Updated: Nov 2020

The holidays means one thing in sales: stalls. All of the salespeople that came before us didn’t do us any favors by accepting the “call me after the holidays” excuse from prospects. During this time of the year, it’s the go-to stalling method for prospects.

One of the biggest untapped opportunities for financial professionals today is leveraging all the technological advances available to you such as social media marketing, video production services and web-based leads. To be successful in today’s technology driven world, you need to have a compelling online presence for your financial services business.

I recently attended a conference with about 40 other investment advisor representatives. As successful business entrepreneurs, they hold themselves to a high standard and are passionate about their profession. Oh, and did I mention that they toss around the acronym "IMO" like it's a swear word?

When my firm first started hosting workshops, our attendance was average, and the amount of attendees scheduling visits with us was about 40 to 50 percent. Learning five important lessons from workshop prospects increased the number of attendees meeting with us to nearly 80 percent.

To no surprise of anyone in our business, financial professionals often express to me their frustrations with the life insurance underwriting process. When I consult with them, I find myself asking the same important questions:

While many people have a “rainy day” fund, a lot of times it can be in a form of a savings or checking account at the local bank. The question becomes what will this money be used for? Vacation, second home, charity, etc. Insurance professionals should review their clients’ portfolios to make sure they have enough protection in case of death and/or health issues.

How well do you think you know your clients? What about their complete financial profile? If you have been in the industry for a while you may believe you know everything. However, most financial professionals who confidently tell me this are kidding themselves. Why can I confidently say this?

Financial advisors should be aware of the full potential of life insurance as part of a comprehensive plan and discover if indexed universal life insurance (IUL) will benefit their clients. This collection of blog posts details the advantages of IUL and how it can benefit your clients.

Since the industrial revolution, traditional selling has been trained and practiced by almost every industry and business model known to mankind. It appears many of us have been taught to sell in a very similar way, but this traditional sales approach has begun to present some serious problems.

What does it take to get a saver to move their money? Apparently not that much. According to an insurance company representative, they are writing new business hand over fist because their company offers the highest guaranteed fixed rate of interest for a specific number of years within a deferred annuity.