Booming Income; Why It’s Different

We are very excited to introduce FIGs’ Booming Income program. FIG has always prided itself on both our commitment and our ability to bring to our producer-clients the very best in not only innovative products, but also the training and resources needed to win in a changing financial services market. Booming Income is a program to equip our producers with everything they need to transition to and thrive in the emerging market of providing retirement income planning services to the “baby boom” as this unprecedented wave of retirement transforms the financial services industry. You have no doubt seen several marketing organizations promoting income planning programs that, at first glance, may appear to be similar to Booming Income. At FIG, we believe that Booming Income is far different than that offered by competitive organizations. Why is Booming Income different? The short answer is simply depth: The depth to understand that what is happening is a shift from a product-driven marketplace to consumer-driven marketplace. The depth to understand that these changes reflect a consumer that not only has fundamentally different needs in retirement, but is also a more financially sophisticated consumer who make buying decisions based not upon emotion, but upon facts, figures, and logic. The depth to understand that product alone will not enable the producer to transition to and thrive in this new marketplace, but requires on-going education and support that transcends product innovation and product training. Booming Income is not a just a “marketing system”; it is an on-going initiative to educate, equip, and continually support producers in successfully making the transition to providing retirement income planning services. Of course, integral to the Booming Income program are all of the components of a “marketing system” such as consumer presentations and seminars, software, and training. The primary difference in these components of Booming Income versus that offered by others is the background and focus of the components. Booming Income is not about taking the same old ideas and approaches to selling annuities to a previous consumer generation and trying to put a new spin on them to make them palatable to the new generation of consumer. Booming Income is focused upon understanding the needs, wants, and sophistication of the new breed of consumer and equipping the producer with the tools, support, and background needed to provide more sophisticated consumer with what they want and need. In other words, Booming Income is not about trying to force old methods and ideas upon the new breed of consumer, it is about producing new methods and ideas that fit what the new consumer wants. To use a common analogy, Booming Income is not trying to force “a square peg into a round hole”; rather it is about providing the producer with the “round peg that fits the round hole.” Make no mistake about this – serving the baby boomer consumer in the burgeoning retirement income planning market is a fundamental change for most annuity producers. Frankly, success in providing retirement income planning services to the baby boomer generation will require many already successful producers to learn some fundamentally different approaches to their business and how they approach their clients and prospects. In many respects, the techniques that lead to success with baby boomers is almost the opposite of those approaches that worked well with the now declining “world war II” consumer. Many producers will not successfully make this

transition, but those that do will be able to take advantage of what is the single largest opportunity that many, if not most, have seen in their career. The Booming Income program is intended to provide you with what you need to successfully make the transition and thrive. Booming Income begins with training. The foundation of Booming Income is training and on-going support intended to equip the annuity producer with the in-depth background to successfully converse with the more financially sophisticated baby boomer consumer, to more fully appreciate the pros and cons of the financial choices that the new breed of retiree has, and to better understand and appreciate how annuity products, when properly positioned and utilized within a retirement income plan, compliment and provide foundational support to other financial choices, including securities. For many annuity producers, this is a fundamental shift in their thinking and approach, but it is a necessary element of success in the new marketplace. Training is supported by client seminars and presentations designed to appeal to the new breed of consumer. The same tired-old approaches to selling annuities will not work for the new breed of consumer; success with the baby boomer requires presentation approaches that address the different needs, concerns, and experience of the “401(k) generation”. Everything from the quality of the visual graphics to the core message embedded in the client presentations offered through Booming Income is designed to appeal to the needs and sophistication of the baby boomer seeking retirement income planning services. Booming Income also recognizes that there is no “silver bullet” that will work for every producer in every market, and that rote memorization of a script or system will somehow lead to success. Producers are different and different regions of the country are different. Recognizing this reality, a hallmark of Booming Income is the customization of the core materials to the individual producer to reflect their personality, knowledge, licensing, and geographic differences. We know that one size does not fit all, and we are prepared and equipped to accommodate differences. Training and presentations are supported by planning software and back-office support. Training gets you up-to-speed to deal with the more financially sophisticated consumer, and presentations and marketing materials get the consumer to give you a shot at their business. To get their business requires planning software that allows you to identify issues related to generating retirement income, to develop a plan for the prospect based upon facts and figures, and to present that plan to the consumer in a logical and understandable manner. Booming Income is committed to providing you not only with software support, but we are also committed to continually improving our Retirement Navigator and other software. Integral to getting the business is back-office support, and we believe that FIG offers back-office support that is second-to-none in the industry. Unlike many of our competitors, our Marketing Consultants are fully trained not only in the products that are integral to the income planning process, they receive the same training relating to the baby boomer market that we offer our producers. In other words, our Marketing Consultants understand and are integral to the overall offerings of Booming Income. On-going engagement supports it all. Integral to your success in the providing retirement income planning services to the baby boomer consumer is Booming Income’s commitment to provide you with continual engagement with training resources and other producers making the transition to the new market. Committed producers participate in regular meetings, webinar, and conference calls with Booming Income training and support resources as well as other producers. This allows the free and continual sharing of ideas, successes and failures, and techniques as they are developed and tested in what is a new and rapidly changing marketplace. In other words, you are not alone, Booming Income is not designed as a “one shot deal” where you are given some training and materials and then left on your own to sink or swim. We are all in this together.

Booming Income is not for the uncommitted or faint of heart. Booming Income provides the conduit to success in the new burgeoning market, but like anything worthwhile, it requires work and commitment to achieve success. If you are looking for the least time-consuming and least mentally-challenging “silver bullet” that might work for you (or might not), then Booming Income is probably not for you. On the other hand, if you recognize that the changes happening in the marketplace are fundamental and require fundamentally different approaches for success, are willing to commit the time and open mind that will lead to success, and seek involvement with a program that understands the depth of the issues, then you are a candidate for Booming Income. We invite you to join us as we facilitate the success of the next generation of annuity producers in the next big thing – retirement income planning for the baby boomer generation.