How to Easily and Quickly Attract More Ideal Clients

By Anne Bachrach

     “Tea, Earl Grey, hot,” commands Jean-Luc Picard on Star Trek: The Next Generation. And he gets a perfect cup of piping hot English brew exactly the way he likes it. Three factors are at work: 1) Picard knows what he wants, 2) he articulates it clearly, and 3) he has a system — the starship’s “replicator” — for producing his desired outcome every time.

     Too bad you can’t just step up and order perfect clients like Picard and his hot tea. But in the real world, you can use a process called “slots and replication” to achieve a similar goal. When you clearly articulate the attributes and character of your ideal clients, you can put in place a system for replicating them. This system — asking for and getting quality referrals — is the lifeblood of many successful businesses.

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Thought Dedication.

You decide what to think, and how to react.

Three Keys to Endless Referrals

By Robert Sofia

     Some people will tell you that asking for referrals is the key to getting more of them. This is not entirely true. In fact, if the proper foundation has not been laid in advance, asking for referrals can be an exercise in futility. So what is the key to creating a steady referral stream?

1) Create an experience
Have you ever had such an outstanding dining experience that you simply had to tell your friends and family about it? If so, then you understand the power of creating an experience. From the moment a client pulls into your parking lot, they should clearly see that you run an impeccable organization. Every detail of your office, every interaction they share with your staff, every service issue you help them resolve must be flawless. This is not something that happens by accident. The only way to create a consistent, high-quality experience is to have the right procedures in place.

2) Communicate constantly
Once your clients are impressed with the level of service you provide, your next responsibility is to ensure they don’t forget about you. The old adage "out of sight, out of mind" is certainly true when it comes to getting referrals. Equally, if you make it a point to stay in front of your clients constantly, they will always have you in mind. This way, when their neighbor is complaining that he never hears from his advisor, your client will be quick to say, “You should talk to my advisor, I hear from him all the time.”

Here is a brief look at part of the communication strategy we use to stay in touch with our client base:

• Weekly market update by e-mail (52)
• Monthly wine tastings (12)
• Annual state of the markets workshop (1)
• Mid-year market update workshop (1)
• Quarterly letter (4)
• Account reviews (2)
• Touch-base calls from you and your staff (4) Total Contacts - 76 annually

3) Host effective client events
Once you have happy clients who hear from you all the time, your referral tree will be loaded with low-hanging fruit. To reap the fruits of your labor, you must host effective client events. Effective client events share four basic elements:

1. They are either entertaining or educational in nature, so everyone who attends will benefit in some way.
2. They are advertised well in advance using attractive marketing materials.
3. Attendees are strongly encouraged to bring guests, and are reminded of this more than once.
4. At the event, there is an organized way to capture information from guests who attend, and for them to request an appointment so their interest doesn’t have time to cool off.

     Not all client events are effective. We often hear from advisors who have hosted events where no one showed up or no one brought guests along. Another common problem is that guests show up but do not request appointments. If this has been your experience, rest assured that there are solutions to these problems. By following the procedures mentioned in this article, you can overcome the aforementioned obstacles and reap the benefits of a healthy, flowing referral stream.

Life insurance as an asset protected cash alternative?

by Ike Devji  (producersweb.com)

“What is an alternative to my current cash position that will protect my money from litigation?”

In our current economic environment, all clients want their money to be both safe and liquid.

When most people consider the terms “safe” and “liquid,” they immediately think of their bank. However, what most people do not know is that their checking or savings account is unprotected from a very real threat: The exposure to an increasingly hostile and predatory litigation system.

Consider this: There are tens of thousands of lawsuits filed each day in this country. The average legal cost of defending a frivolous lawsuit is $91,000, plus the settlement amount itself. The number of lawsuits increases in tough economic times, as people look to your wealth as an additional source of income.

Our team often takes commonly used tools and redesigns them to provide protection of client assets, while allowing clients to retain control and liquidity. This is where the sciences of financial planning and asset protection meet. The situations below demonstrate the benefits of a strategy we are using in which we take a universal life insurance policy and design it to provide 98 percent to 102 percent cash surrender value in the first year.

Current situation
Cash in the bank: A healthy 45-year-old male client has a bank checking account with a balance of $1 million. He rarely uses this account, but he keeps his money there because he likes to have a certain amount of funds liquid in case he needs to access it quickly.

Here is how a regular, personally held bank account works:

• The account earns about 1 percent interest per year, with income taxable as ordinary income.
• If the client is sued for any reason and loses, the judge can require the transfer of the assets from the client’s checking account into the plaintiff’s pockets.
• If the client dies, the named beneficiaries will receive the $1 million, minus the taxes due.
• If the client needs to use the money, he is able to take the amount needed.

A better option
Creditor-protected cash alternative: The strategy our team has designed allows the same client to place the $1 million into a specially designed universal life insurance policy by paying a premium amount of $500,000 in each of the first two years.

The policy will provide the following benefits:

• The account will earn a net interest of about 1 percent annually invested in the policy’s fixed account, and the gains are allowed to grow tax-deferred. If the client is sued for any reason and loses, the money in this account is 100 percent creditor-protected from day one.
• If the client dies, the named beneficiaries will receive a death benefit of $10,624,682, the face amount associated with this specific example, free of any estate taxes.
• If the client needs to withdraw all or part of the money in the account, he is able to do so at anytime with no fees or surrender charges, and he will have access to the money within a week.

To summarize the benefits again:

• Creditor protection
• Wealth multiplier effect of 10 times (in this illustration)
• Liquidity and borrowing options with no penalty
• Death benefit of $10 million plus that passes outside the estate and free of estate tax.

5 Bad Habits and Reducing Current E&O Exposures

5 Bad Habits That Keep You From Selling More

By Larry Prevost, Dale Carnegie Training Instructor
     A few weeks ago, I attended an in-house sales training session for one of the big Cleveland sports franchises conducted by Lance Tyson. Most of what this team handles are corporate ticket sales for suites, but I'm sure they handle a variety of other types of sales as well. They contact business owners, have contests, do call reviews... They do the same types of things that every other type of sales organizations does.
     And all of their prospecting and sales activity is done over the phone.
On this day, Lance spoke on the topic of why some sales people have such a difficult time breaking into new accounts. See if you recognize any of these in your daily routine.
Habit 1: Sticking to People You Know
     In our communication programs, one of the first activities that we do is to get people on their feet and participating immediately. We conduct a handshaking exercise where participants get to introduce themselves to other participants in the class. The main challenge at this point in the program is that everyone in the room is a stranger.
     There are always a few people that turn the exercise into a contest and try to introduce themselves to everyone in the program. The majority of participants, however, start the exercise with some amount of trepidation. They look over at the person standing next to them and introduce themselves the way we've all been trained to do since we were kids. Then they will stick with that one person for the entire 60 seconds of the exercise.
     At the end of the exercise, we take the pulse of the class to see who picked up the most introductions. Some people who stayed with one other person will justify their meeting activity by saying that they wanted to find out more about that one person or they wanted to have a real conversation. I can appreciate that.
However, no one ever says that they stayed with one person because finding a new partner is an uncomfortable experience. But that is a factor as well. It's a change in your environment. Once you get comfortable with a situation, an environment, and even people, any change will cause a certain amount of anxiety in your mind.
      It's far easier to continue talking with a person that you are familiar with rather than going through the exercise of finding and introducing yourself to an unfamiliar person.
     Listening to the experts, you'll hear pretty much the same piece of advice: People buy from people they know. You should always return to past customers for cross-selling or up-selling opportunities.
But if you are sticking to people that you know because they are familiar to you and you are in a comfortable place, then it's time to rethink your prospecting strategy.

Click here to read more on Bad Habits

Reducing Current E&O Exposures:
What Agents Need to Know
by Amy O'Connor    

     Experts agree that there are several important steps agents can take to reduce their general E&O exposure, and they carry over to all aspects of the insurance business:
1. Documentation"By far, the most common claim is simply an allegation of failure to place coverage," says Sally. "The most reliable way to prevent these is written documentation that says 'this is what I offered you, my customer and this is what you accepted."
2. Keep a Coverage Checklist when Writing Policies"We recommend agencies use coverage checklists," says Sally. "They can range from fairly short and simple to a very detailed one that walks through certain types of coverage that could be appropriate for a certain type of operation."
3. Stay Educated Through Trade Organizations, Associations
"Every state association offers E&O classes. Those are great and are offered all the time," says Burand. "Another great resource is the IJ Academy. It offers great courses and will be offering additional courses this year. Attend the webinars."
4. Read, Read, Read"It is tough being an agent because you are bombarded with newsletters and e-mails and publications and it's tough to look at everything," says Wilson. "But for myself, I identify the publications that give me the greatest value and get rid of all the rest. Identify the sources of info you really truly need and focus your time on these."
5. Conduct an Agency E&O Audit"Another tool that agents should use is to have an E&O audit of their agencies completed," says Burand. "It is done by an outside auditor and agents may be able to obtain a discount on their E&O premiums."

Click here to read more on Reducing E&O Exposures

The All New "IQ" Newsletter

Welcome to the new and improved "IQ" Newsletter. We are going to continue to use a blog format because it is easier to include videos and links to important information. This blog format also makes it easier to customize and improve. If you have trouble viewing this format, please let me know asap.
Here is some great information to review:

I'm not in a Slump, the Economy is!!!

Change your Prospect to Sell More!!!

I hope you enjoy the new format. Check your email often for new editions.