With the end of the year behind you, this is the perfect time to refresh your sales approach.
An area well worth your focus in 2018 is fixed annuities.
A quick refresher on why fixed annuities can be a popular option: fixed annuities help protect assets and guarantee a minimum rate of return, all while allowing for flexible payout options. Ultimately, a fixed annuity offers what many clients want — safety and growth potential.
Depending on your experience with fixed annuities, these reminders and sales insights can refresh your selling strategies, helping to meet your clients' financial objectives in the new year.
The Newcomer
As a reminder, the critical first step for selling annuities is understanding a client's priorities. To better understand what your client is looking to accomplish with his or her retirement savings, ask these three questions:
- Are you trying to create a steady, reliable income stream in retirement?
- Do you want your income to be guaranteed to continue for the rest of your life?
- Do you want to know right now what income you will be able to rely upon, without guesswork?
These questions can help uncover a client's post-retirement goals. In my experience, they often answer yes to all three, which helps transition the conversation to how an annuity could be a good fit.
After assessing your client's priorities and making sure the annuity is the right investment vehicle, do your homework on product add-ons, such as income riders.
Many brokers will recommend the addition of an income rider to help ensure a client has easier access to funds. Without extensive experience in this area, you'll have to do some research to be sure you understand the complexities of income riders and determine what best fits your client's needs.
If You're an Occasional Seller
If you have experience selling annuities, you probably already know the thought of having a secure, stable and guaranteed investment return for the rest of your life is a huge draw for a client. Any annuity — whether it's fixed, indexed or variable — is built to provide a client with earning potential similar to that of a bond mutual fund, but with greater safety.
