51. Practice, practice, practice. After years in this business, it is easy to become complacent. Prepare your presentation, prepare your close and prepare your follow-up.
52. Review your sales call ... both good and bad. Too many times we play the "ones that got away" over and over in our minds. But what about the sales calls that go right? We can learn as much from them as from those unsuccessful calls.
53. Stay current on the issues affecting your clients. Follow trends in the industry by faithfully reading leading industry publications and learn what others are doing in the market.
54. Be creative! Your senior clients will remember the little things that you do if they are original and creative. For example, a monthly calendar of local events is a good way to stay in touch. It can be mailed or emailed, depending upon the client.
55. Solidify the sale. Don't just deliver the policy you wrote. Reinforce the reasons your client trusted you enough to part with their money and choose you over the other advisors who have tried before you.
- Kevin Wedmore, president, A2Z Annuity Marketing, Inc.
56. Maintain a database of the people attending your seminars. This information can be very useful in determining whether a registrant needs to be removed from your mailing list.
57. Use queries in your database to determine which locations are providing you with the greatest or lowest returns on your marketing investments and then increase or decrease expenditures accordingly.
58. Have a client appreciation dinner for the purpose of building rapport with your clients.
59. Use client referral dinners to provide opportunities for clients to send referrals.
- Richard Berry, Berry Financial Group, Inc.
A committee approach
60. For years, we have utilized a group of independent, financial professionals to serve all of the needs of our clients. In effect, this is wealth management by committee, with one professional serving as the captain of the team and as the go-between with the other professionals. This has allowed us to successfully compete with large financial brokerages and the "jack of all trades" financial planner.
The key is finding the right professionals to team up with: You need an attorney, an accountant, an insurance professional and a financial advisor to start. We now have four attorneys, three accountants, one asset manager, three financial advisors, an IRA specialist, two long term care agents, three annuity specialists and various other professionals.
- Steven G. Johnson, director, Retirement Solutions Group, Inc.
