You Are Only An Inch Away From… Outrageous Success!

Do you believe it’s humanly possible for you to consistently close 9 out of 10 people you meet with? If you don’t believe you can, then maybe that’s why you aren’t? And, yet aren’t most of the Leading Producers in our industry closing 9 out of 10 people they meet with? What is it that they know and do that you don’t?

One of the most prolific producers in our industry, Van Mueller, a three decade veteran and a 16-year MDRT Top of the Table member, recently said in an ‘Advisor Today’, Podcast: “Most agents think they are a long ways away from being successful. When really they are only about an inch away! And, they would be able to double, or triple, or quadruple their production!”

If you want to be closing 9 out of 10 people you meet with, then it starts with you. The first step is about you truly believing in what you do! I know many of you may think this sounds a little bit hokey. But, a lack of belief in what we do, is one of the biggest reasons most agents aren’t as successful as they would like to be. What the Leading Producers know, that you don’t, is most people will buy based on your set of beliefs, your energy and your enthusiasm. People want to believe and know they can take back the control of their money. They want to know they can have a secure financial future. And, they are looking for real help. If you want to sell them, then you must believe with all your heart and soul that what you do is valuable and important! You must truly believe what you do really helps people! Your purpose is not to sell products. Your mission is to show people how they can take control, and stay in control of their financial lives. Until you truly believe what you do matters. And, until people believe that you believe, you’ll have a tough time achieving the success you desire!

The second step, to closing 9 out of 10 people you meet with, is helping people to be emotionally committed to going through the discovery process. Selling is much more than just about you asking questions to find out what people already have, or don’t have! It’s about you having a real conversation with people to help them talk about, and tell you what they really want out of their lives. It’s actively listening to people to discover what they want, for their family and themselves. Then, it’s helping them to get emotionally committed to prioritizing and finding ways to help them to achieve their goals. Until you learn how to consistently get your prospects emotionally involved in the sales process, and get them to set their own priorities, you’ll have a tough time closing sales!

The final step, to closing 9 out of 10 people you meet with, is to show people where they can ‘find the money’ to fund their priorities, to achieve their goals. Would you agree that most people don’t have any extra money? So, if you want them to take action today, you must help to change their current spending habits. And, you must do it without asking them to make any major sacrifices to their current life style. People are spending all sorts of money in the wrong places everyday and they rarely think about it…. whether it’s a cup of coffee each day on the way to work; a low deductible or unnecessary riders on their insurance policies; or the thousands of dollars of interest they are spending each year on their credit cards and other debts. Help them to establish their priorities, and then help them to find the money to fund those priorities, and you’ll close the sale 9 out of 10 times.

All of the great sales people in this industry have a strong, unyielding belief in the value of what they do. However, they didn’t wake up one day and just believe. They’ve developed their beliefs and passion over time, by constantly listening to tapes and reading books by current and past industry greats like Van Mueller, Thomas Wolfe, John Savage and Ben Feldman. Everyday, they are reading articles from the experts on Producers Web, Life Insurance Selling, Advisor Today and Financial Services Journal. And, they are constantly taking industry courses such as the LUTC courses offer by NAIFA, the practice management courses offer by the IARFC, the accreditation courses offered through the American College and the sales skills courses by the Insurance Pro Shop.

Each of these Leading Producers has developed a repeatable sales process they go through with every prospect. The vast majority of these producers didn’t reinvent the wheel. They have invested their time and money in a full time sales coach. They’ve built their hugely successful sales process based on the coaching they received from people like the Bill Bachrach, Michael Beck, Jim McCarthy and myself. They’ve spent many hours refining their sales skills. Each of them knows exactly what questions to ask to get their prospects emotionally involved in the sales process. They’ve learned dozens of simple five-minute presentations they use to help their prospects to buy into a solution to their problems. They constantly practice and are so well rehearsed, they don’t have to think about what they are going to say next, so they can really listen to what their prospect is telling them.

As Van Mueller said, you are only an “Inch Away” from being able to double, or triple, or quadruple your production! And, I believe you are only an “Inch Away” from being able to “Close 9 out of 10 people you meet with!”

Now the question is… What do you believe!

I highly recommend you take a few minutes to listen to Van Mueller’s “Podcast 2: Taking Your Business to the Next Level” (Producer by NAIFA, Advisor Today magazine) http://www.advisortoday.com/200607/podcast.html

Did you know… the reason Tony Filippone, Rueven Shuval, Cutis May and many others are off to a ‘Super Fast Start in 2008’ is they have a strong, unyielding belief and passion to truly help people. Using the Found Money Management concepts they are able to help families to take back the control of their money and secure the sound financial future, they’ve always wanted!