Many times I hear experienced agents or experienced recruiters make a comment to their people like, “You must plug in, you must submit, you must use your upline…” and I want to walk up to this “experienced manager” and say “What does that mean?!” If I am a new person, I do not know what you are talking about!
I want to explain to managers that they just need to get down to brass tacks, get down to the basics of what they want the people to do. So, for example, at an opportunity meeting, when you are asked to explain to a person or to the audience what they should do next, it should not be to “plug in” or submit or use your upline manager. It should be things like:
1. “You need to get your license and you need to complete that course.”
2. “You need to fill out contracting paperwork and try to get appointed with our carriers.”
3. “You should find out where the next event is and you should get signed up for that event. You should mark it in your calendar, and if you are already a licensed insurance agent, then you should get back with the person that you are chatting with at this opportunity meeting. Then, fill out paperwork and see if you can get appointed with our carriers. After that, you should come to the next event that we have scheduled.”
I know these sound like very basic simple things that anybody should know, but it is like gripping a golf club for the first time. You do not know whether the left hand is on top or the right hand is on top. You do not know if your hands should be together or three inches apart. It is the basics. It is like in basketball. If you have never played before, you do not know who gets the ball first. You do not know which side of the foul line you stand on. You know nothing! As a coach of new players, you do not just start talking big terms like it is time for tip off. You know you have to jump high in the tip off. Nobody new to the game would know what you are talking about! You have to speak in plain, simple, down to earth language. It is being deliberate and simple with the expectations or directions that a person needs to take next.
Do not make it so dramatic, it is SIMPLE what we do! The ability to take the complex and break it down into the simplistic may be more amazing than to take something that is simple and make it complex. If it is complex, you do not get people duplicating the system. For people to duplicate you, you must be able to communicate deliberate and simple steps that anyone can follow. If you get one person copying you, you have doubled. If they get a person next week and you get a new person, you have doubled again. Now, you are four times bigger, with everyone repeating deliberate and simple steps, and you have exponential growth, which is what you want!
Go get ‘em!
AA
The first thing I would do if I personally hired you, would be to look at you and I say, “Hey man, now that you’ve downloaded your software, go ahead and run a quote on yourself, then run a quote on your wife or your spouse, and run it on your kids.” You should have them do it with different products. For example, if I am starting a person off with Mutual of Omaha, and they’ve downloaded the software, I have them now run one on their mother, and then run one on their granddad. What happens is, our new agents start running those quotes, and they will say, “Oh my gosh, this software won’t let you do an 82-year old!” They will start to learn the limits of the software, while they are running quotes.
Also, they will see the prices, and they will see how you can add on the riders, take off the riders, etc. The person starts to learn, and because they are practicing — doing the quotes on themselves – they are more interested in what they are doing.
Now I will say, “Ok, print off those quotes,” and then I get with the agent and say, “Well, let’s fill out an application on you, just so we can learn the process.” We get all the way through it. We do the whole thing. The only thing left is for them to sign it, and write a check, and they have bought (and sold) a policy. I got them right to the edge of the cliff on doing the right thing for their family, the right thing for themselves, and the right thing for their business.
If you are a recruiter, you are a salesperson, and you get a person that close, and you cannot close the deal, you cannot get them to buy their own policy, either on themselves or on their children or on their wife, I’d have to look at you and say, “Seriously, you need to get with your manager, get with your growing upline, and chat with them about pushing people over their edge to do the right thing.”
Did you hear what I said? Can you push people just over the edge to do the right thing for their family? Yeah, that will help them do some more personal buying, and that will help keep a lot of our brand new agents with NAA, and eventually make a six-figure income, win all-expense paid trips just because they took those tiny little baby steps, and you pushed them to do the right thing!
Posted February 22nd, 2010 by Andy Albright
Categories: Insurance Industry, Residual Income
Comments: 6 Comments »
Hey guys!
I was looking over a survey we did recently of newer agents, and I noticed that a lot of new agents had difficulty selling their first policy.
When we start a new agent, it is VITAL that we get them off to a good start by selling ONE policy. Before you sell a THOUSAND policies, you have to sell one, first.
One of the best ways to do this is what I call: Family First.
Within a DAY of starting someone, sit down with them, face-to-face, and get them to do a list building exercise. This is basically where you use a prompting sheet to make them think of any and everybody they know. DON”T let them pre-qualify people. Just list names. Here is a good prompting sheet (list builder website). Also, EVERYONE on their facebook should be on this list. If they good enough to be a facebook friend, they are good enough to buy insurance!
Now, the reason I call it Family First is because this list should now have everyone in their family on it. Call these people FIRST and set up an appointment to discuss their life insurance and annuity needs. EVERYONE should be able to sell a life insurance policy to at least ONE family member. If nothing else the family member should let them come practice their presentation on them, and you/they should tell the family member this. Go along with them if they are COMPLETELY inexperienced.
Now, this list can be used for policies OR for recruiting. A good idea is to make the appointment to go over their needs and bring up the recruiting while you are there.
NOW the EASIEST policy to sell for a new agent is one for THEMSELVES and/or their spouse. And kids! Honestly, I do not have a lot of time for an agent that has not sold themselves a policy. I mean, what are you going to say to a client in their kitchen when they ask you whether or not YOU have a policy? If I ask you whether you have a policy or not, you had probably better LIE to me rather than to say you don’t have one or whatever (just kidding, don’t write me, I not telling you to lie! Just buy yourself a policy!).
The most important thing is to get some success for the new person and that comes with a SALE or a RECRUIT. Make sure YOU take a copy of their list. Sit there with them while they call, and in a few days, heck, YOU call.
JUST HELP THEM WIN!
AA
Posted February 19th, 2010 by Andy Albright
Categories: Insurance Industry, Residual Income
Comments: No Comments »
Hey guys,
Look here, this is YOUR business. People worry about “Well, Fred did this, my upline did this, my great granddaddy was a mean person…” Hey look, everybody has something they had to deal with. You’ve got to create your own deal, your own success. Yes, it would be nice if you were born to rich people. Yes, it would be nice if your upline would build your depth. Yes, it would be nice if your boss gave you a promotion. Yes, it would be nice if your plant manager wasn’t a tyrant. Yes, it would be nice if I picked the Powerball numbers in the lottery today. That would solve a lot of my problems. It wouldn’t solve ALL my problems, but it would be nice.
You see, everybody has to bloom where they are planted, and the way you bloom is you establish roots. Notice that roots go down, not up. So, your concerns about the upward problems, the person that hired you, I don’t now what to tell you about that. You’ve got to figure that out. The WAY to figure it out is to grow roots; get deep and get wide. A tree that looks down and sees concrete — let’s say a seedling –, well he’s got a problem. But looking up is not a problem. Matter of fact, a seed will find a way to go up. It will go around something, it will go through something, it will go between something. But if it’s on concrete, you can’t go down.
If you can’t recruit down, if you don’t have fertilizer below you, now that’s a real problem. Above you, you know who has got a problem? The person above you has a problem. If a seed gets under the road, the road is going to have a problem, not the seed, because the seed is going to come up through there. Does that make sense? It comes up. Establishing roots — look if you hire people and you build your massive business and you get wealthy, nobody can stop you. That’s right, the downward side, the group underneath you, the one YOU create. Yes, it would be nice if your upline would create it, but the one you create, there is the one that you LIVE on top of. THAT is the direction that you can grow.
Hope that helps you a little bit on dealing with your growth and business.
Okay, here is what gets me. You want to be shortstop with the New York Yankees, but they have to work on Sundays. Listen to this, playoff games are played during the holidays. People want to be rich, but they don’t understand what the rich do. Middle class is easy to get in. That’s why it’s such a big arena. Poor class is easy to get in, because somebody else will always tell you what time to show up.
Okay, so here is a quick rundown on the three scenarios. The poor class is the guy working at McDonald’s during Christmas. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad McDonald’s gives people jobs, but go to McDonald’s during Christmas. They are actually open. That’s typical poor class. Somebody tells them, you will work or you will not get paid. Middle class, that is the guy that takes more days off during the holidays because they’re working and they’re making $25/$50 an hour. They make “good money”, so they deserve time off. Now look at the rich. The rich are on TV during the holiday season. They’re sitting there playing football, and he’s a quarterback, he’s an offensive lineman. And what is he doing? Not only is he working when nobody else is working, he’s working through holidays.
So, you ask me, Andy, you want me to work all the time? No, I do not want people to work all the time. I want to be able to take a month off, a week every month off, but you’ve got to earn it. A lot of people say you need family time balance. I believe in balance, but balance needs to be coordinated with work. Where are you on achieving your goals? In other words, have you hit your goals and now you’re there? You should take off vacations. You should take off holidays. Every Christmas, Thanksgiving, whatever, Hanukkah, take it all off if you are where you are supposed to be. I’m going to tell you this: It is hard to maintain any level. So, are you sure you are where you need to be? Because it’s going to drop a little bit if you don’t keep the pressure on.
Okay, poor guys. People tell them what to do, when to do it, or they’re going to lose their job. Middle class, they’ve got a little bit of flexibility. They don’t have to work at night. They don’t have to work on holidays. They don’t have to work on Sundays, they don’t have to work on Saturdays. Okay, wonderful, wonderful. The rich, sometimes they get unbalanced, so that they can kill it. You hear about these shows, these TV shows that movie stars do where they’re working 24 hours a day for three weeks straight. It does not matter what season it is. Even if it’s your kid’s birthday, during those three weeks you’ve got to be 24/7. Now, again, you say, “ But they don’t have a life.” Some of them have a good life, a family life. Some of them figure it out. A lot of it has to do with what you want, but don’t talk out of both sides of the mouth and say, I want it and then you’re plugging along — let’s say you’re writing insurance and you’re writing 5,000 a week, 5,000 a week. All of a sudden you take off two weeks in a row for Christmas when 5,000 a week barely paid your payments. Or maybe you’re writing 2,000 a week, 2,000 a week, and you are barely making all your payments and then you skip two weeks. When will you make it up? Everybody’s always going to make it up on the backside. Then you find yourself in a hole trying to dig yourself out.
What I am saying is that you have to decide where you want to be and then WORK to get there. And it takes WORK to stay there. Is it worth it? ABSOLUTELY!!!
AA
Posted January 18th, 2010 by Editor
Categories: Residual Income, Uncategorized
Comments: 3 Comments »
Have you listened to Alex Fitzgerald’s story that he told at NAA with John Kight introducing him with the one word name, Fitz? Kind of like Prince, or Sting.
Guys, Alex Fitzgerald’s story that is recorded on MP3 should be required listening for every single person on your team. It emphasizes the need to go through an education process. Nothing just happens. There is no program that is SO good that you join it and it just magically happens for you. If you join a winning baseball team, a winning basketball team, or a winning hockey team, you have to contribute. You have to get in the battle. You have to share the load. You have to share the sweat. You have to share the problems, or you will never enjoy the victories. Yes, you can walk on to a team just before the victory and get the ring, but you don’t have the real victory that comes from sticking with the team during the good times and the bad. Everybody wants to find that program where you don’t have to struggle, or you don’t have to go through anything. I don’t know about that program, even the lottery ticket winners, 99% of them don’t keep their money because they didn’t go through the struggle to get it. It’s just them and they win it and now what do they really have?
So, if you are looking for a business model that you don’t have to do anything, it’s just bam and you win it, you’re going to get just that. It’s going to be a flash. If you buy 13 McDonalds, or you buy one Dominos’ franchise, (and I have a friend that has 11 franchises) I promise you, you will go through the ups and the downs and the battles and the challenges. It is a model of victory. It is a model that you can win with, just like our system is a model you can win with, but you have to go through something to come out to the other side.
Get that tape, get that MP3 from Alex Fitzgerald, listen to it at least three or four or five times, and then listen to it again. It’ll change your whole mindset, but it’s just the beginning. Like anything else we ask you to do to be a part of our team. It’s just the beginning. It’s one step along the way. Listen to his story, and then, when he comes out with another one, listen to it and learn a lot of different things about that biography, the one that’s still being made, the one for Fitz, and his awesome life habits.
Alright guys, I’m selling you on it hard. Make it happen.
AA
Posted January 6th, 2010 by Andy Albright
Categories: Decision Making Skills
Comments: 4 Comments »
Okay, so your upline is working down in your group, and he is a good guy, and your downline is a good guy. They’re both good people saying the right things. Okay, so you don’t HAVE to be friends with this person in depth, but you DO need to coordinate with your upline that is working in your depth.
Let’s say your upline is rather harsh in depth and tough on your person. Well, that’s good, if they are teaching the right things. It’s good, but let’s say his personality rubs people a little bit wrong. There is nothing wrong with you being in depth talking to that same person, saying, “Hey Kyle, chill out. Chill out. I know David came in, and he’s real hard on you, but he’s hard on you for a reason. He’s right about your persistency. He’s right about your placement. He’s right. And the goal is to win.” So don’t let any personality conflicts get in the way of success, assuming there is a personality conflict.
Let’s say that your upline, David, goes down in your depth and he’s working hard, helping out. You can go up to your upline and say, “Hey man, you know my downline has good width, but he’s got 17 other people he didn’t tell you about. So Kyle didn’t explain everything to you, David. He didn’t share with you all the things that are going on. I don’t think he’s a great communicator. So just be aware, David, when you’re in my depth, that Kyle is not a great communicator.” So, even if your upline is working in your depth in your one big leg, you can still be in contact, setting the example and communicating with this person. It is critical that you coordinate with your upline, David in this example, and Kyle in depth, and make sure that you are intertwined. Make sure that you understand what is happening, and make sure that you kind of pour gas on the fire, that you add to what’s going on.
Now, let’s say you are in the middle here, and David is working down in depth with Kyle, and you are a bad example: you skip convention, you don’t write annuities, you don’t follow the team player steps. Maybe you need to back away a little more, and let that person “take over” your depth until you are ready to come back strong. But, if you are doing the eight steps, and you are a great example, you should be involved, but keep in mind if it’s your only leg, and your upline is working down in it, he kind of has the power. He kind of has the say so. He is “the man” because you haven’t proven that you can have two tap roots, three tap roots, four tap roots, five tap roots. See that is the point of our MVP. That’s the point of our recognition. That’s why we point out who has multiple, big, growing organizations, because that is kind of the proof is in the pudding. That’s kind of he’s “been there done that”, so we listen to him.
See, our culture is a culture of success, not a culture of should-be’s, want-to-be’s, might-be’s. Ours is: he puts the puck in the net, he gets in the red zone and scores. Therefore, we let those people do the teaching. We don’t get the losers, the mediocre people, the will-be’s, and want-to-be’s and should-be’s. It’s the people that did it. Alright?
I hope that helps you a tad bit in depth.
AA
Posted January 5th, 2010 by Andy Albright
Categories: Width and Depth
Comments: 3 Comments »
Okay, recruiting is NOT an interview. It is not a sales job. It is a recruit. Like the Army.
In the Army, they say “Be all you can be.” Also, “We do more before 9 a.m. than most people do all day.” Okay, let me tell you something. They’re not saying “Come over here, everything will be wonderful, we love you…” What they are saying is, “I’ve got a challenge for you, and the challenge is tough, but the end result is worth it. Are you worthy of the challenge, are you up for the challenge, do you have what it takes?”
It is a challenge they are putting out there. You know why? Because the military does not want to tell people how easy it is going to be because it would be the BIGGEST lie in the world. So, if YOU are out there telling people that we are the greatest team in the world, it has got to be because we work hard, because we are disciplined, because we strive to be the best. We are not looking for anchors, and we are not looking for negative people or for people who are going to help us lose. We are looking for people to make us stretch.
So, now the questions you ask them are (and these are not arrogant questions) “What can you do for us? Why should we hire you? Why should we allow you on the team? What have you done in the past that makes us think you’re worthy?” But it cannot come across as arrogant. It has got to come across as that challenge, like the military. “You will be more than you thought you were. You will make more money than you thought you could earn, but you do have to get up early. You do have to run hard.”
So, therefore, I tell people, we are “expensive” to work with. Kind of like if you go to work at Notre Dame, or if you go to work with the Chicago Bulls. If you wake up in the morning and you go to work and you’re playing on Brett Favre’s team, and he’s a quarterback, he expects you to win. He expects you to work and focus. If you don’t, you pull down the team. We can not have you complaining about practices Day One. That is going to be no fun at all! Now, are we going to get a big championship ring and are people going to come up to us and ask us for autographs? ABSOLUTELY that is going to happen! Who would NOT want to join that team?
See, that’s the recruiting talk. Of course, there is the guy that is out there pulling people into the team, hiring everybody, telling them it’s wonderful and we have the greatest this and the greatest that and we love on you and rub on you and rub on you. Put you in a warm spot. Yeah, you recruit them. But what’s Day Two look like? Looks like some kind of churning wheel where they are making butter or something. As in, they just go around and around making butter. What do you have? Butter. Well, you don’t have anything. You don’t have anything of substance. You don’t have any players. You don’t have a backbone, you don’t have a team. It’s recruiting with the right mentality so that Day Two it shows up as something real.
Hope that helps you on putting in width whether it be in depth working under somebody or whether it be in your width. The key is putting in strong players.
Make 2010 your year.
AA
Posted December 30th, 2009 by Andy Albright
Categories: Width and Depth
Comments: 9 Comments »
The key here is: the upline person wanted me to TEACH them how to MAKE someone else do something! You see, the question they asked me was wrong. If I had even attempted to answer the wrong question, we would be condemned to failure! The question they should have asked is: “How do I get this organization moving?” Now the answer to THAT question, I can give!
The answer is: Find a winner worth your time, and YOU go help them get 12 wide ASAP, and then you pick the best of those twelve people and YOU again help THAT person get wide!
You can’t MAKE anyone do anything, but you can help a winner win!
YOU do the calls to friends, and YOU do the interviews!! YOU then help the NEWEST, deepest person get started. You teach, not on a conference call, but in person. The LEADER leads and YOU are one. Now go get you some people to lead!!
AA
www.naaleads.com
Posted December 8th, 2009 by Editor
Categories: Width and Depth
Comments: No Comments »
Just got off the phone with one of our agents and they were asking about how they can get one of their people to work with some of their downline. This is a common mistake people make. YOU are responsible for your own depth! You can’t wait on your downline to work with people below them. You’ve got to get down there in the bottom of your organization and help the people get started correctly!
Any of your people can work on their own width. But by HELPING them with their depth, you are securing your OWN depth, and locking everyone in above them. And if your upline wants to get in your depth, by all means get out of their way, and don’t forget to thank them!
All the top guys in our organization do this CONSISTENTLY! Building depth means building permanent, residual income, and everyone wins!
AA
www.naaleads.com
Posted December 5th, 2009 by Andy Albright
Categories: Networking, Width and Depth
Comments: No Comments »
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