The last few months of this year — due to the disruption of government shutting down businesses and shelter-in-place orders — are giving everybody the chance to re-examine their practices and make this a full turning point on how they go forward. We, as practitioners, hit ceilings of complexity in which we cannot take on more clients, cannot travel anymore, cannot work anymore hours. And we hit a level, a ceiling, a complexity that limits how far we can go.

However, the technology that we have been forced to use, such as digital meetings, allows us to use this as a turning point that will change how we do business forever.

As you look at your practice going forward, make this a turning point because today we are in a lockdown where we are not able to see clients face to face, and it is worldwide. Almost every country that we do business in has had some form of travel limitations. Traffic is not getting better in Manila or Kuala Lumpur or downtown Hong Kong. And the ability to travel from appointment to office and office to appointment, and to fill your calendar, is also getting more challenging in a normal world. So, where we are today allows us to rethink how we engage the client, how we re-engage our practices and how we can make a significant difference going forward.

First, identify your presentation, and identify your strengths. What are you good at? What makes you different from everybody else? What are you presenting, and how are you presenting? Record yourself. Do it with one of your staff members. Create a presentation, and record all your mannerisms and your flow, and then ask yourself, Is this someone I would like to buy from? Identify your strengths. What are your strong points? Explore your clients’ needs, and do interviews with them.

Engage in digital meetings. Bring young people with you as you go through this journey, not to help you with the technology but to engage and become part of where you are going. We use digital meetings for anywhere from 60 to 80 percent of our meetings. Some of our advisors have as much as 90 percent digital meetings. We have advisors scattered all around the United States, and we engage with clients as if they are sitting in our office. Digital meetings are a means to become more beneficial to clients because we attack it from their point first.

And then develop a unique process that makes you different. We sell all the same products. We invest in the same stocks around the world. But what is your process for making sure clients reach their goals?

Here is how we do it: When we make a presentation, we use PowerPoint. Whether it is live or digital, they are identical. We do not do anything differently. And we usually have two advisors on most calls: one to make the presentation and one to observe and run the background graphics so that the other advisor can focus on what he or she does best.

We designed our PowerPoint and presentations a lot like a TV show because that makes them very interactive. A TV show has an opening to set the plot, with some commercial breaks throughout, and then, at the end, they solve the problem. Usually, the show ends on a happy note. Think about how you can make your presentations more interactive, more enjoyable. We eliminated sending out fact-finders, so now we do it live. That was a benefit that I learned from my business partner and some of the younger advisors. I used to be old school, where I gave someone a piece of paper to fill out with a pen and then had them send it back to me so that I could add it digitally. Now we eliminate weeks by doing it live.

And the time savings for the client ― we call it “mobility issues.” Our clients have mobility issues, your clients have mobility issues, and we have mobility issues. Some of them are physical. Our clients are at an age where it is not easy to get around, get in a car and drive to our office. So, we address it from their needs. They can simply stay at home, stay in their pajamas and watch our presentation. We can solve their problems. And we say it all the time: “It doesn’t matter where we are; it just matters where you want to go, and we’ll help you get there.”

We talk very little about anything other than setting up. We talk about our firm. We show the visuals that there are real people behind our recommendations. We have a process called our “core wealth meeting,” and that is where we use technology to solve problems. Again, it becomes part of a TV show. We answer their “why.” And their biggest “why” when they come in is not “What’s my investment ratio? How much life insurance do I need?” Their big question is “Do I have enough?”

So, that is how we start the planning. And a lot of that we do through Zoom. We have a big footprint. We have multiple offices, and we service clients in our own location. I could be traveling around the world as I did for MDRT. And that is what started the process ― the need for me to be face to face with clients. But now it has become the entire process for our firm, and we are able to save time so that we can focus on client issues, not driving or flying. Think about that. If you have traffic issues getting back and forth to the client, use this example that we have been forced to do by being confined to our homes, and now use it as your mode of operation.

We rarely talk about the technology of what we do. That is where I find a lot of advisors making a mistake. They say they spend the first few minutes talking about the video and how to set it up. And they say, “Sorry I’m not there.” We never apologize for not being there because we are there. We use this as a means of reinforcing the value that we can be there at any time. When you talk to clients, don’t talk about the technology. It’s no different than using a phone, but it gives you so much more interaction because you can bring your desktop to them. You can show them the illustrations, and you can expand the printed material to focus on certain areas rather than just print it out and lay it in front of them. And we get right to business. Again, we found that there are the mobility issues and the time saved, and it is the exact same presentation.

I have found in my practice that it is easier for me to mentor young advisors to adapt and to train them by watching them live. I can be in another part of the world, the young advisors can be at their desk, and we can both interact at this meeting. They can gain valuable knowledge instead of having to wait for me to be where they are and where the client is. So, consider this as a mentoring challenge as well.

This year is not lost. It is wide open. And if we remove the glass ceiling of complexity and time by using technology, we can help solve more client problems and get to where we need to go.

Brian D. Heckert, CLU, ChFC, is a 32-year MDRT member with seven Court of the Table and 13 Top of the Table honors who served as MDRT President in 2016. He is a Legion of Honor Excalibur Knight of the MDRT Foundation and a member of its Inner Circle Society. He served on the MDRT Foundation Board of Trustees for three years and was Divisional Vice President three times. Heckert is the founder and managing member of Financial Solutions Midwest, a financial planning firm focused on creative retirement plan design and income distribution planning.