I’m so happy, and I feel so blessed to be here in front of you today. I have been in the business for 17 years. I was 22 years old when I started; it was difficult back then, but I’ve come a long way. Honestly, I think I have probably failed every way you can fail in this business once, and I learned from it. I started my career at age 22; I didn’t really know what I was doing. I did OK in my first year and made about $52,000 in the business.
So I’m going to talk to you a little bit about how I learned to go from making $50,000 a year to making $50,000 a week. OK, you ready for that? All right, let’s get started.
This seminar is for informational purposes only. Neither Taylor Insurance nor its agents or employees are in the business of giving tax, legal or accounting advice. Attendees should consult their own personal advisors to determine the appropriateness of any course of action.
I had a dream! I started in this business at the age of 22 years old, eager and full of energy with one simple objective in mind — to become a millionaire by the age of 25! Three years seemed like a reasonable period of time to achieve such a feat.
When I began the interviewing process with a number of firms, I was asked one question that I didn’t quite know how to answer at the time: “How much money do you want to make?” Although I had no idea what I was in for 14 years ago, I quickly learned that I had been given a tremendous opportunity to be exposed to this business. How many careers can you embark upon where it is OK to be greedy? The more money I make, the more people I help. I have been put in a position to succeed based on my work ethic and productivity, not my age or tenure.
Speaking of dreams, I think it is important to understand the distinction between dreams and actions. Dreams are the things we conceive of in a very remote way, things that we hope for that are outside of our control or abstract. They do not have a definitive timetable of completion.
Conversely, actions are things one consciously wills and that may be characterized by physical or mental activity — the state or process of doing something with a definitive timetable of completion.
It is human nature to get caught up in the euphoria of success and riches and fail to ever outline a concrete plan of attack with monthly, weekly or even daily tasks that we can accomplish that will get us one step closer slowly but ever so surely to our desired end.
For example, how many of you believe it is a good goal to become a multimillion-dollar producer? Each of you who raised your hand is wrong. To become a multimillionaire producer is your dream. In actuality, you have no control whatsoever if you ever hit that mark. Do you control whether your clients buy or not? Do you control the level of premium they pay? Do you control the interest rate or equity markets? The answer is no.
By focusing on the things you do control, you will put yourself in a much better position to reach the top. You control how many phone calls you make per day; you control how many face contacts you have; you control how many emails you send. You can make a conscious decision to study, research and sharpen your skill set in the industry. The end result of these actions is not up to you.
“Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth”
I love this. [visual] This was in Mike Tyson’s heyday, in the boxing world, and that was one of his quotes: “Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.” Because this guy was unbeatable, and people say, “What are you going to do?” And I’m going to do this or that because everyone has a plan till I punch them in the mouth, and then that plan goes out the window. It’s kind of like us when we get into this business, right? All of us had a plan when we came into this business. “Oh, I’m going to come in, and I’m going to do this and make this, and I’ll work in this market, and I’ll do this,” and then we got punched in the mouth, right? I was like, “Wow, it didn’t really work out,” and what I realized about this business, and what you can all attest to, is that this business exposes you, right? It will expose you. All the good things about you, all the character strengths and things that you have intrinsically in you and that are great about you will come out. You have an opportunity to show them. All your character flaws and frailties will come out just the same. Mine were patience and humility. When I came into the business, I wanted everything to happen now. Come on, come on, come on, now, why do I have to go through this process and see all these people, come on, I want to be successful, now, now, now! Right? So, I have had to learn to be patient. It’s not about my timing; it’s not about my desires; it’s not about what I want. It’s about the client. I had to learn that. I’m still working on the humility part, still working on it. It’s not working. But, again, to be humble and say there is something greater — even your presence here today is awesome. Do you know what is better than my going out and selling a ton of insurance and investments and making $1 million? It’s teaching you to do it. It’s turning you into million-dollar producers. Because you’re going to meet clients; you’re going to help a business owner; you’re going to help a family. You’re going to do an estate plan for a family, for a business owner, for an individual whom I will never meet, and so now when you look at the effect of this business process, it reverberates across the world potentially, and that’s awesome.
Nobody gives you a chance; you have to take it. It’s a choice, and a lot of times I think we sit down, and we are waiting for things to happen. I would encourage you to think about the things you control. Many of us are sitting here going, “I’m going to be a million-dollar producer; I’m going to be like you. I’m going to be Top of the Table. I’m going to be a million-dollar producer,” right? Did you book any appointments today? “Yeah, no, I haven’t gotten to that yet.” What are the things you control? I want to focus, and I want to encourage you to focus, on the things you control. Do you control when your clients buy? Do you control what product they buy? Do you control how much premium they give you? You don’t. The only thing you control is your actions. It’s how many people you get in front of, and that’s it. Focus on that. I encourage you to hear no a lot. I want you to hear no a lot because the more nos I hear, the closer I am getting to a yes. See, here is my contention: The only thing that can come from taking a chance, the only thing that can come from putting yourself out there, is something good. Either you are going to get a client you didn’t have, or you are going to continue to have what you didn’t have anyway. Does that make sense? So I put myself out there. It’s funny because I’ll talk to advisors, and they will go, “Yeah, I’ve got this great prospect, super wealthy guy, well connected.” “Did you book a meeting with him yet?” They’re like, “No, I haven’t talked to him yet.” Why? Because you are afraid of the rejection; you’re afraid they will say no. Why? Either they are going to say yes and you are going to get a new client and opportunities, or they are going to say no, but if they say no, what have you lost? Nothing. Right? Go for it.
Things that require no talent:
- Being on time
- Body language
- Your presence
- Passion (Do you believe in what you are doing? Think about it: We sell an intangible good. We sell a piece of mind; we sell paper. People are buying you.)
- Your energy
- Your work ethic (I love the Chinese parable “Fall down seven times, get up eight.”)
- Your attitude
- Being prepared
- Effort
- Being coachable; being willing to improve
- Doing extra
I think that last one, doing extra, is probably why I am here today. It’s probably why I have a lot of the success I have today. I was so afraid to fail. I don’t think there was any opportunity, or any door that was slightly cracked open, that I didn’t fail to take or go through. Every single thing I could do I did — every networking function I would go to; every party I would go to. Now, that doesn’t mean that it always turned out well. A lot of times I thought I probably could have stayed home, but I knew this — I wasn’t going to make $1 million sitting at home on my couch. I knew that.
You have to dream. You have to make a decision, so let’s make a decision right now. Are you going to be successful? Do you believe it? It starts with you. See, if you don’t believe it, no one else is going to believe it. Make a decision right now!
Be relentless. Do not stop! I always tell people that it is easier to stay on top than it is to get on top, and I am going to tell you the secret. You know it’s easier to make $1 million in this business than it is to make $50,000, and I’m not going back.
Execute. The respective companies you work for have been around for hundreds of years and have a game plan. For a top producer such as myself, I have a game plan, I have a process — things don’t just happen. Lay out the game plan; execute.
Aim high. There is a saying, “If you shoot for the moon and you fall short, you will still hit the stars.” Aim high. My first year in the business I made $52,000. Last year, I made $2.5 million. So the next logical progression for me is $50 million, and then after that it’s a half a billion. Do you believe me? Now, some of you are going, “No, that’s a lot. How you going to go from $2.5 million to $50 million?” Is that any bigger than $50,000 or $2.5 million? I’ve done it once. Why can’t I do it again? The first issue we have is: it isn’t our company, it isn’t our sales manager, it isn’t our friends, it isn’t our family, it isn’t our clients — it’s you. It starts with you, so aim high!
I had a dinner meeting last night. I walked out, and I’m like, “I think I changed my number again. I think it’s a billion now. I think it’s a billion, right?”
Manifest
What you believe will happen. You know I started this session saying, “What’s today? It’s the best day of your life.” I wake up, and I feel like that every single day, and even if bad stuff happens to me — because stuff happens to me, just like you —I believe and think positive things will manifest. I’m standing here right now, and I’m telling you I will make a $1 million in the next six months from something I have no idea about today. I have no idea how it’s going to come, but I full-heartedly believe it. If you call me in December and say, “Did it happen?” I’m going to say, “Yep!” But we have to stay the course.
You know what this business is like? This business is like getting kicked in the face every day. Imagine you walk into the office, and your manager just kicked you in the face. Every day. For a month, your manager did that to you, and at the end of the month, you are given a check for $3,000. You take that check and go, “I don’t like this business too much.” Now envision this scenario. Envision you walk into your office every single day of the month, and the same thing happens — you get kicked in the face every day for a month, and at the end of the month you are given a check for $100,000. You take that check and say, “OK, make it quick.” You take it. Why? Because you are getting paid! Same thing, right? I don’t face any fewer frustrating situations with clients, underwriting challenges, regulatory issues than you deal with. We are in the same place. I just make a lot of money, so I deal with it. So, if you’re going to be in this business, if you’re going to get kicked in the face, do it right, and see it through. Manifest.
Lions don’t dream of hunting; they just hunt
It needs to be in your core, who you are. That’s who I am; that’s what I do. I don’t think about closing deals; I just close. What are you doing today? Closing. What are you doing today? Making money. That’s what I do. What are you doing today? Helping people — that’s what I do. I don’t have to gear up. I don’t wake up in the morning and say, “Should I go in the office and try to make $50,000 today? I don’t know.” It’s just inherently who I am. It starts with you; it’s a conscience decision. Lions don’t dream of hunting; they just hunt.
People buy insurance and plan because they love someone
Getting into the meat — you know the work that we do. You always say, “People buy insurance and they plan because they love someone.” They love someone, and that someone can be themselves even, right? We have to figure out what moves you, what moves the client. It took me 16 years in the business to realize that it doesn’t matter what I think, what I want or what I would do — only the clients’ wishes matter. And we make it so much harder than it needs to be. I’m going to share this crazy idea with you. If you ask people what they want, they will tell you, and when you give it to them, they will buy. Crazy, right? But we make it harder because we impose our will, our sentiment, our beliefs, our desires on other people, and when you try to smash a square peg into a round hole, you will always have trouble.
Do not assume; ask. So let’s figure it out. Why are we here? Need or greed? That’s why people buy. Need or greed — they want to protect something or want to accumulate something for themselves. Now, who’s right? Who’s wrong? It doesn’t really matter. There is no right or wrong; it’s a matter of choice.
So, I’m going to share a concept with you. Do you want some language to sell a life insurance policy every single day of the week?
Need-based sale — human capital
In my opinion, a need-based sale is a one-appointment close. If you make three appointments every single day, and you ask these three questions of three people, you will sell a policy every single day. OK, three questions — what are they?
- If you didn’t come home tomorrow, what would happen to your family? (Now, the hardest thing to do as a salesperson is to shut up and let them answer.)
- How does that make you feel?
- How much money can you comfortably set aside each month to solve this problem?
Are you married? Do you have kids? [asks someone in the audience]
Audience: Yes.
Taylor: OK, married with kids. How old are your kids?
Audience: 8 and 3.
Taylor: OK, 8 and 3. So let’s assume you haven’t done any planning. No insurance, no planning at all. You’ve got an 8-year-old and a 3-year-old. If you didn’t come home tomorrow, what would happen to them?
Audience: They would be in deep trouble.
Taylor: Deep trouble. How does that make you feel?
Audience: Tough on my wife, and the future would be uncertain.
Taylor: Tough on your wife, and the future would be uncertain. How much money can you comfortably set aside to solve this problem so that you wouldn’t feel this way?
Audience: $500 to a $1,000.
Taylor: $500 to $1,000 a month. Let’s just say $500. OK, great. Let’s get started. Did I mention a carrier? Did I mention a product? No. But I disturbed him and got a premium commitment.
Now, going one step further, with this calculation that I have here, you may say, “How do I close people in one appointment, Eszylfie? I haven’t even run an illustration yet.” So you need to go back to your office and run a term illustration so that you can show your client how compelling 20 years of level premium with no cash value looks. That’s what you want to do. Quick calculation: Take the amount of money it would take to replace their income on an annual basis, and multiple that number by 20. That’s his need amount. So, if his family needed $100,000 to maintain their standard of living, 100,000 x 20 = $2 million in insurance at $500 a month premium, solved. Make sense? It’s really that simple. We make the business so much harder than it needs to be.
Greed-based sale — human capital
A greed-based sale is a little bit more involved. I love this language because what it does is it sets the table really high. And this is the language I use to get people to give me $50,000 a year premium commitments and then apologize for giving me such little money. It’s good stuff.
Here’s an example. Natasha, I am going to pick on you. I am going to retire you today in today’s dollars. How much income do I need to give you every single year so that you feel comfortable? You need $150,000 a year today to be comfortable. Now, there is this pesky thing called inflation, or the cost of goods and services going up over time. At a 3 percent inflation rate, the value of our money is chopped in half every 25 years. So Natasha is a young woman. If she wants to retire in 25 years and wants $150,000 in today’s dollars, what is she really saying she wants down the road? Double that, right? The value of money is chopped in half, so if she wants $150,000 in today’s dollars, she really wants $300,000 of income annually. Now, the question is, if she wants $300,000 of income, how much cash do we need to have accumulated to reach that number? 300,000 x 20 = 6 million, so that is her number — $6 million is her target retirement savings goal. So, take the amount of income they are telling you today, double it, and then multiply it by 20, and that’s their number. I love going through this exercise because you’ve got the guy who comes into your office with his chest puffed out because he has $300,000 in his brokerage account and $500,000 in his 401(k), and he sits down and crosses his legs saying, “What you got for me?” And you oblige: “OK, my company was established in 2018. And you will notice on page 4 of this illustration … No, I have nothing for you. Your needs will dictate the plan. I’ve got a few questions for you. You want $150,000 in today’s dollars, or $300,000 after inflation. Your pot of money, the bucket we need, is $6 million. Now, let me ask you a question. I recognize that you have $300,000 in your brokerage account, and you’ve got $500,000 in your 401(k) that your employer matches. Wow, OK, but do you think that is going to grow to $6 million in the next 20 years? Do you think you should be saving more? Would you like the growth on that savings to be taxable or tax-deferred? Tax-deferred. Would you like the income distributions to be taxable or tax-free? OK, do we have something like that?”
So here is why I come up with these calculations.
Desired income x 2 x 20. If a client came to you with a check for $6 million, do you have any products that you can put that $6 million into that will generate a payout rate of 5 percent? Is there something like that that exists in our industry? That’s the number. Let’s remove the what-ifs and the should-bes and the maybes from the equation. Let’s remove those. Because if you follow this scenario, I’m going to get you this income. I’m going to be able to guarantee it. “So here’s my question, Mr. Client and Mrs. Client, as it relates to your retirement savings goals. Do you want a predictable outcome or not?” I hope you are writing this stuff down because I want to buy from myself right now; I am so compelling. “Do you want a predictable outcome or not?” Predictable.
“So, if you were to retire today, how much income would you like coming to you to make you feel comfortable?” She said $150; did I say $150? No, she said $150. See, at the end of the day, she has to either do what I say or contradict herself. Now, interesting enough, some people will contradict themselves, right? But here’s the process. She wants 150,000 x 2, 300,000 x 20, $6 million. So your number is $6 million.
Now, here’s my question I love the most: “Of this $300,000 — and I’m going to send you into retirement — what percentage of it do you not, do you not, do you not want subject to stock market risk, real estate risk or business risk?” Stock market risk, real estate risk, business risk. I ask that question specifically because those are the three main asset classes you will get the “yeah but” to: “But my real estate portfolio …” “Yes, I am sure your real estate portfolio will continue to grow, and you will always have great tenants and never have any deferred maintenance issues.” “But my stock portfolio, my Apple stock is going up.” “OK, yes, I’m sure the market is always going to go up and continue to get you double-digit returns just like it’s done over the last 15, 16 years. Oops, I’m sorry, the markets averaged 3 percent over the last 15 years before fees, taxes and expenses. You have also seen your 401(k) become a 201(k) in the last 15 years as well, right? You could go to the bank, and they have those products — what are they called, CDs? Put money in a CD. Interest rates are too low.” Do you know what I call CDs? Deprecation certificates. “But my business, my business will grow, and I will sell it.” “Yes, I am sure someone will come in and give you $10 million for your dry cleaning business. I’m sure that will happen.”
So here is the language I want you to use: “When I’m setting this plan up for you, when you’re buying this insurance, when you’re doing these investments with me, I hope they end up being the worst-performing asset class in your portfolio.” You’re saying, “Wait a minute, Eszylfie, you want me to tell someone you hope that what I’m selling them ends up being the worst-performing asset class in their portfolio?” Yes! Yes! Because structured properly, when most people want insurance, when you’re doing a need-based sale, what do people want? They want the biggest benefit they can get for the least premium. For a greed-based sale, I want to cram the most premium I can into the smallest pulse. I want to maximize the internal rate of return, and structured properly, I can get that tax-free return to 5 percent.
There is something called a “tax equivalent yield.” What does that mean? That means, if I were to earn a rate of return and pay taxes, what would my net return be? So, if my net return and insurance policy is 5 percent, my tax equivalent yield, depending on where you live and the taxes in your state, can be anywhere from 8 to 10 percent. I am in a 52 percent tax bracket. OK, so net 5 percent on my money — what does my pretax return need to be? 10 percent. So, when I’m having a conversation with a client, I say, “I hope this ends up being the worst-performing asset class in your portfolio because if your worst-performing asset class in your portfolio gives you an equivalent of a 10 percent return, you have done very well for yourself.” So I’m not going to compete with real estate, and I’m not going to compete with equities; I’m not going to compete with their business.
“When you invest your money, there are one of three outcomes you’re going to experience. You’re going to make money, you’re going to stay flat, or you’re going to lose money. If I could eliminate one of those three outcomes when you invest your money, which one would you want to eliminate? Eliminate the loss, so in your real estate portfolio, now can you lose money? In your equity portfolio, now can you lose money? Can the value of your business go down? So what you’re telling me is that you want me to integrate something into your portfolio that gives you the ability to preserve your principle and make money, no loss. Is that what you’re telling me you want?” Are you following me? It’s the language, right? It’s the language; it’s the stories; it’s the concepts; it’s your ability to deliver to people what they want.
An esteemed associate of mine is David Podell, and when I was doing the coaching for a group of his in New York about a month or so ago, I thought it was funny that he shared an email from one of the guys who was in the group, who wrote back and said, “I used your questions. I practiced them, and I rehearsed them. I had a meeting the next day, and I used your questions. I got a $50,000 annual premium commitment for my client, who left my office feeling so bad about herself. Thank you.” Because here is why. Her number is $6 million, so all a sudden, the $500,000 in the 401(k) and the $300,000 in the brokerage account — she doesn’t feel so good about that anymore.
So going back to that, here is my question. “Of the three asset classes, no stock market risk, real estate risk, business risk, of the $300,000 a year of income, how much of that do you not want subject to stock market risk, real estate risk, business risk?” Now, she could say all of it, she could say half of it, or she could say 10 percent. You’re always going to get a percentage. No one is going to say they want all of their money subject to risk; no one is going to say that. Now, again, is it prudent for someone to put all of their money in any one product? No, that’s not prudent, so let’s, for argument’s sake, say she says 50 percent. So $150,000 is 50 percent of $300,000 that I’ve got to give to her, free of stock market risk, real estate risk, business risk. Then I simply reverse engineer. If she has a 20+ year time frame, for every premium dollar she pays in a day, she’ll be able to draw out about $4 tax-free when she retires. So, if she wants $150,000 of income in the future, I’m going to need about $35,000 a year of premium right now to get her there. So that’s your number. Natasha, you have to give me $35,000 every year, or $3,000 a month. And she could say what? She could say, “OK, right,” in which case I would say, “Let’s get started.” Right, “let’s get started” is my closing language. Have you ever been in a meeting, and you’re like, “I feel like this is going good. I think this is going good. I think maybe it’s going good.” And then you’re thinking, I’m going to go for it. I’m going to put in an application. I’m just going to go for it. Right? You pull out an application, and your client goes, “Hey, what are you doing?” You’re like, “I’m sorry.” “You’re moving too fast.” “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.” Or do you go, “Hmm. I’m not sure I know what I’m going to do. I’m going to book another appointment next week, and I’ll come back next week. Yeah, that’s what I’ll do; I’ll play it safe”? So you book that appointment for next week and never see that person ever again. Has that ever happened to you? Or is it just me? Or they honor that second appointment, and you go back and just end up repeating all the things you said the first time.
So I’m going to make this real simple for you, going back to the need-based sale.
“Is the impact of your loss to your family going to be worse next week than it is this week? Is your premium commitment, is your budget, going to be different next week than it is this week? So why should I come back? Matter of fact, I don’t even feel comfortable having you walk out of my office today unprotected. If I was the very last insurance agent ever talking to you about buying insurance to protect your family, would you buy from me today?” “Absolutely.” “How do you know that I’m not? I got an application right here. Let’s get it done. Let’s get started.” So the “let’s get started” language, when I say these questions and they answer in the affirmative, and I say, “Let’s get started,” they say, “OK” — that’s the green light. Take the out. If they have a question or a concern, it also opens up the forum for them to announce it.
Regarding the greed-based sale: “I need $3,000 a month from you, Natasha.” She can say, “OK,” and I will say, “Let’s get started.” There it is. What’s more likely that she could say? “What?!? Did you say $3,000 a month?” “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t give you the other two options. You can extend your time arriving for retirement, or you can take less income. Which one would you like?” Do what I tell you to do, or suffer the consequences, right? Be bold; stand up. Little money gets little money. Big money gets big money. If she needs $6 million in the next 20 years, stop taking a $200 a month policy. You’re doing people a disservice.
When they tell you they want $300,000 a year of income, they’re putting $100 of their paycheck in their 401(k) and asking you what $300 a month in a plan looks like for them. You’re giddy. It doesn’t do anything. It’s like if I told you next year, “I’m going to run in the Los Angeles Marathon. I’m committed to training at least one time a month.” You would say, “Good luck.”
Little money gets little money. Big money gets big money. I need $3,000 a month. What can Natasha say? “Oh my gosh, $3,000 a month, $36,000 a year. The most I can do is $25,000 a year — that’s probably the most.” “$25,000. Natasha, I normally don’t go that low. I’ll tell you what. I like you. Here is what we are going to do. Don’t tell anyone I told you this, but start at $25,000 a year, OK? I’m going to come back every six months, and we’re going to ramp you up to $36,000. How’s that sound?” Little money gets little money. Big money gets big money.
So now we have to analyze whom we are talking to, right?
Four personality types
You know, by sheer fact, that in this business there is something clinically wrong with you, right? Something’s wrong with you. You had someone who maybe had a stroke as a child, or you’re sick, right? But we see lots of people, and, as such, we have learned whom we’re talking to very quickly. You must learn; you must be a chameleon. Don’t say, “This is the way I sell; this is the way I present.” You must shift. You must adjust to the client.
So I call it the boss, or the driver. They’re pretty easy to sell because you just have to make sure that everything seems like it’s their idea, right? “I’m not even going to take the next few minutes to tell you that you need insurance because you already knew that when you invited me here. And I’m sure someone as successful as you recognizes that people put in $30,000 to $40,000 a year, like no problem, so I’m not even going to tell you or insult you by asking you for less than that.” “Yeah, yeah, if that’s what people do.” Again, you’re asking questions, right? “How much income do you want? If you didn’t come home tomorrow, what would happen to your family? How much income do you want them to have?” Let them drive. Simply facilitate.
See, I sell nothing. People say, “What do you sell?” I don’t sell products. I solve problems. I have nothing to sell. I don’t sell products. You tell me what you want, and I create solutions based on what you want. It’s that simple.
Then you’ve got the brain; you have the intellect. Ever have this person? “I noticed on the third line of the 12th page of the fourth illustration you gave me that it mentions dividends. Like, how exactly do those work?” And you’re like, “Hold on, I have a bad connection.” Think about what you are doing first of all, especially if you are coming into their brain. Do you do that? I do. I will pick on myself a little bit. I do. I walk into a house and say, “Hello, thank you for meeting with me. I have looked at a number of solutions, and here are the options that can solve your problem. Just pick any one of them; any one of them is fine. Just please buy something.” But think about what you’re doing. You just put 25 pieces of paper in front of them, and you want them to pick a business decision right then. To me, less is more. Even the brain has to be driven by concept.
One of the phrases that I use a lot is: “I don’t have to be perfect, I just have to be better than what you have, and if you have no planning, I’m pretty sure I can beat zero.” I’m pretty confident I can do that. So, super if you’re dealing with an analytical person conscience of the things you are putting in front of them. Because they are going to be compelled to read it, so you certainly want to provide ample disclosures, but, again, for me — and we will get through this process — less is more, and concept is more to me.
Then there’s the feeler. You just have to tug on their heartstrings a little bit. “I’m sure you don’t want to leave your family. You said you would feel horrible about that. Imagine little Timmy sitting on the curb, kicked out of the house and sad.” What I like to do, going even further, is when I’m getting that premium commitment, he said $500 a month right there, and she was $3,000 dollars a month from the greed side. I like to make it even more palpable and break that down to the day. “So what you’re telling me is you’re willing to set aside $15 a day to protect your family?” Sounds pretty reasonable — $15 a day. That doesn’t sound like a lot at all. But think about the industry we are in. Think about the amount of money we make. Helping people. I sell a $500 a month policy once a day. If I’m at a 50 percent commission rate, that’s $3,000 of commission a day, $15,000 a week, $60,000 a month and over $720,000 a year. Is that a complicated case, $500 a month? So, what happens if I actually get good and start getting better premium commitments and more sophisticated planning strategies? I like to break it down to the day. “I need $100 a day from you, Natasha, but I know that’s not a problem.” The feeler. The emotions. How would this look, how would this feel, envision?
Then you’ve got the drifter, the amiable, and, in my opinion, the hardest one. A lot of people mistakenly think the amiable, or the drifter, is the easiest one, but they’re not; they’re the hardest one. You’ve been in it, right? You’ve gone into someone’s house, into their office, or they come into your office, and they sit down and start going through the planning scenario. They have that deer-in-the-headlights look because you were leading with product. You led with your product, broke out your brochure. You said, “You should put away $500 a month into this plan,” and they went, “OK,” and you were like, “OK, yeah.” And, you know, even as you were taking the application, you were like, “This was too easy; there is something … that was too easy,” right? And then 90 days later, when you pull up your computer, and you see your ledger is negative, you go, “What happened?” And it’s because that person canceled the policy. You call the service adjuster, who says, “Yeah, they stopped payments.” So you call them up. You say, “Tom, what happened?” “Oh yeah, I canceled the plan.” “Well, why?” “My uncle said $500 a month was too much for insurance. He’s paying $99, and he got his with QVC and said that’s better.” And now you end up backtracking and try to do the process the same way and explain the value proposition and its loss, and the reason it’s a loss is because amiables don’t want to upset anyone. They don’t want to upset you. They don’t want to upset their uncle, so they will just do nothing. So, the sooner you can identify where these clients fall in the spectrum, the sooner you can adjust your sales methodology in the way you’re explaining things accordingly. Truthfully, for me, I take the most time with amiables. I really want to make sure they understand the value proposition and why they’re doing what they’re doing.
Art of persuasion
Persuasion is often more effectual than force. This is the sales process. Conflict begets conflict. But it is not a conflict. It doesn’t have to be miserable. It doesn’t have to be contentious. It’s the sales process. It could actually be that easy, that enjoyable. I’ll give you an example. A client walks into your office. The secretary calls the client in the lobby. You’re like, “OK. Life insurance. Life insurance sales coming in. Get that beauty in there.” You have the client come into your office and sit down. “Thank you for coming and seeing me today. What is it that you hoped I could do for you?” Here’s a crazy thing: They’ll tell you what they’re interested in. And then, when you give it to them, they’ll buy it. It’s mind blowing. Stop. Stop putting your agenda on people. Stop with the conflict. It doesn’t have to be that difficult.
Persuasion is more effectual than force. I value scheduled appointments. Here’s what I want you to do. I want you to take the commissions you made in the business last month. Then I want you to divide that by the number of scheduled appointments that you had. Commissions divided by scheduled appointments equals the value of scheduled appointments. Why go through this exercise? When I did this exercise in my practice several years ago, my number was $832. And, keep in mind, I want you to count everything. I want you to count openers. I want you to count closers. I want you to count mixers. I want you to count appointments that no-showed you and that canceled every time you booked something that counted as an appointment and then divide that by the number of commissions. And when I did it at my practice, again, my number was $832. OK, so what does that mean to me? That means that every time I schedule an appointment, it’s worth $832 to me.
Now, perhaps some of your numbers are higher than that. Maybe your numbers are lower, but for illustration’s sake, let’s assume your number was $200. If I told you I would give you $200 every time you scheduled an appointment, whether your client showed up or not, how many appointments would you schedule a day? I probably couldn’t keep you off the phone. See, we get caught up in the minutia. Your highest and best use is to be in front of people. What are you doing during the day? If you’re not with people, you’re not working.
I started my career at New York Life, and I didn’t celebrate anything — no wars, no accolades — until I made Chairman’s Council Top 100 in the company. And as soon as that came out, my sales manager came up to me, and she was like, “Well, why are you disappointed? You just made Top 100 in the company. You need to be excited and proud of that.” And I was bummed out. Do you want to know why? Because I busted my tail that year. I worked as hard as I could possibly work in terms of number of hours, and I made $400,000 or $500,000, which is not bad, but it certainly wasn’t where I wanted to be ultimately. So, immediately I realized I needed to do something different. And as I started to look at my practice, and I started to look at my day, I realized that I was making 80 percent of my money with 20 percent of my time. How many hours in a day, when you work that 10-, 12-hour day, are you actually with a client? I want to do nothing but book appointments and be in front of people. Because if I get an appointment on the books, it’s worth $832 to me. You say, “Oh, Eszylfie, I can’t do that. I had to prepare a client file, and I had to order an exam, and then I had to photocopy some things, and I had to send a fax.” What? You make $832 every time you get an appointment. Why are you doing $15 an hour work? “No, but I mean if I do that, I have to hire people out of payroll.” Saving money is not the same as making money. My payroll is probably more than what a lot of you guys make. I will gladly spend $20,000 a month in payroll to make $200,000 a month in commissions. Any day. Saving money is not the same as making money.
So here’s my question for you. Are you self-employed, or are you a business owner? You’re a business owner? If you didn’t work for a month, what happens to your income? You would feel it; it would go down. Then you’re not a business owner; you are self-employed. The idea, the thought should be to shift to becoming a business owner. Why? Because a business runs in spite of you, not because of you. So shift all non-income-generating activities to someone else so that you can focus on your highest and best use. I travel more, and I speak around the world more than I ever have at any point in my career. I make more money now than I have at any point in my career. I sit on one of the boards for Top of the Table, and I saw this interesting study that they put out. They have three tiers. They had MDRT — you’re making about a $120,000 a year or so. They had Court of the Table — you’re making about $500,000 a year in income. And they had Top of the Table producers — you’re making $1 million+ in income. And they did a study as to who works the most hours in a week. Who do you think works the most hours in a week? Top of the Table, Court of the Table or MDRT. Who do you think works the most hours in a week? The MDRT agents work more than Court of the Table agents, who work more than Top of the Table agents. So I work less, and I make more money? Yes, because anyone at Top of the Table understands leverage. They’re focusing on their highest and best use, and they’re having their staff focus on non-income-generating activities.
Now, again, I don’t want you to walk out of here and go, “Man, Eszylfie said that I’ve got to hire seven people with $20,000 a month on payroll. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. Maybe I’ll ask my mom if I can borrow some money.” Right? Baby steps. When I started in the business, I was at my first appointment with my first assistant, who worked on Fridays, and that gave way to one part-time assistant every day to one full-time and a part-time and two full-time, and so forth. So it grew organically over time. So, transitioning from being self-employed to a business owner isn’t something that’s going to happen overnight. But I want you to be conscious of it.
You know, I had an attorney tell me several years ago, and this was the switch for me: “I think about McDonald’s. If Ray Kroc had to make every fry and flip every burger himself, there’d have been only one.” Leverage. I love J. Paul Getty and his wealth-building principle, which states simply, “I’d rather earn 1 percent effort from 100 people than 100 percent of my own.”
So why aren’t we focusing here on what’s keeping us away from that? Give it away. Give it to someone else. You don’t need it. Going back to McDonald’s, think about it. Did you ever see a McDonald’s franchise owner flipping burgers? Never, right? There are kids there making minimum wage, making this person millions of dollars a year. That is a business owner. I invite you to use that same language with your clients. Are you a business owner, or are you self-employed? And they will tell you, “I’m a business owner.” “If you didn’t come home tomorrow, what would happen to your business?” So we need to protect that.
Win the day!
Win the day. What does that mean? My annual revenue goal is over $2 million a year. That’s what I want to make. $2 million a year. Now, as I think about that, even today that’s pretty daunting. That’s a lot of deals. I make a lot of money, and you could get overwhelmed by that. So you know what I do? I don’t think about what I want to make for the year. Oh, you do the quarter, then you do quarterly goals. No. OK, so you break it down in the month ending. Nope. I just want to win the day. Just win the day. Breaking down my revenue goals, I need to make $10,000 a day. Can I sell a $1,000 a month policy today? Can I roll over $150,000 into income annuity today? I can. I can do that. Here’s my question for you: What if I told you before the sun goes down this evening that if you don’t get one person at least, two if need be, to give you $200 a month for insurance, you’re going to be kicked out of your office. Contracts gone. You won’t have a contract anymore. You’re going to lose your house, have your car repossessed. Your spouse is going to leave you, and your kids will disown you if you don’t get at least $200 premium a month today. Could you do it? If you say no, you shouldn’t even be here. It is that sense of urgency that turns in me every single day, and that’s why I’m successful.
In the last 30, 45 days, if you follow me on social media, you’ve seen me near this island. [visual] Some pretty cool places. These were all award trips for the various companies that I write business for. I swear to you, as I stand on stage today, if you asked me what the criteria was for me to go on those trips, I would tell you that I have no idea; I have absolutely no idea. I don’t know if it was a number of cases that I wrote. I don’t know if it’s the premiums that I wrote. I don’t know. I have no idea at all. But I know this. I know that if I make $10,000 a day, I want to win somebody’s trip. What if I sell 300 policies a year on me, and I get a gift from somebody, and I tell you, “What if I make over $2 million a year? I think I can afford my own trip if I had to, right?” But here is the interesting thing about this business. The more conviction you have, the more passionate you are; the more you make it about your clients and not about you, the more that will come to you. You must trust the process. Don’t get bogged down with the minutia. The Bible says to not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will bring enough problems of its own. Just get through today. Just win the day. $10,000 a day is my goal.
Now, you might say, “Eszylfie, do you make $10,000 every day?” No, I don’t make $10,000 every day. Some days I make $50,000. And some days I make $10. Some days I make $500, and some days I make nothing. But the mindset, the objective, every day, is to get three appointments on the books with each one of those appointments giving me a potential $10,000 outcome. And when the dust settles, my numbers will be there.
The median income in this industry is $48,000 a year, which means half the people in this business make less than $48,000, and the other half make more than $48,000. There are two types of people in this business: new people and successful people. You get good and you make money, or you will leave. Right? So it’s my aim to make sure that all of you are as successful as you want to be. But you saw the numbers that said how many of you make more than $1 million. You get a $1 million check — two, three people, right? That’s the business. You were standing in the presence of greatness. No, I mean I failed every way you can fail, and I’m going to teach you a lot of stuff today. Now, some of you might be sitting there like, “Eszylfie, I mean, I don’t have the experience that you have. I don’t have maybe the market that you have. I’m not as good-looking.” And I may be able to help you overcome these things, some of them, to the best of my ability. But let’s look at the current state of the industry.
Current state of our industry
Most of the nation’s 300,000+ financial advisors are over the age of 50. Less than 5 percent are under the age of 30. Every year, for the next 10 years, 12,000 to 16,000 financial advisors are going to retire, and the rate of replacement just simply isn’t keeping pace. Eighty-eight percent of financial advisors do not make it beyond three years in this business. Eighty-eight percent. Sixty-six percent don’t make it past the first six months. Congratulations to you. But it’s not just enough to survive in this business; let’s thrive in this business. Let’s look at the opportunity here. Thirty-nine percent of U.S. adults have no life insurance at all. Zero, none. Remember what I said earlier? I’m pretty confident I can beat zero. Nearly 40 percent of people have nothing. I mean, let’s put the Taylor Method to the side for a moment. You’re all salespeople. You can walk up to people and go, “Hello, my name is Eszylfie Taylor, and I sell insurance to families, to protect them, for $200 a month.” And you said that to 12 people a week. Some would say, “Yeah, all right, I’ll buy.” Right? Forty percent of people have none. Eighty-five percent of U.S. adults agree that people should have life insurance. Yet again, half don’t have any. So they acknowledge it. Why? Because people don’t wake up in the morning saying, “You know what I’m going to do today? I’ll get my insurance, get that long-term care, re-bounce my investment portfolio, update my trust.” People don’t do that. They know they should, right? But, again, it’s our burden, and it’s incumbent upon us to get out there and share the message.
Now, let’s go one step further. Let’s talk about that percentage. That’s 61 percent who actually do have insurance. My contention is 95 percent of people are underinsured. Stop letting people off the hook. Again, I was guilty of it. “You have insurance?” “Yes, I have insurance. I’ve already got insurance.” This is me as a new advisor: “Oh, I’m sorry I bothered you. You have insurance? How much?” And that same person tells you, “Oh, I’m good. I have insurance, but I get two times salary at my job.” $200,000, right? Let’s go through; be bold. “So let me ask you a question. After two years of your income, is replacing your family and now your 8-year-old is 10, and your 3-year-old is 5. And now the money’s run out, so then what happens to your family? Not good. Golden question here: Is that what you want?” I can’t say that to them. What are they going to do, not buy? Be bold.
Seize the opportunity
There is an estimated $15 trillion unmet life insurance need in this country — $15 trillion, and I’m doing my damnedest to write as much as I can, but I need some help. $15 trillion. We’ve got the graying of America, right? Someone is turning 65 years old every single minute in this country. There is an estimated $41 trillion of wealth that is going to transfer from this generation to the next. Seize the opportunity. So let me get this straight. Our industry is shrinking in terms of advisors, right? And I’m not even going to get into those who are actually competent. But our industry is shrinking in terms of the number of advisors. The population is growing. So fewer people own life insurance than ever before in our country’s history. Yet there is more wealth that’s going to be transferred in this day and age than at any time in our country’s history, so if you can just learn truthfully to be half decent, to just open your mouth, get in front of people and share your story, you will succeed in this business.
The Taylor Method
The Taylor Method — what is it? I’ll break it into four simple parts:
- The approach: What do I say to get in front of people? It’s all about at-bats. I always say a broken clock is right twice a day. It’s all about at-bats, or getting in front of people.
- The fact find: When I’m in front of them, what questions do I ask?
- The opportunity: With the way they’ve answered those questions, where is the opportunity for the sale? Where is the deficiency? Where can I add value?
- The close: This is the call to action. What do I say to get people to write checks? To move? “Let’s get started.” You’ve got it.
What will the Taylor Method do for you?
- Increase productivity: We get paid to do one thing in this business and that is to see people and close deals. We want to engage income-generating activities and learn how to become more efficient with our time.
- Increase case size: An application for $50 a month or $5,000 per month are exactly the same and require the same effort to process. If we are going to work, we might as well make the most money we can while we are working.
- Increase case rate: The byproduct of consistent activity will result in a high case rate. Writing a lot of business results in less volatility in your income and anxiety and will allow you to grow much faster in your business as practice makes perfect.
The approach
What do I say to get in front of people? There are a number of ways that you can garner new name flow, but among my favorites are personal observation, referrals and networking. I’ll give you some examples.
Personal observation: I like to say, “I prospect like I breathe.” Not only am I working when I am in a suit and tie or in the office. I am always working. I am always on because anytime I am engaging others and building a relationship, then I am working. I don’t care what company you represent or how smart you are or how well you know your products. If people do not know, like and trust you, you will not succeed in this field. If you like to play golf, basketball or chess, or belong to a book club, it doesn’t matter because any forum that allows you to engage others will suffice. I have three young daughters. My oldest daughter is named Nya and is 9 years old, and Shae and Zoe are 6-year-old twins. Three girls! I used to pray to God that he would send women to hang all over me, and he took me literally. Be careful what you ask for; you might just get it. In my household, Friday night is date night. I usually take my girls to dinner and a movie — show them how a man should treat a lady. That is usually followed up by a trip to the park on Saturday morning to play. The park is a gold mine for prospective clients. I call my oldest daughter, Nya, over and say, “Nya, come here. Go play with that kid — her parents look like they have money!” It’s true. I made over $100,000 in commissions from the park last year.
Referrals: I love referrals. No. 1, they allow you to qualify your prospects (gather pertinent information about their family, business and financial status), and, No. 2, referrals are free. There is no cost to acquire these precious names.
It took me several years to realize that you are going to make as much money as your clients make in this business. If your clients are broke and live paycheck to paycheck, their referrals will be broke and live paycheck to paycheck. If your clients make $1 million a year, their referrals will make $1 million a year. The first step to securing good referrals is to actually ask; closed mouths do not get fed. If you do not ask, you will certainly not receive. Next, you must tell referring parties exactly what you want. Give them some direction as to what kind of clients you are looking for. If you are not working in the marketplace that you want to work in, then you must prospect up. Rather than asking for random names, you can ask, “Whom do you look up to for their financial accomplishments?”
Networking: When most people attend networking events, they have this selfish “what’s in it for me” attitude. We typically scurry around frantically passing out business cards and telling them what we do and what we are selling. I advise you to take a completely different approach. I believe givers get. Rather than talking about yourself and what you want, take the time to identify the needs of others, and look to help them grow their business rather than your own. You will find yourself in a category of one.
The fact find
When I am in front of someone, what questions do I ask? Ask questions, ask questions and, when you think you are done, ask more questions. We have two ears and one mouth for a reason. If you lead with products, you will never be as successful as one who leads with questions. Imagine you went to a doctor and was prescribed medication and had surgery scheduled immediately after walking into the doctor’s office. Would you not be leery of working with someone who provided a solution before identifying the problem? Your clients’ needs will dictate the plan. It has taken me 16 years in this business to realize that it doesn’t matter what I think, what I want or what I would do — only the clients’ wishes matter.
The opportunity
With the way your clients answer your questions, where is the opportunity for the sale? We oftentimes have opportunities staring us dead in the face and do not realize it.
The close
What do I say to get clients to write a check? The call to action. If you have followed the Taylor Method to this point, the close is a forgone conclusion. It is not a matter of if they are going to buy, but rather how much. Your clients are going to do what you say or contradict themselves. This is truly the objection-free sales process. This is a revolutionary idea, but if you ask people what they want, they will tell you, and when you give it to them, they will buy. After we identify the “drowning man issue,” we are in business. I call it the “drowning man issue” because if you were in a boat that capsized in the middle of the ocean and were struggling to stay afloat, and I came by in a raft with a life preserver, does it matter if it is yellow, red, green or purple? No, it does not; you need what I have. We do not have to be perfect but simply better than what they have. If they have nothing, then that is pretty easy to do.
Elevator to success
There is no elevator to success. You have to take the stairs. There is no replacement for hard work.
Everything you want is on the other side of fear. Just go for it. You will never know unless you try.
Eszylfie Taylor is a 15-year MDRT member with four Court of the Table and six Top of the Table qualifications and the founder and president of Taylor Insurance and Financial Services. Prior to founding his own company, he was a standout financial advisor at New York Life, making Chairman’s Council. Taylor built the Taylor Method, his sales process for financial advisors, on his successes in problem solving instead of product selling.
