Over the last 20 years, I spent $0 for marketing costs, and I don’t do seminars or radio workshops or internet marketing. I literally work my practice through referred leads. I’m going to call upon high-net-worth prospects and sell them. And I have that power and control to make sure I never leave a policy contract delivery without five or seven referred leads.

Some years ago, we concluded the word “referral” creates a negative connotation in the mind of the affluent client. It’s our belief and the neuropsychological perspective. The word “referral” conjures up an intrusion or inducement on both the buyer and the referrer, as well as the referee. No problem. Almost all customers who purchase a policy are willing to share their wisdom and decisions with others, but we’ve concluded the word “referral” creates a roadblock mentally in the subconscious mind because it requires an occurrence or an outcome traceable back to the referrer.

We subsequently substituted the word “referral” with favorable introductions into our lead- gathering formulas. So, next time try using the words “favorable introductions” when you’re asking for people to give you names of people they may know. We created, for lack of a better term, a “highbrow dialogue,” and many of them actually geared to the sophistication of my clientele, which has proven to be 100 percent successful.

Now, I want to give you a little idea of what that looks like. I consider myself a zealot. And I think you need to portray that because if you truly believe the way I feel, that we are in one of the most socially significant industries you can be in, you have to be a zealot. I so strongly believe in our industry. I’ve been told I’m an evangelist of the insurance industry. In my opinion, everyone should own an insurance policy in a fixed index annuity.

I think what we do and what our clients purchase are the best products they can buy. So, after everything’s said and done and you’ve wrapped up the meeting and they’ve become clients — we call it the close, but whatever you want to call it yourself — it’s really that Kodak moment. They like you. They bought from you. You like them. They just purchased a $5 million life insurance policy with you. They just purchased a $3 million annuity with you. So, this is the moment, and you need to seize that moment because it’s your duty to go find more people. And it’s your duty to draw your own success and not let other people dictate your success.

You say, “John, Mary, I would like you to do me a favor. Can you put together a list of people you think would be interested in the things that I do or what I’ve been for you? Favorable introductions of people whom I can call upon and introduce myself? I’m going to give you three or four weeks until we get back together. And once we get everything transferred or everything prepared, underwritten and taken care of, at that time, when we get back together, I’m going to do everything humanly possible to get at least five to seven people from you. I’m not asking for those now.”

This happened to me, and I will never let this happen again. I was referred to an individual, and he became a client of mine. I was referred to him by a client who’s been a client of mine for eight years. I got everything wrapped up. I was walking out the door, and he stopped me. He said, “How long has Jack been a client of yours?” I said, “Eight years.” He goes, “You know, I’ve known Jack for 25 years. I am so happy with what you’ve done and the service you’ve provided and the plans that you’ve put together for me. I am upset.”

I thought to myself, What’s going on here? And he said, “You know, Craig, why didn’t Jack tell me about you eight years ago?” My response was, “I don’t know.” And I kind of laughed it off. I was trying to get out of there at that moment because I didn’t know where this was going. He said, “Well, I’m going to call Jack and let him know. He should have introduced me eight years ago.”

I went home that night. I looked at myself in the mirror, and I thought to myself, What are you doing? I almost took responsibility on myself that maybe I should have pressured Jack. Maybe I should have twisted Jack’s arm and got more referrals from him or more favorable introductions from him. Maybe I should have pushed him. Maybe I would have met this person eight years ago.

So, I tell that story to my clients before I ask them to put together those names. I tell them that I’m a zealot. I’m never going to leave any stone unturned, and I’m not going to let that happen again because I took and felt some type of responsibility for that. And I truly believe what we do is that important.

Craig R. Myers is a 19-year MDRT member with 19 Top of the Table qualifications from Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.