Good morning my fellow MDRT members. It is an honor to be with you and other distinguished guests this morning. I have been asked to share with you some of my ideas that have worked well. I want to first thank the many legends that have walked this room and MDRT over the years, some of whom are here with us today. Without them I wouldn’t have learned what I learned in this business, and everything I share with you I got from them. So, for that I am thankful to the industry in general and MDRT in particular.

I’m convinced that the keys to client acquisition are the words that you use, the questions that you ask, the story that you tell, and the analogies that you share. In the limited time I have with you this morning, I’m going to share with you some of my most powerful questions and I hope it benefits you.

So, let’s start. First with life insurance you have built a great castle of your wealth or success. Have you built a moat around it to protect it from invaders? If you and been killed in a car accident last week and someone else had been responsible for your death, how much would your family sue that party for? Next question. Pretend you are directing the movie of your life. How do you want the story to end? And a bonus question on life insurance, it’s bad enough to die, why do it for free?

On annuities and retirement: Have you insured your retirement? Or what is your strategy to retire the risks to your retirement? If you could remove the government from your retirement plan; how quickly would you want to get started? Have you recalibrated your ROI now that you are at the doorstep of retirement? The ROI in this case is not return on investment, it is reliability of income. Do you want to be rich, or do you want an absolute guarantee, an absolute guarantee that you will never be poor?

With business owners, do you want to use your own money, or do you want to use other people’s money? Someday you are going to get rid of this business in one of five ways: either through voluntary sale, or retirement, or disability, death or bankruptcy. Would you like to see how you can do so a profit no matter the circumstances?

Questions on tax efficiency, this is based on US laws. Did you know that the IRS will give you a tax deduction today for a charitable gift that you don’t make until after you and your spouse mass away? If you were a farmer; would you rather pay taxes on the seed or the harvest? Did you know Mr. Prospect that estate taxes are optional? And did you know that capital gains taxes are voluntary?

On disability income protection, the question, the very powerful question, that we use, what do you feel is your single largest asset? Also, for the work you do; which oof the following compensation plans do you prefer? Plan A, a salary of $250,000 per year while working and zero if unable to work, or plan B, a salary oof $245,000 per year while working and $150,000 income tax free until age 65 if unable to work.

When talking to centers of influence, I like to ask, would you like to know of some ideas that would increase your billable value to your clients? For CPAs, particularly in the US, if you could change the tax code for ROTH IRA, and adjust the income contribution limits, so that a business owner or a highly compensated employee could contribute up to $100,000 per year; would you recommend they contribute the maximum they could afford?

With wealth management, would you rather be a “loaner” or an “owner oof assets? As a golfer, as I am, I carry 14 clubs in my bag and each one is designed for different circumstances and conditions. Do you Mr. Client similarly have your investments diversified for future uncertainties? Every dollar has a job. Are your dollars doing their job? And a question that we like, are you familiar with the “Rule of 72 and 116?” Finally, if the market was toto go up 100% in year 1 and fall by 50%in year 2; the average annualized return was 25% for two years. How much money would you have made?

Soo in conclusion, I hope you saw from my questions, that you hopefully can use at least one oof them. I’ve also found from my experience that sometime in the discussion with a prospect or client is not going well it helps to ask another question by getting the client to refocus it gives you the time to think how to proceed further. So, I encourage you to sharpen your own framework of asking questions in a way that will positively elevate your results.

Transcript

Adjusting your word choice to optimize outcomes

Author(s):

Vijay K. Khetarpal, AIF, CFP