Jerry, a financial advisor, was building a clientele of up-and-coming professionals.  He was always diligent about asking for referrals.  One day, one of his clients — an architect — offered to arrange a luncheon meeting to introduce Jerry to a prominent local attorney from one of the community’s oldest and wealthiest families.

Jerry’s initial surge of excitement and gratitude soon dissipated, replaced by a deep-seated feeling of dread.  Jerry had grown up on the “wrong” side of the tracks, and even though he’d been to college and become financially successful in his own right, he felt completely intimidated by old money and social standing.  Jerry has alluded to these feelings a few times in the past, but his manager always responded with the same pep talk:  “High-net-worth people put their pants on one leg at a time just like you and me.”

Paralyzed by imagined inferiority

Intellectually, Jerry knew what his manager said was true, but it didn’t help at all, because he was entrenched in something that we call “social self-consciousness.”  It’s one of the 12 types of Sales Call Reluctance that cause financial advisors to avoid prospects with wealth, prestige, power, education, or social status.

Financial advisors know that in order to succeed, they need to be prospecting and getting appointments with people who are the ultimate decision maker.  Often, though, financial advisors who come from blue-collar roots or have been indoctrinated into a psychological caste system have a tendency to elevate upscale individuals to exaggerated heights of superiority and influence.

Financial advisors with social self-consciousness excessively admire influential or very wealthy people and feel inferior to them, and when they are in the presence of such people, they regress into debilitating behaviors.  They swing between feeling admiration and feeling intimidated, conflicted, and even awestruck.  They may clam up or begin to fawn on the person, unable to find a healthy middle ground where they can prospect successfully.

Diagnosing the problem

What do you do if you fit this description?  All the intellectualizing in the world will not resolve this fear.  It needs to be addressed emotionally and behaviorally.

First, you must take responsibility for what you are experiencing.  This is not the most popular advice.  However, it is really the only way in order to overcome social self-consciousness.

Observe your behavior with service personnel or other people you may feel are inferior to you in some way.  Some people who experience social self-consciousness habitually intimidate those they perceive as below them on the social ladder.  They treat these people just as poorly and in just the same way as they believe their own social “betters” have treated them.

If you find that you are rude or even somewhat rude toward people that you rate lower in social standing than yourself, immediately start going out of your way to notice how they contribute to society.  Notice their value.  Everyone, even the homeless person on the street, contributes to society in some way.  (For instance, seeing a homeless person may trigger others to be more grateful or more compassionate.  This is a valuable contribution.)  Begin to treat everyone, regardless of their perceived social standing, with courtesy and respect.  Extend pleasantries to everyone you encounter.  You will be amazed at the result.

‘Zap’ to interrupt habitual thought

Now it’s time to work on the day-to-day thoughts and behaviors that are standing in the way of your success.

Step 1:  Document your negative thoughts. When you think about prospecting someone you view as upscale and find yourself feeling intimidated, write down the thought that is triggering the intimidation.  Perhaps it’s something like these:

• “People like her get prospected day in and day out by salespeople.”
• “He must already be working with a financial advisor he really likes.”
• “These people are well networked; calling on them is futile.  They only work with their friends.”

Notice the story you are making up that is keeping you from prospecting.  This awareness is vital.  It is not prospecting upscale clientele that is intimidating you.  It is your thoughts about prospecting upscale clientele that are intimidating you.

As simple as this may sound, it is very profound.  Once you recognize that making up stories is what is making you miserable and casting you into intimidation and self-doubt, you take back the power to stop feeling that way.  Your freedom from social self-consciousness begins with your willingness to write down these pessimistic thoughts, or what we call “negative intruders.”

Step 2:  Observe your emotions. Once you have identified a negative intruder, notice your emotional reaction.  Are you stammering?  Does your brain freeze?  Is your speech monotone or overly fawning or apologetic?  Become a scientist of your emotions and behavior.

Be careful:  Many financial advisors get angry at themselves at this point.  They brutally criticize and chastise themselves for having these feelings.  This is a trap of self-sabotage.  You must break the habit of self-criticism.  It is always destructive, never productive.  When you judge yourself, you lose the entire effect of the exercise.  So just notice, without judgment.

Step 3:  Zap your negative thoughts. Get a wide rubber band and put it on your wrist.  Every time you spot a negative intruder, zap yourself with a gentle snap of the rubber band.  This will interrupt the habitual thought that is holding you back.  Zap every single time you have thoughts of being inferior to or intimidated by someone of higher wealth or social standing than you.

The thought-zapper rubber band is not to be used for punishment. It does not need to hurt, just sting slightly.  The purpose is to add a physical component to changing your habits of mind, your thinking habits.

Make no mistakes:  Feeling intimidated by important people is a habit.  No one is born socially self-conscious.  It is entirely learned.  The zapper will actually work on rewiring the neural networks in your brain that have been hard-wired to make you believe that upscale prospects are intimidating and that you are not worthy of their business.  A habit’s worse enemy is interruption.

If you are the type that would use the thought zapper as painful punishment, you are advised to not employ this technique.  It would be counterproductive and actually cause more self-sabotage.  (Go back to Step 2 and try to work on being nonjudgmental with yourself and others.  This will help you move on.)

Step 4:  Neutralizing the negative. Now that you have zapped, replace the negative intruder with a neutral thought, such as:

• “He probably gets lots of calls.  That means timing is everything.  I will be the first to call him today.”
• “Even if she is working with someone else, she may be looking for a second opinion on that new tax law, and I can provide potentially valuable information prior to her filing income tax returns.”
• “As well-networked as some people are, they can be open to meeting new people who have something interesting to present.”

The more you zap the habitual thoughts that trigger negative feelings about prospecting influential or wealthy people, the more you’ll break the hard-wiring in your brain and replace it with new neural networks.

Step 5:  Change your behavior. When you do eventually make the call, remember that many high-net-worth people employ assistants, or gate openers.  Notice my choice of terms:  gate openers.  Many salespeople think of these assistants as “gatekeepers” and get into defense mode prior to making th  eir prospecting calls.

Instead, think of them as gate openersand treat them just as you would treat the high-net-worth client.  Tell them exactly who you are and the purpose of your call, using an engaging statement that piques their interest.  Don’t go off on an internal campaign about receptionists and administrative assistants and how rude they are to salespeople.  This is a great time to practice treating everyone with respect and noticing their value.

When you attend events of any kind, seek out the people in the spotlight, introduce yourself, and initiate a conversation.  You do not need to think of yourself as prospecting at this point.  You are simply conditioning yourself to meet the people who used to intimidate you.  And you just may find out that they are pretty cool people who are more open — and more human — than you thought!

Be patient

There is no overnight fix for social self-consciousness.  After all, it didn’t develop overnight.  It has been with you a long time.  But the sooner you start with these types and techniques — all of which have been proven to break the logjam of call reluctance — the more quickly you will start to feel comfortable with all types of people, regardless of their wealth or social standing.

As Rudyard Kipling reminds us in his famous poem “if”:

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with kings nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you;
If all men count with you, but none to much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And which is more you’ll be a Man, my son!

If you are experiencing Sales Call Reluctance, you have choices to solve your prospecting problem.
1) Hire someone else to make your prospecting calls. A small number of financial advisors have done this very successfully. They found the right person to make the calls. However, there are thousands of war stories about hiring one telemarketer after another that never produced any result.

2) Rely on your current clientele and network to refer business to you. A small number of savvy financial advisors have worked hard over the years and have been very successful. However, with the natural attrition of any business, most experienced veterans have found that this model is not enough to keep them ahead of the curve — especially in this current economic climate.

3) Settle for mediocre business and bump along the best you can.

4) Take on your Sales Call Reluctance issues intelligently, which starts with admitting that you are not prospecting. Then recognize that it is not prospecting that causes your anxiety and spins you into self-doubt. It’s your thought about prospecting that causes your anxiety that triggers self-doubt. Start watching your thoughts like a cat watches a mouse. Notice how you are projecting negativity onto the call before you even make it. This can be disconcerting to recognize at first. However, it is the start of disciplining your thoughts and can be absolutely transformational. For example, when you are ready to reach for the phone and you stop and start checking email for the 200th time for the day — immediately tune into what is it that you are choosing to think that is causing you to stop. Then immediately pivot to another thought, i.e. “I have clients who are confident in my abilities.” (you construct your own replacement thought) Sound a little complicated? It is and can be — however, it doesn’t have to be. It is entirely possible for you to overcome your Sales Call Reluctance and start earning what your are worth!

Connie Kadansky, MA, PCC

I help financial advisors get their “ask” in gear.

DO YOU HAVE THE RIGHT MAKEOVER MINDSET?

Making over your business is not for everyone, especially those who are timid or complacent. If you’re okay to continue doing what you’ve always done and getting what you’ve always gotten, you can stop reading right now. This article will not interest you or serve you. But, if you truly want to make a lasting change in your business, this article will be that wake-up-call you’ve been waiting for. It will challenge you and point you in the right direction.

A makeover should mean more than just dusting-off and tweaking what could be.  It should mean “If I could do this all over again the right way, what would I do?”

For most people, starting over can be exciting at best and intimidating at worst. It’s all a question of perspective.  To achieve greater results, by an order of magnitude, means taking risks and being passionate about the rewards.   It also means going through a mental makeover before the physical makeover starts. One thing is very clear, if you want to move forward to bigger and better, getting more of things you want and doing less of the things you don’t want, a positive mental attitude is the only answer that will serve you.

“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude.” -Thomas Jefferson

A Makeover Mindset (MM) is how we describe the frame of mind of someone who knows with clarity and certainty that the thinking that got them to where they are today is not the thinking that is needed to take them to the next level of success and happiness. MM is the “aha” moment when you know for certain that you need to STOP dusting-off and tweaking.  MM is only achieved when the understanding is clear that something very different needs to happen.  Something big.  Something worthy of being called a makeover.  Unfortunately,  “aha” moments are often fleeting inspirations for most of us unless there is focused and sustainable action.

A MM can only be achieved when there is a realization, a revelation if you will, that there is a third “M” – Madness.  Madness is the depletion of energy and expenditure of time and resources on repeating the same thing we’ve always done to just maintain the status quo.  Madness is working harder and longer just to maintain your current success – your plateau.   Most every successful business owner and entrepreneur has gone through long hours and heavy lifting, working hard and diligently to achieve that success. The Madness is continuing to do those same things just to maintain the current level.

It’s worth spending a moment on inspiration.  At some point, most successful business owners have been caught in a moment of inspiration to make a huge change, and yet, nothing came from it? Think about a great book you may have read where you were consumed by the storyline and potential, feeling like change was necessary and paramount.  Then what happened?  Many entrepreneurs sleep on it, consider it and move on to “more pressing matters”, the “day to day”.  The fleeting infatuation with MM ends and the Madness lives on.  To escape it, you need to seize the moment and take directed action.

In my career I’ve had many “aha” moments, many of which I’ve not been able to embrace and sustain. It’s a deflating experience when your next “aha” is that you haven’t been able to sustain the greatest “moments” for change in your business and your life.  I’m speaking from experience.

But I finally understand it, how to escape the Madness forever and never look back. It’s been one heck of a journey. The quest for magic solutions for achieving extraordinary success is a tiring, expensive journey. It’s a road paved with promises and compromises. Although there have been exhilarating moments, I wish I could have done it differently. Although I’ve gained incredible insights from my failures I’d much rather have know how to do it right many years ago.

I WANT TO SHARE THE FORMULA FOR SUCCESS WITH YOU

Success is about vision, focus, awareness, accountability, starting and quitting. Yes, I said quitting. Quitting the right things will free you to pursue only that which drives you towards achieving your vision.

Here’s my challenge to all of you who are either immersed in the Madness or have flirting relationships with the “aha” moment that will catapult you. Here’s the juice!

Define your Vision.  Then, quit anything or everything that doesn’t clearly move you in that direction. Embrace highly focused activities and your greatest leverage points. Seek new thinking. Take action. Begin with the end in mind. Find the right partners to help you focus and hold you accountable. Build momentum every day, every week, every month, and every year until your vision of success becomes your reality.

TAKING ACTION IS A DECISION ONLY YOU CAN MAKE.

Here’s what starting looks like:

1. Take the free SuQu Mindscan Assessment. Understand your thinking strengths, leverage points and areas for improvement. Take the MindScan at www.freedomarketing.com/MS.
2. Find a coach and/or mentor to help you find a sustainable mindset and someone to hold you accountable. We’ve worked with some amazing business coaches and tactical referral coaches who we’d be happy to introduce you to.
3. Create a SuQu Map with your business coach. Begin with the end in mind and work backwards so you know exactly what is needed to move towards success. Focus on sustainable momentum. The coaches we know will guide you through the SuQu process.
4. Make sure you have the right partners to help you build systems and processes, define your message (brand), identify your ideal client, develop your marketing, and generate an endless flow of ideal prospects through introductions.

If you need helping putting this all into perspective call me at (905) 579-7724. I’d be delighted to talk this through with you. But don’t call until you’ve taken the Mindscan.

Here’s to YOUR LIFE – BEYOND THE MADNESS!

My experience in working with hundreds of financial advisors is that many of them feel that articulating a clear vision is not warranted because it does not drive direct results. It’s unfortunate that many advisors may have experienced some form of a vision initiated business plan early in their careers that did not serve them well. A vision’s role is to provide greater focus and helps advisors align only those activities that move them towards their vision. And we all know focused activity drives results! At Freedomarketing, we’ve found the formula to help advisors truly leverage their potential and uniqueness, it’s called SuQu Mapping. In simpler terms it’s a highly relevant and concise business plan. And it all starts with a clear vision. You can learn more at www.tactibrand.com.

BELOW ARE SOME THOUGHTS FROM VARIOUS PROFESSIONALS.

———————————————-
Jim Cecil
Nurture Marketing

How do you say….PARAMOUNT? Perhaps even with multiple, clear visions .

Some questions, for example:
1. What is my vision for my personal career in financial advice services?
2. What is my vision for my identifying my ideal niche market?
3. What is my vision for discovering and dealing with my niche member’s chief pains, passions and preferences with regards to their financial issues?
4. What is my vision for actually ‘helping my clients succeed’, rather than just helping them deal with transactions?
5. What is my vision for nurturing relationships with my current clients, prospective ones and especially, my ‘centers of influence’?
6. What is my vision for automating the ‘stay in touch’ process?
7. What is my vision for seeking and cultivating niche mentors?

As does Dr. Tom Stanley, I believe that the affluent, when given a choice, invariably select a specialist over a general practitioner, virtually every time.
Why would it be different when it comes to their money?

Will you care enough for yourself, your practice, your family, your clients and your career, to spend the time to become and become known as an expert in your niche.

I can’t be more clear on this vision.

Good Nurturing
Jim
www.nurtureinstitute.com

———————————————-

Bill Eck
Certified Wealth Consultant

These thoughts on a shared vision from the Book: Fifth Discipline, enlightens what they are missing:

“A shared vision…is …a force in people’s hearts, a force of impressive power. Few, if any, forces in human affairs are as powerful as a shared vision.”

High performance teams have shared vision and purpose.

Maslow observed that in exceptional teams… “the task was no longer separate from self…but rather he identified with this task so strongly that you couldn’t define his real self without including that task.”

Shared vision comes from personal vision and personal mastery.

Visions that are truly shared take time to emerge. They grow as a by-product of interactions of individual visions.

Shared vision requires ongoing conversation where individuals not only express their dreams, but learn how to listen to each others’ dreams. Out of this listening, new insights into what is possible gradually emerge.

It is not what the vision says, it is what the vision does.

Vision becomes a living force only when people truly believe they can shape their future.

Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of the Learning Organization. New York, NY: Doubleday, 1990, 2006. Chapter 10

Bill Eck

——————————————————–

So true Kirk. The problem is threefold:

• They don’t know what they want.
• They are not willing to do what it takes to get what they want.
• They are afraid of being disappointed if they fail (fear of failure).

Wishing you great success!!! in 2010

Michael Fastchi

Success in today’s online market absolutely depends on your entire Web presence, not just your website. Spreading your online presence as wide as possible helps you reach millions of potential clients you may not be able to reach otherwise. Below are four simple ways beginners can increase their web presence without breaking the bank or their back.

1. Create a Website

Websites don’t have to be expensive and elaborate, they just have to be visible to consumers, provide useful information and generate leads by allowing visitors to contact you for free offers or more information.

There are several option available when creating a website. For the more tech savvy agents, you can build your own (Top 10 Do-It-Yourself Website Builders) and for those who’d rather leave it to the experts, you can check out the below links to get started:

• Insurance Web Designs
• Insurance Broker Webmasters
• Free Insurance Agent Websites

Some companies even offer supplemental marketing material to help draw prospects to a website such as Insurance Help Centers, a company that specializes in lead generating website customization.

2. Use SEO to Increase your Website Ranking

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization,  is the process of adding keywords or phrases throughout your website to help search engine spiders properly rank your webpage in a Google search result. In other words, when someone searches for “Financial Advisors” the webpage results will be ordered by relevance of how well the title, description and keywords of the website match the users web search query.

Still confused? Google offers an extremely helpful and easy to follow Search Engine Optimization Starter Guide as well as basic information about a Google Search and how to increase your webpage rankings.

When using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, agents are able to insert their webpage URL and Google will create a list of keyword ideas for you to use when adding or modifying content to your web pages.

Once you’ve created and optimized your website you want as many people to visit it as possible!

3. Start a Blog

Blogging is a great way to establish yourself as an expert while increasing your online presence at the same time. Also, by commenting on blogs written by others, it’s a great way to gain practice as well as increase your visibility by linking back to your website, blog or other social media profiles.

Setting up a blog is the easy part (Best Blogging Host Software) , it’s figuring out what to write about that can be the challenging (10 Business Blogging Best Practices).

Once you’ve started your own blog, you can drive people to it by promoting it on your website as well as social media profiles. Don’t have a social media profile? Keep reading to learn how to set one up in minutes!

4. Join Social Networking Sites

Social networking is one of the most powerful social media strategies you can implement. These sites are free and allow you to create a personal profile page to post information about you and your business, invite people to join your network, join groups with people interested in the same topic, blast messages and events, and drive people to your website or blog.

Getting Started

First, determine which social media outlet is best for you. Find out what platforms your prospects use most. Don’t be afraid to create a profile at different sites just so you can browse and check out how it works, who uses it and what other people are posting. Also, don’t underestimate your teenager or grandchild’s ability to help you set up a profile – believe me, they’ll have a full profile created with pictures posted in seconds flat!

For step-by-step instruction on how to set up a profile for various social media sites, click the links below:

• Facebook
• Twitter
• MySpace
• LinkedIn

Throughout my experience as a marketer, I’ve gathered several resources that were extremely helpful when getting started in the social media world.

Social Media Beginner Guides

• Facebook for Beginners
• Social Media Marketing Beginners Guide
• How to Effectively Use Twitter to Build Business Relationships

For additional sales and marketing tips exclusive to insurance agents, visit the new TWG Capital Agent Acceleration Center or follow the TWG Capital Blog.

Most Canadians helplessly and with resignation, overpay their taxes every two weeks when their employers withhold personal income taxes remittances. The good news?  You can stop those bad financial habits! Options are available to reduce taxes paid at source for most people. You just have to make an effort to know the tax credits and deductions you are entitled to—don’t glaze over, this is important–and begin filing of a series of what I call “sister forms” used to reduce source deductions.

To put more of the first dollar you earn into your own pocket, sooner, here are four common forms to get to know before the end of the year to really make a difference in your cash flow:

1. The federal and provincial TD1, Personal Tax Credits Return, upon which tax credits such as the Basic Personal Amount ($10382 in 2010), spousal amount, amount for eligible dependant (equivalent-to-spouse), the child amount ($2101 for each child born in 1993 or later), the age amount, pension income amount, tuition, education and textbook amounts, disability amount, caregiver amount, amounts transferred from spouse or dependant and deductions for living in a prescribed northern zone. Make sure you complete this accurately if any of the above will be claimed on your tax return in 2010.
2. The T1213, Request to Reduce Tax Deductions at Source, mentioned below, which takes into account the tax benefits resulting from year round RRSP deductions, child care expenses, support payments, employment expenses on Form T777, carrying charges and other tax reductions like charitable donations, significant medical expenses, rental losses and so forth. That makes year end a very good time to do some tax planning in advance for 2010. If you understand the time value of money, and can budget your spending and savings, Form T1213 can ensure more of the first dollar goes to the right place—your pocket instead of the government’s.
3. The TDIX, Statement of Commission Income and Expenses for Payroll Tax Deductions, which will take into account expenses commission sales employees have in earning their commissions. These employees will deduct last year’s commission sales expenses calculated on Form T777 or this year’s estimated commissions from their salaries plus commissions to have tax deducted only on the net amount. It is really surprising how few people actually use this form.
4. The TD1-IN Determination of Exemption of an Indian’s Employment Income, which allows employers to exempt employment income from income tax deductions at source altogether in the following circumstances:  when the employee performs at least 90% of the employment duties on a reserve, both the employer and the employee reside on the reserve or in situations where the employee performs more than 50% of the employment duties on the reserve and the employee or the employer resides on the reserve. Finally if the employee’s duties are connect the employer’s non-commercial activities carried on exclusively for the benefit of Indians who reside on the reserve source deductions will be waived if the employer is an Indian band, tribal council or Indian organization controlled by one or more such bands or reserves.

Remember:  it’s your legal right and duty to pay only the correct amount of tax. When you begin your tax and financial planning for 2010 now—starting with paying only the correct amount of income tax instalments or withholdings–you can indeed make the moves to pull ahead and win financially.

Make it your mantra to keep more of every first dollar earned starting January 1, 2010. Happy New Year!

Evelyn Jacks is President of The Knowledge Bureau and the author of three new books available now from www.knowledgebureau.com: Essential Tax Facts 2010, Master Your Taxes and Make Sure It’s Deductible.

Link to Bio: http://www.knowledgebureau.com/Faculty.asp?tab=Meet&ID=1

To take control of the first dollar earned is easier for the self employed.  They pay taxes on the dollars left after the costs of earning revenues are deducted. Then quarterly tax instalments are remitted (the 15th of March, June, September and December); or in the case of farmers, once a year on December 31.

Instalment tax payments are required when net taxes owing at tax filing time exceeds $3000 in the current year or either of the immediately preceding two tax years. Therefore many seniors or even divorcees receiving spousal allowances can be required to make instalment payments. For those taxpayers, an accurate estimation of the current year’s taxes payable will result in a reduction of the final two payments of the year.

For the employed, however, the key is to minimize taxes required to be withheld by their employer at source.  With the average tax refund being in the vicinity of over $1400 per year (or close to $120 a month), the benefits of vigilance over required source deductions are exponential.

If you understand the time value of money—it’s worth more in your hands today because of its potential to earn money for the future–you will be poised to make better financial decisions all year long because you get to work with more money, first, and use it longer to accumulate and grow your savings. You will accumulate more wealth, faster, especially if you invest in a tax preferred vehicle such as a TFSA or RRSP.

However, Canadians are notoriously complacent about their source deductions, preferring to receive that “windfall” tax refund when they file their return. But, remember, providing an interest free loan to the government at the expense of compounding investment growth is not smart, for the reasons mentioned above. 
Worse, most taxpayers forget that income taxes paid are the largest revenue line item for government, and will be your largest lifetime expense for two reasons:  they erode income earned along the way, and they will erode accumulated capital too, at actual disposition or at death, in the absence of determined tax planning.

In short, your purchasing power is reduced both now and later, when you give up control of your precious hard earned, pre-tax dollars.

Next Time: The Good News!  How to keep more of every first dollar earned starting January 1, 2010.

Evelyn Jacks is President of The Knowledge Bureau and the author of three new books available now from www.knowledgebureau.com: Essential Tax Facts 2010, Master Your Taxes and Make Sure It’s Deductible.

Link to Bio: http://www.knowledgebureau.com/Faculty.asp?tab=Meet&ID=1

Picture this:  You’re in your office, concentrating hard on a proposal for a new client.  Your telephone rings.  Your focus is disrupted, you pick up the phone and half-heartedly greet your caller -‑ only to find yourself talking to a salesperson pitching a time management system.  Not only is he interrupting you, but he is awkward and unprofessional to boot.  He mispronounces your name and is obviously reading from a script.

You’re caught off guard and worse, you feel annoyed and resentful, maybe even angry.  You gruffly tell the salesperson you are “not interested” and hang up before they can utter another word.

Welcome to the world of prospecting and sales!

The negativity trap

How do you feel when a salesperson prospects you or solicits your business?

Come on, fess up — because your candid answer to that question may hold the key to whether or not you’ll become successful at prospecting and selling.

Do you feel irritated and annoyed when someone else prospects or attempts to sell to you?  If you do, you may have what’s been termed role rejection call reluctance.  This type of call reluctance is fueled by feelings of shame about selling or even outright denial that selling is part of your job.

When salespeople associate selling with negative emotions, that association can’t help but carry over into our own prospecting.  Why?  Because, when we view other salespeople in a bad light, some part of our brain (even if we’re not aware of it) projects that viewpoint onto others, including ourselves.

We become convinced that our own prospective clients must feel the same negative feelings we do about being prospected — and that subtle or even unconscious uncertainty stops us in our tracks.  After all, who wants to irritate or annoy people?  Who wants to be the very thing they themselves find annoying, irritating, or even downright offensive?  It’s only natural to want to avoid those feelings.  That causes us to procrastinate or avoid making calls — and that prevents our business from growing.

“Selling” really is part of the job

Some financial advisors want so badly to avoid these negative feelings that they actually deny to themselves and to others that they sell at all.  Only used-car salespeople, they insist adamantly, would sink so low as to sell.

In fact, the very title “salesperson”, while it captures an important part of our role, also makes it easier for financial advisors who suffer from role rejection to deny that selling is part of their job.

Let’s get real.  Being a salesperson does not mean pitching product.  Selling is simply a business process of exchanging goods and services for money.  Nothing happens (including your first appointment with a prospective client) until something gets sold.  Financial advisors do not make one red cent unless they sell their ideas, their expertise, and their services -‑and yes, in some cases, even some product.

Even if you are a fee-only salesperson working on an hourly basis, you must find prospective clients‑and when you get in front of them; you must sell yourself before they’re going to hire you.

Thoughts = destiny

Prospecting is a core competency of any salesperson.  Prospecting is vital.  It’s that simple.  If you’re going to be any good at prospecting and become consistently comfortable with it, you need to accept the truth that you are, at least in part, a salesperson.  You need to question and quite possibly change your own assumptions about sales and selling.

Oddly enough, one of the easiest ways to start the process of changing ourselves is by changing how we view others.  That’s because we tend to project our feelings about ourselves onto other people.

If you want relief from role rejection call reluctance, you can take a big step in the right direction by choosing to view financial advisors who prospect you from a different perspective.  Believe it or not, doing that will eventually transform your feelings about your own prospecting.

There’s an old aphorism that goes, “Your thought becomes your action, your action becomes your habit, your habit becomes your character, and your character becomes you destiny.”

It follows that if you can control your thoughts, you can control your destiny.  Learning to change your thought patterns is a first and vital part of overcoming role rejection.

Allowing yourself to feel resentment or contempt for other salespeople is a destructive habit that can only sabotage your success.

Note that I used the word “habit.”  That means you learned it — and you can unlearn it.

Shifting into neutral

But how do we do this?

Consider this:  It is not a situation that causes annoyance and irritation.  It is how you choose to think about that situation. 

It is not the salesperson on the other end of the phone (or in the office next to ours) that causes us to feel resentful, annoyed, or downright angry.  It is the thought we choose to think about that salesperson that triggers our negative emotions.

As simple as that sounds, it is very profound.  You may assume it’s only natural to think angry or contemptuous thoughts when someone tries to “sell” you.  In fact, though, there are many possible reactions to that experience.

Let’s go back to that earlier scenario of the salesperson interrupting your concentration, and look at some of the very different perspectives through which one could view a sales call.  Here are some different ways of thinking about the call — and the salesperson who made it.

• Annoyance:  These telemarketers are so frustrating.  They just have no respect for other people’s time.
• Contempt:  Why can’t these people get a real job and stop interrupting people who are trying to make an honest living?
• Neutrality:  He’s just an ordinary guy, maybe even an interesting guy with a decent product.  He’s obviously just new at the job and needs some pointers.
• Willingness:  He caught me at a bad time.  But maybe I’ll give him a call back later and give him a chance to tell me more about this time management thing — maybe it’s something I could use.
• Compassion:  The guy’s call was not well-timed, but he was just doing his job.  I’m sure he has a mother and children who love him and think he is a nice person.
• Peace:  Calling people is part of my job too, and I’m a nice, decent person who genuinely wants to help others — so maybe this guy is really interested in helping others too.  He reveals a side of me.  (This is probably how the Dalai Lama would view the prospecting call!)

I will not insult you by suggesting you should shift immediately from intense dislike of salespeople to loving it when someone tries to prospect you (although at some point in your career, you may actually find yourself feeling that way!).  You don’t need to make such an extreme change.  All you need to do is shift your thought process into neutral.

Take two

You’re in your office, concentrating hard on a proposal for a prospect.  Your telephone rings.  Your focus disrupted, you pick up the phone and half-heartedly greet your caller — and find yourself talking to a salesperson pitching a time management system.

You are caught off guard.  But you immediately remind yourself that this salesperson is doing exactly what you do to be successful:  prospecting.

You think to yourself, “He is doing his job.  He is seeking success, just like me.  He has children to support, just like me.  He has mortgage payments, just like me.  He is learning about prospecting, just like me.  He has feelings, just like me.  He makes mistakes, just like me.  He fumbles his words once in a while, just like me.  He mispronounces difficult names, just like me.  He is prospecting, and I respect that.”

You politely listen to his scripted message without judgment, and ascertain if you want to know more.  If not, you kindly thank him for calling, hang up the phone and get back to your work without any negative feelings.

Doesn’t that feel better than being annoyed or irritated?

Over time, as you practice this shift in your thought pattern and assumptions, you will start to notice a subtle shift in your feelings about prospecting, and its role in your business.

A side note:  many financial advisors say that they respect other salespeople who prospect them, as long as the salesperson is professional, engaging, and pronounces their name correctly.

This is a trap.  Avoid it.  Do not allow yourself to be judgmental.  You cannot afford to have negative feelings and resentment toward other salespeople, regardless of their level of competence.  The only purpose those feelings will serve is to undermine your own business development efforts.

Instead, work to achieve a stance of neutral observation that you can use to improve your own skill set.  “Wow, that salesperson really turned me off.  Why?  What was it about that call that did not engage me?  And what can I personally learn from that?”

Even if you encounter a salesperson who behaves in a questionable or unethical way, you can maintain this neutral stance.  This doesn’t mean you condone the behavior or seek to replicate it.  It means simply that you acknowledge what is inappropriate and learn from it.  You can even use the experience as a tool to fortify your own ethical position, perhaps as an inspiration to codify your core beliefs.

Will you commit to change?

Remember:  the only thing we can change is our perspective.  Are you willing to shift your thinking so that you can get more comfortable and consistent with prospecting?  Challenge yourself to make that change.  When you do, you will take a dramatic step toward success.

Do you manage your practice — or are you a control freak, always trying to arrange, contain and maneuver people and events? Do you trust your employees or are you guilty of second-guessing and overriding their efforts?

If you’re afraid to let go of some responsibility (and details), you’re a micromanager, and your approach stems from emotion, not business sense. The fear of letting go can sabotage your progress, and instead of moving forward, you’ll remain stuck in the status quo. Isn’t it smarter to overcome your fear? Why not let go and grow?

I’ve asked financial advisors why they can’t let go, and their rationales are revealing:

• “Employees might make mistakes”
• “I can do everything better myself”
• “Employees will never take the initiative”
• “I just don’t think about delegating more often”
• “Employees will embarrass me or tarnish my company’s reputation”
• “How will I know if work is actually done?”
• “Employees can’t read my mind, and it takes too long to explain things”
• “Our systems aren’t defined; no one is accountable”
• “My staff can’t keep up”

That kind of thinking is extremely shortsighted. A good staff, whether it’s one person or fifty, is a blessing, not a hindrance. Capable employees can build and enhance your business — you just need to let them.

How can you change?

Relax your grip! Yes, you should know what’s going on in your business, but don’t insist on unnecessary involvement. If you handle every little detail or transaction, you’ll never have time to explore new (and profitable) opportunities. You won’t do what you really enjoy or focus primarily on moneymaking activities.
Like most advisors, you have high professional standards and probably believe no one else can do the job as well. That may be true to an extent, but once you train your employees, they can handle the daily workflow and details. Remember, your employees are not you — and that’s a good thing. You need a balanced team to strengthen your business. Surround yourself with bright people who bring different talents and experience to the table.

Train your staff thoroughly. Training is often overlooked, but it is absolutely essential. Spell out your employees’ duties and teach them everything they need to know about the job. People deserve to know how they fit into the business and why their role is important. Remember, you had to learn the ropes and no doubt made a few mistakes along the way; be patient and arm your staff with complete information and directions.

Delegate early and often. Don’t wait until the last minute to assign a task. Delegate in advance so employees can do a good job. Also, get in the habit of delegating to the right person consistently. If you need someone to schedule your appointments, select a team member for the job and delegate to him or her only. Also, during the delegation process, establish priorities and deadlines. Sometimes employees don’t know what to do first. If they’re spending too much time on customer service, for example, let them know why appointment-scheduling is their first priority. In dealing with employees, follow Pellegrini’s Golden Rule of Business: “If you give them what they need, they’ll give you more of what you want.”

Trust your employees. Don’t give lip service to trust – act on it. Once employees are trained properly, step back and let them do their job. If you want an update on a project, say so, but otherwise, just assume the work will be done in a timely fashion.

Finally, be a leader. Not long ago I convinced a client to let go and grow. A former control freak, he is making a concerted (and successful) effort to lead, not micromanage. His assistant now describes her role this way: “I’m involved in the vision, he delegates freely and leaves me alone to get things done. Everything goes through me so I can get rid of things that don’t need his time and prioritize the rest.”

Are you ready to be that boss and let go?

Situation:

Agent X has been selling P&C insurance for 5 years building a strong book of business that has annualized commissions of $60,000.

A successful, self motivated entrepreneur, Agent X is looking to double her market share within 2 years.  She realizes that by acquiring another agency, this would be the quickest way to gain clients without incurring marketing expense.  After evaluating her financial situation, Agent X determines she is ready to purchase an agency. She learns through a colleague that an agency is available for sale within her desired location and price range.

The agency’s annual commissions are $67,000 making it a perfect fit for doubling her market share. The owner of the agency wants to sell the agency for 1.5 times the commissions resulting in a $100,500 price tag.

Problem:

Agent X does not want to go out-of-pocket to acquire the agency. Because of her low credit score and high debt-to-income ratio, she researches many different financing options. Because this is her first time acquiring an agency, she is looking for a company that is also able to educate her about the acquisition process.

After seeing a video featured on CNBC about TWG Capital – a leading financial provider exclusively for the insurance industry since 2000 – she contacts them for a free consultation.

Solution:

Agent X is only willing to use a third of her book of business as collateral in order to get a loan to buy the agency. After providing Agent X a free valuation on that portion, TWG Capital qualifies her for a loan that will net $16,750 at closing – which does not cover the total needed capital of $100,500.

Because Agent X is acquiring an agency with annualized commissions of $67,000, she is able to use the book of business of the agency she’s purchasing as collateral for the loan.  After TWG Capital completed the underwriting and due diligence process, the loan to Agent X increased an extra $83,750, creating a combined loan amount of $100,500 – enough to cover the cost of the agency.

Benefits and Results:

Agent X acquired the agency within 10 days of contacting TWG Capital. Not only was she able to double her market share within 2 years, but she was also able to increase profitability by cross-selling to the newly acquired policy holders. With these new renewals, she is able to comfortably make the debt service payments on her new commercial loan and deduct the interest on her taxes.

Due to the significant increase in her book of business, Agent X was able to leverage herself with her carriers to increase the commission percentage earned and receive additional production bonuses as well.

In summary, Agent X was able to acquire an agency with no out-of-pocket expense and the seller was able to receive a lump sum cash payment in exchange for the business.

Interested in a loan for working capital or to purchase an agency? Click here for a free valuation or email me at Stephanie_Simmons@TWGCapital.com.