Like organizing a barbecue

Some clients struggle to take the first move in retirement planning. I make the process more manageable by breaking it down into small, achievable steps. I tell them to imagine organizing a barbecue meal with friends. While organizing the get-together may seem overwhelming at first, the task becomes more manageable when we break it down into steps — setting the date, choosing the venue, selecting the food and so on. Similarly, when it comes to planning for their retirement, I advise my clients to start with a low-commitment savings plan to build a strong foundation before taking the next steps.

—Jerry Jin Chong Yeo, CFP, ChFC, 10-year MDRT member

Strategy vs. goal

Be clear about the difference between a strategy and a goal. A goal is what one hopes to achieve. A strategy is the implementation of actions and steps to reach the goal. A successful strategy is a two-way decision-making process accomplished through navigating both internal and external factors to arrive at the goal.

—Pearlyn Koh, ChFC, 21-year MDRT member

Debt liquidation strategy

This method helps clients pay off debts, drive a sense of accomplishment and move forward. Here’s how it works:

1. List your debts: Write down all your debts from smallest to largest, regardless of the interest rates.
2. Make minimum payments: Pay the monthly minimum on all your debts except the smallest one.
3. Focus on the smallest debt: Put any extra money you can toward the smallest debt to eliminate that
   one first.
4. Pay it off: Celebrate your success when you pay it off.
5. Move to the next debt: Take the amount you were paying toward that eliminated debt and add it to the minimum payment for the next-smallest debt. Do this until you pay off the second debt.
6. Repeat: Keep going down your list, paying off each debt one by one.

This method results in gaining confidence while making progress on eliminating your debts. Doing so improves your cash flow over time. Once you pay off the debts, continue saving the funds you were using to build your longer-term savings.

—Gregory B. Gagne, ChFC, 26-year member and MDRT Immediate Past President

Dealing with missed appointments

When a client cancels, don’t let that time go to waste. Once, a client wasn’t at their office for our planned meeting, but instead of returning to my office, I made the most of being in the area. I simply sent quick messages to three or four other contacts nearby, saying, “I’m in your area today! (with a smiling face).” Within minutes, one friend invited me for coffee. Just like that, a potentially wasted trip turned into a networking opportunity.

—JianHua Liu, CIAM, eight-year MDRT member

Prepare three budgets

One best practice for our firm is a three-tiered approach to budgeting. First, we create the main budget. Then we develop a budget for a lean year and one that could be followed during a better-than-average revenue year. All three budgets are reviewed quarterly, and if our revenue is higher than expected, we take on more projects. During leaner years, we keep spending on the low side.

—Dana Mitchell, CFP, CLU, 11-year MDRT member

What your no’s are worth

Be persistent with reluctant clients, and to get through rejection, divide your monthly income by the amount of no’s you get from those who do not become clients. You will see what each no is worth. Say you make $5,000 during a month when five prospects rejected your proposals. Each no was worth $1,000. That certainly makes it easier to keep going in the face of rejection during a tough month.

—Anthony Matthews Jones, BSc (Hons), QFA, 18-year MDRT member

Birthday policies

Grandparents love to invest in their grandchildren’s future, whether it’s to build savings for their higher education or simply to express their love and affection. I’ve created policies where the grandparents are the proposers, and the grandchildren are the insured. In these “birthday policies,” the grandparents invest a certain amount of money in the name of their grandchild, who then receives a fixed sum every year for life. Upon the grandchild’s passing, the corpus transfers to the next generation, ensuring a legacy. I make the child’s birthday the payout date, so the grandparent is remembered on this special day every year. This concept has been very successful, and I continue to sell these policies by sharing this heartfelt idea.

—Santhosh M. Sunny, MBA, 14-year MDRT member

Segment your email

Managing distractions can improve productivity and keep you focused on the things most important. One of the biggest distractions we face is the 100-plus emails received every day. How can you be responsive to your clients when there are so many extraneous messages clogging the inbox? To manage this issue, I set up an auto response that says I only handle emails twice per day, so clients don’t expect an answer right after sending. This allows my assistant to go through all my emails and categorize them, so I only see the messages that need a response from me. He either puts messages in an “Action” folder, a “Review” folder or an “Archive” folder. During the allotted times, I will go through my Action folder and respond or act. If there is additional time, I will go through the Review folder. I never look in the Archive folder because that is junk mail that makes up 80% of my daily emails.

—Mark D. Olson, CFP, MSFS, 26-year MDRT member

Showing genuine interest

Wealthy individuals often are humble and excellent judges of character. So, rather than approaching them with obvious intentions or pressure, create opportunities to show your human appeal and demonstrate genuine interest in them. That’s when they begin to open up. When you seriously think, What kind of help can I give them? and make potentially beneficial proposals, the probability of acceptance may increase.

—Sunhoo Kim, 11-year MDRT member

The first interview

Prospects don’t want to feel like they’re being sold to, so I start by introducing myself. I give them a brochure I created with details about my family, beliefs and policies for serving clients. Through proactive self-disclosure, I help prospects understand who I am. I also make it a point to actively listen to them with a bright smile and respond enthusiastically, acknowledging, praising and affirming their thoughts. Building honest relationships with our clients is the foundation of our business, and it’s something that AI cannot replicate.

—Hiroto Yano, eight-year MDRT member

 

Seminars for employees

I conduct seminars for employees and present myself as an independent financial planner who can address a wide range of financial topics. When I create insurance plans, I factor in the company’s employee welfare programs and retirement packages along with the employee’s personal needs, such as expenses for home repairs and hobbies. Many employees often are unaware of the company benefits they have, so by explaining these advantages, I’m improving their loyalty to their employer. I’m also able to more effectively present recommendations for their retirement plans. My seminars help my company clients boost employee satisfaction and retain them, resulting in more requests from companies for my seminars.

—Asami Ushio, four-year MDRT member

Sneaker raffle

I promoted a raffle for high-quality sneakers at a local shoe store on my Instagram feed. I put a box in the store, asking people to enter their name for a chance to win and included disclaimers saying I had the right to contact entrants about what I do as a financial advisor. I held two raffles, and besides several solid leads, I got two good clients — a chiropractor and a personal trainer with their own businesses. My marketing cost was about $400 for the two pairs of sneakers. It’s like buying leads. The raffle attracted so much traffic that the retailers are interested in taking it to their other stores. What I initially thought would be a silly idea laid the groundwork for acquiring clients in my newly established target market in a short amount of time. 

—Anthony Castro, four-year MDRT member