Over the past 16 years, we have written more than 100 articles on being stubborn. Yet most agents, advisors and planners stubbornly refuse to believe it's holding them back from achieving all the success they desire in this great financial services industry.
Instead, all we hear every day is; "I need more sales leads." "I'm just not in front of enough people." Ninety-nine out of 100 of the 1.5 million agents, advisors and planners in the U.S. wants to believe that if they see enough people they will be a roaring success.
However, let's look at what's really happening.
Is there any question that most companies and IMOs do a good job of product training? There are lots of people offering training on the tried-and-true sales ideas, such as income tax reduction, annuity split funding, wealth preservation, estate planning and pension maximization.
There are plenty of hot, new sales ideas out there guaranteed to make you a fortune, such as infinite banking, tax-free retirement, Social Security planning, etc. Plus, there are plenty of independent marketing organizations offering lead generation systems that feature dinner seminars, direct mail, free reports, newspaper ads and fax blasting.
Finally, there are the sales trainers offering courses on 101 closing techniques, overcoming objections, overcoming call reluctance and conducting successful client seminars. And yet 99 percent of agents, advisors and planners today are still struggling to make a net income of only $60,000. Only 1 percent of today's agents, advisors and planners are consistently earning a significant six-figure income after expenses.
While all of the above training is helpful, and/or needed, what most agents, advisors and planners really need the most isn't being taught by the vast majority of our companies, industry schools, IMOs or sales trainers.
What most agents aren't being taught, is how to conduct a good, thorough fact-finding interview, which is the missing ingredient for an outstanding successful career in the financial services industry.
We know that you have heard it time and time again from us. The question is: When are you going to really listen and take action?
The ability to conduct a good, thorough fact-finding interview is:
- How you become the trusted advisor that people want to see;
- How you truly help people;
- What separates the average producer who earns $30,000 to $60,000 per year, from the top producers who earns $100,000 to $1 million or more per year;
- The difference between earning an average income of $1,000 of commissions per case, to earning $5,000 or more of commissions per case;
- The difference betwee needing to set 20 or more new appointments per week, to only needing five or less new appointments per week;
- The difference between working 60 hours or more per week, and working less than 40 hours per week.
Why isn't fact-finding being taught today?
There are a multitude of reasons for this lack of fact-finding training in our industry. There are very few people in this industry who truly understand the value of this training. Most companies and IMOs see this type of training as too costly and time consuming.
