Mr Laazarus Dias, Trainer

This is the concluding article in the year-long series by the author.

I would like to begin my review of the last 11 articles with the following thoughts:

Make it a life’s rule to give your best to whatever passes through your hands, stamp it with your personal character, let superiority be your trademark!
Aristotle

We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.
Orison Swett Marden

I sincerely hope that my articles have exposed you to an overall perspective of success in Life insurance sales. We shall now have a complete overview of the series.

Dreams & Desire: In this topic we defined a dream as something which is impossible in today’s conditions and also covered the different types of dreamers namely, day dreamers who indulge in wishful thinking, night dreamers who don’t take action and, finally, the dangerous dreamers who will put even their life at stake to achieve their dream.

Purpose: Our purpose is different from our goals, that is, earning more money. In fact, purpose is more spiritual and has the benefit of the customer as the driving force of the profession.

Faith: Faith is walking the talk. It means first living and implementing in our own life the same things that we want our customers to implement in their lives. It’s the core of our business and our eyes communicate our faith to the customer. Therefore this can make or break our business.

High Rejection Quotient: We are being paid for being rejected and, therefore, we should enjoy rejection. Once we understand that we can increase our business and if we can face rejection with ease, we will be empowered by rejection, not dejected by it.

Knowledge : The new mantra of success is that we need to become business consultants to our customers. Mere knowledge of our business is not going to be important but rather, knowing our customer’s business issues will help us be more competitive in providing solutions that will have a lasting impact on our business.

Goals: Goals are completely different from dreams. Goals are milestones in our journey to our dream. They are short term, specific, measurable, possible, logical, calculated, achievable and romantic. They are a function of the left brain and are time bound.

Tools: Tools are things that we use as a supporting story for customers to buy our product. For every sale there has to be a strong story of why the customer should buy. As an example of a tool we showed how we can calculate the present gap capital which is the amount of insurance that he should buy if his family has to continue to maintain the same standard of living compared to  when he was alive.

Systems and Management: We discussed the three different types of days namely, buffer days, focus days and free days. Buffer days are for all supporting activities like planning. Focus days are money making days where we have to just be in front of prospects and not do anything else except meeting with prospects. We learnt territory management by drawing out four good territories and working on selected days in those territories. In prospect management we learnt how to have four lists of prospects based on territories.

Most Important Habits: We saw that discipline was the core of habits and showed how discipline can make or break a career. In fact discipline is the main ingredient for success in habit formation. Discipline is the only one of the two words where the number of the alphabet place, if added, is 100. The only other word is attitude! We learnt the importance of Prospecting and calling which lay the foundation of our success. Meeting habits, selling habits, data recording habits, customer relationship management habits and finance management habits will help us to have a well-rounded personality.

Strategies: In strategies we learnt how customer segmentation risk could ruin us. If we focus solely on any one customer segment like a particular industry, we shall also be affected by the pulls and pushes of that industry. In market penetration strategy we endorsed the territory management concept which can lead to better branding. We also showed the next strategy of product development where we could leverage our existing relationships by moving into General insurance.

Communication : We saw why people resist insurance advisors – it is because of the picture that is formed in their mind when they hear the word ‘insurance.’ We saw what communication was and we found how the past experiences of people which create pictures in their mind hinder current communication. In the barriers to communication we found how the words intensity, affinity and perception affect our ability to communicate and understand people.

Enthusiasm : Enthusiasm is the fuel to our business and it is sometimes the one single factor which can completely fire us up to be great professionals.

Attitude : As mentioned the alphabetical place number totals 100. Attitude is something that decides how to react to any situation or event. Attitude is based on our belief systems and can have a very strong influence on us and our business.

In conclusion, I would like to thank you all for your interest, your sincere feedback and your appreciation for what worked in your life.

Mr Laazarus Dias is a well known trainer of insurance agents and can be reached at  laazarusdias@gmail.com

Related posts:

1. The Dangers of Success Nothing succeeds like success. But wait, if you don’t keep...
2. Segment & Sell Tne one-size-fits-all method just doesn’t work any more. The best...
3. Distributor vs Advisor: How to Make the Transformation Constantly updating yourself is essential but how well you get...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mr Laazarus Dias, Trainer

Attitude is the way we react to an event, situation or a trigger. It has been rightly said that “Attitude decides your Altitude.” The right attitude can catapult you to a higher status whereas an individual who is intelligent and knowledgeable may not make it far if he does not have the right attitude.

The Dalai Lama The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering.

Happiness comes mainly from your own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your mental attitude is correct, even if you are in a hostile atmosphere, you feel happy.

The longer I live, the more I realise the impact of attitude in life. Attitude is more important than reality, more important than the past, more important than education, success, giftedness or skill. The remarkable thing is that WE have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The one thing that we can change is our attitude.

I firmly believe that life is 10 per cent of what happens to me and 90 per cent how I react to it.

In 1956, Harvard University conducted a survey in four sectors of employment – business, industry, education and government – to find out which factors contributed most to an individual’s success. They were astounded by the results. It was found that 50 per cent of an individual’s success is determined by his or her attitude.

People problems

Well over 90 per cent of our problems are people problems. There are three basic ways that most of us try to deal with problems.

The first method is to change the situation. For example you do not like the way your boss shouts at you. What do you do? Quit the job. You are unhappy because your spouse snores, what do you do? Get a divorce. This attitude where the person goes through life changing jobs, spouses and locations does not work very well.

The second method of dealing with people problems is to change the other person.

This is not a good solution either. Change can come only from within a person. It must be their decision and, even then, change is slow and difficult.

This brings us to the third method of dealing with people problems.

Change your attitude towards the person creating the problem for you. You cannot change the other person’s attitude, so you are left with this alternative. Look at the situation and determine what YOU can do to remedy the situation. Ask yourself if you are in any way contributing to the problem and then seek to change what you can do about it yourself. It may not seem fair, but who said life is fair?

Believe and Achieve

The greatest achievements take place when a person is involved in doing something he really believes in. Belief is the key to motivation. Belief is an attitude that each of us can learn and develop.

How can we do this? Begin by identifying your current beliefs and where they come from. Do you believe in something because everyone else does? Have you thought about what you want to remember about your life? When you look back in your old age, what do you want to see? If you can’t answer these questions, you can certainly be led down a path that will not bring about maximum achievement and fulfillment, but mediocrity.

Our behaviour is a function of our attitude and our attitude is a function of values, standards, judgements, motives, ethics and beliefs.

Proactive Attitude – I am responsible for whatever happens to my life and Reactive Attitude – other people, situations, circumstances, the external environment are responsible for what happens to me.

If you add the digits denoted by the position of the letters of the alphabet like A =1, B = 2, C = 3 etc then the total of attitude is equal to.

A+ T + T + I+ T+ U+ D+E

1+20+20+9+20+21+4+5 = 100%

The only other word that equals 100 is DISCIPLINE. So very true; only discipline and attitude can truly make a person 100 per cent successful!

Remedy

Remember you can simply change your life by changing you attitude. How can you change your attitude? You can reverse the process of thinking, feeling and acting. Begin by acting more positively today. Use more positive statements like, “I am enjoying what I do”. Read books of a positive nature. Do something everyday so that the ratio of positive to negative daily experiences is more. Once you do all this, you will immediately start feeling and thinking positively.

Mr Laazarus Dias is a well known trainer of insurance agents and can be reached at  laazarusdias@gmail.com

Related posts:

1. Get a Permanent Winning Attitude In this new column for Premium, Mr Jim Ruta brings...
2. Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr Maxwell Maltz, Guide the Missile of your Success The Book Psycho-Cybernetics by Dr Maxwell Maltz was published in...
3. The One Minute Manager by Kenneth Blanchard & Spencer JohnsonSixty Seconds to Success! Success in managing people and projects – in short, in...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mr Laazarus Dias, Trainer

Let me start this topic quoting from the book “How I raised myself from failure to success in selling” by Frank Bettger.

Frank Bettger was a phenomenal salesman and broke records in sales in his time.

I have been greatly influenced by the writings of Frank Bettger. Most of my training philosophy is drawn from the books that I read of Frank Bettger.

In his very first chapter, Frank describes his life way back in 1907. He used to play professional baseball for Johnston, Pennsylvia in the Tri-state league. Frank nursed very high ambitions and was thinking of making great progress in his life. But he faced a rude shock as his manager fired him from the team for being lazy. Frank explained to him that he was afraid and nervous because of which he seemed to take it easy.

Bert, the manager, told him, and I quote, “Frank It will never work, that’s the thing that is holding you down. Whatever you do after you leave from here, for heaven’s sake wake up, and put some life and enthusiasm into your work.”

Frank, at that time, was making $175 per month. After being fired, he went to Chester to play in the Atlantic league for a mere $25 per month.

This kind of pay, says Frank, could not make him feel enthusiastic. But he tried to act enthusiastically in the game. Immediately a friend of his introduced him to New Haven, Connecticut, who gave him a trial. Since no one knew Frank there, he made a resolution that he would play in such a manner that nobody would ever accuse him of being lazy.

Frank implemented his resolution right from day one. From the minute he appeared on the field he acted like a man electrified. He acted as though he was alive with a million batteries. He threw the ball around so hard and fast that it almost knocked their in-fielders hands apart.  Did it work? Oh yes!

Frank’s enthusiasm almost entirely overcame his fear.

If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm. Life does give back in kind. Norman Vincent Peale

His enthusiasm affected other players on the team, and they too became enthusiastic because enthusiasm is very, very contagious.

The next day it was reported in the morning newspaper and I quote, “This new player has a barrel of enthusiasm. He inspired our boys. They not only won the game, but also looked better than at any time this season.”

Frank sent this newspaper cutting to his previous manager and thanked him for his precious advice.

Frank says that within ten days ‘Enthusiasm’  took him from $ 25 a month to $ 185 a month – an increase of 700 per cent, and all this happened because of his determination to act enthusiastic. He did not know to throw the ball better, or catch or hit better which is what the game is all about.

“It happened because of the enthusiasm that I displayed.”

Do I need to say more? I don’t think so. Because this is an astounding example of how enthusiasm can put us into the big league. I was touched by this piece and I remember it so well. I talk about is so often that, now, enthusiasm has become a part of my being.

Why is enthusiasm the most important factor in our industry ?

We are dealing with an intangible product where the prospect cannot see, feel or experience the product physically. It’s only a dream, just a piece of paper of a promise of something great happening in the future.

Let us endeavour to live so that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry. Mark Twain

The prospect will understand the product only if the insurance advisor is so fired with the idea that his enthusiasm translates into body language that is visible to the prospect.  Prospects want to deal with people who are leaders and who personally believe in what they are selling. Enthusiasm has this unique quality of communicating to the prospects the belief of the insurance advisor.

Have you ever met any person who was lifeless and bored? If you ever had to communicate with him or be his friend, what would you feel? I suppose that you would not want to deal with anybody below your level of energy.

People in general would like to deal with people whose energy levels are higher than their own as they feel it will lift them up from their own current energy levels. Most of us have problems in life and all they do is drag us down.  How is it possible to remain enthusiastic in spite of all the problems that we are surrounded by?

Take, for example, the meltdown. Your prospects are seriously into trouble. Yes, that is exactly the reason why you need to be enthusiastic and display a higher level of enthusiasm in spite of everything. That is what the prospect wants to see, he does not want to know how great and unique your problems are.

You have to be enthusiastic in spite of problems and not in the absence of problems. The world is not interested in your problems. They are interested in how you can help them with their problems. Only if you are enthusiastic will you be able to help others.

The secret mantra of success:  always be enthusiastic in spite of all possible problems.

Mr Laazarus Dias is a well known trainer of insurance agents and can be reached at laazarusdias@gmail.com

Related posts:

1. Raheja QBE General opens Delhi branch Raheja QBE General Insurance Co. Ltd formally launched its Delhi...
2. How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie’s: Treat People With Warmth In any conversation about self-help books one of the first...
3. Renewal Time! There is a Greek saying: You can’t bathe in the...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mr Laazarus Dias, Trainer

Communication. The cry of the new born child heralds a beginning that ends when we breathe our last.

The Process of Communication

Communication is a tool to convey a message from one person to another. In a professional setting the following types of communication occur:

1) Oral –  In person, telephone

2) Written  -  Presentations, notes, articles

3) Non-verbal – Body language

4) Mass communication

Oral  Communication

Oral communication works best in person. When you talk to someone without being face to face, 15 per cent of your message is understood from the words you use, 20 per cent from the tone of your voice and 60 to 70 per cent through body language! Yes, body language! Let me explain how.

We take care of how we dress and look while communicating in person but, while speaking on the phone, we tend to be casual, unprepared and assume a bad posture. The fact of the matter is that, even when we are not in front of the person we are talking to, we still communicate a totally unprofessional attitude because of our body language. When we receive a call we hear people say, “are you still sleeping” or “are you driving” or “have you reached office so fast”.

So we need to be very careful even when communicating through the telephone or cell phone.

Written Communication

Written communication has a definite edge over oral communication since there is documentation and the chances of misunderstanding are low. It becomes a ‘considered response’ because a lot of thought goes into putting down things on paper.

The best written communication would be to involve the customer in the sales process by taking a blank sheet of paper and making the customer write whatever you are saying instead of your writing it down.

Whatever questions you ask him, let him write the answers on this sheet. Since all his faculties will be used, it will be the best form of communication.

Body Language

Body Language is a very powerful communicator. If you are telling lies, it will be reflected in your body language. Rightly so, Stephen Covey says, “What you are speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you are saying”.

A ticket collector is able to correctly identify who does not have a ticket out of a mass of people coming out of the railway station from their body language. This speaks of our mental condition, whether we are scared, confident or trustworthy.

Good communication employs words, tone and body language appropriately, enabling the person addressed to understand the intended message correctly.

Barriers to Communication

Word Intensity

As we communicate with people constantly, it has become a matter of routine and is taken very lightly. It is not only the words, but also the intensity of the words that could be misunderstood. The words ‘fed up with life’ can mean a very low intensity  depression not to be taken seriously, or it could mean that a person is contemplating suicide.

Affinity

Affinity is the attraction that exists between people. There are some people to whom we are attracted naturally and also there are other people with whom we would not like to interact. The more the affinity, the better will be the flow of communication and vice versa.

Perception

Perception is nothing but the interpretation of a fact. Interpretation is governed by our past experiences and our paradigms. Paradigms are basically formed by the teachings of our elders and through our own experiences. Our mind recognises pictures easily. There are lakhs of pictures stored in our mind which relate to words that we use in daily life. These pictures are paired with the corresponding words in such a manner that, when that word is uttered, the picture related to that word is brought forth in our mind. We understand a particular word by the picture that it is paired with in our minds.

A very good example to quote here would be of the story of the ‘Elephant and the nine blind men.’ When the blind men were shown the elephant, their description of the elephant was limited to each of their individual experiences. One described the elephant as a rope, the other as a wall, the third, a pillar and so on. These descriptions of the elephant flowed from the pictures created in their minds according to their experience.

So, what picture is conjured up when we think of the word ‘Life insurance?’ The mind of our customers shows a picture of – Death. The picture that our mind sees is – a family under the protection of an umbrella. Thus the perception is different for both the interacting parties which leads to resistance, decreasing the chances of any effective communication. If we can somehow try to understand what picture is created in the mind of the other, then communication would be very effective.

If we can take care of the barriers of communication, then we are on the way to great and effective communication in our personal and professional lives.

Laazarus Dias

Mr Laazarus Dias is a well known trainer of insurance agents and can be reached at  laazarusdias@gmail.com.

Related posts:

1. Why Buyers Buy Lead by Example! Communciation with your client in these times of short attention...
2. The Magic of Thinking Big by David J Schwartz Belief Makes Things Happen In the ‘Magic of Thinking Big’, David J Schwartz tells...
3. Factors that Help ’Brand’ You It is not enough to state your brand promise or...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Mr Laazarus Dias, Trainner

The concept of strategy has been borrowed from the military and adapted for use in business.  Noted writers and experts on ‘Business Strategy’ suggest that adopting the concept of strategy from military use for business was easy because very little change was required!

In business, as in the military, strategy bridges the gap between policy and tactics.  Together, strategy and tactics bridge the gap between ends and means.

Strategy is a term that comes from the Greek strategia, meaning ‘generalship.’ In the military, strategy often refers to manoeuvering troops into position before the enemy is actually engaged. In this sense, strategy refers to the deployment of troops. Once the enemy has been engaged, attention shifts to tactics. Here, the employment of troops is central. Substitute ‘resources’ for troops and the transfer of the concept to the business world begins to take form.

“Corporate strategy is the pattern of decisions in a company that determines and reveals its objectives, purposes or goals; produces the principal policies and plans for achieving those goals and defines the range of business the company is to pursue; the kind of economic and human organisation it is or intends to be  and the nature of the economic and non-economic contribution it intends to make to its shareholders, employees, customers, and communities.

Strategy No 1

1) Customer segment risk

An insurance agent should do business across many customer segments because if he focuses on any one particular segment, he faces the same risk as faced by his customer segment. Therefore he should have a basket of mixed customer segments.

For example, if a particular agent works only among the diamond market customers then whenever the diamond market goes into a recession or faces any market challenge, the agent will also face a similar situation and his business will be affected directly. An agent should not have more than 20 per cent of his customers from any particular segment. This will expose him to only a 20 per cent risk which can be easily worked around.

2) Market Penetration strategy

The guru of marketing Philip Kotler, has given a very beautiful marketing model called Ansoff’s Matrix which is diagrammatically reproduced below

Quadrant I is the strategy for market penetration by selling more of the same products to the current market. It suggests that agents should go again and again to their existing customers as the same customers can give more business since it is five times more costly to get a new customer than it is to sell to an existing one.

Also, the customer has already bought products from you, so there is no need for you to sell your services or sell yourself before selling your products. But in the case of a new customer one has to first sell oneself and then sell the product.

The existing customers’ situation may have changed.  For example, his income may have increased, his family may have expanded, he could have got a promotion or other normal progression in life. All this will definitely create an environment of new needs for some insurance products. Generally every agent should focus on getting 80 per cent of his business from his current market comprising his existing customers. This is the easiest way to increase his revenue.

Market penetration strategy can also be related to the territory management that we spoke about in my earlier articles. Choosing a limited geographical territory to work in (called a zone, which is limited to a 7 km radius) will also help us have a higher density of customers in a small geographical location that will enhance branding and create more awareness among customers. Market penetration strategy increases the density of customers per square km.

3) New Product Development Strategy

Quadrant II houses the ‘New Product Development Strategy’ that helps an agent increase his revenue. This works on the premise that customers also need other financial products like Health insurance, other General insurance and mutual funds for complete financial planning.

If the agent cannot fulfill this need, there is a good chance that the customer will look to other agents who offer all the services under one roof to avoid dealing with different people. This will lead to the customer switching loyalties. So it is very important that apart from Life insurance the agent also offers other products which are spin offs from his relationship with the customer.

Here it is possible to earn additional income with very little effort. It is very easy for an agent to double his income by using the product development strategy. Quadrant II strategy is a little more difficult than Quadrant I in terms of the effort versus the income potential.

The existing customers’ situation may have changed.  For example, his income may have increased, his family may have expanded, he could have got a promotion or other normal progression in life. All this will definitely create an environment of new needs for some insurance products. Generally every agent should focus on getting 80 per cent of his business from his current market comprising his existing customers. This is the easiest way to increase his revenue.

Laazarus Dias

Related posts:

1. The Dangers of Success Nothing succeeds like success. But wait, if you don’t keep...
2. Pension market sours on Life insurers The pension market is fading, if the Life Insurance Council’s...
3. Are you a Distributor or Advisor? For the customer, choice is more often than not confusion....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

MR Lazaarus Dias, Trainer

Last month, we saw why an agent needs to get into the habit of selling to succeed. Excellence then, is not an action but a habit! In this article, we will list some of the other habits an agent needs to inculcate.

First you need to meet your clients! Meet your prospects! Never cancel an appointment. Meet people everyday! According to Mr Tony Gorden if you want to be extremely successful in the insurance business then you need to meet minimum of 15 persons a week.

Selling Habits

The most important part of the sales process is asking for the cheque. You must be able to handle all possible objections posed by the client and take the sales process to its logical end. You need to develop your closing skills to successfully conclude deals.

There is always a possibility that either you will sell the prospect on the need to buy Life insurance or the prospect will sell you his ideas of why he is postponing his plans or why he doesn’t need to buy. Either you have enough strong reasons on why he should buy or he will have strong reasons why he shouldn’t buy.

If you have identified his needs and made him want your solutions, then the closure of the deal will be a natural consequence of the sales process.

Data Recording Habits

The next important habit is recording data. You need to record all your activities. If you don’t record data then you won’t know what is happening to your business. Data recording will help us in analysis. If we can interpret and analyse data i.e. convert the data into ratios, we will get more effective in Goal setting. Our activities will also become more predictable.

Your list on your dairy, online calendar or notepad should read:

1. New prospects met

2. Follow up meetings done with those who have already been met

3. No of meetings per week

4. No of sales per week

5. Amount of Premium collected

6. Amount of commission earned

The following ratios can be derived from the above data

1) Person to sales ratio (total new prospects divided by no of sales)

2) Meeting to sale ratio (total meetings including new and follow up divided by number of sales)

3) Visiting fees (total commission earned divided by Total meetings)

4) Average premium per sale (total premium divided by number of sales

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

We need to be effective customer relationship managers to retain customer loyalty. It is said that acquiring a new customer costs five times more than selling to an existing customer.

We have to have a habit of meeting our existing customers at least once every year. Life Insurance Marketing and Research Association (LIMRA) talks about “Annual Review” of existing customers. It says that an Annual Review will inoculate your existing customers from the influence of other agents and protect your turf.

Make a habit of only meeting existing customers in the months of April, May and June and not do any new business during this period. These are lean months and the amount of business loss will be far more compensated by the customer loyalty that this will create. You have to meet each and every customer and check his file to see if all original policies are in place, nominations, assignments, nominations after reassignment is done or not, nomination after policy vesting, revivals if any, etc.

Finance Management Habits

How can you be a financial advisor unless you have proper finance management habits? If one blind man leads another, both will fall into a pit.

It’s of paramount importance that we set and follow very prudent financial principles. Your financial ratios need to be good and healthy. Your net worth should be positive and should increase year after year. Most insurance advisors do not even know their net worth. Your cash flow management should be perfect.

If you do not have the habit of finance management you will spend lot of time fire fighting and will not be able to creatively do your business.

There are trainers who advise agents to take a lot of loans and purchase the best of cars and offices so that the pressure of the EMI’s can make them run for business. How far from the truth it is! It’s a very disastrous strategy! Pressure to manage the cash flows will make you pressurise prospects into buying something that they may not need. You will lose customer loyalty not to speak of your creativity if you cannot do business with a free and open mind.

If you are in debt your body language cannot show empowerment. Your body language will communicate desperation to your customers. My sincere appeal to agents is that you take loans only for income generating assets and not income consuming assets. The only exception to this rule is when you want to buy your own house!

Mr Laazarus Dias is a well known insurance trainer  and can be reached at  laazarusdias@gmail.com

Related posts:

1. The Most Powerful The Most Powerful Force…Making Compound Interest Work for You We saw in in insurance++ in theJanuary 2011 issue of...
2. Edelweiss Tokio Life Insurance Company has launched three Wealth Accumulation...
3. Are you a Distributor or Advisor? For the customer, choice is more often than not confusion....

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.