If you’ve taken our advice to market and network yourself through online social networks, we want to warn you of the dangers that might arise from this. Sometimes we can forget how accessible information is on the internet.

First off, what is an “Internet Persona?”

It’s not a popular video game. It’s the presence you have online that people can find by using search engines or social networks. Any images or information that displays under your name is considered your internet persona. This could be part a Facebook account, your own website, or contact information on your company’s website. This also includes traceable comments on forums that lead to your name.

Most people are unaware that they have a traceable persona online, and consequently they may post material that reflects badly on their credibility.

What’s considered negative material?

Things that might be potentially harmful to your reputation falls in the same category of things you would not want to discuss at work. It includes:

• Provocative comments/images about sex, race, or religion.
• Profanity.
• Discussing people, projects and situations from your company in detail.
• Having an account on a controversial site.

…and many more. The best way to decide if something’s inappropriate is to imagine your manager or a potential reading over it. What would they think? Does it reflect poorly upon you as a professional insurance/mortgage specialist? If so, you should consider taking it down.

Don’t believe it? A keyword search on Google shows that school employees, airline staff, sheriffs, judges, and even mayors have been fired over inappropriate content listed on their social networking accounts.

How do I find it?

In this case, ignorance is not bliss.  If you’re worried what the internet says about you, you can:

• Google your name and follow the links that appear. Many times they’ll lead to another Joe Agent that has nothing to do with you. However, you might uncover some unexpected information or pictures that you wouldn’t like a potential client or your manager seeing. In these cases, you may want to get a social networking account to push these unfavorable links lower.

• Check extended parts of social networks or forums you participate in regularly. Beneath the surface of your Facebook account, you might find tagged pictures or linked information that leads to something you don’t wish to be associated with.

• Keep personal and professional emails and sites separated. If you have several email accounts that are posted online, know where those sites are and don’t send your private email to professional sources, like managers or clients. If you want to keep your private and professional life separate, it’s going to take some attention on your part!

I found stuff I don’t want posted, but I don’t have control over the material. What should I do?

If the material is being posted on a friend or acquaintance’s web site or networking account, get in contact with them and request it be removed. Unless someone has a grudge against you, they’ll usually comply and remove it.

If the poster refuses to remove the information, document your correspondence and then contact the website’s owner. If you lay out a good case for having the material removed, they will likely work with you to get it removed. Most sites like YouTube, MySpace, and Facebook have a policy of removing offensive material, or material that others don’t have permission to post.

Can I block people from viewing my networking site profile?

It depends on the website, but usually, yes. You can often modify privacy settings on your profile to make it, and its contents, only viewable to a select group.  We recommend making information “friends only”, or any other setting that will allow you to control who does and doesn’t see your settings.

Once you’re finished modifying the security on your account, test the lock. Log out of your account and attempt to view it. Does anything show up that you’d rather not?

Although this is one way to retain your online information as-is without modifying it, only changing privacy settings does have its drawbacks: in locking it, your profile also can no longer help build your reputation. As we pointed out in previous posts, social networks are powerful tools in marketing yourself and your website. We’d really hate for you to lose this great marketing tool!

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When it comes to being a mortgage/insurance specialist, credibility is key. You should do whatever it takes to make sure material online doesn’t do damage to it.

Your lead is not just a name and address, it’s a family that needs and deserves protection. This is why it’s so important for you to call your lead as soon as possible. The longer you wait, the less likely it will be that your potential client will remember why they sent in their lead in the first place. Capturing the reason and the emotion behind that request is an important part in connecting with your client’s needs and plugging into their reasons for needing protection.  Days of waiting will jeopardize that.

It’s these reasons that now, more than ever, speed is key in serving clients. The insurance industry is brainstorming to make submitting and receiving leads quicker, more accurate, and more efficient every day, if not every hour.

Answering the fast-paced demand for sales leads, NAA® has recently unveiled Predestined Leads™. This technology allows agents to receive potential client information faster than direct mailing leads. Usually leads take a few days to process, but predestined leads will allow agents to contact prospective clients minutes after the person requests protection (typically less than 3 minutes).

Leads are now sent straight from NAA’s web and telemarketing systems to the cell phones, blackberries and palm pilots of their waiting agents.  In the age of lightning fast internet, telecommunications and technology, NAA is doing its part to deliver fast service to not only its agents but the unprotected families that depend on them.

So remember, when it comes to service, your clients have the need for speed!

A lot of the techniques people would usually tell you to use don’t consider one little thing; you’re not a multi-millionaire (at least, not yet). So when it comes to marketing yourself, you have to think creatively on how to get your name out there.

Invest in Referrals.

When you shake your client’s hand and walk out their door without asking for referrals, you might as well be burning money. Before you turn around and head out, ask your client “Is there someone else you know who needs my help?” Get into the mindset that you’re just not finished once the check is signed. Referrals are one of most inexpensive ways to get more people’s contact information. Plus, your client is recommending you a party that might actually be interested in protection. NAA offers its agents a referral-building marketing program via KIT Marketing™. It’s helped hundreds of agents keep in touch as well as make new contacts.

Hand out business cards.

Ah, the business card, a timeless device for marketing yourself. There are two main functions of business cards:

· To reflect your professionalism

· To communicate all your contact information

· To be accessible.

If you have business cards that are well formatted and designed, people are less likely to throw them away. It’s not like a sloppy phone number written on a napkin; it’s a little gift to your clients. That being said don’t, be stingy with handing them out. Trust us; it’s worth it to circulate your contact information!

Speaking of contact information, make sure you have all the information your client (or potential client) will need to get in touch with you. Make sure the phone number listed is one you answer, and that your email address doesn’t send everything to junk mail. You’ll need to decide whether or not you’ll put your address. Do you want your clients to have access to your home information? These are all questions you’ll need to consider when making your cards. If you’re an agent with NAA, you can sign up for official NAA business cards.

[California agents should note that their license number will need to be prominently displayed on their card to comply with California law. ]

NOTE: Do NOT use a false title. Unless you’re licensed, you’re not a broker or an accountant. You’re an agent, or a Mortgage/Insurance protection Specialist.

Listing your website on your business card is a great way to connect your offline marketing with your online marketing. Don’t forget this piece of contact information when creating your card.

Team up with related businesses.

This might sound incredibly hooky and backwards, but teaming up with a related business and cross advertising one another is a great and kooky way to tap into interested parties as well as cut down on expenses. Maybe a loan company or a local bank would welcome a cross-advertising campaign? Think of those who have the same clients you have. If you were fishing at the same pond as someone else, wouldn’t you at least want to strike up a conversation?

Participate in local community activities.
Now this might be something better to do after building some recruits of your own. Your home town has many programs and events that are regularly held in order to assist those who are needy of donations, or just man power. Investigate what’s going on in your backyard, and how you can help. That might include money or volunteering time. Introduce yourself and share your passion for helping others not just through community service, but by protecting American families. You can focus on family-oriented activities to tap into a warm market.

NAA provides its agents with a website that helps them connect to local charities like Radiothons, all across the country. Check out NAA Hotspots for more information! (Note: this site will soon become only viewable to NAA agents).

Get listed!

Listing information in some expected and unexpected way can help your contact information be more visible. Make sure to list your contact information in…

The Phone Book- For local business, you can get yourself listed services in either of these books to tap into a market of families that need protection. You can do this by calling 1-800-GET-REAL or logging on to www.yellowbook.com. Just list yourself under applicable sections of the yellow pages. Is it mortgages? Life insurance? Understand what types of services you’re providing it and list yourselves there.

Wherever you list your number – Think of everywhere you list your phone number, and you’ll find a treasure trove of opportunities to advertise yourself. Place your contact information on stationary, envelopes, letterheads, as well as your email signatures. Think of how many people view these every day from you! Why not use that space to produce clients instead of keeping it as wasted space?

Self-advertise.

If you want to contribute more money to your advertisement, we suggest placing ads in the local newspaper and magazines. If you’re signed up to work in different states, consider sending ads to those newspaper and magazines as well. Don’t blindly contribute to an ad campaign unless you can chart any increase in business from it after a while; there’s no reason to shovel your money into a bottomless pit. However, if you’re seeing real returns, you’d want to increase or keep the advertising.

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Offline marketing is strongest when it’s connected with online marketing. If you do all three steps to promote yourself, you’ll have a greater chance of receiving more contacts that doing nothing. So get out there and sell yourself…just don’t sell yourself short!

The ABC’s of SEO.

SEO may sound like alphabet soup, but it’s more of your bread and butter when it comes to drawing in viewers. It stands for Search Engine Optimization.

A search engine is what you use to search through the internet for your various interests. Say you, for some very strange reason, wanted information on Norwegian ducks. You’d go to www.google.com, put in the keyword “Norwegian ducks” into the bar and click “search”. Google would then spit out a bunch of relevant searches for your very irrelevant keyword.

The idea behind Search Engine Optimization is that you, the website creator, can improve where on the list of relevant searches your site would pop up. If someone searched for “mortgage protection” in your local area, you’d likely want to be on the top of that list. The higher you are on the search results, the more likely people will view your website as relevant.

Title it like a book

The old saying “don’t judge a book by is cover,” has good intentions, but isn’t easily applied to marketing. The truth is, people judge books by their covers all the time, at least when deciding to take a look.

Search Engines are no different; if your website title is weak, it won’t score big hits with them.

I’m getting a little ahead of myself, however. You’re probably wondering just what the title is for a website.

When you access a website, the text that appears on the top bar of your web browser is called the title, or title element. Depending on how descriptive it is, a search engine will rank it higher in the search. Usually with site building programs as Dreamweaver, there will be a specific section where to insert your title. You can also do it the old fashioned way by inserting your title between its html tags, like so:

<title> Mortgage Protection in Detroit </title>

Headings serve the same purpose of titling your website, but for each paragraph of content. If you use relevant keywords (mortgage protection, insurance, home, family, finances), this will also improve your SEO.

<h1> How We Can Protect Your Family’s Finances</h1>

If you’re very confused as to how to apply these tags to your website, you can hire someone else to build the site and dictate what type of content you want applied (NAA provides its agents with websites that have these SEO grabbing titles and headings built in).

The Web of Links

SEO also decides if a website is relevant by how often it is linked to in cyberspace. If you place a link in another webpage, it may increase the relevancy to your website. But what type of alternate web pages should I use?

Well, it works best if you link your site from a higher ranking and credible site. It’s difficult for you to get some place like Yahoo! News to link to your website, but social networking sites such as Facebook, Linkedln, MySpace and even your own blog through such companies through Wordpress.  Be wary of your internet persona when building your identity through these websites however; what you put out on the internet can be tracked by potential clients or managers! Whatever type of information you post online, you want to reflect your professionalism and credibility.

Links to Others

As a supplement to this section, we recommend linking to related and local businesses within your area. Create a “links” page on you website and advertise local home ownership businesses, including their contact information.  The contact page of your website would look something like this:

Helpful Links for our clients…

Quarterly Realty

123 Easy Street

Everywhere, NC

Phone : (000) 000-0000

Fax: (000) 000-0000

Email: website@domainame.com

You might wondering, “why should I give someone free advertising?” Because in the process, you are advertising yourself!

This is a type of backwards linking; if a client does a search for a specific company’s address, your own website will pop up under search results. A potential home owner might be looking for this business, but discover your website in the process.  Advertising for free will not only help make this link stronger, but it could be mutually beneficial to both you and the other company. Related companies might be willing to recommend you to their clients if you’re giving them a free mention.

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Following these little tweaks will help you get more hits and higher rankings on search engines. Next, we’ll break from cyberspace and discuss what steps you can take to market your business in the three-dimensional world.

Warning: There are immoral and illegal ways to improve your SEO, but we highly discourage you from using them. You could get your site get completely kicked off of search engines!

The internet is an important vein of communication few of us can afford to ignore; It’s a fast and accessible way to find helpful information relevant to your needs. Mortgage and life protection is a real need for many Americans, and the internet is one avenue they take in researching what we have to offer?

Setting up and maintaining a website can bring you into the eye line of many new customers, but in order to attract the right crowd, you should take to heart some simple ways to market your site.

That might sound fishy to a few of you; “But Emily,” You might say. “I’m an insurance agent, not a Marketing tycoon. What business do I have trying to market my website?

“Well, you’ll have more business if you do.  That’s the whole point of marketing!”

You don’t have to be a marketing expert to make your website more accessible and helpful to potential clients. To make your information simpler and more available in different ways.

Below are a few basic tricks and tips on attracting more eyeballs to your website, and ultimately to you.

ProtectYourHome.com  versus 123mpcins.net

Have you ever gotten an address that seemed impossible to remember? You get lost, have to turn around and ask for directions. Maybe you just give up and head back to familiar lands.  The internet is no different. If you choose a domain name that has a couple of random letters and numbers in it, not only will you fade into the crowd but you’ll look less credible.

Besides, do you really want to be known as  123mpcins?

Choose a name that you could easily tell someone by mouth, and that’s related to what you’re doing. Be creative! What does mortgage protection mean? What do you want to do for families? It might take some brainstorming, but if you come up with something clever, your potential clients will remember your address, and admire you for your creativity.

If you’re having real trouble finding a website domain that isn’t taken, look at taking alternate websites such as .info. I once had to do a project with a catchy website name, and took .info as a domain instead of the popular .com. It wasn’t mainstream, but it was much easier to remember…and we got the name we wanted associated with our group.  Alternate domain names also can be cheaper than the typical .com. It wasn’t as expensive to buy, either.

Make it User-Friendly

Imagine you walk into a bookstore in search of a book on yoga. You look all around for signs to tell you where the Fitness section is located, but to no avail. You are awash in a sea of paperbacks and hard covers.  You walk out.

This can happen online too if your website is a mess.

Make your site as easy to navigate. There should be a navigation bar either on the top of your website or on the side.  On the navigation bar, put clear and concise links to separate parts of your website. These links should have titles that are easy to understand and relevant to the sub-pages they send your visitor to.

For example, let’s look at NAAlife’s website. The website functions as a place where clients can get information on the insurance products NAA offers. The navigation bar clearly supports this purpose by putting the types of plans as sub-pages and links on the front page.  Brainstorm what you want to say to your clients, and what information you want easily available. What would you like to see on a website’s navigation bar?

Picture that bookstore again. You turn a corner and see books crammed into shelves and laying in piles on the floor.  Immediately you wonder why the owner has let his store become so messy. Do you really want to buy from this person?

The same stigma can be applied to your website if you don’t keep it clean and organized. Modern technology allows us to add a lot of fancy animated graphics and high-resolution pictures. Your main goal, however, is to keep your website layout simple and clean. Err on the side of simplicity creating it, or hire a professional website designer whose work is credible.

Luckily for some agents, corporations like NAA provide solid websites for all its agents - SEO taken into account, and all.

Your Most Important Asset is You

Building all the important parts to your website, you might forget the most important aspect of it: you. You’re the reason it’s being made right? Don’t squander the moment to grab the spotlight.

Just like a business card, your contact information should be the centerpiece of your site. Put your phone and address in the forefront of your visitor’s minds. NAA produces custom websites for agents that do just that. A picture can also add a personal touch to the website; remember, your clients want to be able to relate to you as a person. Adding this information will help them put a name, face, and address to their agent.

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These are just a few of the many things you can do in order to make your information accessible on the internet.  We’ll be discussing more advanced ways you can make your website pop up in searches, as well as what you can do outside the web to market yourself.  Stay tuned!

From the time we’re kids till we’re fully grown, one thing never changes; we’re all looking for someone to look up to. When we’re the new kid on the block, it’s instinctual to search for someone to emulate and mentor, especially in situations where you feel inexperienced or at odds with our environment.

But surely by the time you’re grown and in the business world you’ve learned what to look for in a leader…right?

Not necessarily.

Most of us grow up with good teachers, coaches, parents and pastors that guide us on the right track, but not everyone we learn from is a good role model. Take the kid that learns bad words from their parents and turns into a potty mouth. Or the child who follows his big brother’s footsteps, whether they are good or bad.

In the world of insurance sales, you’ll look to your manager by default for leadership. However, being a manager does not necessarily mean you are a leader. S/he may or may not have the time or skills to properly give you guidance.

In the event of a manager without leadership skills, break glass.

If you’re in this position, don’t give up! Quitting and blaming it on your manager is giving up your own responsibility in your situation. You have to fight for success, and sometimes that means looking in creative places for a mentor.

Many times, people forget that above your manager, there is a higher line of managers that have proven success. There will always be people above your line of hierchy that retain the core values of your company, and have proven growth. At NAA, we call these leaders our core managers, or leaders.

Tap into the core leaders that surround you, even if they aren’t within arm’s length. You can often glean from their behavior and advice important lessons that will elevate you in the future. Make sure whatever vein of mentorship you follow, they are a proven leader.

Now that you have a direction to point your vessel, it’s time to put some wind in your “sales”. Peter F. Drucker once said “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” Not every manager is a leader, and it’s up to you to determine this and find the right person to edify. Reach up, around and over for the guidance you need. Having a clear vision of your core leaders and values is an important part of NAA, and can be applied to everyday life.

Finding leaders in unlikely places shows an agent’s ability to be adaptive. Devoted readers, where is the most unlikely place you’ve found a role model?

But how do you reach the next level? Manager, regional manager, even your own agency; these are the dreams of many hard working agents that don’t see the title of “salesmen” as their stopping point. The answer is right under your nose, or more literally, right in your office.

In order to make a transition from agent to manager, you have to think like a manager.

It’s easy enough to say, but what does this mean in action?

Review Yourself.

One thing a manager must do constantly is evaluate the merit and returns of his recruits. Don’t wait for your own manager to tell you what you’re doing right or wrong; look at your own performance and make an evaluation.

This includes seeing if you have good persistency, but also look at your care ratio and see where you fall. As an agent, think of all you could independently achieve if you too tracked your appointment s, submissions, referrals, and lead rates, as well as fighting hard to achieve high percentages. Doing so will give you the self-awareness of what you’re succeeding at and where you need to improve.

Manage Now!

Pietro Aretino once said “I am a king, because I know how to rule myself.” You may not want to become the next Richard III, but you can’t expect to manage other people if you can’t manage yourself. Use your time and money efficiently and effectively. That means making a schedule and sticking to it and avoiding the dreaded pitfalls of profitability. If you have credit debt, make it a priority to consolidate it so you’ll set a financially responsible example for your down line.

If you continue to succeed, your finances will grow and your time will most likely shrink; now is the time to manage on the ground floor before you start building up!

Have a mentor.

People look high and low for mentors, but you really need only to peek your head above your manager’s cubicle. Your manager has been in your exact position, strived hard and found his own success. It makes sense, then, that you should pay attention to what he has to say and what he does. You’ll probably find your own style of managing, but the core values and behaviors you need to excel never change.

Look ahead!

Having vision for the future determines a leader from a follower. Know where you want to be in the next year and know how to get there. You can do this financially by saving in hopes of the future, as well as sacrificing luxuries; Barry Clarkson encourages NAA agents to have a 6 month to year’s worth of income saved in case of emergency. If you’ve built a foundation, talk to your manager about beginning to recruit and growing your own branches.

The future is sometimes unpredictable, but you can take steps today to prepare for success tomorrow.

Know Your “Why.”

If you want to have staying and growing power, you should have a good “why.” We’re not talking about an alphabet or some type of martial arts; you have to be in the business for the right reasons.

Sit down with and ask yourself “why do I want to be successful? Why do I want to do this for a living?” If the only answer you can come up with is “money,” then you might be in trouble; history has shown that agents that only want financial success don’t stay in for the long haul. When you’re bleary eyed, aching, and still have appointments to make, you’ll need more than money to convince you to go on.

Do you want a better life for you and your spouse? Maybe you simply want to help people. Whatever your reason is, make sure it’s a substantial one that will get you through the trials and tribulations when you reach for success.

Tell us, what is your “why?”

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The above doesn’t include all the parts to becoming a great manager, but it highlights the important mindset and prepatory work you should do in order to get into the right gear. Now go out there and climb that ladder!

]]> http://www.naaleads.com/the-way/think-like-a-manager-making-a-transition-from-salesman-to-manager/feed http://www.naaleads.com/the-way/pitfalls-of-profitability-2-understanding-what-return-on-investment-really-means http://www.naaleads.com/the-way/pitfalls-of-profitability-2-understanding-what-return-on-investment-really-means#comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 19:59:57 +0000 Misty Thebeau http://www.naaleads.com/the-way/?p=103 To get to the top, an agent needs integrity, tenacity, and ability to look forward into the future. Besides these characteristics, an understanding of basic business principles goes a long way, especially if you’re trying to grow an agency.  One thing that you might not get quizzed on in earning your insurance license, however, is understanding the relationship between your expenses and your net worth.  If you’re priming to build a business, or success, you should perk up for the next part of this post.

One of the core principles of business is the concept of Return on Investment, or ROI. It’s a very simple equation that shows you the relation of how much you spend (or expenses) to your overall earnings.

(gross income - total costs) = ____ x100 = ROI %

Total costs

Or…

500-250 = 2 x 100 = 200%

250

ROI is a tool that can help you determine how much you’re putting in, and how much you’re getting back in relation. If the percentage is high, you’re doing a good job of producing a gross income. If, however, your percentage is low, you might be burning too much of your income up in expenses.

What’s really important to remember is how what you make and what you spend making it are related. If you’re making $20,000 a month but spending $10,000 in expenses, your net gain is only $10,000. If your income grows but your expenses stay the same, your net gain could end up increasing and you’ll make a greater profit. Just the opposite can happen as well; your expenses can grow far more than your overall income, causing you to owe instead of profiting.

So how can you build your profits, and possibly an agency?

Be Flexible.

Don’t be afraid to grow; you have to look at the big picture when growing your company. This may mean increasing your expenses, but if it will mean your income will increase as well, you will ultimately profit. You must be able to have the vision, as well as the flexibility to reevaluate your finances with growth on your mind.

Some people can do this, some can’t.

Know What You Value

Sometimes, it’s not all about cold hard cash. There are other factors to…well…”factor” in to your assessment on ROI.

•             Time - how much time are you spending producing income? Do you value keeping the amount of time working the same? What value would you place on your work if you had to decrease your leisure time, but could also increase your end profit? Do you value your personal time, or are you willing to cut back in order to increase your profit? If not, you might need to think about making your working hours work more for you by becoming more efficient.

•             Accuracy – are you being efficient in the amount of effort you put out and how much revenue is produced by it? We all want to get 100% of profits from our work, but if you’re not being efficient, you might be sacrificing more time with less value. Evaluate where your time goes and how much work is getting done. Programs like KIT Marketing can help you increase your efficiency by managing and retaining your contacts.

•             Risk – Nothing in life in certain, and this includes growth. Are you willing to take some risk in order to become more profitable? What value do you place on being stable? On becoming more profitable? These answers will tell you how much to invest in your own profit growth.

Become a Psychic.

Compared to the above paragraphs littered with equations, revenues and expenses, this title might seem a little off. However, predicting the future is an important part of weighing the advantages and disadvantages of growing your business.

The ROI equation is essentially a formula that always looks back, and for good reason. As Dr. Phil says, “history is the number one indicator of future behavior.” Do some number crunching and find out how much time and money you’re getting on your investments. If you don’t like what you see, change the factors in the present and make a change for the better.

As we’ve often noted in the past, you also have a resource right in your agency; your agency manager. The best place to look for advice is right in your own backyard; ask your manager for guidance and advice about financial planning when it comes to trying to grow.  Wherever you want to go, your manager has most likely reached himself.

In order to go further, you’re going to have to change from a salesman to a businessman. This takes understanding financial factors like ROI and several others.  Start to take steps to understanding your ROI by reading up on the basics.

Many of their fears are justified; the basics of a 401K plan include investing retirement money into the stock market, which has proven itself a little less than reliable over the past few months. As to who is to blame for our current condition will probably be debated for a while, but what is immediate and real is the question…

“How am I Going to Pay for this?”
We’re in tough times these days; no one is going to deny that. Because of the recent fallout with the stock market, banks are going under and people are worried if their retirement money is safe.  Can you, with a clear conscience, tell them it is?

You can if you encourage them to invest in annuities. 

Even before the market meltdown, annuities were the answer for people who feared an uncertain retirement plan for their generation.  Here are some key reasons why Annuities are safer and more beneficial investment for your clients:

Get yourself out of the Market Gamble.
One of the most compelling arguments that you can make about annuities is that it takes your client’s retirement funds out of the risky game of the market, and into a secure and guaranteed payback system that will not fluctuate. No matter how low (how very very low) the market can plummet, it will not affect your client’s annuity.

This is the main benefit from investing in annuities over IRA and 401k; financial peace-of-mind in a turbulent economic time. So while the market plays the limbo game, have the foresight to offer your clients this escape out of Wall Street’s money games by investing in one of the many annuities offered.

Don’t limit yourself.
One thing that is appealing about IRA’s and 401K’s is the ability to defer taxes. Unfortunately, there is a price to holding back on the pay up to the government, and that’s restrictions on how much you can earn.  Annuities can give you more flexibility on what you are allowed to earn without punishing you financially.

Income annuities can also guarantee your client a regular sum of money, whereas retirement funds become more and more sketchy over time. Considering that our retirement system is already feeling the demands of the baby boomer generation, this is a more secure way of making sure their retirement is secure.

Earn Money from what you Invest.
401k stores your retirement funds in the stock market, but it doesn’t guarantee you any type of profit. With an annuity, you’re guaranteed a minimum rate of return; some have even made upwards of 10%! You can still “play the market” with none of the risk. If the stock market tumbles, your investment stays the same. Your initial investment and any previous earnings will act as a foundation instead of a dropping point.

Not only that, you can even earn more money than what was originally in your 401K by investing in them. With annuities, it won’t just be a countdown to zero with your savings; you can actually earn more money than what is in the original funds with a minimum rate of return that is often greater than certificates of deposits (CD’s) or savings accounts.
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Financial safety is American’s primary concern, so much that the presidential debate’s theme on September 26th switched from Iraq to the Economy. While it’s uncertain how the bailout will pan out for all of us, you can offer your clients stability and safety from the gamble of the stock market.

Now, think about persistency for a moment. What’s the first thing that pops into your head? Chances are, it’s not marriage. After all, what does persistency have to do with matrimony? The two seem further in relation than your cousin and a kumquat.

But the relationship between a client and an agent is just that, a relationship. It takes courtship, compromise, and commitment to get a contract signed. However, walking down the aisle and saying your “I do’s” isn’t the end of it. Marriage is a commitment and, in many ways, so is a contract. If your client doesn’t think you care, it can cause a rift… or even “divorce.” In the world of insurance sales, that means cancelled contracts, which can lead to the dreaded chargeback.

In order to have good persistency, then, you have to treat your agent-client relationships with care. Your clients trust you, they’ve made a commitment to you, and they expect to be treated well. Here are a few ways to keep them happy after the contract is signed.

1. Keep in touch. Communication is the key to a good relationship. Keep that bond strong by reaching out to your clients. Express interest in them outside the context of business. A simple birthday card or phone call can do wonders. If you’re looking for an automated solution, NAA’s KIT letters can go a long way toward showing your clients how much you care.
    
2. Earn their loyalty. When you really love someone, it’s often for more than one reason. It could be their sense of humor, their personality, or their smile. When it comes to your clients, the relationship should also be multi-tiered. Having multiple contracts with them is a great way to retain persistency. The more policies they have with you, the more likely they are to retain their policies and ask you for assistance with future needs. To paraphrase Philip Hudgins, “Help someone once and they’re your customer. Help them twice and they’re your client. Help them three times and they’re your client for life.”
    
3. Make them nostalgic. What if the passion of your relationship has cooled and you’ve already been “divorced?” You can still salvage your relationship by contacting the client and asking why they cancelled. A little reminder may help them remember why they signed up in the first place, or it may reveal another problem you can help them deal with. Rekindle that spark of passion and you may be able to save the relationship.

Remember; persistency is like a marriage. You’ve already committed to one another. If you take the time to show your clients how much you care, and seek out opportunities to “romance” them further, you’ll enjoy a long, fruitful relationship together.