Killer combo: Services Offered, agent that listens
Reading time… 6 minutes (a little longer this time, but it’s a really good story!)
This is a story about neighbors, honesty and a nice potential reward at the other end.
Before the holidays we told you about using Medicare Supplements as a door opener for additional sales using our Services Offered approach. Remember Marty Rohde and his success in Arizona? Well, it works in the other 49 states, too!
Earlier this week one of our best agents in Illinois conducted a Medicare Supplement policy review with the intention of giving Services Offered a test. The customer’s son also sat in on the meeting. Laura tells it best:
“After I helped her with the Med Supp, I took the conversation in a different direction and explained that I was expanding my business beyond Med Supps and trying to help people in more areas.
“I pulled out Services Offered and gave them a brief description of what I do. As we were going through the services her son asked me how I could help him protect his investments so he wouldn’t lose anything for retirement. We talked about annuities and the many advantages from both a risk and reward standpoint. That was exactly what I had hoped would happen.
“Interestingly, all of his investments were with his neighbor, who is a broker with one of the national investment firms. The investments had done well but he was worried about being in stocks.
“So, while I was there, I got Drew Gurley on the speakerphone and let him take the discussion to a much deeper level. He explained how annuities work with the bonuses along with protecting the initial investment.
“My customer really liked what he heard and gave Drew information to run a few scenarios. But, my customer is a smart guy. After we hung up with Drew, he called the neighbor and asked a few questions about his account, which he learned had grown nicely over the years.”
This is where it gets interesting.
“After my customer hung up, he mentioned he also has a Roth IRA but was told by his neighbor that he had no options with that money because it had been funded with pre-tax dollars from the 401K. I later talked to Drew and found out that is not true.”
“As I was about to leave my customer said ‘I’ll do anything for you but if you ever lie to me we’re done.’” I got the message loud and clear.
“I later found out something that tied all this together. The neighbor had built a fence between the homes presumably because he didn’t want ag chemicals seeping into his yard. My customer later found out the real story: the neighbor’s wife wanted the fence built because she thought my customer’s family was too loud.
“We now have a meeting scheduled for February 5th to go through everything. I think we have a very good chance of getting this business as well as helping my customer’s son with his savings.”
This is no ordinary opportunity. Combined, the customer’s investments and his son’s savings are right at $600,000. And all because Laura simply told them what she does, using Services Offered, and took the time to get to know them (with a little dose of Drew on top!). You do the math on the opportunity. Or better yet, give Drew a call and find out how you can do the same thing… over and over and over.
Let 5Star’s legacy work to your benefit
Remember 5Star is owned by the Armed Forces Benefit Association (AFBA), a major supporter of retired and active duty military members. This is a great story to tell your final expense clients who are veterans of the United States Military!
AFBA’s President, General Ralph “Ed” Eberhart spoke to us at the 5Star leadership conference this past week and reinforced the strength, leadership and commitment of the AFBA. This organization is managed by a board of directors that reads like a Who’s Who of the military. Eberhart himself is a former Air Force General and past Commander of NORAD. Not bad!
This group of leaders is committed to making sure the integrity of the business is strong. We have the confidence that 5Star Final Expense is the premier product of choice for individuals who qualify. Its rates and benefits are competitive along with its unique story and added value.
And, don’t forget 5Star provides a 5% rebate each month for agents who produce $6,500 or greater annual premium. This is a great way to keep your lead costs down and cash in your pocket!
Twitter has tweets; Redbird has chirps
“Chirps” are a new feature of the Redbird Update. We hear things all the time and don’t always communicate them as well as we should. Chirps gives us a place to collect all those important little scraps of information. Please shoot any of us a note if you hear things that you think agents should know about.
This week’s chirps:
- 5Star to improve application processing. 5Star has hired a third party to make sure applications are posted on the agent portal within 24 hours. This is great news. We will watch this like a hawk and keep you posted on progress.
- Sagicor expected to release new automated application process in February. This will eliminate the phone interview and speed up issue time by nearly 15 minutes. Agents will now be able to complete the sales process without having to speak to the carrier or schedule a medical exam. This is big news for those of you selling over the phone in multiple states!! We will keep you all posted when the official release is announced.
- New 5Star application makes splitting commissions easier. 5Star is releasing a new application in February to allow agents to split commissions on cases where multiple agents are involved. This is great for those of you who are networking together and splitting cases. You can now easily add both agents to the application and split the commissions.
