Come mid-March, we had no choice but to go remote. Faced with challenges, what do you do? Do you react and adapt to your new circumstances, or do you fold and go away like many competitors did? Doing nothing can equal trouble and big problems.

Let’s start with the COVID marketing emails. We started the second week of the pandemic sending out 14 emails every week to all our advisors and all our clients. We talked about personal things. We talked about professional things going on in the life insurance business. We talked about some of the things that were going on in the world. I also asked my clients certain questions at the end of these three-minute videos as to what they would do when the pandemic was over, how their family was fairing ― all these different things. The reactions I got from my clients and advisors after these videos were unbelievable. It made me realize that, as part of my marketing going forward, we are going to do a lot more videos. And as we revamp our website, that is going to be a major part of it as well. The videos allowed us to stay relevant and stay present to our clients as well as the advisors. Here is a quick segment from one of my videos:

Hey, good morning, everyone. I’m back here for another update and check-in with my friends, colleagues, friends of the firm, clients. We’re in week nine of quarantine now. Last week, at the end of the video, I asked two questions. One was “What would you do as you started to get back out there as quarantine was ending?” “What were the top things on the list?” And I kind of compiled that list from the tremendous amount of responses that I got. One was, have a comfortable visit with their parents. They expressed how they’ve had these awkward interactions through sliding glass doors, through windows, visiting parents in nursing homes, visiting parents from this distance on the street. They want a comfortable visit with their parents. I’m here for you. Call me again if you need me, drop me a note, FaceTime me. If you feel I can help anybody in your family, help any of your friends with some of their planning going through all this stuff, just give me a call. Have a great end to your week. And I look forward to speaking with you again soon. Talk to you later.

One of the other things was roadshows. And for those of you who have heard me speak in the past at MDRT, this is one of the most successful marketing tools that I’ve ever used: going into professional advisory firms, sponsoring a breakfast or lunch and giving them a “What’s going on in the insurance marketplace today” seminar during this brief period of time. It’s no more than 30 minutes. And I give them the trends in the insurance marketplace, what some of the products are, some of the things that our clients need to be looking out for, and then I answer any questions that they may have about the insurance marketplace.

But, clearly, because of COVID-19, firms weren’t even getting together, so I certainly wasn’t going to be able to do that. We had to adapt and adapt quickly. What I did was, I immediately set up 15 roadshows on Zoom with these centers of influence firms that we do a lot of work with. This proved to be great. It was efficient. I did it from my desk up in Maine during the pandemic, and I had more people attend. I had associates who were at lower levels I normally don’t get to see and staff members at some of these firms as well. And instead of having six or eight people in a roadshow, we were having 15 to 20 to 25 to 30 people attend one of these Zoom roadshows.

It made me realize how we can adapt and change to our times and how much better it can be, and how we can look to the positive for all that and not just the negative.

Another part that I got very involved with was the Boston Estate Planning Council. I’ve been on its board in the past, and I’ve sat and chaired many committees. They asked me if I’d be on the networking committee, which, clearly, during this time, was not going to be an easy task because nothing was going to be able to be done in person. So, we had to figure out creative ways to remain in touch with each other virtually.

Centers of influence make up 85 percent of the referrals that come into our practice. So, for me to take care of our professional advisors is paramount to any success that we’re going to have as a firm. All our centers of influence and all these new associates who attended our Zoom calls go into our Rolodex. They’re set up as registered investment advisors, financial planners, attorneys, bankers, whatever it may be. And I can either blast them as a group or segment them individually. So, it’s one way we stay in touch with them. Most of the time, what I’m sending them is articles that I’ve written, or if there’s an article I find that I feel could be relevant to their particular profession, I’ll send that along as well.

It’s about power prospecting and focusing on staying relevant. Write articles to your centers of influence. Make sure you are staying in front of your clients during this time. You don’t want them to find somebody else during this time when they are home and wanting to review their material. Reach out to them. If you hide, they’re not going to be able to see you. You cannot ever stop prospecting.

It doesn’t matter how long you’ve been in this business. I’ve been in the business 28 years. I continue to prospect every day. It’s certainly different than it was 20 years ago, but I’m still looking for opportunities. I’m still looking for advisors I could help out in whatever way I can and be there for my clients and these new prospects who are coming our way. We’ve had production success during COVID. You can get out there, and you can make sales. During this time, since mid-April, we’ve had 35 to 50 life insurance cases in the mill per month over the last six months, so it can be done. Get out there, good luck, and have some success.

David Eric Appel, CLU, ChFC, from Newton, Massachusetts, is a 24-year MDRT member with 10 Court of the Table and 8 Top of the Table qualifications.