the insurance company.

Do you think it might be possible for your family to change your spending pattern and start putting funds away and accumulate some capital?

This plan has helped other teachers arrive at a position where they are in a comfortable financial situation.

Mr. Client, if you would have started this program three years ago, you would already have built up some savings.

Many people find it difficult to get out of a situation where they spend all their income every monthand are vulnerable for a calamity, and turn it into a situation where they have built a nest egg .

Exercise: Give a short, one-minute presentation and try to use at least five motion words.



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4. Are you helping the client to understand?

I tried to get my prospects to understand that it would be a smart idea to get some life insurance. I did my best to explain all their options. But many times I felt that I did not seem to be getting through. They hadto think about it. They just did not seem to understand.

My former agency manager, Harvey Levine, once asked me, “How do people understand things?” Hesaid, “As you have probably noticed people usually do not understand things by thinking about them. Themore people think about something the less they seem to understand it.”

A cat understands things by smelling .Blind people understand things by touching .People hear things and understand.In Dutch they say: I’ll believe it when I see it.

No wonder the prospect did not understand. I was selling life insurance. Life insurance is invisible,untouchable, and unable to be tasted. The whole meeting can get “unreal” pretty fast. So I figured themore sense words I used, the more “real” our meeting would become.

I have heard many managers mention this.

You’ve probably heard about the ABC Financial Services Company.Other secretaries also smell trouble with the government being able to provide them with a good pension.This is money you cannot touch. So it just keeps on growing.You have probably seen other farmers take action.You have probably noticed that quality education is not getting cheaper.

Exercise: Can you make 10 other sentences with “sense” words?



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5. Accumulation words?

There are two things in life we all seem to have too little of: time and money. When you meet a prospect, he or she might feel that you want to remind him that his time might be up unexpectedly (andeven more ironically, that he has to pay for this). No wonder most people do not look forward to meetinglife insurance advisors!

Unfortunately, you can’t sell time in a bottle. But if you show the prospect that you are there to help himor her to get money instead of lose money, won’t he or she be more willing to listen to you?

Everybody hates to pay but loves to get paid:

Life insurance is simple: If you live, the insurance company pays you. If you don’t, it pays your family.

Just imagine that you would have made this wise decision today. Now let’s imagine it’s 2015. Nothing has happened to you. You get a nice check . If in 2015 you were to look back at today 2005,would you then say that you had made a wise decision today?

Many other engineers who started this program some years ago are quite happy with the savings

they have accumulated .

Power words: Everybody wants to be powerful. On Halloween the kids in my neighborhood usuallydress up like Superman or the Power Puff Girls. I know some 50-year-old agency managers thatlike to dress up in combat fatigues on the weekend.

With this insurance you guarantee that your present buying power and standard of living staysintact.

People like to have something made just for them:

This financial construction allows you to keep the ability to finance your children’s education no

matter what happens.

Exercise: Make five sentences using words like savings, pay you, get a check, buying power, standardof living, financial construction, and other accumulation words.



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6. Achievement words?

The car you drive runs on gas. In Holland the windmills run on wind. You sell life insurance.So what runs life? Goals and dreams, of course. Then the word “goal” must be one of the most

powerful words available. Isn’t your job as an advisor, to help the prospect figure out what is reallyimportant for them? (In other words, to help them identify their goals). And after that to show him howto achieve those goals?

Mr. Client, if I understand things correctly one of your most important goals is to take care of your children no matter what happens.

How do you feel this insurance would fit into achieving that goal?

Imagine that you would have Aladdin’s lamp. You could make three wishes about your financial future. What would they be?

Mr. Client, this policy will help you accomplish your goal of sending Carla and Hank to a great university.

To achieve any goal you need a plan. People who want to lose weight go on a diet plan.

This plan enables you to put something away every month.

What standard of living is acceptable for you in your later years? What plans have you made so far for this?

Mr. Client, who do you know in your family that also might be interested in a financial plan?

Exercise: Make some sentences using the words goal, plan, wishes and accomplish.



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7. Time words

Most people will admit that they have trouble looking into the future. A survey by Allianz inGermany showed that about one third of people said they can look into the future for more than 10 years.About one third said they can look into the future between 3 and 10 years. And one third said they cannotlook as much as 3 years into the future.

They have a joke at ING: The Japanese plan for three generations. The Dutch for one. In most partsof Eastern Europe, they plan for Saturday night . Many times the prospect we meet seems too upset withyesterday and too worried about tomorrow to be able to look many years ahead. If you use “time words”

you can hopefully make the prospect more aware of time and especially the future.

As time goes by the fundamental things apply (quoting from a Frank Sinatra song).

This annuity will secure you an adequate income in your later years.

In the past, people lived shorter and there was not so much need for these types of financial constructions.

In 2015 , this policy will allow you to cover expenses when David will enter college.

On the website for Prudential Insurance in India (the UK Prudential, not the American one) I sawa good example of this: Click in which life phase you are in.

This policy enables you to guarantee an uninterrupted stream of income in your later years.

Many top engineers had the foresight to plan for these things.

In the past you probably did not think about this so much.

Of course we all plan to live forever but just in case something happens...

Exercise: Make five sentences with time words.



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8. Are you selling on all cylinders?

“Did you make a sale?” asked Harvey Levine, my agency manager.

I answered, “They said they were going to think about it, and we all know what that means. Nowyou are probably going to say that I am breaking the agency record for most amounts of meetings withouta sale.”

“What do you think the problem seems to be?” asked Harvey.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I keep on explaining and explaining to my prospect how good our productsare.”

“Your presentation is probably too rational,” Harvey said. “Buying life insurance is an emotional decision for which people give a rational explanation. Probably 80% of the reason people buy for emotional reasons, and only 20% for rational reasons. So if you only talk about the rational reasons,it’s like running your car on less than one cylinder.”

Mr. Client, I understand how you feel . Many of my other hairdresser clients felt the same way.Then they found that always spending as much or more than they earned every month was not satisfying .

Although it was difficult in the beginning, many of my other firefighter clients are now quite content

that they are building up savings while protecting their loved ones.

How do you feel about Susan’s and Peter’s education?

What would you like to do in your retirement years?

Do you feel that the government will provide you an adequate pension for that?

People feel good when they finish something unpleasant. Like going to the dentist or buying lifeinsurance:

With this construction you never have to worry anymore about the financial implications of your

children’s studies. You get it done and over with.

Exercise: Make five sentences with feeling words.



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9. Big complicated financial words?

Have you ever brought your car to the mechanic and then he tried to explain what was wrong withit? How about the last time the doctor tried to explain what was wrong with your health? He or she

probably spoke Latin.

Doctors and mechanics can afford to do that. People know that they needed to get their car fixedyesterday and when they are sick they want to get better as soon as possible. Unfortunately for you, nothaving life insurance is something that most people do not feel they need to fix today.

If you use big words the prospect gets confused. Confused people don’t buy. They need to think about it.

Like the term whole life. Maybe the prospect thinks: “Do you think I have a partial life?”

Universal life insurance. Maybe the prospect ponders: “I think only want to pay to be covered for accidents that happen on earth.”

Intervention. She thinks, “I know I have a rotten marriage but the last thing I need is the insurancecompany to intervene.”

Indexing . “I don’t care about the price index I just want to get my money when I need it.”

Option. “I don’t want to speculate on the stock market I just want to buy a life insurance.”

Reactivation. “I know I have slowed down a bit but I like it that way.”

Most of the time when I mentioned these words people began to look wise and nod. When peoplestart looking wise and nod, it means you have successfully confused them. You probably know fromexperience you might as well pack your bag and leave.

Very rarely did people stop me and say: “Could you explain that word in plain English please.”When I had used a word I was afraid the prospect did not know I learned to say: This is called “Universal

life” which, as you probably know , means:

Exercise: Do you know someone in your agency who uses words which the average person probablydoes not understand?



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10. Could you use magic phrases?

Here are a couple of phrases I have heard over the years:

Life insurance is like a parachute. You only need it once and it sure helps if it’s in place when you need it.

If you get sick, what do you want to get: a “get well” card or a check?

I’ll be happy to go away, but the problem won’t go away.

If you cannot presently live within your income, how could you live without one?

How big of a percentage of your income do you feel you should be putting away for later?

Mr. Prospect, won’t you sleep better at night knowing that each month you are building up your savingsand your family will be provided for, no matter what happens?

Life insurance is not for you. It’s for your family.

Why do you think that nearly all entrepreneurs here have life insurance?

Exercise: In the unit discuss some other magic phrases you have heard.



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11. The client or you?

It is difficult enough for most people to focus their attention on their future. I realized that everytime I put their attention on me, they could not have it on their future also. So any time I talked aboutmyself, this was costing me sales and referrals! Maybe that is why the top producers like to use the word“you” and “your” so much.

Wrong:

My opinion is that you should start saving early.

Oh, you climb hills? I will climb the Matterhorn next year.

Right: Many of your colleagues feel the same way you do.

Education definitely seems to be a priority for both of you.

With the savings you accumulate in your account you will secure protection for your family.

This construction covers education which you said is very important for you. Your savings will accumulate for the education of your sons.

You said that at the moment you do not have adequate reserves to cover some catastrophic event. Do you feel that is an acceptable risk?

Exercise: Give a small presentation for one minute and have someone count how many times you usethe words you, your, or yours.



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12. Are you wrong?I once had an office with two telephones. One went tring-tring. The other went trang-trang. The

secretary at that time (let’s call her Sofia) managed to pick up the wrong phone 70% of the time. It startedto get on my nerves.

“What’s the matter with you?” I asked irritably. “This phone, can’t you hear, goes tring-tring andthe other one goes trang-trang?”

“No! You’re wrong,” she said. “They sound exactly the same!”“Sophia, you’re the one who is wrong,” I said desperately.“I don’t think I like working here that much anymore. I am going to check out the ‘help wanted’

section in the newspaper during my lunch break,” she replied, sulking.Apart from this telephone thing she was doing a really good job. “You’re right. They sound the

same,” I said, exasperated.

She started laughing. Then I said again: “You’re right!” And she started laughing even more.And one more time: “You’re right.” She thought it was hilarious. After the sixteenth time of telling her “You’re right,” I ended the scientific experiment.

I once attended a time-management seminar. I came home all exited. I enthusiastically explained to mywife how she could serve breakfast in half the time. Things like: “Put everything on a tray. Have all theingredients ready before you start.” It used to take her twenty minutes to serve me breakfast. Afterwards

I served my own in twelve. I learned a big lesson. Nobody likes to be told by someone else that they arewrong. Now I try to use the words “you’re right” as often as I can.

You’re right , Mr. Prospect, education is the best investment there is.

You’re right ; if you want to accumulate substantial savings you have to start early.

You’re right , there are investments that give a bigger return than life insurance and they also sometimeshave more risk. (I prefer to use the word and not but . But would give the client the impression that I thought he was wrong. “And” is more neutral).

Maybe one of the reasons many ex-teachers often sell only on an average or slightly above-averagelevel (although they are rarely lazy and usually have an above average IQ) is that they often seem to wantto prove they’re right.

Exercise: Do you sometimes try to prove you’re right? Does it work?



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13. Choice words?

I was sitting with Spiro, my 20-year-old translator, in the Parthenon bar in Athens analyzing thefeedback from the advisors after an ING program. But instead of translating me the feedback he kept onwatching the MTV video clip in the background.

“I would like you to stop looking at that dumb TV. We must work now,” I said angrily.

“Young people do not like to be told what to do,” said Spiro. “Why don’t you listen to the text of

the song?”

Don’t tell me what to do, sang Avril Lavigne.

“Anything that smells like a restriction immediately turns younger people off. They like to feelthey are in charge of their own situation,” he resentfully said.

How would this sound? “ No , this is the only policy we have. You have to pay for 10 years. You must sign the contract today and keep paying the premiums just as the contract says.”

Spiro had a point. So therefore, the opposite of restrictive words should help our business. Your

opportunity , your choice , your control . Thisallows you the freedom , your family’s financial independence. Possibility.

Mr. Prospect, many other architects feel that this life insurance puts them in better control of their finances. Every month your savings accumulate and you guarantee the financial stability of your family no matter what. This policy also allows you to make changes if there is a change in your financial situation or in your priorities.

Your financial construction gives you the freedom to change it as your circumstances change. It also gives you the option to direct your money to a potentially higher yielding mutual fund.

Exercise: Make some sentences using unrestrictive words.



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14. Are you talking about familiar things like their profession and their

neighborhood?

As I am writing this manual here in Limassol, Cyprus, I just finished a conversation with Said, theBangladeshi breakfast waiter. He told me how much he misses Bangladesh and his colleagues in engineeringschool.

People everywhere like to feel that they are part of a profession, community or a country. People seem

to be happy and have energy as long as they are together with the people who mean a lot to them. They evenlive longer when they are surrounded by others.

I read about this in the Lancet, the journal of the British Medical Association. They found that even twocatastrophic events in one year, like losing your job or going bankrupt, did not even influence the mortalityrate of middle-aged men if they were socially connected. But if the men were isolated the same catastrophicevents caused a dramatic rise in mortality (source: www.lancet.uk). Even science has now proven that

people need people to survive!

People feel better when they belong to things. They usually like the sound of their job or profession.This is also true in our profession. The Bulgarian AIG advisors on my last program really enjoyed to hear how AIG advisors were doing in other countries.

Profession words: Many other teachers at the moment are quite concerned about this too. They felt the same way youdo. Then they found that with a relatively small amount per month they could build up very interesting

savings.

Prospects like to identify with the place they live:Yes, this is a very quiet neighborhood . Many of my clients have moved here in the last couple of years.

Most of the people here have young families like you and like the schools in this neighborhood .

Exercise: Make five sentences which utilize place and profession.



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15. Education words

I am a bit of an education fanatic. I can imagine few things that are more important for society thaneducation.

When I ask in my seminars who considers themselves an education fanatic too, usually about 25% of attendants raise their hand. (Invariably, the top producers in the agency).

For many people, education-type words like: school, studies, learning, college and university have a

very pleasant sound, especially when somebody else is being educated. The desired outcomes of a practicaleducation (career, job and standard of living) do not sound bad, either.

Mr. Client, how high of a priority is a good education for Jacky and Peter? Even Homer Simpsonwould agree that this would be more important than sitting in front of the television, smoking cigarettes,eating potato chips and drinking beer.

This financial construction allows you to provide a first-class education for George and Susan.

A study by the U.S. Department of Labor Statistics shows that since 1964 people without a collegeeducation in the U.S. have seen their buying power eroded by about a 0.5 % per year. On the other

hand, people with the highest level of education have increased their income by about 0.5 % per year. The same is happening in other parts of the Western world, although not as drastic yet as in theUnited States. The world is rapidly becoming divided between people who have learned to learn and study and those who have not. (See: www.bls.gov ).

Mr. Prospect, as you know, most people in this neighborhood feel very strongly about education. Many of them have already taken action to secure the best possible education for their children. Youand your wife probably also feel very strongly about Melissa and Jack attending a good university and having a rewarding career and a comfortable standard of living.

Exercise: Are you using enough learning words?



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16. The life insurance dictionary.

Motion words:Your decisionThey moved intoYou startedThey got out of Transferred the risksThey went intoThey started building up

Understanding words:Other entrepreneurs noticedHave you heard about?You must have seen around youYoung people smell trouble

The government cannot touch your savingsThey sawOther people said

Accumulation words:Your savingsThis financial constructionThe insurance company pays youYour buying power Your standard of livingAccumulate capital

Your investments build up in value

Achievement words:Your financial plan

Your financial goalsImagine you had Aladdin’s lamp

Time wordsForesightIn the futureIn the pastLater

This life phase

Feeling words:Other families feltA satisfactory solutionOthers are content and relaxedYou do not have to worry anymoreIs that what you like?

You are right:As you saidYou are rightIn your opinion?How do you see this?

Choice words:

Your possibilitiesThis allows youYou directYou controlYou guaranteeYour choiceYou can changeYour opportunitiesYour family’s financial independence.

Place and profession words:Other engineersYour neighborhoodOther people here in SmallvillePeople in similar situations

Education words:LearningEducationCollegeUniversityA rewarding career Standard of living

Exercise: With a partner give a demonstration of a proposal for two minutes. In your presentation try touse at least 25 commission-building words.



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2. Why did The Romanian Doctors sell so much?



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17. Why did the Romanian doctors sell so much?

For the past 40 years, surveyors in Holland have been asking people which profession they respected

the most. The number one answer last year was the same as it has always been: medical doctors. Thenumber two answer: judges. In the middle: people with a craft and managers. Next to last? Politiciansand used car sales people. And who managed to hit the bottom spot? You probably guessed it: peoplewho sell insurance.

With all due respect to the medical profession, our last place does not seem quite fair. Constantin

Constaninou, of AIG Cyprus, once told me that in ancient Greek philosophy someone was considered asvaluable as the size of the problem he could solve.

If this is still true today, our visit with the prospect is probably more important than nearly all of the visits he or she will ever make to his or her doctor. Nearly all diseases eventually just go away bythemselves, with or without the doctor’s help. But we are the only people that can prevent a personalcatastrophe from also becoming a financial catastrophe for the family. At the end of the day we probablysell the most valuable thing in this world: peace of mind that the children will have a good opportunity inlife because they have a good education. What more valuable thing to sell can you think of?

Last year I had the chance to see what happens if medical doctors sold life insurance. In 2003,

ING invited me to come to Romania to work with their top advisors and managers. Romania, as you probably know, is a poor country, even by Eastern European standards. But the country and especiallythe life insurance industry are moving ahead at a breathtaking speed.

In Romania I met 18 doctors who sold life insurance for a living instead of practicing medicine.Yes, you read that correctly. Doctors! I have never been in any country anywhere in the world wheredoctors sell life insurance. But in Romania, the state pays doctors so little that they cannot pay their bills

practicing medicine.

Of the 18 doctors, 13 were the highest producing in their agency and the five others were inthe top 5% of their agency. Wow!

Exercise: Why do you think the doctors sold so much?the doctors sold so much?



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18. So, what did the doctors do differently?

The doctors told me that their clients rarely knew they were doctors. So that could not be the reasonwhy they sold so much. It was also not that they advised the client who had to think about it to sleep onit and if they woke up in the morning to give them a call.

After the seminars and during the lunch breaks, I asked the doctor’s help in a small research project.I wanted to figure out what the doctors did differently. We would do a role play where they would playthe advisor and I would be the prospect. All of them agreed. They thought it was an interesting projectand were curious to know the outcome.

I noticed the doctors asked about twice as many questions on average and talked about 60% lessthan average producing financial advisors. They made a more “thorough diagnosis” before they gave the

prescription.

The doctors seemed to have more self-confidence than the normal advisors.

They, not surprisingly, treated the prospect as a patient.

They seemed more systematic in the way they approached the meeting.

The doctors appeared indifferent as to whether they would sell or not. They did not seem to be theone who had a problem.

Exercise: What would happen to your business if you approached the meeting like a doctor?



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19. One sale is 12 sales?

Dr. GeDr. George Irinescu told me: “In medical school I had to learn about all the different stagesof getting a disease and recovering from it. When I became an advisor I decided it would make sense tocompare the sales process with the process of going to a doctor. After analyzing the process, I concludedthat a sale goes through 12 stages.” 1. You usually have to sell your client on referring you to others. In the medical profession this is

easy. People love talking about their doctors. But in life insurance I had to sell them on referring

me.2. You have to call the prospect on the phone and “sell” them on meeting you. In medicine the patient

calls you.3. You have to look as if you are sold on yourself as a professional. Sold on yourself and the things

you can do for the prospect. If you yourself don’t seem to be sold that you are a great financial professional, how can you expect the prospect to be sold on you?

4. You have to sell the client on you as a person. Why should the patient put his family’s financialhealth in your hands?

5. You have to sell the client on the company. Or using the medical example, on the clinic.6. Most patients love to talk about their illnesses to whoever will listen. I noticed that it was much

harder to sell prospects to talk about their financial health.7. You have to sell the prospect that he or his family has a potential financial problem. For exam-

ple, imagine he or she is smoking cigarettes. Many times people do not realize they have a problem because they cannot look easily into the future.8. After your diagnosis you have to sell the patient on your prescription or your proposal. In medi-

cine this is a bit like selling the patient to start losing weight and exercising.9. Sometimes the prospect thinks the pills tastes a bit bitter. They are afraid of the side effects. Like

quitting smoking. They have objections. Some will voice their objections, some won’t. Manytimes you have to sell them on overcoming their objections or there is no sale.

10. Patients almost always agree that they should go on a diet and start exercising or stop smoking.They will not do this tomorrow but next month. You have to sell the prospect to do it today.

11. You have to sell the patient to keep on taking their medicine…or the client to keep the insurancein force.

12. It is great that you got this client through a referral. But unless the client refers you to new prospects, the train stops. So the person who was referred to you has to refer others. You do not want

to go back making cold calls, do you?

Exercise: Rate yourself on a scale from 1 to 10 on each of these points.



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20. What is your meeting’s gas mileage?

Dr. Popescu said that when he was a student at medical school he used to drive a Trabant. Trabantsused to be made in East Germany and were funny cars. You would put in the gas, a lot of gas, and outcame noise, a lot of noise, a lot of smoke, and a little bit of power.

“My next car,” he said, “will be a Toyota hybrid car. I test drove one at the Toyota dealer indowntown Bucharest. It was so quiet that the only reason I knew I was driving was because objects were

passing by me. The car emits so little exhaust that the mechanic put a handkerchief on the exhaust and it

stayed white. It turns out the car has double the power at half the gas consumption of a Trabant.”

The Trabant reminded me about my old days when I started out as an adviser. I averaged only onesale in 16 meetings. Talk about being a born salesman! I was selling like a Trabant. Lots of drama andnoise, but very little sales power.

For two and a half years I tried to analyze what went right when I sold. And what went wrong when Ididn’t. I went to meetings with top advisors in the business and worked with my mentor. I now run atone sale per three meetings.

So, by learning from experience you can evolve from a “Trabant” to a “Toyota Prius.”

Being effective in selling life insurance is like any other sport or profession. It takes some time to getgood at. Which sport do you know of in which someone is really good in their first year?

You have to watch the gauges on your dashboard. How many appointments do you have in amonth? How many end in a sale? Are you running one sale in eight meetings? One in three? That’syour gas mileage. As the years go by and you keep on analyzing and learning what you did right andwhat went wrong, you will see that your “fuel efficiency” gets better and better. But how many meetingsyou have is still more important than how well you do in a meeting. Even a Trabant will run better thana Toyota Hybrid in the garage.

Exercise: Last month how many meetings did it take you to make one sale?



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21. Do you understand?

“When a patient sees a doctor, what does he or she want?” asked Dr. Popescu.“To get better, of course,” I replied.“Sure, but how does that happen?” asked Dr. Popescu.“The patient wants the doctor to do a thorough diagnosis. The doctor has to ask lots of questions,” Isaid.“Why a lot?” he asked.“If the doctor does not ask a lot of questions the he does not understand what is going on,” I said.

“Exactly,” said Dr. Popescu. “Every patient wants to tell his story (often in excruciating detail).Often doctors already know after two words what the problem is. Then the doctor gives a prescription.If the patient comes in and the doctor gives a prescription right away, he or she is not happy. The patientwill complain that the doctor does not understand. Usually the doctor understands too well. But the

patient does not feel understood and therefore will often try to find another doctor who understands.”

I noticed the doctors followed the same procedure in the life insurance business. They askedlots and lots of questions so they could understand the client’s situation, and the client felt that theyunderstood. Therefore, their meetings tended to be longer than the meetings of other advisors.

So we are not in the financial services business but in the understanding business. Then Iremembered another word that top advisors instinctively seemed to use: understand.

How could I show the client that I really understood the situation? I figured the more questions I askedand the more I used the word “understand,” the more the client would see that I understood.

Mr. Client, I understand. Many of my other contractor clients feel the same way. Mr. Client, I understand that with the present situation of your company the prospects for a salary raisedo not look good. Everybody at your company seems to be concerned about that.

Mr. Client, I know many other farmers but you are the youngest one I have seen. (The prospect thinks:“this advisor seems to understand my profession and my situation.”)

Mr. Client, do I understand correctly that a good education for your children is a very big priority for you and your wife?

Exercise: Could you have used this in your last interview?



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22. How can you get them to unfold their arms?

The prospect invites you into the house. He seems polite but a bit distant. He sits down. You sitdown. He folds his arms. You ask some questions and get “yes” or “no” type answers. Since naturehates a vacuum, like silence, and since the prospect is not saying anything, you start talking. And talking,and talking, and talking. The prospect just sits there and looks wise. As you probably have noticed those‘meetings’ usually end with the prospect saying: “I have to think about it.”

Just imagine the prospect going to the doctor with crossed arms.

Doctor: Do you feel bad?Patient: Yes.Doctor: Do you have a headache?Patient: No.Doctor: Have you had this for some time?Patient: Yes.

When you sell life insurance you want the prospect to first talk about non-scary subjects. This can be combined with sense words.

I see a photo of a nice child on the wall over there. Is that your child? Is that a real Maine Coon cat? I have never seen a black Maine Coon.You said you are an attorney? I notice more and more attorneys are moving into this neighborhood.

I noticed you have one of the best kept gardens in the neighborhood. Do you do the gardening yourself? (This gets them to talk about a very safe thing that they enjoy.)

I hear from your friend Steve who recommended we meet that you are quite a soccer player. I see a trophy there. What is it for? (This gets him to talk about an accomplishment and will relax hima bit.)

It was not easy to get here today with all that snow. (Don Shepard, CEO of Aegon, opening the 2004annual press conference. www.aegon.com )

Exercise: In your unit discuss what ice breakers have worked well.



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23. Your echo?

“I once had a patient who was very ill because of her unhealthy habits,” said Dr. Nastase. “Everytime she came in I kept telling her to go on a diet and stop smoking. I was getting nowhere. I just keptexplaining and explaining and nothing happened. Then another doctor told me about an echo techniqueshe used. You ask a question. The patient says something and you pick out the word that you want themto talk about.”

Doctor: Do you think your smoking and lack of exercise might have something to do with your

shortness of breath?Patient: It might have something to do with it.Doctor: Something?Patient: Well, like a lot.Doctor: A lot?Patient: Well they say it kills you.

How big of a priority for you is Janet and Frank’s education?It is vital.Vital?Without a good education a young person is in deep trouble.

Deep trouble?Well, yes, you need to know more than playing video-games.

How much a month have you been able to put away? Nothing. We spend all we have.Spend all you have?Unfortunately we do not plan for the future so much.

Plan for the future?I guess it’s time to do something.

Try not to echo more than three times in a row. Otherwise the client might look at you in a funnyway and think: Who are you? An echo?

Exercise: Should you echo to get the client to talk more about important subjects?



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24. Did you look like you?

“You seem to have a pretty relaxed way to conduct the interview,” I mentioned to Dr. Stefanescuafter we finished our demo.

“I learned that as a doctor,” he said. “When I was a young doctor I was not very relaxed, like allyoung doctors. Patients are already scared about their health. So patients prefer to discuss their healthwith a doctor who is relaxed, natural and who is being himself. Young doctors often try too hard to be agood doctor instead of being a good doctor. The same is true in life insurance with new people startingout.”

Everybody everywhere is scared and tense about their finances. Many times we are under so much pressure to make sales that we don’t act like ourselves. We try to act nicer than we are, look smarter thanwe are and more interested than we really are. Of course, most people see straight through this. Thismakes our suspicious prospect even more suspicious.

I noticed that those people in life insurance that are doing well also have the highest closing rates per meeting, the highest premiums, the lowest cancellation rates and the most referrals. Maybe it’s because they are more relaxed. They know their business and they know people. They also know that if this prospect does not buy the next one will.

Of course they want to make commissions like all of us but they are more relaxed about the whole process and themselves, about whom they are and what they do. Maybe that is why, apart from playing professional soccer and being a musician, life insurance sales is one of the businesses with the highestdiscrepancy between the rich top 10% and the poor bottom 10%.

It reminded me of one of the few songs Ringo Starr wrote for the Beatles in the sixties: “Act Naturally.”

Exercise: How could you act more relaxed and natural when the prospect is not?



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25. Listen: do you want to hear a secret?

“I never saw myself as a salesperson,” Dr. Curiel said. “I studied medicine so I could help people.Unfortunately I could not make a normal living doing that with the state health system being the way itis. In my new job I still feel the same way. I am not afraid to ask the prospect very personal questionsabout their finances. I guess I got used to asking personal questions as a doctor. I want to be the trustedadvisor of the client. I also noticed that the more personal financial information the client gives me themore cooperative they become.”

Mr. Client, when you go to the doctor you would want him to ask you many questions about your health wouldn’t you?Of course.What would you think of the doctor if he would not ask many questions because he would not feel comfortable?It would not be very professional.

Exactly. We are here to discuss your family’s long term financial health. Like a visit with a financial doctor. Would it be offensive to you if I ask you quite personal questions about your finances?Of course not.

Exercise: Do you feel comfortable using this technique?



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26. Open the door!

“When a patient has a health problem he goes and sees the doctor,” said Dr. Popescu. “Many timeshe has to wait in the waiting room. Then he meets the doctor who asks: ‘What seems to be the problem?’Obviously the patient is the one that has the problem. Not the doctor. The challenge in our insurance

business is that we are not seen as doctors and on top of that we even have to make house calls.”

It seemed that the more I wanted to see someone the less they wanted to see me. And the more the

prospect saw that I was working hard to get him to like me instead of being myself the less he seemed totrust me.

But when the prospect saw that I was a little bit like a doctor who was taking time to find outexactly what their problem was and try to come up with the best solution for their problem and that I wasnot thinking about myself because I did not have to, I made more sales.

Many good people leave the life insurance business because they are so stressed to make sales thatthey don’t make any. The rich people in life insurance want to make a sale, too, but they look as if theydon’t care if they sell or not. And the client notices that. Can you really sell on an empty stomach?

“I never say thank you to a patient or a client,” said doctor Popescu. “It sends the wrong message.Which doctor do you know who says: ‘Thank you Mrs. Patient for visiting me?’ I feel the patient or clientshould thank me. At the end of the meeting when they bought a policy I usually say: ‘Congratulations onyour wise decision.’”

Exercise: Could it have sometimes seemed that you needed the sale more than the client needed the lifeinsurance?



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27. How are you preparing yourself between the ringing of the bell and

the opening of the door?

Everyone who has been in the business for more than a couple of weeks knows that the mostimportant moment in the sale is in the first couple of seconds that the prospect meets you after he opensthe door. That’s the time in which the prospect forms his impression of you. After I rang the doorbell, Idid some of the following while waiting for the prospect to open the door:

1. I looked at some trees or plants. I found it has a relaxing effect. You talk with people about problems all day long. Don’t forget to smell the roses.

2. Smile. (Notice the photos on point 29.)

3. I said to myself: “This will be the best meeting I’ve ever had.” Of course, this is impossible, butI noticed my meetings went better if that’s how I planned them.

4. Relax. The prospect won’t. If the prospect sees you are not relaxed, either, then he becomeseven more tense.

5. Picture that you are a financial doctor who is making a house call with a patient who is probablynot aware of any symptoms, let alone a disease.

Exercise: At your next meeting, try to do one or more of the things on this list between the time it takesfor you to ring the bell and the prospect to open the door.



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28. Who sold better: the cat or the dog?

This morning I was having a turkey sandwich for breakfast. Then two uninvited guests came over:Rishi the cat and Vizla the dog.

Rishi kept his eyes locked on my turkey sandwich. He followed every move. Then the phonerang. I went over and picked it up. When I looked at the breakfast table I saw my sandwich, minus theturkey…and Rishi was nowhere to be found.

I made a new sandwich. Vizla the dog was still standing next to the table. He had a different salestactic. He looked at me with big confident eyes and you could nearly hear him thinking: “You are such

a nice guy. Of course you are going to give me some of that turkey.” I capitulated and gave him half of my sandwich.

With all of the turkey now gone I got to thinking. “Who’s the better agent? The cat or the dog?” Onone hand the cat, Rishi, was really good. He saw the opportunity when it presented itself and acted fast.He believed what he saw.

Vizla the dog was also successful. His take was only half of Rishi’s, yet his prospects for repeat business looked better. He seemed to sell to the person I wanted to be, rather than the person I was. Hissystem worked because he saw what he believed.

I noticed that advisors who sell higher policies to more affluent and older people are very good atthe “empathy look.” Those who sell to younger people have the laser look of Rishi the cat. They alsotend to sell by cold calls, have smaller policies and do not get many referrals.

Could it be that a combination of both the cat and the dog would be the most effective? You seewhat you believe and at the same time believe what you see? I know many advisors who can do either the cat’s or the dog’s job. But I can think of less than 100 who can do both well. But the ones that couldwere all rich. On the next page is an example of some people who do this magnificently.

Exercise: Step one: At the next unit meeting look at the manager and imagine all kinds of good thingsabout him or her. Step two: Then for one minute see exactly what you see like the cat. Step three:Combine both and see if you can do them both well at the same time.



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29. The MDRT look.

As you probably know there is a worldwide association of top producing professionals in our industry.If you are not a member yet, I hope you will qualify one day (www.mdrt.org). Here are some photos of

producers from different parts of the world. Look at the pictures.

1. How would you rate each on self-confidence?2. How would you rate each on empathy?3. With whom do you think you would discuss your own family’s financial future? Why?



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30. Why is it unsafe to talk about the company’s safety?

Sometimes prospects are worried about the financial strength of the insurance company. To showthem figures about the safety of the company does not usually seem to help. It’s like being on an airplane.Everybody knows that flying a plane is much safer than driving a car. But as soon as the flight attendantstarts explaining the safety features everyone starts squirming in their chair.

I found that the more I talked about the financial strength of my company and how it was onlyinvolved in safe investments, the more nervous my prospects became and the more they “had to think

about it.” I found it more useful to say: As you probably know, ING or AIG or Generali or Allianz arenearly “everywhere.”

My company used to provide me with a brochure that showed the prospect all the countries inwhich it was present. Being everywhere, of course, doesn’t mean anything. Maybe the company wasscrewing up everywhere. But prospects seem to relax when you say this.

I found it more productive to explain to the client more about the company after the sale. Sincethe client had already bought he was now very open to hear good news about his new financial servicescompany. If the client has internet access I find it useful to get the client to take a look at the companywebsite. This, of course, took some time, but was especially worth it with influential clients. I noticed it

made me look good to the client that I took some extra time to explain to him why his family was covered by such a great company. I usually got paid back with more referrals and a higher retention rate.

Some clients even went to the company website again and then the company website was doingthe selling for me! Many of the financial services companies’ websites are designed to explain financialchoices and act like an agent for the agent. I figured the more they learned about the company, the moregood things they could say about the company to their friends and colleagues. Most companies todayoffer quite a few financial products. Sometimes the client read about those products and asked me aboutthem later.

Exercise: When do you sell the prospect or client on the company?



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31. How could your company help you to sell more?

Dr. Popescu said: “In medicine it is forbidden to criticize another doctor. You’re also not allowedto brag to the patient what a great doctor you are. What doctor have you met who said: ‘Welcome tomy practice. I am the best doctor in the country. All the other doctors are quacks!’ In life insurance I dothe same. If the prospect already had a policy with another company and I asked him to show it to me Iusually said: ‘That is a good policy with a good company.’ Prospects always liked this; nobody likes to

be told that they were wrong.”

At the yearly meeting, clients like to hear some good news about the company, particularly abouthow the company is expanding. The clients love this because it shows they were made a good choice indoing business with the company. I feel it helps on the retention, referrals, and cross-selling. You knowhow it is: everybody likes to join a winning team and everybody pushes a falling fence.

Generali just acquired the biggest group contract in Chinese history. Aegon is now one of the top 10 insurance companies in the world. Fortune magazine in 2002 listed ING as the world’s biggest life insurer. Prudential Insurance is now the market leader amongst private companies in India. Allianz is now the world’s largest insurance company with $114 billion in turnover. AIG last year, as usual, received an AAA rating. What this means for you is…

Exercise: What will you say about the company on your next yearly visit?



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32. Did you cause the objections yourself?

Dr. Popescu shared with me that “in medicine there is what they call the ‘Hippocratic Oath.’ Thismeans, as you probably know, that the doctor’s treatment cannot cause more harm than the disease.Sometimes a doctor prescribes a patient so many drugs that the side effects of the drugs are worse thanthe disease. In medicine we call this an ‘iatrogenic’ disease. Or, in other words, a disease caused bydoctors.”

The same can happen in selling life insurance. The client would probably like to buy but he hasan objection. The objection was caused by the advisor. It is an “advisogenic” disease. The client has anobjection and YOU caused it. Usually the client is not going to tell you in your face that the reason hehas to “think about it” has to do with YOU. It is likely that many times the client does not even realizethis himself.

Let’s imagine you were a patient and you met a doctor who:

Had no white coat (or an advisor that didn’t dress as if he or she belonged in the financial industry)?Seemed more interested in the bill he could give you for the plastic surgery than in how pretty you wouldlook.Seemed to lack self-confidence (even he himself did not seem to believe that he was a good doctor).

Gave a prescription right away before a thorough examination and diagnosis.Seemed like he/she had his/her favorite disease.Talked about his own health.

Exercise: Discuss in the unit if sometimes somebody in the agency caused an objection.



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3. Some things I learned as a tour guide.



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33. How did Abdul sell carpets?

We once went to a Jordanian carpet bazaar. “Mister, mister, where you from?” asked the first carpetmerchant we saw.

“Holland,” I replied.“Goeden dag meneer,” Abdul the carpet merchant replied in Dutch.“You speak some Dutch?”“Just a little. Are you looking for carpets?” Abdul asked.“I do not need a carpet,” I replied.

“Nobody needs a carpet but would you like to have one?”Five minutes later I walked off with a carpet.There were many other carpet stands there. I decided to check some out. The next carpet merchant

hollered: “Mister, mister, where you from?”“Holland,” I said again.“Goeden dag meneer,” he replied.I heard the same “Mister, mister, where you from” at the next three carpet stands. It was starting to

get on my nerves. With the next merchant I decided to get really bold.“Mister, mister, where you from?”“Japan,” I proclaimed.He looked at me a bit suspiciously, then changed his mind and cheerfully proclaimed: “Ohio gozei

mass.”The Arab carpet merchants know that people at the bazaar are not professional carpet buyers. Theyare in an unfamiliar country confronted with a scary thing like buying a carpet. So before talking aboutthe scary carpet purchase, they ask a question about something that is familiar. Then they show that theyknow something about your place.

Are you originally from Bigville? No, I moved here from Smallville.Oh really, I have a lot of clients who are originally from Smallville. They all say they miss the summersin the Smallville hills.

At an AIG Turkey program in Istanbul last year the advisors thought this was a very bad technique. “We

did not come all the way from Ankara to Istanbul to learn how to sound like a carpet merchant,” theysaid.

Exercise: Do you think it is useful to ask where the client is from?



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34. The Grand Canyon flight.

When I was a tour guide in the Western United States every Tuesday we stopped in Las Vegas.After the night out in Las Vegas the visitors had an opportunity to buy an airplane flight over the GrandCanyon the next morning. Many people took the tour, usually about thirty out of forty passengers onthe tour bus. The flight cost $100 and I received a small commission from the airline company. Thevisitors always enjoyed the flight. I was always happy to sell it, although I had to get up really early inthe morning to take them to the airport and wait until they came back.

Once while waiting for the passengers to come back to the McCarren Airport, I noticed an

advertisement in the Las Vegas Times, the local newspaper: “Airplane charters, fly anywhere.” I calledthe company.“How much to charter a plane for 1.5 hours?”“$300,” they replied. This was starting to sound good.“How many seats per plane?”“Six,” the operator replied.“How many planes do you have?” I asked.“Six planes,” they said.“Can I charter 5 of them at the same time?”“Sure.”“What a business. I will make $1500 profit!” I thought.The next week I presented the Grand Canyon optional tour to the guests on the bus. I was very

motivated. Then a terrible thing happened. Only 15 people signed up instead of the usual 30. What had

happened? I had jut lost $750 in three minutes. The next tour was even worse. Only 11 signed up. I lostnearly $1000 that I should have made. I asked my colleague, Stefano, what he thought was going on.

“What did you change from the first time?” he asked.“Nothing, I am just trying to sound the best I can.”“And before?”“Well I just thought it would be very unfortunate for the travelers to come this far and miss the

opportunity to see one of the wonders of the world.”“Don’t you think the people might have noticed that?” Stefano asked.

The next time I sold it the same way I had always done. I did not think about my commission at all. Ionly concentrated on making sure the passengers would not leave without seeing the Grand Canyon. Igot 30 passengers again. I learned a big lesson.

Exercise: Do you think the prospect notices when you seem to be there more for yourself than for himor her?



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35. Where is your income coming from?

The Grand Canyon plane trips were starting to go well. But I noticed that for some reason 80% of

my French guests bought the flights but only 20% of my Dutch passengers did. Usually about half of my passengers on the bus were French and the other half were Dutch. Dutch people are famous for hating towaste money. Maybe that is why ING, Aegon and Fortis are now all in the top ten in the insurance worldwhen none of them was even in the top one hundred 15 years ago (source: www.internationalinsurance.org). And Holland is even a small country with only 17 million people. Or as Cornelius Vander Starr, theDutch American founder of AIG, said: “It is nearly more difficult to spend money than to earn it.” He alsoleft an inheritance of over $3 billion to promote the education which he never received.

Since the French were making me 80% of my commissions, I was dreaming how nice it would beif I would have only French on my bus. One day I went to my boss, Mr. Borg, and asked him if I couldhave only French guests on my bus.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. I hired you because you speak Dutch and French. Why would I puta Dutch person whose French is not even that good on a tour bus with French tourists? There are severalthousand native French people here in L.A. whom I could hire as tour guides,” he said.

“Mr. Borg, you are a businessman, aren’t you? Basically all you care for is that tourists come back happyand you don’t care so much about the details. There is a Chinese saying: it doesn’t matter what the color of the cat is as long as it catches mice. If I get the French back happier than any of your native Frenchtour guides, wouldn’t it make good business sense that I do the exclusive French tours and not someoneelse?”

“You are awfully self-confidant.”“Yes, give me the next three French-only tourists groups and I’ll prove it! Deal?”“Deal,” he said reluctantly.Later as an advisor I noticed a similar thing. I noticed my bigger commissions were coming from

West Los Angeles (Santa Monica, Hollywood, and Beverly Hills). Much smaller ones came from EastLos Angeles (The San Bernardino Valley, Riverside and Hacienda Gardens). So I started calling andtrying to get in front of more people from West Los Angeles.

Exercise: Are there certain neighborhoods in your town where you seem to be doing better?Is there a way you could do get more business there?



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36. Who prepared the Zion canyon sandwich?

On my first of the three tours of the French, I decided that if I wanted the passengers to be reallyhappy I had to surprise them by giving them more than they expected.

“Mesdames et messieurs, as it says on your itinerary we do not visit the Zion Canyon NationalPark, we just drive through it. We are scheduled to have lunch outside of the park at McDonald’s, the onlyrestaurant available. Whoever likes to eat at McDonald’s, raise your hand please?”

Monsieur Le Blanc raised his hand and said: “We French hate McDonald’s. Our beautiful Paris is

now full of their ugly buildings.”

“You’re right,” I said. “So instead of visiting Mc Donald’s and just driving through the park we’llhave a picnic in the Zion Canyon.”

When we arrived in Zion Canyon I said: “Mesdames, Messieurs, why don’t you take a walk andcome back in half an hour when I will have prepared a buffet lunch for you.”

During lunch everybody complained: “You have too little salami; this cheese is not good. The butter has melted.” Nobody was smiling except the two ladies that had helped me prepare the buffet.

On the next trip I asked six passengers to help me. Same results. The only ones who complimented

me were the six ladies who had helped me.I decided to get the whole bus involved. Mr. Le Blanc became the head tomato slicer, Mrs. Petit

was in charge of the American Camembert, and Mr. Fabian was the barman. Everybody had a job, exceptme. I couldn’t think of anything more to do. I just stood there while everybody was working hard.

It was a smashing success. After the picnic was over and everybody was on the bus, Mr. Le Blancasked me if he could say something in the microphone: “Mesdames, messieurs, I believe our tour guide,Monsieur Erik, is the best in the West for organizing this great picnic! A round of applause, please!” Icould not believe it. I had been feeling guilty that I was the only one who had done nothing about the

buffet lunch and now they called me “best in the West.”Later, back in Los Angeles, Mr. Le Blanc walked up to my boss, Mr. Borg. As usual, he was waiting

at the Downtown Holiday Inn for the bus to come back to see if the passengers were happy with the tour.“Mr. Manager,” Monsieur Le Blanc said, “I am the owner of the travel agency that sold this trip in France.

Could you please guarantee me that Monsieur Erik will be the tour guide on all our future trips?”

“Of course I had already scheduled that Mr. Le Blanc,” he said as he gave me a funny look.

Exercise: Do you feel it makes sense to let the prospect help in buying the life insurance?



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37. How to get prospects involved?

So do you get the prospect to make his own “canyon sandwich” and get involved?I found that the more I ask pointed questions instead of just talking, the more the prospect gets

involved. The more I talk, the less I can help the prospect and myself.

Of course, it is easy for you to calculate how much the client’s family needs for monthly expenses in thecase of a tragedy. Maybe it is better if the client figures this out. I even hand them over my calculator so they do it.

At Prudential Insurance (one of the largest life insurance companies in the U.S.) the advisors givethe client a folder for the policy after the sale. On the outside cover of the folder page, there is a line for the client to fill out:

I bought this policy because:……………

Prudential advisors say that since they do this, fewer people cancel their policy.

I never say my company. Whose side does the client want you to be on? Their side or the company’sside?

I often ask the clients who have internet access to look up the company’s website.

I often ask the client for a glass of water. I noticed that the client feels better if he can do something for me.

Exercise: How could you get the prospect to do more during the meeting?



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38. Which Sierra Nevada waterfall to stop at so I could make everybody

happy and still make my commission?

Wednesdays were usually pretty hectic. We had to drive all the way through the Sierra NevadaMountains on our way to San Francisco. If we arrived in San Francisco after 6 p.m., I knew fromexperience it would be very difficult to convince the whole bus to go on an optional San Francisco nighttour I had planned. I, of course, made a nice commission on everybody that went on the night tour.

Going through the Sierra Nevadas, we passed many rock formations and waterfalls. The youngFrench people asked: “We would like to do a little rock climbing.” The older French asked: “When arewe going to stop so we can make some photos of the waterfalls?” If I went to the rocks, there were nowaterfalls. And few of the waterfalls had rocks to climb.

So I stopped at the Bridal Vail falls so the young French could climb the rocks and the older onescould stand and take pictures. Everybody was happy, and I arrived in time in San Francisco so I couldsell my San Francisco night tour. Everybody got what they wanted and I got my commission, too.

Later I realized that it sometimes works the same way in insurance. The husband and the wife havehad different reasons to buy. Some husbands wanted to look good for their wives. Some felt stronglyabout the education of their children. Some of the wives were most concerned with security. I had to ask lots of questions and look with the precision of Rishi the cat, to see what everybody’s real motives were.Sometimes I just had to guess. I always tried to do my best to make sure both the wife and husband werehappy.

Exercise: Can you remember a situation where the wife and the husband felt a bit different about things?How did you solve it?



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39. Are you letting the clients cross the Golden Gate?

On the San Francisco City tour we always first made a photo stop at the San Francisco side of theGolden Gate Bridge. Then we got back into the bus again to cross it.

“I have bad news,” said Alex, the bus driver. “The bus broke down. I already called the bus company.I’m sorry but it will take one hour for a new bus to get here.” I began to panic a bit. What were we goingto do for one hour at the Golden Gate?

Then I got an idea. “Ladies and gentlemen,” I said. “Instead of waiting for the bus here for an hour,let’s walk to the other side of the bridge. When we arrive at the other side, our new bus will be waitingfor us and we will continue the tour. Who wants to come?” Everybody came with me.

When the bus picked us up at 1:15 p.m., Mr. Grandville said: “We are glad the bus broke down.Walking over the bridge was the most fun thing we did on the whole tour.” On the next trip, although the

bus was not broken down, I decided to walk over the Golden Gate again, instead of taking the bus. Sameresult, everybody was much happier than normal.

The bus drivers from other companies started hearing about this and said: “Your company gives bad service; you let the people walk over the bridge.”

“It is a great service,” I said.“But how about the old people?” they asked.“The older they are, the more they like it,” I answered.People do not appreciate things that come easy. It does not inspire them. People do not get exited

about easy things.

Wrong: I think it is not so difficult to save 10% of your income for later. (The client probably thinks: ‘That’s veryeasy for you to say.’)

Better: How would it be to save 10% of your income so it can grow?That would be great of course.

But that looks like a very difficult thing to do.(Client’s wife:) Not really. He just gives up smoking and we are already halfway there.

Exercise: How could you make it look as if the client accomplishes something great instead of makingit look easy?



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40. The Bolsoi ballet.The year 1990 was nearly over. The year had been good, very good. I was sitting in my lazy chair smoking a cigar and sipping a cognac. What a year it had been.

Then my wife said, “Honey, I’ve been thinking…” I started feeling a little uneasy because this usuallymeant trouble. “You know, our social status does not quite reflect our new economic status,” she said.

Now I was really getting worried.

“Can you get to the point please?” I asked.

“I have a little surprise,” she said. “I got two tickets for us to the Bolsoi ballet at the Dorothy Chandler

Pavilion in downtown. You know, where they do the Oscar thing. The Bolsoi ballet is the best in theworld. They are from Moscow.”

“How much is this social-status lifting pilgrimage going to cost us?”“$200,” she replied, self-righteously.“For both?”“No, per person.”“You’ve got to be kidding. Do you know how many no’s I have to hear before I make $400?

Do you think these commissions just come flying in the door by themselves? Does the Bolsoi acceptrefunds?” I asked.

“No,” she said sternly.“I don’t have a tuxedo. We can’t go.”

“I already took care of that. Tomorrow at 7, after your last meeting, you have an appointment withthe tailor,” she said as she started smiling.

As we were watching the ballet, I nearly went unconscious from boredom. Every five minutes mywife poked me in the side to wake me up. Since I had to stay awake and this whole thing was costing afortune anyway, I decided that I might as well try to learn something from the experience.

Igor stormed on the scene so fast that he scared Tatiana away. “Just like you. Always too fast withthings and scaring people away,” my wife said. Then Oleg came in so slowly you could see Tatianagetting bored.

I realized I had sometimes made the same mistake as Igor and Oleg and lost sales and referrals because of it. Sometimes I had talked too fast with old people and made them uncomfortable. Sometimeswith young, sharp entrepreneurs I had been too slow and not gotten to the point fast enough. I realized

I had to look at who was in front of me and move the meeting along at a speed that was comfortable for the prospect, not for me.

Exercise: Have you sometimes been too fast with older people? Too slow with younger people? Do youthink it might have costs you commissions?



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41. Whose reasons did they buy for?

In 1994 I got an assignment to organize a trip for Russian agency managers in New Zealand andAustralia. We went to many agencies and companies and talked with lots of people.

After the professional program I had to organize a free-time program. I’ve always had a little bit of a fear of heights. Nothing special, but I don’t like to stand on ladders or look down from tall buildings. Iknew exactly what to do. “Comrades, insurance executives,” I said, “to survive in the financial industryin Russia you’ve got to have steel nerves. Steel nerves are made doing daring acts. Maybe one day thevalue of the ruble will plunge. Then what are you going to do?” (I was right on that point). “Comrade

Agency Managers, the next point on the program to steel our nerves is…bungee jumping!”

Grabosimov the leader gave me a funny look and said, “The Comrades and I want to discuss your bungee jumping idea.” After two minutes he turned to me and said, “In Russia a leader leads by example.Here in New Zealand you are our leader. Therefore, the comrades and I have made a unanimous decisionabout the bungee jumping. You jump first!”

By this time they had formed a circle around me and the only place I could go was on the plank. AsI was standing there it was a classical case of emotion vs. logic. Logically, I knew that I was safe but thatis not how I felt. Then I just jumped. After I climbed back from the canyon fifteen minutes later I saidshaking. “You see? I told you: Not that scary at all! The only fear you have to fear is the fear itself,” Isaid. This still did not convince any of the other agency managers to jump. I guess it still goes according

to the old saying; people buy for their reasons, not for yours.

People want what people want. I realized my job was to find out what people really wanted andshow them how to get it. Anytime I did this, things worked. Anytime I tried to persuade the client toagree with my point of view, I rarely got sales, a lot of lapsed policies, and definitely no referrals.

Many younger advisors and former teachers who now sell insurance believe that they can convince people to do things.

Exercise: How successful have you been in convincing people of your ideas instead of just finding out

what they want?



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42. The Sydney Opera House.After the New Zealand program, we arrived in Sydney. First, we made all the insurance company

visits. The people at ANZ, Allianz, and QBE were very hospitable. Then came the free time program: a boat tour in the Sydney harbor.

“How do you like the program so far?” I asked Mr. Grabosimov as the boat went past the SydneyOpera House.

“Mediocre,” he said. “The professional visits to the Insurance companies and the agencies werenothing special.”

“Yes, but how do you like the free time part?” I asked.“Nothing special as well,” he said.“What would you have expected?” I asked.

Then he pointed at the Sydney Opera House: “Now, attending an opera there that would be somethingspecial.”

“Well Mr. Grabosimov, the program is not over yet,” I said.After the boat trip, I took a cab to the opera house. Next to the cash register was a poster: ‘Tonight:

La Traviata.’ I was lucky. I went to the cashier and said, “Twelve of your cheapest tickets for tonight.”“That will be $1800,” she said.“I asked for your cheapest tickets,” I replied.“Those are our cheapest tickets,” she said.I felt I did not have much of a choice. I was afraid that if I did not take them to the opera, they

would cancel the second group that was scheduled in three months. I bought the tickets.At 8 o’clock the opera began. At 8:20 I was still not having a good time. Why do they want to see

a 150 year old opera anyway? And they don’t even speak Italian. But they looked very happy. Suddenlythe opera had my full attention. The opera had started with a scene where everybody was happy. Ok, Ithought, now they’re glad. Then the arrival of some bad news and everybody started to cry. Aha! Nowthey are sad. Then everybody got scared. After that, Alfredo felt insulted and shouted, “Vendetta!” Oh,he’s mad.

So this is how an opera works: First they are glad. Then they are sad. Then they are scared. Thenthey are mad. Then at the end they are glad again. The next time I gave a little opera to my prospect andit worked:

Mr. Contractor, many contractors at the moment are scared about the rising prices of education.They are also mad that the government is not doing enough. Although many of them are a bit sad that they will have to take a little step back in their standard of living, many said they would be glad when they would have accumulated the funds.

Exercise: Can you make some sentences with glad, followed by sad, scared, mad and glad in it?



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43. Did you get the double yes?

Wouldn’t it be nice to walk away with two yes’s from a meeting more often? A yes for your proposal and a yes for your referral request.

John comes home after a hard day of selling insurance.Susan: “I am happy to see you. Are you happy to see me too?”John: “Well, yes.”Susan: “I made your favorite food. Shall I serve it now?”John: “Yes!”

Susan: “Can I get you another beer?”John: “Yes!!”Susan: “I was downtown today and I bought this nice outfit. It was only €250. Do you like it?”John: “Uh, well, uh, yes.”

Advisors in 30 countries so far have told me that this technique has been around in their country for as long as anyone can remember. Could that be because it works?

You have asked many questions in the ‘diagnosis.’ The prospect has realized where the problemlies. Now the next step is not to convince the prospect to agree with you, but to get the prospect to agreewith himself. Not such a difficult job if you have listened well.

Mr. Prospect, do I understand correctly that education for Sara and Frank is a very big priority for you?Yes you understand that correctly.

And guaranteeing the financial stability of the family no matter what is a very important issue for you?Yes, you saw that right.

Mr. Prospect, would you like me to punch in the numbers in the laptop to see what your possibilitiesare?Yes I would like that.OK here it is. This policy guarantees your family’s financial stability no matter what and alsoallows you to send Sara and Frank to the Anderson University. Is that what you had in mind?

Yes, I think I like it.

Exercise: Is the “yes” technique useful for you?



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44. Did you miss the sale because they were ready to buy and you kept on

selling?

I was having a great interview with Mr. Nagy. He seemed really open to what I had to say. Iseemed to have his full attention. I wanted to make sure that he had all the information so I explainedthings a little more.

He kept on listening to me patiently. But as I continued explaining all his options I noticed Iwas starting to lose his attention. Then I explained to him about the different riders. At the end of my

presentation he said, “Well, this is very interesting material. I am really going to have to think about thesethings.”

Nothing I could say could change his mind.

As I left, I asked myself what I had done wrong. Later that afternoon I told Harvey about themeeting. “It’s probably your fault,” he said tiredly. “The prospect was ready to buy and you kept onselling. You sold some life insurance and then you bought it right back. You should have noticed that the

prospect was ready to buy and then let him buy,” said Harvey.

“How do you see that?” I asked.

Have you ever noticed that sometimes the husband and wife give each other a certain look of understanding? Most likely, a decision was made. Hopefully for you, a good one. Or the client was kindof nervous and suddenly you saw him relax. You probably have a sale. Or the prospect starts bombardingyou with questions like: “But what if I cannot make the payments? What if I get out of work? Can I paymore sometimes or less depending on how my business is doing?” If he would not be interested he wouldnot ask you all these details, would he? Just casually answer all these questions but do not bring upmore new information.

Exercise: How many times can you think of that the prospect was ready to buy and you missed the sale

because you kept on selling?



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4. Winning against bank assurance: How could

you get more people to seek you out?



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45. Are you in the middle of a silent earthquake?

At 4:30 a.m. in May of 1991, we were woken up because everything in the room was shaking. “Getout of bed, run, and get in the doorframe,” my wife yelled.

The Northridge Earthquake lasted only fifty seconds. It did a lot of damage to buildings in LosAngeles and also to our house.

Our damage was big because our foundations were not strong enough. So we had to fix the crackedwalls and replace the broken china. But we also had contractors built very strong foundations so thehouse would withstand an even bigger earthquake. Inconvenient, expensive, but needed.

At the moment there is an earthquake going on in financial services in most countries, particularlythe western ones. But it is a silent one. According to their 2004 annual report, Aegon in the U.S. is nowselling 20% of their turnover through banks. The traditional life insurance agent system is shrinking,

particularly in England and the U.S. (Aegon annual report, 2004 www.aegon.com).

Michel Tilmant, the CEO of ING, said in the 2004 annual report that although the distribution of life insurance by agencies in Holland is still very high, it is very slowly going down (Annual report, 2004

www.ing.com).

Your product is not very unique anymore. The client could easily get it somewhere else, too.Everybody and his brother are now selling life insurance. Banks, financial planners, even someaccountants. The world has changed.

Exercise: How are things now in your country? How will they be in five years?



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46. So what does the silent earthquake mean for you?

The days have ended of pushing some products and trying to convince one or two people a week to buy them and hopefully keep them. This is true not only in the west, but also in most other developedcountries.

The new problem is financial information. There is too much of it. So many people would appreciatea trustworthy advisor to help them make major financial decisions. They do not like a salesperson just as

much as they do not want a doctor who sells liver transplants.

It seems fewer people are making higher commissions than ever, and the people who are joiningfinancial services are having a hard time. MDRT reported that the income of the 27,000 MDRT membersin the world last year again rose faster than inflation to over $100,000 (www.mdrt.org).

Even the buildings which house insurance companies have changed. Check out the ING Pragueheadquarters in the photo above. It looks definitively post-earthquake. (The architect was from LosAngeles, by the way).

In the U.S. one of the fastest growing professions is financial planners. Many companies do not callthemselves life insurance companies anymore but “financial services providers.” Or in plain English: We

provide advice like a doctor. We solve problems. We have lots of cures.

MDRT advisors who are fighting back seem to have the following things in common:

1. They look more professional than average advisors (as you can see from the photos in point29).2. They study a lot (over 50% of them have a CLU degree).3. They practice relationship building and cross selling (see the survey on point 54).4. The ones I met seemed to have a different selling style, more like a doctor.

Exercise: What needs to change in your agency to keep up with the times?



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47. Are you a hunter or a farmer?

Ten years ago I moved my office from Los Angeles to Budapest, Hungary. I have even learnedHungarian and a bit of Hungarian history. The Hungarians used to be nomads and hunters going from

place to place. About a thousand years ago they moved to Europe together with Finnish people andsettled down. Everybody eventually settles down. You cannot keep on going to be a hunter and a nomadforever.

In financial services nearly everybody starts out as a hunter. You make the calls, you knock the doors.

In time, if you somehow survive the first two years, people get to know you and you start running your business more and more on relationships, being known in the community and getting referrals.

In other words you slowly move from being a hunter to being a farmer. This profession has a wayof burning you out in the long run if you only hunt and don’t farm, if you are forever chasing business thatis always running away from you. The days of the nomads running from sale to sale seem to be comingto an end in most parts of the world. Besides, the low-hanging fruit in your area was probably picked along time ago. Today’s client wants to be cultivated, not hunted.

Of course, you have to know what you want to grow before you plant. So, to put it in a simpleformula:

1. What kind of crops do you want to grow? Doctors, entrepreneurs, young people, highly paid employees,truck drivers?

2. Cultivate them. You have to water the roses. Stay in touch, speak their language, understand their fears and hopes.

3. Harvest and replant. The future in financial services belongs to the advisors who cultivate relationshipswith the “right fruits” and keep on watering the “right roses.” In the next pages let’s take a look at someexamples of how this is being done.

Exercise: What have you seen happen with perpetual hunters on the long run after, say, five years?



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48. Panning for gold?

In 1977 I was the tour guide for a group of Dutch senior citizens. We were in Northern Finlandon our way to the North Cape in Norway. On the tour, a program stop was scheduled with Old Latti, thegold panner, near the North Cape.

Latti would demonstrate to the tourist how to find gold.

“You take one kilo of sand. You put it into your pan. Add two liters of water. Keep washing outthe sand. Since gold is heavier than the sand, it stays at the bottom,” he said as he washed out the sand

bit by bit. After four minutes or so, after I put on my glasses, I could see a tiny speck of gold.

This is how many people in life insurance have done it for many years. You make a few calls. Youhave a few meetings. Sometimes you find small bits of gold, usually nothing. And at the end of the monthwhen you put all the gold dust together it pays the bills but not much more.

Exercise: What do you think of the gold panning method?



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49. Earthmover machines?

With the French visitors we went from Las Vegas to San Francisco. For hours we would drivethrough the Nevada desert without seeing a single house. Then, right in the middle of the Nevada desert,was Goldfield Nevada. It had been a gold town around 1890.

By 1900 it seemed that the gold ran out and it was deserted. It has been a ghost town ever since.Then in the late seventies, big machines started moving in. Giant earthmovers as big as houses were

everywhere. Thousands of tons of earth were moved and processed daily. About five kilos of gold a daywas extracted.

I knew some people in financial services just like that. In the early eighties, they sent out enormousamount of postcards, hired people to make calls for them and saw four or five people a day. They didmake money, but the process was very stressful.

Harvey used to say: “Sales is a big funnel! You control what comes out at the bottom by measuringwhat you put in at the top. If you want to have four sales you have to have 20 meetings. If you want 20meetings, you have to call 150 people to get through to 100 of them. So you can set up 25 meetings, of which 20 will take place.”

Exercise: How many phone calls do you need to make to get one appointment? How many meetings for one sale (assuming you usually sell in the first meeting which seems to be getting less common)?



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50. Are you a golden geologist?

Jack was hanging over his Guinness in the Irish pub in downtown Budapest. He had this tired look of someone who was counting his days to retirement.

“Hi, I’m Erik.”

“Hi, I’m Jack,” he replied.

“What do you do for living?”

“I’m a geologist. I’m into finding precious metals, like gold, and things like that.”

“That’s interesting. I once saw how they did that with the gold panning in northern Finland.”

“Gold panning does not work so well.” Jack said. “If you pan for gold in most places of the worldyou make maybe a couple of euros a day, if you’re lucky. It’s a hobby type of thing.”

“The system in Nevada seems better. They move whole hills up there in Goldfield. But it takes alot of work and machines though,” I said.

“The problem in Goldfield is that the moment gold goes under $400 per ounce, they loose money,”Jack replied. “We do it differently: We go to an area which is known to have some gold around. The goldhas to be coming from somewhere. Then we start drilling from all angles. If we find the right place wedo not end up with merely one tenth of a gram of gold. We hit a gold vein and walk away with kilos andkilos of gold.”

Exercise: Have you struck gold with a client who not only bought a lot from you but also referred you tomany others good clients?



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51. Your Golden Clients?

“Erik, how come you have so few referrals?” asked Harvey.“I don’t know. I work hard enough.”“How is your follow-up?” he asked.“What do you mean?”“How well do you stay in touch with old clients?” he asked.“Come on, Harvey. I don’t have time for that. I cannot follow up on all my clients all the time. I

would not have time to sell.”“True. But some clients have referred you, right? Why don’t you write down a list of any client

who has ever referred you and show it to me tomorrow?” he suggested.The next day I showed him the list. “These clients and others just like it will make you rich some

day. They are your Golden Clients,” Harvey said. “These people already referred you once. If they didit once they could do it again. And you probably noticed that people usually refer similar people asthemselves. Now, on this Golden Client list, do you notice any professions or something that catchesyour eye?” he asked.

“Not really. I want to sell to everybody.”“Of course,” said Harvey, “and you should. But let’s look at this list. Hmmm, I see three people

on here that are in the furniture business. Would you like more furniture people?”“Of course,” I said eagerly. Those furniture people were some of my best clients.

“Hmmm, it is funny that you would be successful there. Nobody else in our office has three furnitureentrepreneurs.”

“I guess I was lucky.”“Luck in life insurance does not really exist.”

Exercise: Make a list of everyone who has ever referred you. These are your Golden Clients.



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52. Silver and Bronze Clients

Of course all of our clients are appreciated. But most have never referred you and never will.Let’s call them Silver Clients. You give them good service, like sending a Christmas card, and callingthem every six months for three to five minutes to ask them what’s new. And your company like mostmultinational companies probably has a policy to visit each client once a year.

Then there are Bronze Clients. All clients are important for us, but you have limited time. You

have to invest your time with those people where you get your highest predictable return. Just like your company does with the client’s money.

Who would be your Bronze clients? I guess people who live far out of town or some people who bought a very small policy a long time ago. Or maybe some people with whom you just didn’t seemto have the right chemistry. In other words, everybody who you say it is. If you say it is bronze, it is

bronze.

With Bronze Clients you do everything the company asks for but not a bit more. You do not have thetime, or the money, to give golden service to Bronze Clients. When you call them on the phone you haveto look at your watch.

“If you are on the phone with a Golden Client for half an hour, that’s totally okay. You will not hear mecomplain. But with a Bronze client, yes. How many Gold Clients do you have?” asked Harvey.

“About 10 to 15%,” I said.

“That is about average. If you follow this system, hopefully in three years it will be more like 40% andyou will be having a lot of fun in your business, too. Silver Clients?”

“About 50%. Bronze Clients, about 40%”.

Exercise: Make a list of ten Silver and ten Bronze Clients.



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53. Are you putting your Golden Clients in golden handcuffs?

After a client has been lucky enough to become your Golden Client, you should put him or her in“golden handcuffs.” In other words, you want to build up such a good relation with the right person thatthey are happy (well, kind of) to refer you to other people like them.

Mr. Contractor, I hear from my other contractor clients that they feel a lot of contracts will come from this new project in Northern Bigville. Have you looked into it?

Mr. Accountant, let’s have lunch together next week and catch up on things.

Ms. Teacher, yesterday was a great day for you. The stock exchange went up and you become 2%richer. Let’s hope it stays that way.

Ms. Florist, as you probably know the Parliament last month passed the new pension law. What this means for your situation is…

Mr. Manager, I asked some of my engineer clients which technical universities they recommend for Peter. I have already mailed you the link to the universities.

Ms. Designer, you said you are moving. I have a realtor client who specializes in this part of town. Would you like me to ask her to call you to tell what is happening with house prices in thisneighborhood?

Exercise: How could you put your Golden Clients in golden handcuffs?



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54. Are you on top of your tower?

I n 2003 I was working for ING Transylvania. ING has built up a whopping 50% market sharein Dracula’s country. On our way to the seminar, Emiliana, the Romanian translator, and I passed byDracula’s castle. “Let’s go to Dracula’s castle,” said Emiliana. We went into the castle and climbed thesteps all the way to the top of the tower.

The tour guide told us that the top of the castle was Dracula’s favorite place. From the top of thecastle he would always see what was happening below before anyone else could see it from the ground.

I thought about it. In life insurance, too, you have to be on the top of your castle looking over your Golden Clients. If you are in the cellar of your castle partying all the time you cannot find out about thelatest opportunities.

Your friend is selling his business?Your colleague is getting an inheritance?

An addition to the family?Your nephew starting his own business?

An entrepreneur is retiring?

You should call Golden Clients every two months. Some clients, like doctors and dentists, usuallydo not like this very much, so you call them less, of course. Some of my Golden Clients liked it when Icalled them once a month. When you call a Golden Client it is okay to take your time.

Bronze Clients you call maybe twice a year. When you call a Bronze Client, you watch your watch.

Exercise: Are you on the top of your tower?



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55. Up selling and cross selling

The market in financial services is changing quite rapidly. A survey by the MDRT in 2003 askedtop producers of this great organization in England what were the sources of their income:

Life sales 50 %( in the U.S. 55%)Mutual funds 15 %( U.S. 30%)Disability 6 %( U.S. 6%)Health 4 %( U.S. 2%)Critical illness 22 %( U.S. 0 %)Long term care 3 %( U.S. 7%)(Source: http://www.mdrt.org/resources/research/2003/US_Members_Offer_More_Products.pdf surveys)

The share of pure life insurance sales in the U.S. and many developing markets has been slowlydecreasing but other financial products are more than compensating for the decline. As you can see fromthis survey it makes excellent sense to stay in touch with Golden Clients to sell more products as timegoes on.

Unfortunately, this trend also means you have to spend more time learning about other productsand services. This takes time and effort away from your business in the short term. But if you plan to stay

in the business as the MDRT figures show, it is clearly worth it.

Already in Italy 1200 of the 20,000 Generali advisors are now CFP’s (certified financial planners)and Generali hopes to at least double this in 2005 (annual reports 2004 and 2005 www.generali.com/). Inother words, the trend is to become a money doctor not a door-to- door salesperson.

Some remarks to promote cross-selling are, for instance:Mr. Advisor how was your week?

I was pretty busy this week. Two life insurances for an entrepreneur’s family, an annuity for anurse client and one health insurance for an engineer client. Which reminds me…you have healthinsurance, don’t you?

The annual meeting is a good place for cross-selling. By the way, since we met last year, ABC Financial has introduced very interesting mutual funds. Many of my other entrepreneur clients have shown an interest in this mutual fund.

Exercise: Are you sure you are up-selling and cross-selling enough?



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56. Why I could not get my Edam cheese?

Three weeks ago I went to Edam in Holland. Most of my family comes from this area. Of course,I knew what to bring for the folks back home in Budapest: Edam Cheese.

At the Edam market was a cheese stand. There was one person in front of me, so I waited. Thecheese seller was not selling cheese to this customer but kept on talking about the analysis he had madewith his financial advisor last week. He went on and on about the financial strategy they had just workedout. After five minutes of being ignored, I just left. I got home with no Edam cheese for my friends andRobert and Esther in the office.

Here are some things I have heard from clients of advisors who have got a lot of referrals:

“She understands my family’s situation. I feel that she was there to make sure we got the best possible coverage for the best possible price.”

“What surprised me about her is that she still remembered all our circumstances two years after she sold us the policy. I have recommended her to all my friends. They thanked me afterwardsfor referring her to them. She really seems to care, not like some other people I met who seemcommission hungry and unprofessional.”

“I appreciate that he took his time to understand what I wanted to achieve. Then he showed me

how to do it. Not like some other people I have met that just knocked on my door to push some product or to make some quota. You know how these insurance people are.”

“He was not pushy. He just explained what our options were and then we decided. I like his drysense of humor, too.”

“She always calls us to see how we are doing. I appreciate that.”

“He seems to have a lot of other clients in the car business. A colleague recommended him to meand I have had a good experience. In fact, the other day I referred him to a friend at my table tennisclub.”

Exercise: If somebody would ask one of your Golden Clients why they do business with you, what wouldthey say?



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57. What is your nice, unfair advantage?

Hank Greenburg, the legendary ex-CEO of AIG, was once asked what his business philosophywas: “In business I like a nice, unfair advantage.”

Some nice, unfair advantages I’ve heard from advisors over the years:

Susan, a nurse, is a better closer. She does not care that it is going to hurt a little.

Jack used to be a taxi driver. Now he sells to all the taxi drivers in town.

Nick studied economics. When he talks about money, people feel that he knows what he is talkingabout.

Elisabeth had a very poor childhood, lacking many things. She knows she does not want to be poor.Therefore she works harder.

Paul used to work at the oil factory. Guess where he sells now?

Robert studied philosophy. Rejection does not bother him. He puts everything in the right perspective.

Peter, an ex-teacher, sells to his former students.

Darren is too young for the business at 24 years. But he sure gets a lot of referrals from young people.

Louis went out of business. Life insurance is his second chance.

Peter got laid off from his former job. He knows that at his age nobody in town is going to hire him.

That’s why he takes his business more seriously than most of the others at his agency.

Exercise: In the unit, discuss everyone’s possible nice, unfair advantage.



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58. Which type of fish swims in the Danube?

My family used to take trips from Holland to the Black Forest in Germany. We camped near the place where the Danube was just a small creek and fished for trout. During the day we would catch thetrout, in the evening we would roast them.

I worked for ING in Brailla, Romania, near the end of the Danube. In the evening I walked alongthe river. It was nearly a mile wide. I saw some fisherman catch a giant fish. They said it had swam upin from the Black Sea.

One evening as I was walking along the Danube in Budapest, I ran into David, a Generali unitmanager, who I had met a year ago. We started talking about fishing. I mentioned how many differenttypes fish there are along the Danube depending on where you fish.

“Not only along the Danube,” David said. “Right here at the Erzsebet Bridge there could be threekinds of fish. One fish is at the top and hunts for insects, one is in the middle and hunts for small fish, andthere are catfish in the mud. They could probably spend their whole lives here at the bridge and never even run into each other.”

It is the same in life insurance sales. In any city or village, people are talking to people like

themselves. Engineers talk with other engineers and technical people. Most entrepreneurs in town knowabout each other. I know advisors who know many people in the artistic community. Smart advisorsknow a little bit which type of fish they like to catch and try to move in the right circles. But wherever you fish, never forget to always fish with a golden hook.

Exercise: What type of fish would you like to catch and how could you catch them?



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59. How big will the Alligator be?

In 1992 my wife and I attended a training program in Florida. After the training, instead of goingto Disney World in Orlando, we decided to take a trip to one of those Northern Florida swamps. In thelate afternoon we arrived at the “Okefenokee Swamp.” It seemed the best way to visit it was to rent oneof those little motorboats.

The water looked and smelled like three-week-old coffee. Surreal curtains of light green mosswere hanging from the cypress trees into the black water. It would have made a great location for a horror movie.

“Look,” I pointed out to my wife. “You see, that little twig there in the water is not a twig at all. Itis a little alligator.”

“Yes, but look over there,” my wife said. A two-meter-long alligator was staring at us. And hedefinitively looked less empathic than most MDRT members. In a panic we raced back to the boat rentaldock. It had been a short trip.

Later over dinner in the safety of the Okefenokee Lodge, we laughed about our alligator adventure.I realized that the only difference between the small alligator and the big one was time. Just like someof my younger clients. For some of them it was just a matter of time before they would become bigalligators. Especially my younger entrepreneur clients. Often, when I sold to a young client who had alot of potential, I would say:

“Congratulations on your wise decision to get this policy. I will stay in touch with you regularly. I feel that you and your business have a lot of potential. Later when your business will be a big success I’m sure you will become one of the best clients of the financial services we offer.”

They always loved this. Most of my younger entrepreneur clients were trying really hard andappreciated it that someone had confidence in them. Usually young entrepreneurs could only affordBronze premiums. I still gave them Golden Client service.

This ended up paying off really nicely for me. Many of my small “alligator” clients knew manyother young entrepreneurial clients just like them. Younger people who are starting their business andtheir families talk a lot more with each other than older ones who tend to sit at home and watch TV. Howmany people over 30 did you see the last time you went to a concert? It turned out to be much easier to

get referrals amongst younger “alligators” for financial services than amongst older ones.

Exercise: Are you feeding the small alligators?



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60. From which direction are your trade winds blowing?

In my family we talked a lot about Curacao because my uncle Henk had worked on the giant Shelloil refinery on the island after World War II. In 1988 I had a chance to work there.

A funny thing about Curacao is that the winds are blowing from the same direction 365 days a year.They are called “trade winds” because the Dutch sailors in the 17th century could always count on themto take the ships to the trade ports. As you can see in the picture, the Curacoa “Divi Divi trees,” as the

islanders call them, have adapted to the constant wind.

When I started working as an advisor I worked for a high pressure, results oriented agency. AndI learned real fast that no action means no results. In the life insurance world, New York Life and INGare especially known for running high learning, high pressure and results oriented agencies. The averagenumber of sales per advisor is also substantially above the industry average in the countries where I haveworked with them. At New York Life they expect you to join and qualify for the MDRT in a couple of years. Although, to my knowledge, they are not even in the top ten in life sales even in the U.S., they stillhave more MDRT members than any other company in the world.

The next time you complain about the pressure the unit manager puts on you, just imagine whatyour numbers would be if he/she would not be there.

Exercise: How much do you think you would sell if there was no pressure to produce and be the best?



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61. The Arizona Indian Earth dancer

As a tour guide I often stayed at the Hopi Indian reservation near “Second Mesa” Arizona. Whenwe stayed at the “Goulding Lodge,” I often managed to invite Henry Twofeathers, the local medicineman, for dinner to learn more about the Indians. Henry told me that once a year the Hopi Indians dressup as different dancers, or “Kachinas,” as they call them. They believe the “Eagle Dancer” helps themto gain a different heavenly perspective. The humorous “Hano Clown” helps them to keep day to daythings in perspective. And the “Corn Dancer” dances for three days and three nights on the ground togive something back to the earth which provided the black corn that is their staple food.

At AIG, community activities are strongly encouraged. I have personally met 300 advisors andmanagers from different companies in 25 countries who did volunteer or community type activities. Of these 300 who were active in the community, about 80% were also in the top 10% of their agencies.

The majority of MDRT members are involved in community and volunteer-type activities (www.MDRT.org member surveys). I have yet to totally make up my mind on this. Is it because they want togive? Is it because they meet more affluent community oriented influential people? Is it possible that youcannot separate giving and receiving? It seems that if you give a lot, you get a lot, if you know where youare giving.

Exercise: Would you make more if you gave more?



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62. Who got invited into the castle?

Every family has someone who was famous. In my family it was Diederick Balthazar Vos. Familylegend has it that he started out as a castle-to-castle salesman in the time that the Dukes of the Dutch castleswere all fighting each other. I can imagine the following scenario:

The castle guards considered castle-to-castle salesmen a bit dangerous. They could be spies from theneighboring enemy castle. New castle-to-castle salesmen had a hard time getting into the castles. I imaginethe new guys probably said to the guards: “Please let me in,” and the guards said, “No.” “But I am a nice

peaceful, loving guy.” The guard would say: “Sorry, we can’t risk it.”

Perhaps when Diederick was at the castle gate and the guards would shout: “What do you want here?”He would say: “I have this big bag with me here with the newest swords to help the people in the castle defendthemselves. And some of the finest french brandy to help the people in the castle celebrate special occasions.

Like the birthday of the Duke.” They probably always let him in. Selling castle-to-castle made him so richthat he could eventually build his own castle. It is not who you are but what they get.

Corporate employee. I work with corporate people on how to gather assets over time while making sure there are always sufficient finances for the family no matter what happens, through the services of ABC financial.

Truck driver. I help people in the transportation industry make sure that there is something waiting for them at theend of the road.

Computer programmer. I help people in the computer industry to design financial programs that keep things running no matter what happens.

Farmer. I work with people in the agriculture industry to help them continually protect their family and grow fat savings at the same time.

Homemaker. I help families in the neighborhood make sure that the finances are stable no matter what and also securethat enough money is available for education for the children later on.

Doctor. I help people in the medical field to ensure long-term financial heath. I guess you could call me moneydoctor.

Exercise: In the unit, name a profession and give a similar “benefit” statement.



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63. Selling to friends and family?

Harvey had just finished his weekly speech in the agency. “All right, are you ready to get to work?Let’s do it this week! Okay?” Everybody enthusiastically rushed out of the room to get on the phone or to their appointments. I got up slowly from my chair and headed for the door.

“What’s your problem, Erik?” Harvey asked. “Why aren’t you going to work?”“Well, I guess I am not in a very good mood. Yesterday I met some of my old friends. The good

news is that one of my best friends bought some life insurance. The bad news is that it was not fromme.”

“Did he know you were in the business?” inquired Harvey.

“I told him I was in the business.”“Just told him?” Harvey asked.“Well, yes, you see, he is a friend. I did not want to look as if I am mixing business and friendship.

I thought that if he would need insurance he would just call me.”“Does anybody ever call you?” asked Harvey.“No, it hasn’t happened yet.”“Life insurance is sold, not bought,” said Harvey, “and you should know that by now.”“But what should I do?” I asked.

Harvey said, “After I was in the business for a couple of years, most people started to take meserious except my friends and family. This is what I told them: ‘I have mixed feelings about calling you.As you know I represent the Equitable life insurance company. I’d like to meet you and show you what

is available. I feel I would do a better job on that than some stranger. We will take a look at the variousoptions and maybe it is something you want to think about in the future. If we have something you likeand need and can afford, well great. So this is what I suggest: let’s meet, we will discuss finances andinsurance for thirty minutes and then after that we will catch up on the latest news.’”

The moment I stopped having such a problem approaching friends and family, they stopped having a problem, too. And I made lots of sales and got a lot of referrals.

Exercise: Is selling to friends and family realistic for you?



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5. Some things I learned at the Levine agency.



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64. Are you catching the wave?

“Oh, and by the way,” said Harvey at the end of the agency meeting, “just in case some of you don’thave appointments this weekend and have not figured out what to do, Joe is competing this Saturday inthe Santa Barbara surfing competition. If you would like to cheer him on, go see him on that after our meeting.”After the meeting, I went over to Joe. “Sign me up for the support team,” I said.

“Great,” he replied cheerfully. “We meet Saturday morning at 5 a.m. outside the agency.”

Saturday morning I was the only one who showed up. Joe asked me to sit next to him in his old, beaten up Volkswagen bus.

“How was your month?” I asked.“Kind of OK,” he said. “I sold 13 last month.”“That’s a lot,” I replied.“It’s good, but if you have an expensive hobby like competitive surfing and you are either coming

from Hawaii or going to Sydney for competitions, it’s not enough. Because even if you win a competitionall you get is a cup. How about you?” Joe asked.

“One. I sold one last month. I am waiting for some good sales to come my way. Maybe you havesome ideas?” I asked.

“Surfing is a lot like selling life insurance,” Joe said. “You see, in surfing we surfers do not makethe waves. The forces of nature do that. We just ride the waves. But you have to see how to use thewaves. It is the same in life insurance. The forces that govern human nature want the best possiblecircumstances and the most security for the family. We just help people fulfill that urge. In the process,that gets us somewhere, too.”

Exercise: What sport do you think life insurance resembles and why?



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65. Are you on this wave?

In surfing you have to surf the wave you’re on. Not the wave you were on or the one that you’d like to be on.

Most prospects you meet are not in the here-and-now. They are often upset about yesterday andworried about tomorrow. That’s why they cannot look at the future and say: maybe. To get them in thehere-and-now you have to be more in the here-and-now than they are. The problem is that many of us

have done hundreds, if not thousands of interviews. We have heard it all before. Some of us even say weare in a bit of a rut.

Maybe that is why a survey I conducted with 850 advisors in 2003 showed that those advisors over 30 who take up sports increase their commissions by about 20%. (About 15% for men and about 30% for women).

Does that mean you do not dream? Michael Schumacher (who does a lot of sports, by the way)spends a lot of his time dreaming how he will win the race. But after he has dreamt his dream he watchesthe other teams and cars more carefully than they watch him. And when he is in the race, he is more inthe race than anyone else.

It is ironic that in our business those people who are the most effective at helping people plan their future, live in the present. Maybe that is why books like “The Power of Now” (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1577311523/104-7702980-6342369) are so popular in the life insurance world. Your adversary is not the office down the street. It’s called rust. Rust never sleeps.

Exercise: Think of where your business was. Think of where it’s now. Think of were it will be



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66. How do you paddle back into the Ocean?

“Nearly every surfer eventually comes back to the shore. Either triumphantly, on top of a wave, or washed up by the sea. No surfer has always managed to master every wave. It’s not how you came back from the last wave you caught or tried to catch. It’s how you go back into the ocean,” said Surfer Joe.

Sometimes a surfer surprises himself by catching a beautiful wave beautifully. Then he keeps onstaying on the beach and keeps on celebrating his victory.

Sometimes he fell badly off a wave. Then he keeps on waiting on the beach for the perfect waveto come before he goes back into the ocean again. Of course, you only see the perfect wave after it’s toolate.

The same is true for a bad week. Sometimes you think too much after a bad week. Sometimes thesolution is to want to back off a bit. Some surfers fall off the board so often when they get started thatthey end up getting discouraged and quit surfing altogether. Or they become a lifeguard at the beach. Butyou can’t surf if you don’t go into the ocean.

Exercise: How do you paddle back into the ocean after a good week? After a bad week?



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67. Which zone are you surfing in?

“Most beginning surfers keep on blaming the sea, the wind, or their surfboard. Surfing does not begin with the sea or the board. It begins in your head. You can surf in three zones,” said Surfer Joe.

Every surfer starts in the red zone. In the red zone you see the waves. But when you try to catchone you notice your timing seems off. Your self-confidence is not very big yet. You try too hard. Thenthink too much. You have not been on many good waves. And you’re nervous about waves. You knowyou should be in the sea more, but you still spend too much time on the shore thinking about surfing.

“Most surfers, if they even manage to make it out of the red zone, get in and stay in the orangezone,” said Surfer Joe. “They stop learning new surfing techniques and do not go to surfing competitionsany more. They keep on surfing the same way they have been surfing. They start spending more timehanging with other surfers than surfing in the sea. They are in their comfort zone.”

“How do you know what your comfort zone is?” I asked.

“If you do not know your comfort zone than you’re probably in it.”

In the green zone you don’t think. You just do it. A surfer only gets and stays in the green zone

after a thousand or so hours of surfing. You are just with the wave. You know exactly what the wave isgoing to do. You know what you have to do and you just do it. That’s the zone that every surfer dreamsof being and staying in all the time.

Exercise: Which zone do you surf in?



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68. Are you looking at the top of the Eiffel Tower or at the Seine?

In 1994 I made a contract with DNG, an agency from Minneapolis, to organize an incentive trip andsales seminar for the sales force to Paris. There were 25 of us. Since we ran on a low budget, I had to bethe Paris tour guide, also. That was not very easy since I had not been in Paris for 20 years. Fortunately,the bus driver knew his way around Paris. At the Eiffel Tower I had a bit of an unpleasant surprise. Wediscovered that the tour only included entrance to the first level of the Eiffel Tower, and not to the top.Here we were, standing only on the first floor. I noticed there seemed to be three types of advisors.

The ones who were on a plateau or in a decline always looked at the Seine.

The ones who were struggling in their business only looked at the top of the tower, wishing theycould be there but knew it was impossible.

The advisors who were really moving up the fastest looked two thirds of the time at the top of theEiffel Tower and one third at the Seine River. Kind of like Krista, the Generali advisor I met the other day, who was famous for the size of her sales. I asked her, “What is the biggest sale you ever made?”

“I do not know,” she said. “I haven’t made it yet.”

Being in the green zone probably means looking up two thirds of the time to see where they wereheaded, and down one third of the time to see where you came from.

Being in the red zone is only looking up and feeling you can never get anywhere. You risk gettingfrustrated and discouraged, and you eventually end up on the ground.

Being in the orange zone means looking too much at the past. Looking down all the time is verysafe, but you will not notice that you are slowly going down.

Exercise: Are you looking down too much? Only looking up? Balancing it?



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69. How is your Mona Lisa smile?

From the Eiffel Tower we went to the Louvre to see the Mona Lisa. When we went into the Louvre,I asked a security guard, “Could you tell us where the Mona Lisa is?”

“The line starts there,” he said glumly. We got in line and waited. And waited and waited. MonaLisa really knows how to pull people towards her, I was thinking. Not like us. We usually push peopleaway from us.

Like the time I went into the elevator in an office building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.I pushed the button for the 10th floor. A well-dressed gentleman came in and pushed the button for the12th floor.

“What do you do?” I asked, as the elevator went up.

“I’m a software programmer,” he said. “And you?”

“I sell life insurance,” I replied enthusiastically.

“Very interesting,” he said, as he pressed the button for the 6th floor and got out.

Mona Lisa must really know something. There has to be a reason she is so famous that peoplespend all this time waiting in line when they are in Paris, I thought to myself as I waited in line.

Finally, it was our turn to see Mona Lisa. She sure had a mysterious, self-assured smile. It remindedme of some of the top producers I knew. They looked like they were full of self-confidence. “How doyou become self-assured when you are not?” I asked many self-assured top advisors since and this iswhat they said:

“The longer you stay in the business, and the more you learn, the more self-assured you become.Being in the business longer increases your confidence.”

“What works for me is to always be 100% direct with the prospect,” said Susan. “The prospect doesnot know that he does not know. I’m here to help them realize what is really important in life. If he doesnot follow my advice, I feel bad for him but I know I did my best.”

Jack said: “I guess you could call me self-confident. I went to every training offered, read all the books, and studied the best in the business. Now, I’m proud of my results, proud to belong to the MDRT,and I enjoy my standard of living. Next year, I’ll be better.”

Exercise: Who in your unit can put on the best self-assured Mona Lisa smile?



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70. How did that San Diego sea lion keep all the balls in the air?

Some of the better advisors in our agency won a daytrip to Sea World, a water park in San Diego.We had a good time. The attacks of the killer whales got everybody exited. The dolphin show wascharming. But my favorite was the Sea Lion Show. The sea lions kept several balls in the air. “I wish Icould do that,” said Sue.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“You know how it is in our business: as we get older we have to keep all these balls in the air.Work, family, the house, study, hobbies,” she said.

How did the sea lions keep those balls in the air? Is it is because when he throws up a ball he reallyconcentrates on that ball and nothing else? Is it because he does it one ball at a time? I found that if Itotally concentrate on what I am doing, then I get it done better and faster.

One way to be successful in this business is to just work, study, work, and study. Working andstudying like mad for at least a half year, but better yet one year, is probably the only way to go whengetting started in the business. You get busy building your self-confidence and you don’t have time toworry why your income is so low. But, if you have a family, this pace is probably not going to work for you in the long run. After a year you have to work smarter. Working harder and neglecting the family is

just not a suitable option for many advisors. You could end up getting divorced like many people in lifeinsurance. One option is to work smarter.

Exercise: How can you keep more balls in the air more effectively?



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71. How are some other advisors doing it?

“I do not know the secret of success. I do know the secret of failure: Trying to please everyone.Since I learned how to say “no,” I feel better and I get more done.”

“I found that if I planned my follow-up visits closer to each other I would save time.”

“I go to the office 15 minutes earlier, but it saves me 30 minutes of sitting in traffic.”

“My family agreed that if we were going to go on vacation this year, I would have to put in morehours at work and the kids would have to help more around the house.”

“I spend more time in my yearly visits with my Golden Clients that have the potential to refer meand buy more from me, and less time with Silver and Bronze Clients.”

“I noticed it was very rarely worth it to go back for a third, and especially for a fourth or fifthmeeting. I now have a two meeting limit.”

“Every Friday afternoon I make a plan for the next week. I write down all the things I am going todo and when I am going to do them.”

Ewaud Kist, the ex-CEO of ING, likes to say, “I have a simple time management system: I dividethings into ‘important’ and ‘very important.’ I do the ‘very important’ ones first. Also, I divide them into‘urgent’ and ‘very urgent.’”

“If there is an unpleasant thing to do, I try to do it first. Putting it off does not help.”

“Really using my laptop saves me time. I do not have to look for papers anymore; I just make surethat I back everything up every month.”

“The smartest thing I ever did was hire an assistant to make phone calls for me, help me with

paperwork, and to keep in touch with some old clients. If I were to start over again I would borrowmoney if I had to, just so I could have an assistant.”

Exercise: How could you work smarter?



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72. How to keep on staying focused?

Like many young people growing up in Amsterdam in the late sixties and seventies, I was into Pink Floyd. I used to have the Prism poster on my wall. Later, when I got into the business, I often felt likethe poster. In the morning I would go into the office all energetic and focused. Many times, at the end of the day, I would leave the office like the beam of light that goes out of the prism. Going in all directions,unfocussed, tired. Some advice from advisors I have heard:

“When you’re on the phone, be on the phone. When you’re with the client, be with the client.When you’re with your family, be with your family.”

“I keep on thinking about the new house I want,” said Susan.

“I always try to make decisions about things right away. Even when I do not have enoughinformation, I still usually try to make a decision.”

“I try to keep my focus by realizing I am never as happy as I think I am or as sad as I think I am.”

Exercise: How could you be more focused and get more done in a day?



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73. What centers the punching ball?

We all know about the punches but what is the spring that keeps you bouncing back?“When things are down and I feel depressed, I think about the education I want for my children.

That gives me new energy.”“When things are down, I think about why I left my last job. Things look better after that.”“I was on the company incentive trip last year. There is no way in the world that I am not going to

be there this year.”“Through hard work and helping my clients get what they want, I’ve built up a nice standard of

living. I’m not stepping back,” said Jack.“I learned from my father to never do anything in life half-heartedly. Either you do it or you

don’t.”“I just have to be the best,” said Jim. “It is a character-type thing.”“My old friends used to make funny comments about my profession when I got started in the

business a couple of years ago. Now I’m established and getting lots of referrals. I’m having the lastlaugh!”

“I’ve never been lazy. This work pays me what I am worth. What it’s gonna be, it’s up to me.”“A difficult business? Yes. Tell me about easy businesses where you make the type of income the

top people in our business are making.”

Exercise: What is the spring that helps to keep you bouncing back?



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74. Is rejection good for your business?

Everybody who goes to California wants to see the giant Sequoia trees, high in the Sierra NevadaMountains. Sequoia trees are the biggest and oldest trees in the world. When I went there with theFrench tourists, they all gathered around the famous Tunnel Tree. The ranger said the tree was over 80meters high and it was probably already a small tree around Julius Caesar’s time. Everybody looked atthe tunnel, but I noticed that the trunk was charred. I asked the park ranger, “Why is the tree black? Wasthere a fire?”

“This tree has seen dozens of fires. Its first one was probably already in Nero’s time,” said theranger. “Sequoia trees need so much water, thousands of liters per day, that if there were other treesaround, it could not survive. Of course, this tree probably does not like fire, but, as you can see, it canhandle it. Other trees cannot and therefore they disappear, leaving all the water for the big Sequoia.”

Later, as an advisor, I realized that it’s the same with rejection. Nobody likes rejection. But if youcan handle it, you survive better. Worldwide, over 50% of advisers leave the business in the first year (Limra worldwide statistics). I guess that if there would be no rejection everybody would be sellingfinancial services and my commission would be just a fraction of what it is.

I also realized that when people were rejecting me they were not rejecting me personally, becausethey did not even know me. I decided to be the best professional I could be, so that when they rejectedme, it would be just as big of a loss for them as for me because they missed working with an excellentfinancial professional. Arrogant? Well, maybe! But the last thing you need with all the rejection around

is to also reject yourself.

Exercise: Why could rejection be good for your business?



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75. Lance Armstrong

The Dutch love bicycles. Maybe this is because Holland is totally flat. Maybe it’s because thereis so little space that you can’t park your car anywhere. Maybe it is because Dutch people don’t want to

pollute the environment. Or maybe Dutch people are just cheap.After soccer, the Tour de France is the most-watched sporting event in Holland. Unfortunately, the

Dutch have not been winning too often lately because of the American domination of the Tour de France.Greg LeMond and now Lance Armstrong just keep on winning tour after tour.

Lance Armstrong is an amazing guy. In his early twenties he had cancer. Then, after a heavytreatment with radiation and chemotherapy, he made a comeback and won the Tour de France six timesin a row.

In his book “It’s Not About the Bike,” he says, “People think riding the Tour de France is glamorous.It’s not. For 30 days you are driving up and down mountains in the French July heat. That’s notglamorous. That’s suffering. But that’s OK. I have a lot of experience with that. I am kind of used toit.”

The same is true in our business: the constant rejection, the constant pressure, the cancellations, the businesses that fall through at the last moment…these are all part of the job. In time you try to get usedto them and keep on pushing. It is like the commercial for Johnny Walker whiskey: “Keep walking.”

“I believe in education,” said Margaret. “I feel with this work I am promoting education.”“Of course I’m not welcome. I am they guy who is going to spoil their summer vacation.”

“When the message is bad, people always shoot the messenger instead of listening to the message,”said Lisa.

“If it wouldn’t be up to me, most of my 500 clients would not have build up some financial security.Ask the widow who my company paid out last year what she thinks about life insurance,” said Arnold.

Exercise: How important is the work you do?





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77. The Mexican boat trip

“The advisors who are invited on the Mexican deep sea fishing trip are: Surfer Joe, Sue Dikes,Chucky, Lisa and Erik, Congratulations!” announced Harvey.

Wow. What a difference a couple of months made. Just four months before I was thinking of quitting the business, and now by following the advice of Surfer Joe, I was in the top five in productionof the agency! “We’re meeting Saturday morning at 5.00 a.m. here at the agency. Then we are goingwith my jeep to Ensenada in Baja California, Mexico,” Harvey said.

By 9 a.m. we were fishing in the Pacific Ocean. At 9:15 it looked like I was the first one to catchsomething. “I think I’ve got something,” I shouted. Harvey ran straight over.

“You caught a jellyfish,” he said smiling. Everybody was laughing. “You catch what you are,”he said. Harvey took the net and landed the jellyfish in the boat. “This jellyfish reminds me of theagency four weeks ago. You guys were spineless, blubbering along, just like this fish. A jellyfish moveswherever the sea moves it. The only reason it even survives is because nobody wants to eat it. I hope the

jellyfish week we had four weeks ago is going to be our last one for quite a while,” he said.Chucky caught the first fish. He always did things a bit differently. He had been fishing very deep.

The fish he brought on deck was a fish that was used to high pressure thirty-or-so meters below the water.The fish looked totally out of place without the pressure. “It’s kind of like our business,” said Harvey.“The fish has to press back just as hard as the water pressure presses at it. That’s what I try to do at theagency. If there is no pressure, there is no performance. If I would not put the pressure on you and youon yourself, your income would only be half of what it is.”

Exercise: Do you work well under pressure?



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78. The Land Shark Agency?

He was interrupted by Lisa. “Help!” she shouted. “I caught something big.”

She handed over the fishing rod to Harvey. We saw a fin sticking out of the water. “Senora, youcaught a Shark,” said Pedro, our Mexican captain.

The fight with the shark took nearly half an hour. Finally, Harvey landed the shark. By this timeLisa was hiding in Captain Pedro’s cabin.

“What a beauty,” cried Harvey. “The shark is truly the king of the sea. He’s always moving. Hecannot even stop. If he’d stop, he’d die. He can sense motion from thirty meters away. His skin is sohard, a bullet would bounce off it.”

“What are you trying to do?” joked Surfer Joe. “Turn us into land sharks?”“Would you rather be a jellyfish?” replied Harvey. “In our business you have to fight for every

sale.”After that we called ourselves the Land Sharks Agency.

Exercise: What type of fish would you compare your agency to?



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79. Do you fix the net?

At about 12:30 a.m., Captain Pedro pulled our boat into the Ensenada harbor. The harbor that had been empty when we had left in the morning was now full of the small fishing boats that had come back from their fishing trips. The fishermen were sitting on the docks, repairing their nets.

“These guys are in the same business as we are,” said Harvey. “Every day they go to work. Beforethey leave they get blessed by Padre Fernandez. Then the fisherman goes to the place where he wants tofish. He throws out the net. He pulls it in. Nothing. He throws it out again. Still nothing. He throwsit out again. A nice, big fish. He sails back again to Ensenada, repairs the net, and starts the same thingagain the next day.”

In life insurance it’s the same. You plan your meetings. As you leave the office you receive your

blessings from the unit manager. You work your plan. One out of four appointments you catch a fish;you get your reward. The only difference with them and us is that most advisors do not fix their net. Howdo you fix the net?

“I like to talk over the week with my Unit manager,” said Jack. “What worked, what didn’t work,and what I learned this week.”

“I’m a seminar junkie,” said Helen. “I always come back with some new ideas.”“I have a statistics book,” said Harry. “I keep graphs of my business. How many appointments

this month, how many sales, how many referrals. How does that compare with previous months and lastyear at this time? If I’m up, why? If I’m down, why? And how can I fix it? It takes me about an hour

per month, but it’s worth it. It prevents me from sliding into a rut.”“I repair my net by playing football. It takes my attention of off work. After the match I look at

things in a different way.“When we go out in nature, I forget about everything and just have a good time,” said Jack.

Exercise: How do you fix your net?



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80. Excuses

Harvey used to say: “I want sales, not excuses.” Many times I explained to him why I did not sell.I am sure the others did too.

One day I came to the office and saw he had placed a big poster outside of his door. “For the sake of time management, I have made a list for you. Instead of explaining why you did not sell, just pick your number to explain why you did not sell.”

1. The prospect is already insured with another company.2. The prospect said he cannot afford it.3. They will think about it.

4. My wife is sick.5. The client wants to invest in real estate.6. They will get it next month.7. They have enough insurance.8. They are not interested.9. They are investing in the stock market.10. My car did not start.11. It is tax season and people have no money.12. They are preparing for vacation.13. This is the summer season and everybody is on holiday.14. It’s back to school season, people have no money.15. People have Christmas on their mind.16. He wants to get another quote.17. I was not feeling well.18. My brother in law is in town and I have to drive him around.19. We are rebuilding the house.20. I had to take care of my sick mother.21. They were too busy to see me.22. Everybody already has insurance.23. Our competitor has better products than we do.24. I did not have time to sell because I was preparing for the exam.25. I am not a born salesperson.26. I am too young for this business.

27. I am too old for this business.

Exercise: What are some of the favorite excuses in your unit?



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81. Client objections around the world

I have noticed that clients in every country seem to have their favorite excuse:

Insurance companies want your money and you never hear from them. (Central Eastern Europe)The government will take care of that. (Norway and Sweden)We are protected. Nothing will happen to us. (Turkey and Egypt).I have to think about it. (everywhere in the world but particularly in Japan)

Our family has done insurance with Herr Huber for 30 years. (Switzerland)Tomorrow, tomorrow. (Mexico)You are trying to enrich yourself at my expense. (Ukraine)Thank you so much for calling. Could you please be so kind to send me some literature?(England)Insurance costs too much. (Scotland)My wife’s nephew is in the business. (Italy)I do not trust international companies. (Serbia)I do not trust local companies. (Romania)I do not trust Tata-Aig, Vysna-Ing, or Allianz-Bajaj. I only trust the LIC (the Indian State insurancecompany). (India)I buy insurance from my bank. (especially in Austria, Greece and Portugal)I am investing in apartments on the coast. (Croatia)It is not my lucky day. (Ireland)Call me when I am sober. (Russia)What is life insurance? (Albania)

Exercise: In your unit discuss the favorite excuses in your area.



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82. The Grand Canyon locomotive

Harvey was a big locomotive fanatic. He loved to talk about how the locomotive won the West. Inhis office he had hung a big picture of a locomotive.

He used to say: “After you have decided where you want to go, you have to put in the tracks. Thenyou follow the tracks to get you there. Life insurance is the big locomotive. But you have to follow thetracks. First, you write down your goals, then you write down your plan. Then you do what you said you

would do.”

Yes, write it down. I do not exactly know why, but if you write it down it works much better. Thenyou write down what you have to do to get there and when. You stick to it. Then you stay on the track till you get there. Sometimes there are tree trunks on your tracks or you get attacked by hostile Indiansor train robbers.

Stuff happens, you can’t win every day. But if you keep staying on your track you will get there.It helps a lot if you are in an agency where others are doing better than average. You will notice you willget to your goal faster. I noticed that those colleagues in my office, who did the best, kept on pulling and

pulling because they knew where they were going. I have met thousands of people in over 40 countrieswho have done the same and succeeded. How about you?

Exercise: How much income do you want to make this year? Approximately how many sales will youneed for that? Assuming that you sell one out of four meetings, how many meetings do you need per week to make your income plan?



83. Insurance jokes

In my agency we were always telling each other insurance jokes like: “What’s the difference between a life insurance agent and a fly? Flies only bother people in the summer.”

Old man Geezer was on his death bad. He called his three trusted advisors together. “I have asum of 90.000 EUR to my name. I want to take it with me. Here are three envelopes with 30.000 EUR in them. I want you to throw them in the hole, as my coffin is lowered.” Three days later he died. Theywent to the funeral. First, the doctor threw in the envelope. Then, the priest, and third was the insuranceadvisor. After the ceremony they were having coffee. “I have a confession to make,” said the doctor.“There was only 20.000 EUR in my envelope. With the 10.000 I bought a new diagnostic machine thatcould have saved his life if I had had it. I’m sure he would have wanted it that way.” The priest said: “I,too, have a confession to make. My envelope only had 10.000 in it. I spent 20.000 to feed the poor. I’msure Geezer would not mind that if he had known.” The insurance advisor stood up and said indignantly:“I can’t believe that you guys would sink so low as to deceive an old man. My envelope had a check thatI made out for the full 30.000.”

Three advisors were sitting around a bar bragging about how fast their company processes claims.“My company processes claims in one week.” “Mine in two days,” said the other. “That is nothing.When one of our insured clients fell out of the top floor of our building, we had already had a check hanging out the window.”

After the circus performance, the circus director made an announcement: “Ladies and Gentleman dueto the bad financial condition of the circus, we are forced to sell some of the monkeys.” An entrepreneur walks in and asks: “How much for this monkey?” “5000 EUR,” said the circus director. “That is a lot,”said the entrepreneur. “Yes,” says the circus director, “but he knows how to type and speaks English.”“How about that monkey?” asked the entrepreneur? “That one is 10.000 EUR.” “10.000 EUR? But he isuglier than the first monkey.” “Yes, but he speaks two languages and knows Microsoft Word and Power

Point.” Then the entrepreneur pointed at the third monkey. “How much for that one?” he asked. “Thatone is 20.000 EUR.” “But he is the ugliest of them all!” replied the entrepreneur. “What does he know?”“I don’t know, but the other monkeys call him ‘agency manager.”

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Taking Your Business to the Next Level.en[1]