It is Terms & Conditions that counts!

For last passage, timing is mentioned. Actually, timing could also means "terms & conditions".

When the timing is right, that means that your prospects' "terms & conditions" are fulfilled, so that he will definitely buy from you.

So, in order to make a prospect becoming your client, you should think about what are their "terms & conditions". Is it your appearance, or your professionalism, or he sees you as untrustful, or your product not meeting their real needs etc...?

So, everytime go seeing prospects, keep in mind to find out what are their "terms & conditions" and fulfill it, and you will make the sale then.

A Manager's Sharing of recruiting

He is one of the top recruiter in Malaysia. He was an Accounting graduate, Former Education Officer. And he has been in this industry more than 15 years. Now his direct group got 12 officers, total group manpower got 100 agents.

How long would i be engaged in this industry? Not more than 3 years? 30 years? Or a lifetime? Your answer will determine how bright your future are.

Agent should be taken care of as a child to be loved, cared, and you will feel no regrets!

Looking for potential agents - first two hours interview, a comprehensive understanding of him and I know what sort of person they are. Are they look pleasing to my eye? Have a sense of responsibility? Then you will decide whether to recruit him or not.

4 great reasons to join:
1. In order to increase revenue.
2. In order to help people.
3. Autonomy (time, income).
4. Sure that (recognition) e.g. public applause.

To recruit young people, can be through:
1. Shopping Mall - promoters (their attitude must be positive )
2. Referral - customers kids

When an new agent come in, we have to advocate them to aim for managers goal. So that they will be managers one day and will understand the painstaking efforts made by the managers!

A Deep Condolence for an Insurance Industry Warrior

A friend of us in this industry had just passed away yesterday, due to car accident. His age is around 50. A kind, smiling face man to do this business, though not the top producers, but a responsible, caring agent.

I respect and like him, so are many other agents.

This passage is dedicated to him, who had just left us.

He is Wong Kii Heng, from Sibu,Malaysia.

Everyday Work

Remember, our daily work is just to share the plan with our prospects.

We should say to them, " I will not force you to buy it, only to share with you the idea to see if you like it or not, and of course you can make your own decision."

No forced selling, only lead selling.

Sharing of Sales Experience

One morning, i went to pay a visit to a businessman referred by one of his staff, who is my friend. I am thinking of sharing the saving plan idea with him as my friend told me that he got 4 children, and he is having a partnership with the government in the education business.

But it took me about 6 months to take up courage to go to see him that day, as i am quite afraid of seeing bosses, the high status people.

When i went into his office, greeted him and passed him my namecard and said" I am Shariff's friend. And he told me that you are being a successful businessman at young age. And he referred me to you and thought that you may have interest in our company saving plan for your children."

To my surprise, he is a kind, cheerful businessman and welcomed me to have a sit. And he revealed to me that he is thinking about his 4 children's saving at the moment too, as he saw that quite a lot of his friends, who were rich some years back, but now become poor due to no saving and kept spending without self-control.

So, i introduced to him our company saving plan and he is satisfied with it and said that he will discuss with his wife first and then call me again.

From this case, i learn an important lesson to be brave to see prospects, no matter how rich they are which you may feel scary of. Overcome your fear by facing it, seeing them and you will be surprised at the result.

Ways to Improve Your Sales Performance

There are some ways to improve our sales performance, as suggested by LIMRA:

1. Resell to existing clients.

2. Build up acquaintances- become good friends with them.

3. Make a good first impression.

4. Make your true identify and purpose clear - do not hide our identity from our prospects.

5. Have an idea in mind that fits the prospect's needs.

Don't give up that quick!

At age of around 4, we all were in the situation of wanting some stuffs like teddy bears, barbie dolls, goodies, toys, and our mums would said no to us. But we kept asking for it, and some might even cry, or lay down on the ground and said if don't get it, you would not leave that place. So at the end, mum finally bought us one and we won.

Ponder over it for some minutes, for that kind of steadfastness, must-get-it attitude you had got.

But now, back to our life, we easily give up by others' simple word "No".

We should continue to hold that kind of attitude of your youth for your whole life, not just in your youth.

Do we give up so quick?

What things should we be more striving to get it done or achieved?

Can't!

Many people say that they can't do this, can't do that.
They can't sell insurance, can't become successful etc...

But have they ever think back since their birth;
they can't walk, but then can walk and even run,
can't talk, then can talk, and even has a debate with each other,
can't write, then can write well, and some even keep publishing books and achieved New York Best Seller Book Awards,
can't wear clothes, then can wear nice clothes and run after fashion styles,
can't ride bikes & drive cars, but now drive good cars, some even have car racing
..........

So many can'ts, but now we can.

So now, can we still able to say that we can't do it now and forever?

2 areas to focus

There are 2 areas agents can focus in:

1. In Breadth

2. In Depth

Agents tend to focus on first one only. They keep finding new prospects, which would be tired to them.

Those smart agents or top producers will focus on second one more. They will keep excavate prospects from their clients' families group, friends etc, instead of keep finding for new prospects the hard way.

Just like a small tree, if it want to be a big & strong tree, it need to have its roots going widely(in breadth), and going deeply(in depth) as well. Then, it will become a big, mighty tree one day.

This applies to the agents as well.

It is Timing that counts!

Usually, agents will face the problem of seeing the prospects and share the insurance ideas with them, but they don't accept it. Some would even say they would not ever buy insurance in their lifetime. This is what i called TIMING not right. Time has not come yet for them to accept it. We must still pay visit to them sometimes continuously, so that one day, when the TIMING is right, they will finally accept it.

Timing could means either time or opportunity.

Sometimes the prospect does not buy from you because you come to visit him at his busy time. And sometimes he does not buy from you yet because he has not come to a realisation of his problem & need. We should not give up, one day, the timing will be right to us & to him.

So, next time, when you are rejected by a prospect, just say to yourself, TIMING is not right now, will be anytime later. So, still got chance.

Don't think about possible rejection

Think about possible rejection will make us nervous, which cause ue avoid making calls. So, when we are prospecting, set a specific goal and don't stop until we have reached it.

We must try to view our prospecting as a challenge instead of a trial. What's the worst that could happen that our prospects say no to us?

And don't be intimidated by social status. Normally, we will be afraid of seeing high social status people. We should overcome the fear by thinking of ourselves as high earner(even if you have not been at this time).

Call reluctance

One of the major problem faced by life insurance agents is call reluctance, that agents feel do not want to go out to see prospects, feel safe in their "comfort zone". One obvious sign of call reluctance is having most of the time spent in the office dealing with paperwork & computer.

It can be for new agents, even 10 yrs or 20 yrs old agent.

We need to be alert of it and confront it.

Call reluctance is also viewed as "fear of self-promotion". Some salespeople see self-promotion as unprofessional hustling. We have a responsibility to offer our services to as many people as possible. If we have confidence in our company's products, we can say,"They lack of interest is their loss."

Another Young Boy of age 25

There is another young boy, age 25, just joined in insurance in May 2008 and achieved company overseas trip by October 2008.

How he did it?

Well, he said we, as agents, need to have INFLUENCE/ENTHUSIASM to be successful in anything.

When we went to see our prospects & talked to them enthusiastically, they can feel it and being influenced by us easily. And imagine one agent went to see his prospect with a down mood, and talked softly, the prospect will be distracted by what you said and no sales made.

Tips: He tends to buy gifts to the prospects before sales, to build up a good relationship with them first and then they will easily listen to what you said.

Have the reason to achieve it no matter what!

A bus full of passengers is going down the hill slope at full speed, and a person kept running after it even he was still quite a distance away from the bus.

A pedestrian by his side said to him:"Hey, Buddy! Forget it! You would never make it!"

But he said:"I must get onto it, as i am the driver of this bus."

People need to have a good reason to be able to go beyond their limits and achieve the impossibles.

If we have a good reason in our career too, we will definitely achieve our goals and dreams.

Ideas for increasing your productivity

Here's a collection of ideas for boosting your productivity:

1. Identify a new market and penetrate it.

2. If your agency has an in-house specialist, use him or her.

3.Review your market.  Consider moving into other markets when you decide you cannot move up    economically in your present market(s).

4. Aim for larger sales: Upsells.

5. Delegate non-income-producing chores.

Life is all about love!

What is life all about?
It's about how much fortunate you have made?Your achievement?
NO!!!
Life is all about love. Love people around you.
Bible quoted" Love the Lord your God", and "Love your neighbours as yourself".
It's all about love!
So, in our life, be sure to focus on love only. That should be our main purpose on earth.
But doing in action is not easy. We can only keep learning to show love to one another.
And love shows sacrifice without any conditions.

So does life insurance!
Insurance is about love too!
It exists due to love in this world!
If not, there should be no existence of insurance ever.

Success is actually simple!

To be successful is actually simple. It is a matter of habit.

Success is "doing simple things continuously, non-stopping".

In our case, if we can form the habit of seeing prospects everyday, non-stopping, our achievement will be bigger.

Our " simple things" is just to see prospects & share with them insurance ideas.

So, we do it everyday, so that gradually, it becomes part of our life. If we stopped one day, we would feel something missing, something have not done yet.

But how many agents can do as what was told above? A small percentage only!

Learn from the young

Last time, a young boy's achievement of MDRT is mentioned.

Here, let us read through "history".

When he was in Form Six in year 2007, he managed to set aside whole Wednesday night, Saturday & Sunday whole day for insurance business, with his mum as his guide & referral, week by week, non-stopping for whole year. And that's how he managed to get qualified for his MDRT.

And for year 2008, since he got STPM exam, so he only can use Saturday & Sunday to do business, to meet people. And he achieved company overseas trip award.

He said that " It is your attitude that is the most important factor which determines whether you can achieve the impossible."

So, he learns to be positive everyday, everywhere. And he is keen to ask questions to the successful agents to get the answers.

He said we should be BRAVE indeed! Brave in what then?

Brave to think big!
Brave to see prospects!
Brave to share insurance concepts to them!

He likes to bring his mum to travel, as his mum enjoys travelling. So his target is to achieve the company overseas trip award as a minimum requirement.

Above all, he firmly believes in life insurance. As at young age of 5, his father had passed away, and leaving his mum and 2 children. Fortunately his father left them $1million insurance cash, so that his mum can take care of the children easily without any worries and don't have to be a beggar. The insurance cash can support both his brother & himself to continue their studies till their graduation of university. It is through life insurance. And he is thankful to it.

So, my friend, be proud of being in this business.

Take note: Use your family members advantages to help you in this business. Like himself, he work together with his mum to visit his mum's friends, to work closely together and make the impossible.

Happy Valentine's Day!

May all couples be blessed & be protected under insurance love letter!!~~

More common sales mistake

Agents tend to focus on the product or job too much and forgetting that they are dealing with another human being.

Prospects may not interested in the product, they may interested in their family security, child education fund, retirement planning, donations. These are the topics we should discuss with them for their interests.

Spending too much time talking?

One common sales mistake that agents normally make is they spend too much time talking and not asking questions.

They talk a lot, but do prospects like it? Definitely not!! They want people to be able to listen to them, to express their views.

And what agents need to do is just ask them questions, leading them to realise what are their problems and their needs.

Ask critical questions. Talk less, listen more!

Services

Have you informed all your clients or even prospects to nominate someone as their policies' beneficiary? Or else it will cause a lot of problems when passed away.

And did your clients know well about the tax benefits available for the insurance premium paid? Since different countries got different tax laws, i would leave it to you to check out yourself in your area.

Are you boss?

As insurance agents, do we view ourselves as staffs only or really boss?

Many agents view themselves as staffs, so leaving them putting less effort in it. Just like an employee would do only what is required by managers, and that's it. Nothing more, nothing less. They would not want to get beyond the expectation of themselves.

Only a few agents would view themselves as their own boss, or even entrepreneurs. They actively expand their business, looking for prospects, meeting productions. They would do exceeding what they had done as employees in a company. They would hire employees such as clerk, insurance staffs to help themselves concentrating time more on productive works.

How about you then?

Where are the prospects?

For new agents, normally they got the same problems i.e. where to find the clients?

Here are some tips:
1. Your Family members & relatives - these have the higher possibility of buying rate.

2. Friends, classmates, colleagues.

3. associations, church, social activities.

4. referral, cold calling/canvassing

In the long run, those who can last are those who got lots of referrals from clients, friends.

Services

Everyone knows about After-Sales Service. It means services provided such as collecting premium, claim of insurance.

But do we know there is one more service? It is Before-Sales Service.

That means before prospects became our clients, we service them by helping them in some ways to deal with problems they faced in everyday living. This would become a relatively inexpensive but effective way of advertising yourself or selling yourself.

Insurance agents can be billionaires!

Do you know that even insurance agents can become billionaires? It is true.

In the life insurance industry, among the top is Mr. Ben Feldman, one of the industry's legendary producers, became a billionaire in the 1970's. In his lifetime, his total production volume is more than 80% of the total US life insurance companies in the 1970's.

If you think big, you will get bigger achievement too.

Learn to sell yourself!

Before we want to sell something, we must first learn to sell ourselves, or to promote ourselves, so that people will like us.

People buy from you not just because of the product, they buy it because it is you who are selling it that is more important.

If you can sell yourself out successfully, people will like you and will too like your products and services.

So, we must be ready to sell ourselves everyday to everyone we meet.

He did it! Can We?

A young boy just joined in life insurance in July 2007 at age 18 and he managed to achieve MDRT (Million Dollar Round Table) while he is still studying STPM.

How can he possibly do it? By managing his time well is his secret.

Normally we should see it as almost impossible, but somebody did it already!

Can we still say we can't do it? No excuse!

Think the impossible! Do the impossible! Achieve the impossible!

Likening

Life insurance is like an umbrella. When it is raining heavily, you wish your umbrella to be the bigger, the better.

If you do not have one umbrella, it is too late to go home and get it then. Too many people carry a small umbrella which is only large enough to protect some part, leaving their own family out in the thunderstorm.

Think about it carefully. Raining without umbrella is a much better situation, compared to breadwinner passing away leaving spouse & children debts & expenses without insurance.

Life insurance is like a parachute. When you need it, and you don't have it, you will never need it again.

Sales Tip!

Usually when prospects are hard to make decision whether to buy the insurance or not,
we can suggest to them by saying that
"A thing worth doing at all is worth doing promptly, isn't it correct?"

5 Main Criterias for a prospect

There are 5 main criterias for a prospect to be qualified as your client:

1. Healthy. The person must be healthy so that he is insurable.

2. Age. The person should be within the insurable age, normally between age 1 - age 65.

3. Money. The person must be financially stable in order to be able to pay for premium in
long term commitment.

4. Approachable. You should be able to find & talk with him easily so that as to tell him the
importance of insurance.

5. Needs. Does the person got any needs which you are aware of?