I have an opportunity coming up to sit down with somebody who sells multiple tens of millions in annuity premium every year. He is very well known in the industry and probably gets most of his business through seminar sales.
So here's the thing: I need to get my thoughts together and be prepared to ask him some questions about how to build up my business. It isn't all that often that you get a chance to just pick somebody's brain this way.
I have some specific question for him on the way I do seminars, mailings, scheduling, appointments. Those are probably obvious. I was just wondering what others might ask if they had this opportunity.
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From what I've read about him, I already know he does large invitation mailings.
It is a good general question. I would like to pin him down on exactly how he does his mailings, who does them (I think I already know that one) and what he puts in the invitations.
Last edited by Charpress : 11-05-2008 at 05:21 PM.
Reason: Automerged Doublepost
I would ask him if I could copy what he was doing. I want to copy all of his materials also.
I would ask him how does he over come most clients objectives in not buying the Annuities.
I always said, don't reinvent the wheel, but copy what other successful agents are doing. Then put your own twist on their ideas.
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I also have to consider his motivations for taking the time to talk with me. Those have pretty much been disclosed up front. Still, I would suspect there are some "tips" he would not be willing to discuss at this point.
I also have to consider his motivations for taking the time to talk with me. Those have pretty much been disclosed up front. Still, I would suspect there are some "tips" he would not be willing to discuss at this point.
Even if his motivation is to sign you up under him, it might not be a bad idea for an opportunity to learn from such a successful person.
I've been asked to follow up on how the meeting went. Some of what we discussed was very specific to what I do, so probably would not be of much interest. However, he had quite a few good answers and tips to my questions. And, yes, he did share some of his material with me. I hope that either he does not read these forums or that he will not mind me sharing some of his information. There are a couple of things I suspect he would mind, so I'll just not get into those.
My last seminar was less successful than normal, I talk about that in another thread. He critiqued what I did wrong and I think he was dead-on about the major flaw. Although there were other problems, I deliberately left out any information on the envelope like "Complimentary dinner invitations enclosed" with the restaurant logo. I did this on purpose this time because I sent this mailing first class and thought that more people would open a first-class envelope wondering what was inside compared to all the people who are tired of getting seminar invitations and toss without opening when it is yet another obvious seminar invitation. I guess I was wrong and it was an expensive mistake. I think we all make the mistake of thinking others look at things the way we do.
The turnout on that seminar (given two weeks ago) was about half what I usually get. For all seminars, I set $300,000 in annuity premium as the minimum goal for the seminar to be considered a success rather than a failure. I am about there at this point.
We talked about the estate planning portion of my presentation. Mine is probably too complicated. He said he does a real simple "Bad estate planning" and "good estate planning" slide showing the mistakes made with Elvis Presley's estate compared to another famous person's estate. He gave me a few sample slides along those lines. They are much more entertaining than the dry stuff I was using (I didn't think mine were dry, but I see now they are). Everyone can relate to Elvis and his estate was screwed up.
I told him my weak spot was not the seminar so much but the closing. In other words, how to handle the first and second appointments after the seminar. My background is not in sales so I'm still on a learning curve. He offered to send me a CD that shows him doing a closing appointment. That has been sent, but I don't have it yet. The description he gave me of his method is to try and spot where the people need the most help after pretty much listening the first meeting. Then in the second meeting he identifies what is the most broken and says "would you like me to fix it?" which invites a "yes" response instead of "I want to think about it" response. Actually, he said that people always respond in one of two ways: "Yes" or "Yes, how will you do it?" So, he never talks products and he never gives people the impression he is trying to sell something. Start with one thing you can fix and only after people are comfortable with you do you suggest going to something else that may need to be fixed.
This is pretty basic stuff, but still it was helpful to me to have someone go over the basics to reaffirm how things should be done. Probably seeing him do a close will be the most helpful.
As for some of the questions that you suggested in this thread that I ask, yes he will provide some of his materials, like I said. On exactly what products he does best with, he was a bit cagey there and talked in generalities. He just did not directly answer that one. When I pressed and mentioned Aviva just to see if that was one he used, he said that he liked them. So, I guess that is somewhat of an answer. Most of what we talked about involved me describing how I do things and him pointing out what he thought about my methods and what he would do differently.
I hope this is somewhat helpful to some of you. I would be happy to elaborate on anything, but this is probably too long as it is.
Would you be willing to share who this big hitter is? Would it by any chance be: Karlan Tucker's group or Tax Advisory?
Originally Posted by Charpress
I've been asked to follow up on how the meeting went. Some of what we discussed was very specific to what I do, so probably would not be of much interest. However, he had quite a few good answers and tips to my questions. And, yes, he did share some of his material with me. I hope that either he does not read these forums or that he will not mind me sharing some of his information. There are a couple of things I suspect he would mind, so I'll just not get into those.
My last seminar was less successful than normal, I talk about that in another thread. He critiqued what I did wrong and I think he was dead-on about the major flaw. Although there were other problems, I deliberately left out any information on the envelope like "Complimentary dinner invitations enclosed" with the restaurant logo. I did this on purpose this time because I sent this mailing first class and thought that more people would open a first-class envelope wondering what was inside compared to all the people who are tired of getting seminar invitations and toss without opening when it is yet another obvious seminar invitation. I guess I was wrong and it was an expensive mistake. I think we all make the mistake of thinking others look at things the way we do.
The turnout on that seminar (given two weeks ago) was about half what I usually get. For all seminars, I set $300,000 in annuity premium as the minimum goal for the seminar to be considered a success rather than a failure. I am about there at this point.
We talked about the estate planning portion of my presentation. Mine is probably too complicated. He said he does a real simple "Bad estate planning" and "good estate planning" slide showing the mistakes made with Elvis Presley's estate compared to another famous person's estate. He gave me a few sample slides along those lines. They are much more entertaining than the dry stuff I was using (I didn't think mine were dry, but I see now they are). Everyone can relate to Elvis and his estate was screwed up.
I told him my weak spot was not the seminar so much but the closing. In other words, how to handle the first and second appointments after the seminar. My background is not in sales so I'm still on a learning curve. He offered to send me a CD that shows him doing a closing appointment. That has been sent, but I don't have it yet. The description he gave me of his method is to try and spot where the people need the most help after pretty much listening the first meeting. Then in the second meeting he identifies what is the most broken and says "would you like me to fix it?" which invites a "yes" response instead of "I want to think about it" response. Actually, he said that people always respond in one of two ways: "Yes" or "Yes, how will you do it?" So, he never talks products and he never gives people the impression he is trying to sell something. Start with one thing you can fix and only after people are comfortable with you do you suggest going to something else that may need to be fixed.
This is pretty basic stuff, but still it was helpful to me to have someone go over the basics to reaffirm how things should be done. Probably seeing him do a close will be the most helpful.
As for some of the questions that you suggested in this thread that I ask, yes he will provide some of his materials, like I said. On exactly what products he does best with, he was a bit cagey there and talked in generalities. He just did not directly answer that one. When I pressed and mentioned Aviva just to see if that was one he used, he said that he liked them. So, I guess that is somewhat of an answer. Most of what we talked about involved me describing how I do things and him pointing out what he thought about my methods and what he would do differently.
I hope this is somewhat helpful to some of you. I would be happy to elaborate on anything, but this is probably too long as it is.
Would you be willing to share who this big hitter is? Would it by any chance be: Karlan Tucker's group or Tax Advisory?
Neither of those is correct. I would rather not say at this point.
He gave me this time as a favor to someone else who is trying to get me to change who I use for seminar mailings. I am giving them a try for a first week in December seminar. I don't usually do December nor do most other agents. It is just considered too tough to get people to do anything getting into the holidays.
If the mailing and the seminar work out, then I might be OK to say who it is. If I end up with nothing good to say about how it went, then I would not want to say any more about it.
He had several other tips that I have not mentioned that I will be using. If they work, I add them here.
First I would ask him or her how they got started in the business. If they inherited their book of business from a relative or started off as a well-known TV anchor or he lucked out with the first client who was a lottery winner, or other type of unusual leverage, I'd find another top producer to interview.
I'm not doing a December seminar, as it turns out.
I just couldn't get a restaurant pinned down and I didn't have the time to get this going so that mail hits before Thanksgiving. Just as well, I had my doubts about trying to cram this in before Christmas anyway.
I will be doing one in January. Unfortunately, so will everyone else.
What would you ask a top producer?
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