I have an annuity marketing idea that has worked well for me. Be careful with this; as there are many moving parts!
Have an accountant run an AD in the newspaper stating:
"POSSIBLE TAX REBATES TO THOSE WITH ANNUITIES"
In the Ad the accountant will state that some accountants file annuity interest as earned as opposed to tax-deferred. Therefore, possibly a rebate. There is some more to this that your accountant can add if he chooses.
The accountant offers a free consultation; and to you (insurance professional) an introduction. This is given extra credibility because of the nature of the visit.
The best time to run this ad is during the off-season for an accountant, as this requires a great deal of time. Again there are many moving parts.
The last time I ran this ad in the paper it cost me $800.00 for a month. The accountant had 283 calls, which resulted in roughly 128 visits. In these 128 visits the accountant found almost $157,000 worth of mistakes or an average of $1,200 bucks a piece. The accountant made almost 15K for his efforts filing amendments.
The golden part to this is that out of 120 people I could approve 93 of their current annuity positions.
Out of the 93 only 67 of them wanted my help. But out of the 67 people I wrote just a hair over 4 million in annuity production in about a two month period. Not a bad marketing idea for $800.00. Not to mention I have the names of the other 60 folks that I can go back and see this year.
Note to self: Make sure you keep records of Annuity Maturity dates.
I hope this helps bring in the New Year with a BANG!
------------------------------------ Direct 1-866.417.9580 X 109 mail@ngfgllc.com
Last edited by insuranceexec : 12-31-2008 at 05:15 PM.
I have an annuity marketing idea that has worked well for me. Be careful with this; as there are many moving parts!
Have an accountant run an AD in the newspaper stating:
"POSSIBLE TAX REBATES TO THOSE WITH ANNUITIES"
In the Ad the accountant will state that some accountants file annuity interest as earned as opposed to tax-deferred. Therefore, possibly a rebate. There is some more to this that your accountant can add if he chooses.
The accountant offers a free consultation; and to you (insurance professional) an introduction. This is given extra credibility because of the nature of the visit.
The best time to run this ad is during the off-season for an accountant, as this requires a great deal of time. Again there are many moving parts.
The last time I ran this ad in the paper it cost me $800.00 for a month. The accountant had 283 calls, which resulted in roughly 128 visits. In these 128 visits the accountant found almost $157,000 worth of mistakes or an average of $1,200 bucks a piece. The accountant made almost 15K for his efforts filing amendments.
The golden part to this is that out of 120 people I could approve 93 of their current annuity positions.
Out of the 93 only 67 of them wanted my help. But out of the 67 people I wrote just a hair over 4 million in annuity production in about a two month period. Not a bad marketing idea for $800.00. Not to mention I have the names of the other 60 folks that I can go back and see this year.
Note to self: Make sure you keep records of Annuity Maturity dates.
I hope this helps bring in the New Year with a BANG!
Thanks. This is a cool idea. Just hook up with a good CPA in the slow season for them? August-Sept?? $1200 in tax refunds per person? Any DOI advertising issues? What should the CPA look for where tax returns charged taxes for deferred annuity income?
Just the local paper?
Did you review and move them into better annuities? Any more info you can PM or the ad? I am not in your market area. Thanks.
Very creative idea. How long have you worked with this particular CPA? And I can see that you would have increased credibility if a CPA is referring you.
Also, would you please post the ad that you used?
Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year!
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KURT CONWAY, MSA
INDEPENDENT INSURANCE SPECIALIST
Thanks. This is a cool idea. Just hook up with a good CPA in the slow season for them? August-Sept?? $1200 in tax refunds per person?Any DOI advertising issues?
Just the local paper?
Did you review and move them into better annuities? Any more info you can PM or the ad? I am not in your market area. Thanks.
I am glad you like it. I will answer you questions one at a time.
In my original post I stated there are many moving parts; Congratulations for finding a few of them.
1. My accountant personally works for me on my payroll. He is quite busy for the first few months of the year; as I am sure you can imagine. The accountant must have sole loyalty to you, if not and he can refer the business elsewhere.
2. Slow season for my guy is generally from May to September. October he picks up again for the people who file extensions. I have also found that November is a good month to run my AD.
3. The numbers I quoted were from my last AD run. So the $1200 figure was an average per client that the accountant met with. Now the accountant had to in some cases go back a few years and file amended returns. With a cost of between $100-$500 per amended return, you can see where an accountant, even if he is not being paid directly by you, can make some decent money in a short period of time; potentially picking up some new clients in the process.
4. An accountant is not under the authority of the DOI, so No, there were no issues. I DID NOT RUN THE AD! THE ACCOUNTANT DID.
5. "What should the CPA look for where tax returns charged taxes for deferred annuity income? " I am not an accountant and in saying that I ask you to pardon my ignorance. I do not understand the question.
6. Yes, just the local paper. My local paper has a saturation of about 55,000 people. So I spread it out over about 100 mile radius, and I have about 6 different papers that I run this AD in. Giving me a total sturation of about 350,000 people. I know I live in Rurual Arkansas; What can you expect.
7. I did a full needs assessment on each individual, and there were some cases that I could not approve their situation. In those cases I did not replace their annuity.
( I am curious now; Are you a compliance director?.........LOL)
I KEEP TRACK OF THE ANNUITY MATURITY DATES FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. There is also a huge potential for cross-selling here; Which I utilize.
I hope this answers your questions and I am glad that you found my thread useful. Happy Hunting and good luck.
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Originally Posted by Freddie
How does the CPA do the pass off to you? Are you both in the same building?
The accountant has an initial review; which I am not present during. the next review is when they( Accountant and the client) get down to the brass tacks. I am present during the second meeting. He says something to the fact " I have an Individual meeting with us today that I feel will be very beneficial. He is a licensed Insurance agent and is an expert in the field of annuities; May he join us? YES.
We are not in the same building, but he does work on my payroll, and is right down the street. I will not go into particulars here as this is an hour conversation in itself. Lets just say that our relationship is mutually beneficial. If you would like to know more feel free to call me.
I have a saying that I would like to share here:
"Give a man an idea and you will change him for a month, Teach a man to think and you have changed him forever."- ME
I am in the business of teaching people to think. My services are relatively inexpensive, considering the obvious. To be very candid with you I have a great many more ideas, that are more successful than this one. My best marketing piece has generated almost 20 million in annuity production per year for the past 3 years running now.
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Originally Posted by KConway
Very creative idea. How long have you worked with this particular CPA? And I can see that you would have increased credibility if a CPA is referring you.
Also, would you please post the ad that you used?
Thanks for sharing.
Happy New Year!
I do not think this public forum is the place for such an AD, as I have a patent on it. I did however want to share an idea that somebody could take and possibly alter to their own area. I do provide this to my agents.
I am sure some will come on here and say that is not fair. To those I say this. There is a fundamental difference between an idea and a marketing piece. An idea is a thought of pure enlightenment, where as a marketing piece has been tried and tested. Anybody who tells you that they are going to give you something for free; after they have spent 100's of hours perfecting it and countless thousands of dollars is lying to you.
I have worked with this particular accountant for 4 years now.
Last edited by insuranceexec : 01-01-2009 at 10:38 AM.
Reason: Posts merged
Maybe I'm missing something in the first link of what seems like a good marketing idea.
How many dumb accountants are there out there? I know there must be some, because I know a few. However, annuity growth would not normally even get a 1099. So, under what circumstances would someone report non-reportable income from an annuity?
It seems to me the success of this would largely depend on how happy someone was after they first met with the CPA and that a mistake was indeed made on the annuity income. "Oh boy, I'm getting a refund and I'm meeting with an annuity expert."
Maybe I'm missing something in the first link of what seems like a good marketing idea.
How many dumb accountants are there out there? I know there must be some, because I know a few. However, annuity growth would not normally even get a 1099. So, under what circumstances would someone report non-reportable income from an annuity?
It seems to me the success of this would largely depend on how happy someone was after they first met with the CPA and that a mistake was indeed made on the annuity income. "Oh boy, I'm getting a refund and I'm meeting with an annuity expert."
Oh, I've seen it. Think H&R Block. Then again, think of the basic premise of Missed Fortune strategies - if the CPA doesn't understand the tax laws, their name is still on the return, and they get to represent the client before the IRS. When it comes to IRAs, think IRDs. 'Nuf said!
Interesting. One problem I have is with over-estimating people, especially people that are supposed to have some level of expertise. I certainly don't over-estimate the American voter any more.
On the H&R block thing, I definitely get your point. Locally there is almost nothing involved in licensing to become a "tax preparer."
Also, I wonder how many people screw themselves with TurboTax and the like? Maybe that should be a line in the ad: "Are computer tax preparing programs costing you tax dollars?"
Well, the one difference is that ultimately, with Turbo Tax, it's garbage-in-garbage-out, and while TT may guarantee their calculations, those who try to mess with the feds will have an awfully hard time 'splaining themselves. A bit of overconfidence, I would say.
Maybe I'm missing something in the first link of what seems like a good marketing idea.
How many dumb accountants are there out there? I know there must be some, because I know a few. However, annuity growth would not normally even get a 1099. So, under what circumstances would someone report non-reportable income from an annuity?
It seems to me the success of this would largely depend on how happy someone was after they first met with the CPA and that a mistake was indeed made on the annuity income. "Oh boy, I'm getting a refund and I'm meeting with an annuity expert."
Very good Charpress you have found another moving part. Every year countless companies mess up and accidentally send out 1099's to the client, even though no money has been withdrawn. There are many "tax preparers" who do not understand these things and obviously file things wrong. Again I am playing on the fact that most annuity companies do not process their own tax forms to the clients, they hire this out to a 3rd party admin. With all of the changes every year that take place in the tax code; It is all these 3rd party admins can do just to get them processed in time. Let alone make sure they are correct.
A good friend of mine who happens to be Regional Auitor for the IRS once told me something that I will share with everyone: "If you think hiring a CPA is expensive, first hire H&R Block."
As far as the client being excited about meeting with an accountant and an annuity expert; I have yet to see somebody fall out of their chair or anything, but the reception has been well received. Again it comes down to how well you sell yourself and your services. Another point out of the 280 or so calls only 128 agreed to meet with the accountant. Clearly showing that not everybody is going to be intrested.
Oh, I've seen it. Think H&R Block. Then again, think of the basic premise of Missed Fortune strategies - if the CPA doesn't understand the tax laws, their name is still on the return, and they get to represent the client before the IRS. When it comes to IRAs, think IRDs. 'Nuf said!
So IRD may be unnecessarily taxed? Would this happen when the annuity had a death benefit equal to the CV?
I do not think this public forum is the place for such an AD, as I have a patent on it. I did however want to share an idea that somebody could take and possibly alter to their own area. I do provide this to my agents.
This is just the concept that was shared with me by Legacy so to be fair I left their products in the concept.
Plus, you only have to 2010 to take advantage of this law, which means only two years left.
TIPRA LAW
I spoke of a new body of tax law called TIPRA. This allows your clients in the 10 and 15% tax bracket to enjoy a zero percent capital gains tax rate for the next three years. Clients with taxable income up to $63k are eligible for this great benefit. This means that we can help them out several times over the next three years. First, please note that selling their entire long term capital gain portfolio may mess up the deal if it done in one year as the gain may push them out of the 15% tax bracket and cause those capital gains to be taxed at 15%. While that isnt the end of the world depending on their situation it may be better to sell some in 2008, some in 2009, and some in 2010.
In fact if our clients have taxable income of $42k and long term capital gain in their portfolio of $60,000- {the portfolio has a balance of $160k}, we can help them as follows:
January, 2008 sell $20,000 in long term capital gains at zero percent long term capital gain tax rate. We can put $20k and $33k of cost basis into the PremierMark plus and credit the client a 7% bonus making a balance of $56,710.
In January, 2009 sell $20k in long term capital gains again at zero percent long term capital gains tax rate. Put another $20k and $33k of cost basis into the same PremierMark plus contract and use the 7% bonus again for another $56,710.
In January, 2010 sell $20k in long term capital gains again at zero percent long term capital gains tax rate. Put another $20k and $33k of cost basis into the same PremierMark plus contract and use the 7% bonus again for another $56,710.
Over the next three years you help the client completely eliminate their long term capital gains on their entire portfolio. Their asset is now safe- worth $180,000 (at 6%) growth and tax deferred. Not to mention possibly creditor proof, can avoid probate, and all that great stuff. This is the product with an optional beneficiary rider to offset 28% of the taxable gain on the contract- effectively a 28% back end bonus on all of their gains.
You won too- by getting first year commission on all three deposits, you made $12, 720 in commissions earned Legacy Rewards points, and probably qualified for an Incentive Trip!, and you only had to write one application. Better yet there is only six years of surrender left on the first deposit and you can then go earn another commission with this same money.
Interesting. One problem I have is with over-estimating people, especially people that are supposed to have some level of expertise. I certainly don't over-estimate the American voter any more.
On the H&R block thing, I definitely get your point. Locally there is almost nothing involved in licensing to become a "tax preparer."
Also, I wonder how many people screw themselves with TurboTax and the like? Maybe that should be a line in the ad: "Are computer tax preparing programs costing you tax dollars?"
I like the spinoff (focusing on computer tax programs).
InsuranceExec - thanks for posting this one. I haven't been around here long, but this is one of the more worthwhile ideas I've seen. Thank you for sharing.
Annuity Marketing Idea
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