Keys for communication

There are four crucial parts to good communication: 

1. Be a good listener. You must understand what your client is asking before you can answer. Unless you are listening to understand rather than listening to respond, you will be unable to get to the root of the client’s issues and answer them properly.
2. Be clear and concise. We spend a long time learning all the technical jargon of this profession. But clients aren’t concerned with how clever we are and what jargon we know. They want simple, clear answers to their problems and know that we care about them.
3. Be honest and transparent. If you don’t know something, say so and find the answer. They will see through any lies or lack of confidence straight away. Just by being honest and transparent, you will gain their loyalty and respect in the long run.
4. Be patient. They’ve sat through a long meeting. We’ve sat through several meetings during the day. We want this to be over with, but if we rush it, we run the risk of losing their loyalty and risk giving them bad service. Be patient — two extra minutes at the end of a meeting is all it takes to calmly summarize, relax, and allow them the space to answer and understand. Then you have a loyal client for life.

—Jeremy Mark Wellington, Dip PFS, Dip CII, 14-year MDRT member

Asking for ‘points of contact’

After every sale, rather than asking for referrals, I ask my client to nominate two or three “points of contact” for their policies. Digital communication and going paperless have contributed to the decline in physical mail, and without a document, clients’ loved ones/beneficiaries don’t know what policies the client has, who to call, and proceeds often go unclaimed. Hence meeting with my client’s point of contact and sharing with them a robust framework of claiming has been part of my business practice. Asking for a point of contact is more effective than asking for referrals, as it’s in the client’s utmost interest to link us and the nominated point of contact for discussion.

—Jake Lim Wei Lun, AEPP, eight-year MDRT member

Education budget

The best investment you can make is in yourself. Make an education budget, and spend it on both personal and professional development. The person who can best take care of you is the better version of yourself.

—Cheng Huann Yeoh, ChFC, CLU, 13-year MDRT member

Critical illness planning

I use medical prognosis examples/illustrations to help my clients with their critical illness planning. These prognosis details include knowing the approximate average survival years for critical illness conditions. For example, heart disease/stroke patients can survive 20 to 30 years, as long as any healthy individual, and dementia patients have an average life expectancy of 12 years. Different cancer types have different average life expectancies: Colon cancer has high survival prognosis while pancreas/liver/lung cancers have low survival rates. By providing relevant information about a wide spectrum of common critical illnesses, we let clients determine how much coverage they would like to buy.

—Wong Hui Delia, 14-year MDRT member

Name change

We realized that giving clients, prospects and centers of influence (COIs) gifts with our company name on them doesn’t help further our relationship. So, now all our gifts have their name on it. After a client signs a financial planning agreement and pays our fee, we send them a Yeti mug that has only their name on them. It’s a valuable enough gift that they will use often, and they will think of us even though our name is not on it. Last year, we gifted our referral partners/COIs a “Welcome to summer” gift, which included a Cotopaxi backpack embroidered with their last names for their summer adventures.

—Julianne Hertel, CLU, ChFC, 10-year MDRT member

Set boundaries

I used to be a perfectionist and often responded to client messages late at night. That is until I learned to set boundaries. If the message is not urgent — for example, the client just wants some documents or information — I will choose to reply the next morning instead of disturbing myself during my relaxing or resting time. This is not ignoring the client. It’s prioritizing. If there is an emergency, of course I will deal with it as soon as possible. Because of these changes, I have become happier, more influential and more confident in front of my clients, family and friends.

—Fang Yu Lo, eight-year MDRT member

Deeper engagement

Relationships and sales are built by giving extra value to clients. By being honest about products that work and those that don’t, I gain trust. This approach delivers value for the client, as they don’t have the luxury of time to study and check if the plans are still relevant to their current situation. I tell them that I can’t predict the outcome of the current solutions, but I can guarantee that I will be here to guide and help them make their aspirations come true, in good and bad times. This also includes situations where I am the bearer of bad news. This type of engagement and conversation allows the clients to trust me and provides me more business.

—Arlyn Tiong Tan, MBA, FChFP, 19-year MDRT member

Start kids early with budgeting

I give my kids their age per week as an allowance. They each have four jars that they decorated. One jar is the charity jar; 10% goes in there. They can use this to give to whatever organizations or needy people they choose. The second jar is for their future; 30% goes in there. We go periodically to the bank and put it in their accounts. The third jar is in the immediate gratification jar; 30% goes in there. This is for ice cream, or things they want now. The last 30% goes into the fourth jar for medium-term savings. This is for bigger things they want to save up for. Parents can do a match if they want. This practice teaches them good habits for adulthood. It also gives insight into their financial personalities.

—Jennifer P. Mann, MBA, CFP, 21-year MDRT member

Share the joy with birthday cards for clients’ children

I send a birthday card with a specific delivery date to ensure it arrives on the child’s birthday. For children 4 and younger, the cards are addressed to the parents, and for older children, I send cards directly to them. I select age-appropriate, fun birthday cards and decorate the envelopes with stickers like a bullet train or a princess. Many of my clients express their appreciation, which fosters unintentional communication that can lead to more purchases and referrals.

—Erisa Taniguchi, AFP, seven-year MDRT member

Show your staff trust

To give my team confidence to make their own decisions, I have agreed that if they make a decision that turns out to be wrong, I will back them up to the cost of putting the error right. Initially, the limit was £200; it has been increased to £1,000. I have yet to pay anything to make an error right. They know what to do, and now they have the confidence to make £1,000 decisions.

—Douglas John Bennett, Dip PFS, 18-year MDRT member