While spending the better part of four days at the recent MDRT Annual Meeting in Indianapolis, I somehow never made it to the "Great Sex in a Loving Relationship" focus session, even though it was repeated on consecutive days.
Sorry, honey.
I did, however, make it to focus sessions about "U.S. Life Insurance Sales in Today's World," "Does Your Marketing Lack Imagination," "How to Position Critical Illness Insurance -- American Style," "Super Simple Sales Solutions," and a special lunch session, "Practice Building for the 21st Century."
Perhaps I need to take a closer look at my priorities.
While sex may have been the furthest thing from anyone's mind at the sessions I attended, I nevertheless emerged from each with a lot of great new ideas and information. Each session had some great one-liners, and I'd like to share a few of my favorites with you here, along with a little context.
"If you're not spending at least a couple thousand dollars a year on marketing, you're really kidding yourself."
This one came from Robert Krumroy, CLU, ChFC, during his "Does Your Marketing Lack Imagination" session, following it up by emphasizing that there is nothing more important in this business than marketing. When it came to closing technique, he stressed the need for patience with the following line: "You didn't ask your spouse out one time and then go for the kill -- you go through a courting process."
At the "How to Position Critical Illness Insurance -- American Style" focus session, speaker Tom Lawton drew an analogy between CI and a left tackle in football. "Have you protected your blind side from a heart attack, a stroke or cancer? Critical illness insurance is the financial left tackle. It protects you and your family."
Lawton, who counts many NFL coaches among his clientele, set it up by pointing out that left tackles are typically the second-highest-paid players on NFL teams to only the quarterback, who they are paid to protect from dangerous defensive ends.
During the Q&A session at the end of his presentation, Lawton was asked how to sell both DI and CI to a prospect, Lawton quipped: "Tell me which one is going to happen to you, and I'll tell you which one to buy."
As usual Howard Wight incorporated plenty of humor during his "Super Simple Sales Solutions" focus session. My favorite was an analogy about eternal optimism and brushing off rejection:
"Dog owners -- when your doorbell rings, does your dog run to the door? Is it ever for him? He doesn't take it personally. He just wants to meet people."
Wight also had plenty of to-the-point one-liners, including these two:
"Cold calls are God's punishment for failing to get enough good
referrals."
"It's bad enough to die. Don't do it for free."
At Anthony Morris' lunch session on practice-building, he advised attendees to stop referring to themselves as an "insurance agent" or a "financial advisor" when they meet people. "Instead, tell them, 'I reposition family balance sheets.' They'll say, 'Run that by me again?' and then you can explain what you do to them."
Even in challenging times, it was gratifying to see so many MDRT members packing the focus sessions. These top producers understand that no matter how much you know or how successful your practice is, you can always use new ideas and there is always more to learn.
Brian Anderson is the Editor of Life Insurance Selling. E-mail him at banderson@lifesinsuranceselling.com.
