Small Talk, Big Sales

"They always try to buy less than they should," he told his audience. "I present to them what they really should have, and often, they agree when they see it."

4. Make them clients first.

"What do you do when a client doesn't want what you believe is right for him?" a workshop attendee asked. "Like when you believe he should be buying whole life but the client only wants to buy term."

I give him what he does want, of course," was Mehdi's reply. But he continued:

"I make him a client first. Then, I wait two or three years [until we have a good relationship and my client trusts me]," he explained, "And then I show him a chart that has on the left side what he bought, and on the right side, what I believed was right for him. I ask him which plan looks better …and he almost always points to the one on the right."

None of this can happen, Mehdi told his audience, unless the person in question becomes a client first. Then, he will trust your advice.

5. Never give up!

A consistent theme in everything Mehdi spoke about was his persistence. "Whenever there is a problem," he told his audience, "I sit down and create a solution. There's always a solution."

6. Talk "nonsense."

That's what Mehdi calls his delightful way of engaging people in conversation. "If I'm going up in an elevator and I push '4', and the other man pushes '8', I say, 'You must be twice as good as me'. When he asks me why I say that, I tell him that 8 is twice as good as 4."

Mehdi reminded his audience that day that it makes people feel good when you're having fun. As further proof that Mehdi walked his talk, he invited me to spend an afternoon with him at his office to pick his brain and bought us lunch at his favorite Chinese restaurant — asking nothing in return.

Here's a blog article Mehdi Fakharzadeh wrote about his own methods for National Underwriter Life & Health Magazine in 2002, when he was about 80.

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Sandy Schussel has been a coach and practice development consultant for insurance and financial professionals for the past 20 years. He is an approved MDRT coach and has served as the national sales training director for First Investors and Foresters. He is the author of two books, The High Diving Board, about overcoming fear and Become A Client Magnet, about attracting and keeping clients. Schussel's scheduling calendar is available here.