NAIFA's Advisor Today September/October 2016 Edition

LONG-TERM CARE

thing

conversation is the solution you provide.

Performance LTC is an innovative solution that enables you to address your clients’ LTC insurance needs with confidence. It provides the reliable and comprehensive protection they need with greater affordability over the life of the policy. We’ve also introduced a unique Flex Account that gives clients unprecedented flexibility and control over managing their benefits and premiums over time.

Give your clients LTC protection you can both feel good about. Learn more at PerformanceLTC.com or by calling your John Hancock Long-Term Care representative.

The only

more important than the

Success, together

Why NAIFA producers choose Ohio National

“Working with Ohio National has transformed my practice from primarily investments to a practice looking at the bigger picture with a balance between life insurance and investments. Ohio National has the life insurance products that fit my clients’ planning needs, which allow them to have access to both cash accumulation and distribution strategies that many of them are looking for.”

Dan Girard, LUTCF

Affiliated with Ohio National since 2011. Company awards and honors include three Council of Honor qualifications; five-time Wall of Fame Member. Treasurer and Board Member for NAIFA Massachusetts; Past-President, NAIFA Central Massachusetts; 12-year Qualifying and Life MDRT Member, Top of the Table.

“After deciding to change direction in my professional practice in 2015 from a captive multi-line practice to financial and retirement planning exclusively, I chose Ohio National because of its team of experts and their exemplary solutions to my clients’ financial needs. Great products and even greater people!”

James VanHam

Affiliated with Ohio National since 2015. Company awards and honors include one Council of Honor qualification; Wall of Fame Member; Leading Agent (Career Top 25). Current NAIFA National Trustee; Past-President, NAIFA Illinois; Past-President, NAIFA Du Page; 13-year Qualifying and Life MDRT Member.

22 Industry Trailblazers

Winners of the Four Under Forty Awards represent NAIFA’s most promising members under the age of 40. Find out how these four individuals have made reputations for themselves at a young age.

—Julie Knudson, Nick Fortuna, Jean Feingold and Ayo Mseka

FEATURE

29 Sales Ideas That Work

In this article, we have rounded up a few of the most proactive advisors in the industry to share their prospecting, marketing and sales tips. The strategies they have used to build their practices might be just what you need to build yours.

—David Appel, Gregory B. Gagne, Jeff Fleischman and Edward C. Auble

FEATURE

Time-Saving Techniques You Can Use Today

These proven techniques will help you identify common time wasters, eliminate distractions, and learn how to make the most of an asset you can’t replace—time.

—Leland Davis, Danny O’Connell, John Enright and Bob Arzt

A QUESTION OF ETHICS

11 The DOL Fiduciary Rule and Conflicts of Interest

The DOL’s recent fiduciary rule encourages us to think about conflicts of interest when serving our investment clients.

—Frank C. Bearden, Ph.D., CLU, ChFC

MANAGING YOUR PRACTICE

12 Our Value Proposition

We help clients IDENTIFY risks, DEFINE strategies to manage those risks, EXECUTE solutions and ADJUST periodically.

—Joe Campanelli, RICP, LUTCF, REBC, CLTC

13 Conversations That Empower Clients

These questions will show your clients that you are capable of helping them grow and protect their wealth.

—Kurt Shallow

LIFE INSURANCE

15 Making the Most of LIAM

Now is the perfect time to raise awareness of the importance of life insurance.

—Jeffrey Fleischman

16 Three Reasons to Consider Cash Value Life Insurance

Cash-value options merit discussion in terms of the potential for asset accumulation and flexibility that contributes to estate planning.

—Brett W. Berg

ANNUITIES

17 Using Fixed Annuities to Meet Your Clients’ Investment Goals

Here are some ways you can use fixed annuities to help clients reach their investment goals.

—Rich Lane

EMPLOYEE BENEFITS

20 Employers Want Guidance about Voluntary Benefit Options

Survey shows potential opportunity for experienced advisors to expand their financial practices.

—Ayo Mseka

PROSPECTING

43 Using Facebook to Grow Your Business

When used properly, this powerful tool can bring you new and repeat business.

—Toni Harris

SALES IDEAS

45 Properly Preparing for a Closing Appointment

Before the meeting with your prospects, carefully map out the conversation points you should have with them.

—Dan Finley

Your clients have worked hard. And now, as retirement approaches, they need peace of mind that their funds will last as long as needed and they can enjoy all they’ve worked for. They look to you for answers.

Mutual of Omaha’s MutualCare® Solutions portfolio provides client-friendly solutions such as:

• Cash benefits with no elimination period

• Inflation protection options as low as 1 percent

• Calendar-day elimination period

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on the WEB

The Advisor Today Blog

Available at www.AdvisorToday.com

The Advisor Today Blog brings you the tools, ideas and techniques you need to build a successful practice. Fresh content is posted regularly, and we welcome your feedback and ideas in the comments section.

We look forward to hearing from you!

web poll

How do your opinions stack up against those of other NAIFA members? To zero in on the topic of this issue’s web poll and find out, answer this question at www.AdvisorToday.com:

What has been the most effective in helping you grow your business?

• I hired a career coach.

• I joined a study group.

• I did joint work.

• I mentored or worked with a mentor. Answer this question at www.AdvisorToday.com.

archives

Available at www.AdvisorToday.com

The Advisor Today website features full archives of the magazine’s articles, as well as web-exclusive articles. This resource is worth visiting frequently.

social media

Join the conversation via Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Simply log on to www.naifa.org and click on the social media icons.

digital magazine

available at www.AdvisorToday.com/digimag

Do you know that you can access the digital version of Advisor Today from your desktop or even your mobile device? Simply log in with your NAIFA member number and password, and you can gain access to the current issue and archives of past issues. Go to www.AdvisorToday.com/digimag to get started today.

By Ayo Mseka

Getting to the Finish Line

It’s hard to believe that there are only four months left in 2016. If you started the year with specific goals in mind, hopefully, you’re well on your way to achieving them. But if you are like most of us and still have some ways to go, don’t despair. From now until the end of the year, you have lots of opportunities to still make 2016 one of your most profitable years.

Your first opportunity is Life Insurance Awareness Month, the month-long marketing campaign that starts in September and is spearheaded by Life Happens to persuade millions of Americans to purchase the protection they so desperately need. Life Happens has several resources you can use to participate in this year’s campaign, including racecar driver and LIAM spokesperson Danica Patrick’s message about why people should not take risks when it comes to protecting their loved ones.

Among the resources:

• A downloadable flyer with Danica’s message

• A downloadable interview with Danica

• A video of her public service announcement about the importance of life insurance

• Photo graphics for social media or promotion, featuring Danica’s words of wisdom on life insurance

You also have access to three new Real Life Stories videos and fliers, four new “don’t take that risk” fliers, and more than two dozen new “infosnacks” featuring the 2016 Insurance Barometer statistics.

Go to www.lifehappens.org/liam and start making the most of LIAM today!

NAIFA’s Performance + Purpose

And then there is NAIFA’s Annual Conference, which takes place from September 17 to September 19 in Las Vegas. This year’s conference sports a new name, NAIFA Performance + Purpose, and in keeping with this new name, is all about educating, inspiring, and motivating advisors to perform at their very best.

The conference also features numerous changes designed to deliver more experts and more sharing, and the educational workshop schedule has been expanded to give you greater access to top-notch industry experts. Before you take off for Las Vegas, make sure you visit www.naifa.org for what to expect from this great career-building conference.

Finally, there is this issue of Advisor Today, which is chockfull of the information you need to achieve success. From the inspiring stories of this year’s recipients of the Four Under Forty Awards, to time-tested strategies for making the most of your time, to sales ideas that will help you expedite the client-acquisition process, this issue is one that you will read over and over again as you look for tips and techniques for building a successful practice.

Getting to the finish line is always the most difficult part of a race, but it doesn’t have to be. Start taking advantage of the opportunities mentioned in this article, and success will be much closer than you think. Happy selling and may the next four months be your best months yet!

ADVISOR TODAY

Editor-in-Chief

Ayo Mseka; amseka@naifa.org

703-770-8204

Publication and Circulation Coordinator

Tara Laptew; tlaptew@naifa.org

703-770-8207

NAIFA

Kevin Mayeux, Esq., CAE, CEO kmayeux@naifa.org; 703-770-8101

Diane Boyle, SVP, Government Relations dboyle@naifa.org; 703-770-8252

John Boyle, AVP, Professional Development & Education jboyle@naifa.org; 703-770-8267

Magenta Ishak, VP, Political Affairs mishak@naifa.org; 703-770-8152

Jennifer Cassidy, VP, Finance jcassidy@naifa.org; 703-770-8125

Michael Gerber, General Counsel & VP, Human Resources mgerber@naifa.org; 703-770-8190

Sheila Owens, VP, Communications and Marketing sowens@naifa.org; 703-770-8112

Diane Powers, VP, Professional Development and Education dpowers@naifa.org; 703-770-8226

Mark Rogers, VP, Information Services mrogers@naifa.org; 703-770-8130

Brian Steiner, VP, Business Development & Strategic Partnerships bsteiner@naifa.org; 703-770-8220

Gary Sanders, Counsel and VP Government Relations gsanders@naifa.org; 703-770-8192

Michele Grassley Clarke, VP, Membership and Association Services

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Subscriptions: The annual subscription rate for individual non-NAIFA members is $50; institutions, $60. The international subscription rate for non-NAIFA members is $100 per year.

Single copies and back issues: Single copies and back issues are $8. Both can be ordered by calling 703-770-8207. Reprints: Reprints of articles are available through Naylor, LLC. Please visit www.naylor.com/index. php/client-support/ and click on “Article Reprints” under “Advertisers” in the left-hand navigation bar.

NAIFA’s Advisor Today articles do not constitute insurance, financial, investment, tax, legal, accounting or other professional services by the publisher, NAIFA, or the articles’ authors. The facts and opinions in NAIFA’s Advisor Today articles represent their authors’ views and are not necessarily endorsed by the publisher or NAIFA, unless indicated. While NAIFA’s Advisor Today tries to provide accurate reporting, the accuracy of the information in NAIFA’s Advisor Today is not guaranteed. NAIFA’s Advisor Today reminds readers to ensure that the manner in which they sell insurance and other financial products, and the advertising and sales materials they use, comply with state, federal, and FINRA/SEC requirements, and the compliance rules of the insurance and other financial services companies they represent. If in doubt about compliance issues, check with your company. The publisher and NAIFA disclaim all liability for claims or damages that may result from errors in the magazine. NAIFA’s Advisor Today will attempt to correct material errors brought to its attention through appropriate errata. The publisher and NAIFA do not endorse the advertisers in NAIFA’s Advisor Today, or the advertised products and services, unless indicated. The publisher and NAIFA have not assessed the accuracy of any advertisement or the quality of any advertised product or service. The publisher and NAIFA disclaim all liability for claims or damages that may result from transactions with NAIFA’s Advisor Today’s advertisers or from the purchase or use of advertised products or services.

view point

By Jules Gaudreau, Jr., ChFC, CIC

Moving NAIFA Forward

This has been an eventful year for NAIFA, marked by a host of wins and accomplishments. As a result of your help and support, we:

• Launched a pilot membership program based on an idea presented by NAIFANew York, which encouraged several thousand advisors in participating states to become first-time NAIFA members.

• Brought together more than 800 advisors in Washington, D.C., for our 2016 Congressional Conference, a grassroots lobbying event designed to explain to our legislators how laws and regulations coming out of D.C. can impact our businesses and clients.

• Hired a new CEO, Kevin Mayeux, CAE, who has a strong vision for NAIFA’s future and is dedicated to bolstering NAIFA’s value to members and ensuring that NAIFA remains a pivotal force within the industry.

• Positively influenced the Department of Labor’s final fiduciary rule, which affects advisors and their clients in the retirement-planning space. We remain cautious as we await the practical application of the rule. To help you understand the rule and make sure you are in compliance, we developed a workshop on serving your clients with fiduciary compliance. For more information, contact your State or Local NAIFA Association.

A road map for our future

I also worked with Kevin and your Board of Trustees to finalize and implement NAIFA 20/20, a blueprint for the next five years to ensure that NAIFA is poised to deliver to you the critical career training, professional support and advocacy leadership you need to succeed in insurance and financial services. Every day, new studies indicate consumers are severely ill-prepared for retirement or other potential hardships. This unpreparedness truly has become

epidemic. The inability of many consumers to meet, or even understand, the challenges is frightening. Their only real hope, the only place for them to turn for assistance, is insurance and financial advisors.

Just as the American public needs advisors more than ever, so, too, do advisors need NAIFA to help them succeed. Our mission to protect our members’ businesses and help them grow professionally is critical. Without successful advisors, consumers would be alone as they face the myriad financial challenges of modern life.

I am confident that NAIFA 20/20 and the new programs that will be launched in the coming years will give our association the roadmap to build upon our past and grow a strong and prosperous future.

I foresee great success for NAIFA as we leverage our prestige and influence, continue to advocate for positive legislative and regulatory outcomes, and implement a new strategy that will effectively serve the changing needs of our members.

NAIFA has thrived for more than 125 years because it has been able to call on the best and the brightest for the guidance it needs. So while we have much work ahead of us as we continue to strengthen our success, I am confident that together, we will grow a vibrant NAIFA whose members are committed to creating a sound financial future for all Americans.

Thank you for this great privilege of serving as your NAIFA President. It is an honor I will treasure forever.

Jules Gaudreau, Jr., ChFC, CIC, is president of NAIFA and of The Gaudreau Group, which is located in Wilbraham, Massachusetts. Contact him at julesgaudreau2@gmail.com.

NAIFA OFFICERS

President Jules O. Gaudreau, Jr., ChFC, CIC The Gaudreau Group, Inc. julesgaudreau2@gmail.com

President-Elect

Paul R. Dougherty, LUTCF, FSS, HIA State Farm Insurance Companies paul@doughertyagency.com

Secretary Keith M. Gillies, CFP, CLU, ChFC Ameritas kmgillies@aol.com

Treasurer

Matthew S. Tassey, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF Burwell & Burwell mtassey@scribnerinsurance.com

Immediate Past President

Juli Y. McNeely, LUTCF, CFP, CLU McNeely Financial Services, Inc. juli@mcneelyfinancial.com

CEO Kevin Mayeux, CAE

Trustees

David A. Beaty, CLU, ChFC dave@heartlandfinancial.net

Michael O. Brown, LUTCF michaelbrown@financialguide.com

Aprilyn Geissler ageissler@farmersagent.com

Todd G. Grantham, CFP, CLU, ChFC, MSFS todd.grantham@nm.com

Bryon A. Holz, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF, CASL bryon@bryonholz.com

Brock T. Jolly, CFP, CLU, ChFC bjolly@financialguide.com

Booker Joseph, CLU, ChFC, FLMI Booker joseph@uhc.com

Thomas O. Michel tmichel@michelfinancial.com

Van E. Mueller, LUTCF vmueller@wisconsin.nef.com

Charles M. Olson, CLU, ChFC Charles@ociservices.com

Cammie K. Scott, LUTCF, REBC, RHU cscott@ckharp.com

James J. Van Ham, CFP, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF jimmyv@stgfin.com

NAIFA SERVICE CORPORATION OFFICERS AND DIRECTORS

President Kevin Mayeux, CAE

Secretary

Jules Gaudreau, Jr., CIC, ChFC The Gaudreau Group, Inc.

Treasurer

Matthew Tassey, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF Scribner & Scribner mtassey@scribnerinsurance.com

Directors

Brenda Doty, LUTCF, RHU, CLU, CPC The Doty Group, Inc.

Susan Wier, CFP, ChFC, LUTCF First American Trust

EDITORIAL ADVISORY COUNCIL

Laurie A. Adams, CFP, CLU, LUTCF Country Insurance & Financial Services

Brian Ashe, CLU

Brian Ashe and Associates, Ltd.

Frank Bearden, Ph.D., CLU, ChFC

Frank C. Bearden, Ph.D., Consulting

Kevin Faherty, LUTCF Faherty Insurance Services, Inc.

Greg Gagne, ChFC, LUTCF Affinity Investment Group, LLC

Lisa Horowitz, CLU, ChFC

LifeCycles

Michael Lynch MetLife

John Marshall Lee, CLU, CFP, RHU

People Insurance & Investments

John Nichols, MSM, CLU Disability Resource Group Inc.

Ike Trotter, CLU, CASL, ChFC

Ike Trotter Agency, LLC

The DOL Fiduciary Rule and Conflicts of Interest

The DOL’s recent fiduciary rule encourages us to think about conflicts of interest when serving our investment clients.

The Department of Labor’s fiduciary rule uses a term most of us have heard or used, but may not think of in terms of practice: Conflict of interest. Because the DOL rule was drafted to avoid investment conflicts of interest, this seems like a good time to talk about this term in the practical language of practice so that we can become more familiar with it.

A conflict of interest is first of all a conflict. Most of us have conflicts each day with service to clients and others. The majority of these conflicts can easily be resolved or ignored without distracting us from carrying out our responsibilities to those we serve. Either way, we can put them out of our thoughts in short order. These conflicts have no significant influence on the professional judgment we utilize to understand client situations and make pertinent financial recommendations to help them accomplish their financial objectives and goals.

Conflicts of interest have more influence than an ordinary conflict because they involve interests that are more important to us. They are more than a momentary distraction we can quickly address or simply ignore. Conflicts of interest are interests we highly value, such as close business relationships or other financial or personal interests.

They tend to be ongoing interests, and a conflict of interest can negatively influence our professional judgment. For this reason, the AMA code of ethics discourages physician service to family members, except in emergencies. So, avoiding a conflict of interest is done to avoid impaired professional judgment and subsequent service to a client.

Examples of conflicts of interests

An example of a conflict of interest is the change in a financial advisor’s relationship with a married couple

when they divorce. Service before the divorce was provided to the couple with disclosure responsibility to both parties, as the interests of both parties were fully considered.

After the divorce, the interests of the two parties have differences, and one party may not want the other involved. If the prior client relationship with the couple when they were married was strong, the financial advisor may have significant difficulty in serving both parties as individuals without impaired judgment to one or the other. To resolve this potential impairment of judgment, the advisor may decide to refer one or both clients to another advisor.

Another example of a conflict of interest could be a financial advisor who has a business partner in an unrelated business. As the business provides benefits to the advisor’s income and net worth, the advisor may have a conflict of interest in also

serving as the partner’s financial advisor.

Sound personal financial advice may conflict with the desire of the business partner regarding the business, and could affect the financial advisor’s income from the business. This could lead to impairment of the financial advisor’s professional judgment on behalf of the business partner.

To ensure quality professional judgment for clients, conflicts of interest should be avoided or remedied as soon as possible when they are recognized. Like other decisions a professional has to make, avoiding conflicts is not always easy, but it is the right thing to do. The professional credibility of the financial advisor may be at risk.

Frank C. Bearden, Ph.D., CLU, ChFC, is managing member at Ethics Consulting. Contact him at fbearden@outlook.com or at 210-724-1958.

An example of a conflict of interest is the change in a financial advisor’s relationship with a married couple when they divorce.

By Joe Campanelli, RICP, LUTCF, REBC,

Our Value Proposition

Iam a retirement income specialist in the financial-services department of a property & casualty agency. After doing considerable reading and research while pursuing my Retirement Income Certified Professional (RICP) designation, I’ve come to the following conclusion: The more my clients manage risk, the more peace of mind and confidence they have, and the less they worry. Consequently, the less they worry, the more they enjoy their family, their work, and most important, their life. As a result of this approach, our value proposition is: “We help our clients recognize, understand and manage risk while they are making a living so that they can also make a life.”

At our agency, we pride ourselves on having risk-management ideas as well as risk-management tools—not just products. And often, the very first I.D.E.A. we share with our clients is our agency process, which we use to help them make a life while they’re making a living.

This process begins by IDENTIFYING risks, DEFINING strategies to manage those risks, EXECUTING solutions, and ADJUSTING after re-evaluating those solutions on a periodic basis (IDEA).

For over 20 years, our Mission Statement has been: “To protect our clients and professionally service their insurance (and retirement) needs beyond expectations.”

To help my clients better understand how this all fits together, I use our Risk Management and Total Needs Planning Pyramid (see diagram). This process begins with a solid foundation of 1) Health (and eventually) long-termcare planning and insurance, 2) auto, homeowner, renters, commercial insurance, work comp, product liability— all the coverages our clients might need in their personal or professional lives, 3) Disability income protection, and 4) life insurance.

These four components in the base of my pyramid ensure the continuation of my clients’ financial goals if something were to happen to them. Individuals and businesses need a savings account or

working capital for short-term needs and emergencies. Economists recommend that people have between 3-6 months of wages to cover expenses in their savings accounts. And lastly, investment products help with long-term-planning needs like retirement, college funding for children, and general wealth accumulation.

Each of these components separately is very important, but if left separate, a total needs solution will not be reached. For example, income comes into our household usually in the form of a paycheck, and goes out in the form of expenses. But what happens when we are sick or injured? Medical attention is sought, bills mount up, and health insurance helps reduce those expenses.

I then walk them through several scenarios. For example, what happens when our property is damaged, we have a work-comp claim, or there is a liability issue? Repairs, replacements, or damages are assessed, bills mount up, and our property and casualty insurance, with the help of our in-house claims manager, helps make our clients whole again.

What happens when we become disabled? Income stops or is reduced, but our expenses don’t stop. Disability income insurance provides our family with an income when we’re unable to work.

What happens when we die? Income stops, but expenses don’t stop—not for people who depended on us. Life insurance comes to the rescue by providing dollars to help keep our families in the world they’ve grown accustomed to.

What happens if we become unemployed? Income stops, but expenses don’t stop. So our savings account gets us to our next job or next business opportunity.

And what happens when we retire?

Income stops, but expenses don’t stop. So our 401K, IRAs and other investments, along with professional retirementincome guidance, provide us with an income stream. When people do not talk to professionals like us, their financial plan lacks one or more of these necessary components. And gaps in their plan often result in unfulfilled goals.

Why do we take this approach? Because it’s a win-win for our clients and for us, and it does the following:

• Walking the client through the Risk Management & Planning Pyramid underscores our agency’s holistic risk-management approach and our commitment to helping people begin to understand that managing risk not only helps protect them, it also helps them make a better living and have a more enjoyable life.

• It plants seeds for future discussions. It explains succinctly that we can assist them with everything mentioned or alluded to in the Planning Pyramid.

• It gives clients a clear perspective of their financial situation and an overview of planning issues that can be drilled down as needed, or if they are interested.

• Walking clients through the Pyramid provides value in and of itself. It’s a simple financial plan that can be understood in about 5 minutes.

Joe Campanelli, RICP, CLTC, REBC, LUTCF, is a retirement income specialist with AW Welt Ambrisco Insurance in Iowa City, Iowa. Contact him at 319-887-3752.

Conversations That Empower Clients

These questions will show them that you are capable of being their co-pilot.

When prospective clients are trying to make the most of their finances—especially over the course of a lifetime—working with an experienced professional can make a real difference. However, many don’t know where or who to turn to, and the range of choices can drive some to throw their hands up in despair.

In trying to find a financial representative who is a good fit, prospective clients are looking for someone who takes the time to explain things fully and offers several options to address their needs.

Consider these conversation starters to show your clients that you’re capable of being their co-pilot.

• What keeps your client up at night; what are their financial worries?

The financial-services industry, which includes anything from banks to investment companies to insurance firms, represents one of the biggest sectors of the U.S. economy. Prospective clients are approached for their business everywhere from big box stores, neighborhood banks to online solicitations. That makes for a lot of choices. As a financial representative, it is your job to reassure the client that working with you will help him reach financial security. Provide an overview of the products and services you are equipped to discuss. Offer specifics as to how you will manage their money and investments and how those solutions will pertain to their life now and for years to come.

• Do they currently have the right protection in place? Are your clients participating fully in their workplace benefits? Where are the gaps? They may have limited long-term disability insurance through work, but what if the disability occurs while they are “off the clock”? How long can they and/or their family survive on shortterm disability payments? Voluntary life insurance through work is a great start, but what about permanent,

individual coverage? Is your client a business owner? Are the right safeguards in place to protect the business? If the unforeseen happens (illnesses, accidents, or worse) most people want to be sure that their family, loved ones or business partners would be financially secure.

• Is your client saving enough for the future, and in the smartest way? Reassure your client that there’s no single answer to this question –everyone’s goals are different. As the financial rep, though, you should probe your client about their current budget and lifestyle. Truly listen to their responses and show them what is possible today, five years from now, and further out in the future.

• Can they easily track their financial progress, even when some accounts aren’t managed by the same company? Financial progress is a lot like watching water boil—it tends to happen gradually. At the beginning of the relationship, take a live snapshot of everything going on in your client’s life—from total compensation statements to retirement savings to

life insurance to savings accounts— and let the client know that you will use this information to guide annual check-ins. For many clients, this may be the first time they will see all of this information arranged in a single document.

• Is your client concerned about “risks”? Discuss the types of risks your client may be taking on with certain products. How could this impact your client—both positively and negatively— in the long term? Are there any ways to guarantee more stability? Are there other tools they can use as back-ups?

• Does your client fully understand how life insurance works? Most are familiar with term polices, but need more education on the benefits of whole life insurance. In addition to providing a legacy, financial representatives need to emphasize that there are other benefits of whole life policies, such as acting as savings vehicles that can provide a source of retirement income or be used as a rainy day fund.

Many clients understand the need for term life insurance for coverage during a specific period, but don’t know when

Financial progress is a lot like watching water boil—it tends to happen gradually.

PRACTICE SPECIALTIES Conversations That Empower Clients

they should consider whole life policies. Luckily there are riders now available where a client can purchase a term policy and on the 5th, 10th and 15th anniversary year of a 15-year policy a portion of the face value is moved to a whole life policy. This helps to streamline the process and continues to provide financial security.

• Do your clients have a steady paycheck, or does their income have ups and downs? In the aftermath of the Great Recession, Millennials in particular are finding it hard to find steady work.1 Many have turned to freelancing, seasonal work and temping. Uncertainty about the possibility of illness or unemployment may make these clients wary of committing to regular payments throughout life, e.g., a mortgage or a whole life insurance policy. Let them know that together, you can develop a plan to overcome potential stumbling blocks while keeping their goals within reach.

Equally as important, is your client expecting a large lump sum or inheritance in the near future? Large

sums of cash can be overwhelming to manage. Bring up the attributes of various annuity products that can provide a life-long income stream.

• Is your client concerned that you are too young, or does he lack brand recognition of the product manufacturer? Reassure your client that you are here for the long haul with them. Share information about your associates. Do you work on a team? Share bios for those you may confer with in order to stress to the client that with a team approach, they are benefiting from collaborative knowledge and experiences. Provide your clients with information about the product carriers you are recommending. They need to know that your financial institution is positioned for their long-term security.

• How do we evaluate the plan? How would your client determine if the plan has been successful? How often does the client want to be in touch to ensure the plan you’ve designed together is on track?

The right advice can contribute significantly to long-term prosperity.

Your client wants to select a financial representative that he not only likes and trusts, but also one who shows enthusiasm and commitment to his success. By having this conversation, you will already be situated as an advisor who is thoughtful and thorough.

Financial representatives can explain things clearly and simplify choices when it comes to the many competing issues in life. Your clients are searching for someone to help them look at their finances in a unified, holistic way so that they can achieve major milestones, such as starting a family, selling a business, transferring wealth to new generations, and living a fulfilling life along the way. This is your opportunity to guide that complicated conversation even when your clients may not know where to start.

1. Pew Research, “How Millennials Today Compare with their Grandparents 50 Years Ago”, March 19, 2015.

Kurt Shallow is Head of Agency Distribution, The Guardian Life Insurance Company of America.

By Jeffrey Fleischman

Making the Most of LIAM

Now is the perfect time to raise awareness of the importance of life insurance.

From an historical standpoint, life insurance has been providing vital protection to consumers in the U.S. for more than 200 years. However, despite having been around since the late 1700s, many consumers are not aware of how versatile and useful life insurance is.

According to LIMRA, 38 percent of men and 41 percent of women have no life insurance at all. While the majority of owners say a major reason they have life insurance is to cover their funeral and final expenses, it’s encouraging to see that some are seeing permanent life insurance as a way to supplement retirement income, even if it’s only cited as a minor goal.

Clearly, there is a huge opportunity to increase the number of people who would benefit from insurance and advisors are uniquely positioned to make this happen. Education is key, and considering September is Life Insurance Awareness Month, now is the perfect time to raise awareness of the importance of life insurance and the many benefits permanent life insurance products have to offer.

Hurdles to overcome

The biggest challenge associated with life insurance awareness is the simple fact that people do not like discussing or thinking about death. Couple these morbid thoughts with life insurance terminology and jargon that is difficult to understand and consumers just check out.

It’s understandable, and it is a primary roadblock preventing many consumers from purchasing a policy. However, it’s critical to change this perception of life insurance if we are to get more consumers the security and protection it provides.

Work with clients and prospects to pivot the conversation toward the “living benefits” that life insurance

can provide, as opposed to the more morbid, death-related aspects. Ensure your clients understand that the cash value that builds in certain permanent life insurance products can play a pivotal role in preparing for college payments, starting a business or planning for retirement.

By shining the light on these living benefits, consumers can appreciate how life insurance can help them reach their financial goals. Education will reduce the aversion and intimidation naturally associated by the product if the emphasis is on “the D-word.”

At the same time, demystifying the terminology and simplifying “outdated” language will help overcome the traditional conversation hurdles. Life insurance shouldn’t be viewed as an expense, but rather, an asset and the cornerstone of a sound financial plan.

How we’ve taken advantage of LIAM

A strategy that has worked for us in changing perceptions is adding humor to our LIAM-associated marketing campaigns. Last year, Penn Mutual published weekly cartoons during September. We also conducted a “Would you Rather” survey, asking respondents if they would rather

talk about life insurance or perform unpleasant tasks like waiting in line at the DMV. From there, we directed and shot a humorous man-on-thestreet-style video that polled random individuals on what they would rather do. Users landed on a microsite that was dedicated to raising awareness and provided an engaging and educational way to reach consumers.

The whole point of LIAM is to get people thinking about life insurance. If advisors can do it in a creative and engaging way, reaching the consumer is much easier. While surprising, the statistics mentioned about life insurance highlight the fact that consumers are mostly uninformed about the product and its benefits. This represents a major opportunity for advisors to change perceptions, spotlight the true value that life insurance provides, and work directly with clients to understand how this tool can be positioned as the cornerstone of a sound financial plan.

Jeffrey Fleischman is Penn Mutual’s Senior Vice President, Chief Marketing and Digital Officer. He is responsible for overseeing Penn Mutual’s corporate branding, marketing programs, market research, conferences and recognition, corporate communications and interactive marketing. For more information, visit www.pennmutual.com

A strategy that has worked for us in changing perceptions is adding humor to our LIAMassociated marketing campaigns.

Three Reasons to Consider Cash Value Life Insurance

Cash value options merit discussion in terms of the potential for asset accumulation and flexibility that contributes to estate planning.

Life insurance protection is a key part of any estate or financial plan. For many clients, term insurance provides foundational protection for a limited period of time and may be the main choice for young clients who seek to maximize the amount of insurance they can buy for their money. For advisors and clients, protecting against the risk of dying too young—and leaving beneficiaries financially strapped—is the paramount reason to buy life insurance.

As clients grow in age, experience and as their budget grows, more of them may turn to permanent insurance. In many cases, permanent insurance offering long guarantees or lifetime guarantees may be appropriate. In other cases, clients seeking a policy with more flexibility might want a policy that accumulates cash value.

A case for cash value insurance

There are three reasons that build a strong case for cash value:

• Client needs often evolve, from a need for pure protection to supplemental cash value accumulation for retirement. For these clients, advisors should consider implementing some cash value insurance. Factors to consider include whether the clients have adult children, whether they’ve paid off a mortgage, and whether they have any outstanding debt or are contributing to other savings. Advisors may discover that, in these situations, the clients may still need a death benefit but may need an additional financial vehicle that offers the potential to accumulate cash value to supplement their other sources of retirement income.

In general, life insurance provides an income tax-free death benefit. In addition, the cash value inside

policies grows tax-deferred and, as long as the policy remains in force, the cash values may be accessed through withdrawals and loans generally without incurring taxes¹. Of course, if clients access policy values, this will reduce the amount of death benefit to the beneficiaries and advisors should monitor the policy to ensure it remains current and avoid an unintentional surrender or lapse2. Such a lapse or surrender may result in taxation to the extent of gain in the policy. Additionally, for policies that are modified endowment contracts, distributions (including loans) are taxable to the extent of income in the policy, and an additional 10 percent federal income tax penalty may apply. Clients should, of course, always consult a tax advisor for advice on their particular situation. Through careful selection of the right policy, appropriate design and premium payments and thoughtful monitoring of withdrawals and/or loans from a policy, advisors can help ensure that the cash value product provides the intended benefits for the policyholder.

• Clients need flexibility, even in traditional estate planning, where policies are often purchased to fund trusts. Because of the increase in the federal estate tax exemption ($5.45 million for single taxpayers and $10.9 million for married couples in 2016), many advisors focus on nontax reasons for trust planning. Some may still use life insurance in an irrevocable trust to provide the income tax-free death benefit to provide liquidity at the death of the client grantor of the trust. And yet, some attorneys may draft some flexibility into the trust to provide that distributions may be made to beneficiaries during lifetime, as well as after death of the client

grantor. In these situations, cash value life insurance would be critical to providing the cash, which may be needed for distributions before the client grantor dies.

• Advisors and clients have more choice than ever with respect to policy design and policy features of cash value life insurance contracts. Whole life, universal life with fixed crediting rates, and variable universal life policies with cash value allocated to equity subaccounts are some of the choices. Innovations in product design also include indexed universal life, which vary from company to company and usually provide an interest crediting rate based upon the performance of a certain stock index (e.g., S&P 500) over a certain period, subject to certain caps and perhaps a floor crediting rate. Advisors should evaluate each policy to align with the client’s overall planning goals and risk tolerances and then determine the product design best suited to meet the client’s goals.

As advisors talk with clients about life insurance today, they can take them well beyond discussions about protection, and truly help them not only to manage future risk, but also to meet life’s current challenges. So, along with traditional conversations about the need for death benefits and cash-in life insurance, cash value options always merit discussion in terms of the potential for asset accumulation and flexibility that contributes to estate planning.

1. In general, loans are not taxable; however, withdrawls are taxable to the extent they exceed basis in the policy.

2. Unpaid loans and withdrawals may also negate any guarantee against lapse.

Brett W. Berg serves as Vice President of Advanced Marketing for Prudential in its Individual Life Insurance Division. He can be reached at brett.berg@prudential.com .

Using Fixed Annuities to Meet Your Clients’ Investment Goals

Here are some ways you can use fixed annuities to help clients reach their investment goals.

The growth of fixed annuities over the last decade is nothing short of impressive. In the first quarter of 2016 alone, LIMRA reported that fixed annuity sales increased by 48 percent, totaling $32.3 billion in sales.1

This increase in sales can most likely be attributed to the fact that, for many of your clients, a fixed annuity is a hard investment option to beat. That’s because it provides a safe place for a client’s hard-earned dollars. Not only that, one of the biggest advantages of investing in a fixed annuity is the flexibility it provides to the investor. Income options from a fixed annuity are numerous and can be tailored to a client’s specific situation. Clients can opt for lifetime income or income for a certain period, or they can build in survivor income access so their spouse or beneficiaries are provided for after they pass away.

Your clients’ investment goals

When helping your clients evaluate their investment strategy, consider how a fixed annuity can help them meet their investment goals:

• Investment goal # 1: Protecting money. Even though the Great Recession started almost a decade ago, your clients could still be trying to make up for the effects the economic downturn had on their investments. Investors learned that market changes don’t always mean big returns, and as such, have developed a lower tolerance for risk. This, coupled with the fact that people are living longer and need to rely on retirement income for a longer period of time, makes decisions about where to invest retirement dollars increasingly important. Risk adverse clients have found a fixed annuity purchase can help enhance their investment

goals. Fixed annuities provide a guaranteed rate of return and are a practical option for investors who don’t want to gamble with money they’ve worked hard to accumulate for retirement. This type of investor may also appreciate how annuities grow on a tax-deferred basis, and are only taxed when assets are distributed.

• Investment goal #2: Growing a sizable nest egg. In addition to protecting an investment, a fixed annuity can help a client accumulate a nest egg. A client can reap the benefits of triple compounding, gaining on the principal amount, interest on the interest and interest on money that would be lost to taxes. In this regard, a fixed annuity can be

positioned as a low-risk investment that is guaranteed to grow.

• Investment goal #3: Allowing early access to funds. While saving for retirement, your clients still need access to funds. Life happens, and there may come a time when your clients need to tap into their nest egg. Most investments don’t have flexible withdrawal options to access a portion of the investment without incurring fees, penalties or surrender charges. A fixed annuity has built-in provisions that allow a client access to money after a certain time period, in some instances as early as 30 days after issuance.

• Investment goal #4: Providing a steady income stream. Payouts from a fixed annuity can be

A fixed annuity can be positioned as a low-risk investment that is guaranteed to grow.

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT Using Fixed Annuities to Meet Your Clients’ Investment Goals

structured to meet a client’s needs. While immediate annuities will provide payments upon purchase, deferred annuities allow clients to “flip the switch” and convert funds from an accumulation vehicle to an income stream at any time. Perhaps your client determines he or she needs income to supplement Social Security or another source of retirement income, such as a 401(k) or pension. This means your client has control over when, or if, they turn on an income stream.

• Investment goal # 5: Controlling access to beneficiaries. Your clients may want to control how the proceeds from an annuity are disbursed to loved ones after they pass away. Perhaps there are multiple beneficiaries, or a situation where at least one beneficiary isn’t good at managing money, or the purchaser wants to

know the beneficiaries will receive a guaranteed income stream for their lives or for a designated period of time.

Fixed annuities can help clients allocate money to a single or multiple beneficiaries through setting up a restrictive beneficiary endorsement. A restrictive beneficiary designation endorsement gives your client the ability to structure how annuity proceeds are distributed to one or more beneficiaries. This takes the decision-making out of the hands of beneficiaries, who might not be ready for the responsibility, and into the hands of your client.

Tailoring the purchase to your client’s needs

Regardless of the intent for how the money is used, a fixed annuity can ensure a client’s principal investment is protected and available when they

need it. In addition, since a fixed annuity will help your client’s funds to remain truly safe, the purchase of a fixed annuity may even allow them to take risks in other aspects of their portfolio.

Whether your client is conservative, financially aggressive, young, or in a post-retirement phase of life, a fixed annuity can help make sure he meets his financial goals and is a sustainable aspect of his overall investment plan.

1. Fixed Annuity Sales Propel Growth in the First Quarter 2016, LIMRA, May 2016, http:// www.limra.com/Posts/PR/News_Releases/ Fixed_Annuity_Sales_Propel_Growth_in_the_ First_Quarter_2016.aspx?LangType=1033.

Rich Lane is the director of individual annuity sales and marketing for Standard Insurance Company. He has been in the fixed annuities industry for almost 20 years, with an emphasis on product and distribution development for brokerages, banks and broker/dealers.

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Employers Want Guidance about Voluntary Benefit Options

Survey shows potential opportunity for experienced advisors to expand their financial practices.

Two of five employers that currently do not rely on guidance from a financial advisor say they would welcome such help with voluntarybenefit options such as retirement plans, life and disability insurance, as well as other protection benefits, according to a new study from Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co.

The 2016 MassMutual Benefits Advice Study finds that 39 percent of employers without an advisor would find guidance regarding voluntary benefits from an experienced financial professional “extremely valuable” or “very valuable,” and 57 percent would characterize such help as at least “somewhat” or more valuable.

The study, conducted by Greenwald & Associates as part of a broader research project, surveyed 565 U.S. employers of different sizes, ranging from fewer than 25 employees to 1,000 or more employees.

“Employers increasingly are looking for help from financial advisors with voluntary benefits as their employees’ personal financial needs become more complex,” said Tom Foster, spokesperson and practice management leader for MassMutual’s retirement plan services. “Our research shows that advisors with the appropriate knowledge and expertise may have a clear and compelling opportunity to expand their financial practices to offer at least some guidance about voluntary benefits.”

The perceived value of guidance about voluntary benefits appears to grow steadily with the size of the employer, according to the survey. Firms that would characterize such assistance as “extremely” or “very” valuable range from 33 percent for those with fewer than 25 employees, to 55 percent for those with 1,000 or more employees. The percentages of

employers that would see such advice as at least “somewhat” or more valuable range from 75 percent for the smallest employers to 80 percent for larger firms, the study found.

Top marks for advisors

Employers that already rely on an advisor for help with voluntary benefits are generally pleased with the guidance they are receiving. More than half (53 percent) of these employers rate the advice they received as “excellent” or “very good” and 77 percent rate it as “good” or better, the study found. Again, the level of satisfaction climbs with the size of the employer. The quality of guidance received from an advisor was rated as “excellent” or “very good” by half of employers with fewer than 25 employees and by two-thirds of employers with 1,000 or more employees, according to the study.

The effects of using an advisor

The research study also shows that employers that rely on help from an advisor are more likely to promote employee wellness and benefits utilization. Sixty-one percent of employers that rely on an advisor encourage employees to take advantage of both retirement savings and other voluntary benefits compared with 49 percent of employers that do not use an advisor. Also, 48 percent of advisor-supported firms promote financial well-being for their employees, compared to 33 percent of non-advisor oriented firms, according to the study.

Benefits offered

Regardless of whether an advisor is involved or not, the research shows that some benefits are more likely

Employers that already rely on an advisor for help with voluntary benefits are generally pleased with the guidance they are receiving.

to be offered by employers than others. Overall, the employers who participated in the survey offered the following insurance benefits in order of popularity:

• Healthcare (92 percent)

• Dental (73 percent)

• Life insurance (72 percent)

• Vision (60 percent)

• Short-term disability (52 percent)

• Long-term disability (51 percent)

• Accident (32 percent)

• Employee assistance program (21 percent)

• Wellness program (20 percent)

• Critical illness insurance (17 percent)

• Cancer insurance (16 percent)

• Long-term-care insurance (13 percent)

“Ultimately, the benefits an employer selects should meet the diverse needs of employees as dictated by family situations, generational and gender differences, and personal finances, among other circumstances,” Foster said. “Experienced financial advisors may be particularly well suited to help employers come to grips with their employees’ benefits needs, including both wealth accumulation and wealth protection.”

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Industry Trailblazers

4Under Forty

Winners of the Four Under Forty Awards represent NAIFA’s most promising members under the age of 40. Find out how these four individuals have made reputations for themselves at a young age.

Samantha Clark, CLF, CLTC A Powerhouse with Purpose

This financial leader is growing an industry by growing relationships.

By Julie Knudson

It’s been said that experience is the best teacher. When her husband passed away unexpectedly, the years Samantha Clark, CLF, CLTC, vice president and managing director at National Financial Network in Garden City, New York, spent helping clients build and protect their financial lives ended up paying dividends for her own family. “My husband was only 41 and he died of a massive heart attack,” she explains.

With two young children to nurture, her stay-at-home husband had been a huge help in making room for Clark to focus on building her career and networking with her industry peers. “When he passed so suddenly, life had a new perspective,” she says. Fortunately, Clark and her husband had been careful in their own financial planning, and she was able to leverage those resources as she looked to a future different from the one she had envisioned.

A career with a purpose

Clark has always had an interest in how money fits into life. In college, she enjoyed taking classes on psychology along with courses in finance. “Only

later, when I started in the industry, did I realize how much that psychology background would really be needed,” she recalls. Growing up, Clark was fascinated by her godmother, a portfolio manager with Oppenheimer Capital who helped Clark secure an internship in the World Trade Center in the late 1990s. “It was great because I was in the hustle and bustle of Wall Street,” Clark says.

While an intern in college, Clark put her resume on Monster.com hoping to land a position closer to the front line. She fielded several contacts and ultimately convinced a skeptical manager at Guardian to give her a chance. Sheer guts and a knack for putting clients at ease helped to quickly build her book of business. “My main reason for joining the company was to prove my G.A. wrong,” Clark says with a laugh. “But the reason I joined the industry was to add that alignment of psychology and finance to my life.”

Whether it’s divorce, losing a spouse unexpectedly or making the sacrifices necessary to put a child through college, much of the strife families endure can be traced back to money. “I thought that if I could just help a few people and teach them about how money works, then look at how many lives I could change,” Clark says of her early days in the industry.

Clark has since moved to National Financial Network, and her clientele is wide ranging, including people from all walks of life and all income levels. She especially enjoys partnering with passionate entrepreneurs. “They have a vision of what they want to build and what they want to grow toward,” Clark says. “Because I develop very strong relationships with people I work with, to be able to carry that relationship through and see their dreams come true , that’s what drives me.”

Growing the industry

After getting her bearings in financial services, Clark quickly began to wonder why more women weren’t involved in the industry. “To this day I don’t understand why there aren’t more women here, especially in management,” she says. To help provide encouragement and mentorship to women considering careers as advisors, Clark became a member of Women in Insurance and Financial Services (WIFS) and launched a chapter in Buffalo, New York in 2008. Participation grew and the chapter soon expanded into Rochester. “I led the chapter and after the fourth year I gave up the presidency and stayed on as the immediate past president,” Clark says. In early 2015, after 14 years in Buffalo, she relocated to Long Island, and she’s now in the early stages of starting a chapter there.

Along with growing WIFS’s presence in Buffalo, Clark also launched an economic empowerment program for victims of domestic violence. Though participants in the program were mostly women, she’s quick to point out that domestic violence doesn’t pick and choose when

it comes to gender, race, religion or any other demographic. “There was domestic violence in my household growing up,” Clark explains. “What I saw was a woman who couldn’t leave the household because of money.”

It was just more fuel for the fire, helping to move Clark on a path into the financial industry where she could help other victims build a foundation of their own that didn’t rely on anyone else. “Whether it was just helping them understand how to open a checking account or pay bills, it was an amazing experience showing these people how money works.”

Clark has also been instrumental in connecting women with new opportunities within her own team. “From working with a lot of female entrepreneurs, I know they enjoy working with other women and networking with other women,” Clark says. It’s an area she highlights in her management role today as she works with new advisors. “I look at myself more as a coach and a mentor,” she says. “When I can see someone else’s career expand and grow, I love that. It fuels me.”

A big proponent of industry involvement, Clark has been a NAIFA member from day one and has enjoyed the networking and partnership aspects of the organization.

“Throughout the years, I was asked to sit on the Buffalo chapter’s board, which I did.” She headed up a number of development efforts, too, reaching out to speakers and helping to build up the group’s recurring meeting roster. “I loved it. I met so many great people and learned so much about other companies,” Clark recalls. She’s currently working to support and increase the presence of the NAIFA Long Island association.

The future is looking good Clark sees a bright future for advisors, even if that optimism isn’t always apparent among her peers. “There’s a lot of talk now about Millennials and how robo-advisors are going to take over and we’re not going to have an industry,” Clark says. But she isn’t buying it. While she says the industry is evolving — she agrees large mergers and other factors have

Tyler Hirth

Coaching Them Up

By Nick Fortuna

some people feeling “unsettled” — her views on tomorrow run toward the positive. “I believe we’re strong and this industry as a whole is strong. Knowledgeable help continues to be needed by everyone and I don’t think anyone should be afraid of what we do.”

The growth toward new directions in her personal life also puts a smile on Clark’s face. Her children are now 10 and 7 years old and, just like their mother, they’re learning to move forward without their father. “I look at my children now as these amazing people and we have been through hell and back together,” she says.

Clark values each day with her family, making sure she doesn’t miss a soccer game or school meeting. Dancing, something Clark enjoyed as a little girl, has made a welcome return to her life as her own kids discover the beauty and challenge of the art. There’s also a new relationship blooming. “I have a fiancé now and we’re getting married in September. He has a daughter as well.” Bonding with her growing family is what keeps Clark grounded these days. “Even if it’s just having a quiet night at home, I’m so blessed.”

This successful partner pays it forward through mentorship.

With a father and a grandfather in the insurance business, Tyler Hirth didn’t have to search for an answer when his second-grade teacher asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up. No doubt about it, he would become an insurance agent.

But fast forward almost 20 years, and Hirth wasn’t so sure about his career choice. The challenges that faced new insurance agents and financial advisors were weighing on him, and a job selling fertilizer, with an attractive salary and a company car, started to sound quite promising.

While in his third year in the industry, Hirth was just days away from accepting that sales job when Corey Anderson, the Young Advisors Team leader of NAIFA’s Minnesota state chapter, asked him to meet for coffee early one morning. And after a heartfelt talk, Anderson offered some blunt advice. “He looked me in the eye and said, ‘If you take that job, you’ll have sold your soul to the devil,’” Hirth recalled with a laugh.

Hirth and Anderson decided to hold each other accountable over the next six months, with Hirth pledging

to make 250 cold calls a week and Anderson scheduling 16 appointments a week. They would meet every other week for coffee early in the morning, and they would speak on the phone every few days. By the end of the year, it was apparent that they truly had motivated each other, as both made the Million Dollar Round Table. Hirth’s commitment to the industry was reborn.

Hirth is now a partner with Minnetonka, Minnesota-based Running Wealth Management Group, where he advises clients on all aspects

“I believe we’re strong and this industry as a whole is strong.”

–Samantha Clark

of financial planning, including wills, trusts, powers of attorney, college and retirement saving, estate planning and tax planning. The company also specializes in succession planning for financial advisors who are near retirement.

The value of relationships

With his place in the industry now secure, Hirth credits NAIFA with helping him stick it out through the lean years.

“Really, that accountability from one of my peers was the main ticket to where I’m at today,” Hirth said.

“If it wasn’t for NAIFA and the relationships you develop, there is no way I’d still be in this industry. I would have taken that job, and I probably would still be selling fertilizer today.”

Hirth, 32, began his career with a one-year stint as an underwriter at the independent insurance company Auto-Owners Insurance. His uncles, Chad and Rory Lea, then helped him launch his financial-planning career at MetLife Premier Client Group of the Upper Midwest in Minnesota. Hirth spent nine years there before joining Running Wealth Management Group, founded by Nathan Running, in May 2015.

Hirth’s uncles brought him to a NAIFA meeting on his first day at their company, and he’s been an active member ever since. He became the YAT chair for NAIFA’s Minneapolis chapter and later served as its secretary, treasurer and vice president before accepting his current position

as president of the Minnesota chapter. Hirth also serves as the Minnesota chapter’s YAT chair, helping to grow YAT chapters throughout the state’s 17 local chapters, and he is a member of NAIFA’s national YAT committee. He takes young advisors under his wing, giving them the same earlymorning coffee invite that helped set the stage for his success.

“They are in the same shoes that I was, and I want to see them succeed because someone else did that for me,” Hirth said.

Over the years, Hirth has attended six national NAIFA conferences and participated in five NAIFA fly-ins, where members meet with legislators to advocate for the industry and their clients. He also participates in NAIFA’s lobbying days at the Minnesota state capitol.

“NAIFA is the voice for the financial advisor and for the clients that we represent,” Hirth said. “My career and NAIFA have basically been my life over the past 10 years. I have friends all over the state because of NAIFA. One of the biggest things I’ve gained from NAIFA is the camaraderie and the mentorship that comes with being a member.

“When I would go to the national conference, I would always make it a point to meet the Four Under 40 winners, and I wondered what it would take to become one of them. I always looked up to them and was looking to emulate their best practices and learn from them.”

Hirth, a native of New Ulm, Minnesota, graduated from Bemidji

“I love building those relationships with people. My career is based on all the clients I’m helping and the relationships that I have with them.”

State University, a small school in northern Minnesota, in 2006 with a bachelor’s degree in small business entrepreneurship and a minor in political science. He played golf in college and remains active in the sport, regularly shooting in the 70s. He also organized and played for the school’s club ice hockey team and continues to put his 6-foot-2, 230-pound frame to good use as a defenseman in a competitive adult hockey league.

Lake Minnetonka is his playground. He enjoys barefoot water skiing, wakeboarding, surfing and taking clients out on his boat. He also likes to take clients pheasant hunting.

“I love building those relationships with people,” Hirth said. “My career is based on all the clients I’m helping and the relationships that I have with them. I get to know their families and get to watch them grow with me, which has been a lot of fun. That is the best part of this career, and I love it.”

–Tyler Hirth

Justin Curtis, LUTCF, ChFC, CLU

Helping Others Succeed

For this firm founder, people are where the greatest value lies.

By Jean Feingold

Justin Curtis, LUTCF, ChFC, CLU, formerly had what most would call a successful career. He worked for a large corporation and earned an excellent salary, a company car and generous fringe benefits. But this success came at a price. As a single person working more than 60 hours a week, he had no time for a family. “I wanted more than a paycheck,” he said. “I wanted purpose and the ability to build something, work for myself and enjoy the freedom of owning my own company.” In late 2007 he became a financial advisor like his father, working in the Nashville office of New York Life and finding the more balanced life he sought.

Those early years came during a difficult time for investors. Despite the troubled economy, Curtis did well in his new career because he learned the importance of keeping his clients informed and reassured. He is known for excelling under pressure, dealing with difficult life experiences and

refusing to quit. His excellent results culminated in his being named New York Life’s Nashville Rookie of the Year in 2008.

That early recognition continues. Curtis has received numerous awards from New York Life based on high production and meeting sales goals. He was elected by his peers in 2010 to the New York Life Agents’ Advisory Council, one of only 18 working with headquarters personnel on improvements for the company and field force. In 2014 he qualified for New York Life’s Chairman’s Cabinet (Top 50 in the company), the company’s highest level.

A NAIFA member since 2009, Curtis, 36, was a Million Dollar Round Table (MDRT) member from 2010 to 2013. He advanced to the MDRT’s Court of the Table during 2014 and 2015.

Starting his own firm

In 2010, Curtis and his father, Dan, founded Franklin, Tennessee-based Curtis Financial Group. Their vision was to operate a faith-based practice known for giving back. Their mantra was “Serving our Community, One Client at a Time.” “We always knew we wanted to do something different and unique,” Curtis said. “We wanted to be known as a practice that truly gives back to the community and has a vision to help others. I wanted our brand to be a name synonymous with giving back, bringing value to our clients as well as others we connect with. We wanted our clients to know that we use an unbiased, processdriven approach to help solve their unique financial challenges with creative strategies.”

“I learned that to be successful I had to learn from successful people,” Curtis recalled. “I gained a lot of wisdom from my father when I

entered the business, but being young and headstrong, I didn’t always listen. I acquired a lot of knowledge about the art of conversation from him. Most importantly I knew I wouldn’t know everything right away, but I knew I could outwork everyone else. One thing that can’t be taught and doesn’t cost a dime is work ethic, and hard work coupled with refusing to quit helped me succeed when others failed.”

The firm works primarily with business owners and clients needing help with financial and estate planning. Some clients fit in both categories. “In the business arena we enjoy helping to bring clarity to sometimes complex business needs, from business benefits to succession planning,” Curtis said. “On the financial and estate planning side we help design a financial blueprint that will create a legacy for the next generation of the client’s family.”

Networking and referrals from existing clients are the cornerstone of Curtis Financial Group’s marketing methods. “By connecting people and businesses and focusing on helping them, we organically grow trust and build relationships, which allows us to be a valuable resource in the community,” Curtis noted. “We

keep the focus on why we do what we do, which is giving back and helping others accomplish their goals. We don’t have to prospect, we just take care of our clients. I think that motivates them to help us grow.”

Giving back

For the past six years, the firm has sponsored the Curtis Financial Invitational charity golf tournament. Each year more than 100 golfers support the Second Base Foundation, a camp for youth and at-risk kids.

“We invite friends, clients, family and community leaders who participate as a great way to give back,” Curtis said. “We also use the tournament as a way to network and build new relationships.”

Curtis devotes time to improving the industry and the people in it. He belongs to two elite national study groups of top advisors, CPAs and attorneys who meet periodically to collaborate on changes in the industry and discuss and create new financial strategies. His mentoring,

teaching and motivational speaking also help educate other advisors on how to build successful practices.

“I know every day is an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around me!” Curtis said. He is living his dream of making memories with his wife, Heather, and daughters Madison, 13, McKinley, 5 and Chloe, 2 and running a successful financial advisory practice with his father. Today he is proudly serving his community one client at a time.

Curtis has the life he always wanted — having time to spend with his happy family and owning a firm that helps others achieve their financial dreams.

Barjes Angulo, LUTCF, RICP Against All Odds

By Ayo Mseka

Barjes Angulo, LUTCF, RICP, is living proof of what happens when you are committed to your dreams and will stop at nothing to make them happen. Although he was raised by a single mother who struggled to make ends meet on less than $24,000 a year, Angulo did all he could to keep his dreams alive and did not allow any setback to derail them.

That tenacity and drive to succeed have paid off. Today, at 39, he is a Wealth Advisor at Angulo Strategies and a career life insurance agent with New York Life Insurance. He has been an MDRT qualifier nine times, has received a NAIFA Quality Award three times and has earned more than 25 awards from New York Life. From someone who once had to borrow money from his parents to take the subway to his office, Barjes Angulo has come a long way indeed.

Angulo, the son of Ecuadorian

immigrants, was motivated to pursue a career in financial services when, as a young bank teller, he was assigned the task of referring walk-in customers to bankers in retail sales. “Within the first few months, I saw the value of financial services professionals for individuals who need guidance in this area,” he says. “I figured, I am trained in sales, I am studying finance in college, and I like to help people. This describes what an advisor does. It motivated me to pursue the career.”

Angulo Strategies focuses on integrating four key financialplanning disciplines: retirement income planning, income protection (life insurance, DI insurance and long-term-care insurance), investment planning and estate planning. Angulo works with three employees, one of whom, Katherine Fernandez, he plans to marry on September 16.

The firm services about 600 households and meets with 200 of them two to three times a year. “We service professionals, specifically in advertising and marketing, and about a dozen small-business owners,” he says. “I like to say we work with middle-class millionaires. They are extremely intelligent and creative and

“I know every day is an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of those around me!”

–Justin Curtis

This financial professional has built a successful practice by staying the course and learning how to turn setbacks into comebacks.

realize the value of working with a trusted financial professional.”

Overcoming obstacles

Angulo’s journey to success has not been without some setbacks. He dreamed of being the first person in his family to attend college, and while he was in high school, he planned on attending Pace University to study finance. But right after graduation, his plans were almost put on the back burner when he found out that he was going to be a father.

This did not deter him, however. After taking a year off, he was more committed than ever to earn his degree — he simply revised the plan of how he was going to do it. It took him 10 years of balancing full-time work and part-time work with raising his son, Xavier, but Angulo received his degree in 2007 and proudly walked across the stage, with Xavier applauding and cheering him on.

Also, his early years in the business did not exactly point to a rosy financial future. “I remember starting my career in January of 2001 and not seeing a penny in commissions until April of that year. And my first check was for barely $100,” he says. And once, after driving two hours each way to meet with a client who did not have the resources for him to help her, he received two tickets — one for accidentally running a red light and the other for parking illegally. “The meeting cost me five hours and about $300 in ticket fines — but no new client,” he says.

But he continued doing everything he could to keep his dreams alive largely because of the commitment he had made to his clients on his first day in business: “Be there for them and see the plans they have created together come to life.”

Tips for success

When asked for some of the reasons for his success, Angulo’s response is quick and to the point: “A mentor once told me that clients will tell you what they want — you just have to listen. So, I do.”

Also, he and the rest of the staff at Angulo Strategies try to stay flexible when planning client meetings. “I run meetings in my office to maximize my time,” he says. And the fact that his office is in a central location helps him stay focused on seeing about four to five people each day. In addition, he adheres to a piece of business advice he received many years ago: “People want to buy. They do not want to be sold.”

“Success will come your way also if you keep in mind that our business is changing; so, do your best to stay relevant,” he adds.

“And realize that the experience you have with your clients is the game changer in differentiating yourself from your competitors.”

For agents who are just starting out, Angulo’s advice is simple: Stay the course. “You need to be around to sow the seed you planted; so, giving up after one or two years in the business doesn’t make sense. I like to say that our business is like a whole life policy — no cash value in the early years, little dividend in Years Three to Five, but after that, the cash value is there with a consistent dividend.”

NAIFA membership has also helped move Angulo’s career forward. Apart from the opportunities for networking and sharing best practices that this membership provides, he learns a lot from Advisor Today. “The nuggets and sales ideas I have learned from reading Advisor Today have given me a lot of help in designing solutions for my clients,” he says.

Like most people who have achieved some level of success, Angulo is a great believer in giving back. He was active with Junior Achievement for a few years and is currently the Group Support Leader for the New York Chapter of the National Eczema Association. His plan is to do more volunteer work in a few years, after he earns a few more industry credentials.

But for right now, he is busy taking care of his clients. “I truly enjoy the flexibility and ability to service our clients in various ways,” he says. “I like the fact that we are creating a positive impact on their lives by providing them with products like life insurance and showing them how to create a guaranteed income for the rest of their lives.”

“You need to be around to sow the seed you planted; so, giving up after one or two years in the business doesn’t make sense.”

–Barjes Angulo, LUTCF, RICP

Sales Ideas That Work

By David Appel, Gregory B. Gagne, Jeff Fleischman and Edward C. Auble

David Appel, CLU, ChFC, AEP, is with Appel Insurance Advisors, LLC, in Newton, Mass. Appel can be reached at 617- 332-7900 or at david@appeladvisors.com

My practice thrives on a consistent flow of qualified referrals. They pour into my practice without my asking for them. Here are a few ideas you can use to market yourself and turn your civic, charitable and professional contacts into your own personal business ambassadors and referral centers.

• Create and use business ambassadors. Do people in your immediate circle really understand what you do for a living? To make sure they do, create business ambassadors in your community. You need your friends, neighbors, clients, clergy and local businesspeople to know exactly what you do for a living, not just have an idea of what you do. Your business ambassadors need to be able to project a vision of your business to a stranger in way that will cause that stranger to seek you out and want to do business with you.

When speaking to your business

ambassador about what you do, be proud to tell them what you do and say so with soul and conviction. Potential prospects and other advisors will feel secure if you show them that you are emotionally tied to what you do and that you are proud of your profession.

• Make good use of events you attend. You should always accept invitations to attend communal, spiritual or charitable events if you can fit them into your schedule and they don’t have adverse consequences for your family.

To make these events even more productive, review your invitations for any board members, hosts or event committee chairs you have been interested in targeting for business. Research these individuals carefully before the event and make mental notes. Then when you are at the event, introduce yourself to them in a wellthought-out and effective manner. Ask questions about life and try to create links between them and the people you know. Creating value before they even know what you do is powerful.

You can then begin the storytelling process, creating emotional stories about

what you do, how you have changed lives, or what you have witnessed with proper planning. By taking the wheel, you can take control of the situation and put yourself in the driver’s seat.

Also, don’t give out your business card at these events. Instead, get contact information of those you meet so that you can reach out to them. If you hand out our card, you will wait forever for a prospect who may never contact you.

When you start prospecting in this manner, you move from being a hunter to a trapper. While a hunter shoots many times, misses often, and hits very few, a trapper can decide who they are going to do business with and when; therefore, their hit-to-miss ratio is substantially higher. All of us will be more productive advisors if we learn to become consistent trappers.

• Do well by doing good deeds. You will do well in your practice by doing some good, and your involvement in charitable organizations, if managed correctly, can help you grow your business exponentially. By becoming involved with a charity that you passionately believe in, potential prospects will see you in a new light.

To be successful, however, you need to find a charity you feel strongly about—one that fulfills a personal goal of yours. If you get involved for the right reasons, eventually, business will come. Philanthropists always know if an individual is there to support the cause or work the crowd.

Charitable organizations look for wealth, wisdom and work from each lay member who gets involved.

I have found that to be successful in an organization, you must possess at least two of these three criteria. If you are a young advisor, work on the “work and wisdom” piece—the monetary part will come later. If you are a veteran, give until it feels good. Regardless of your financial situation, it is critical that you get involved and try to take on a leadership role. When you take

Gregory B. Gagne, ChFC, is with Affinity Investment Group, LLC, in Exeter, New Hampshire. Contact him at 603-778-6436 or at www.affinityinvestmentgroup.com .

• Here is how to get your client or prospect’s attention. If you find it difficult at times to get your clients to focus on what you are trying to tell them, here is a script that might help:

“Mr. Client. Have you ever taught someone how to drive a car? Or do you perhaps remember the first time you drove? Where did the new driver look?

After you ask these questions, give your client some time to respond and then continue:

“Typically, a new driver is focused on looking right over the hood of the car right in front of them. Sometimes you need to put on the high beams and look down the road to see what is ahead of you. This is how we help our clients plan for life’s uncertainties by helping them look down the road to see what their dangers are and where opportunities might be. Does that make sense to you?”

After saying these words, you can proceed with explaining what they should do to prepare for the long haul.

Jeff Fleischman is Penn Mutual’s senior vice president, chief marketing and digital officer. He is responsible for overseeing Penn Mutual’s corporate branding, marketing programs, market research, conferences and recognition, corporate communications and interactive marketing. For more information, visit www.pennmutual.com

• To bolster your brand, think outside the box. On the surface, it may seem like The Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company and the sport of rugby have little in common. However, there are a number of parallels between the two, and our unlikely marriage has helped take our brand awareness, talent

on a leadership position in an organization and you excel, people will take notice of you and will want you to work just as hard for them on their investments, taxes, legal work and insurance. The volunteers and philanthropists involved are already disposed to like you as a person, and you can begin marketing in that organization from the inside out.

• Here is how to explain investing in difficult markets. The following script will help make it easier for your client to understand the concept of investing in difficult markets.

“Mr. Client. The stock market is really much like the ocean tide. What I mean is: When was the last time you were at the ocean and watched the tide go out and never come back?”

After this question, give him some time to answer, and then continue:

“Exactly. The ocean tide has always come back, and since the inception of the stock market until today, the market has always come back too. Some people think “getting out of the market” is the right thing to do during a steep decline. We do not suggest this. You see, when the storm comes, you need to batten down the hatches, not jump ship! Make your portfolio like an all-weather boat designed to ride through the storms of the market, and do not “jump ship” during a downturn. When the storm is gone and when the tide comes back, your boat will once again rise with the tide.”

recruitment and client prospecting to the next level.

We initially engaged the rugby community by becoming the title sponsor of the Collegiate Rugby Championship and Varsity Cup in 2015. Since then, our company became a sponsor of the National Small College Rugby Organization (NSCRO) as well as The Rugby Business Network, a not-for-profit organization for senior business leaders with a passion for rugby. We decided to partner with rugby because the sport’s values of teamwork, integrity, respect, and serving our communities align perfectly with the Penn Mutual brand and core philosophy.

Also, being one of the fastest growing life insurance companies in the U.S., it made perfect sense to sponsor the fastest growing team sport in the country. However, the primary deciding factor in partnering with rugby was its strong affinity with highly educated, affluent, teamoriented and loyal individuals—in other words, the same people we are looking to attract to our company.

Our sponsorship of the Penn Mutual Collegiate Rugby Championship, the Penn Mutual Varsity Cup, NSCRO and The Rugby Business Network has put us directly in front of our targeted demographics and allowed us to build countless meaningful relationships.

These relationships have not only bolstered brand presence, they have significantly boosted our talent recruitment and client prospecting as well. Before the rugby sponsorship, the Penn Mutual brand was yet to be taken to the national scale. Today,

we have a brand that is growing nationally in recognition and respect. I have no doubt a similar sponsorship could do wonders for other businesses. But when thinking about sponsoring a sport as we have, I encourage firms to first align their

sponsorship goals and objectives to their business priorities. Is it to bolster your brand, meet client prospects or recruit new talent? For us, we wanted to accomplish all three, and we are lucky to have found great partners that allow us to do so.

protect him now, protect increased earnings, and protect him should he change employers or opt to establish his own practice.

• Always remember to fight for your clients. After all, underwriters are human, too. Recently, a client, Tom, approached me about reviewing his disability insurance.

Some years ago, I had provided him with a policy that has a $2,000 monthly benefit. Since then, he had become an attorney and had just joined a major corporation where his initial salary was $100,000 a year. The corporation offered a typical group, long-term disability plan, 60 percent to a maximum monthly benefit of $20,000. What was not typical was that the plan was voluntary, fully employee-paid.

Tom needed another $3,000 monthly benefit to protect his income. I proposed an additional $3,000 individual disability with $6,000 future benefit option. This would

The problem: Why would the underwriter approve the individual application when they knew that the applicant could “double-dip” by subsequently adding $5,000 monthly of employer-provided voluntary plan?

The individual policy was to include an amendment, which said, essentially, that any benefit from the individual policy would be reduced dollar-for-dollar by any benefit paid by the voluntary plan.

We impressed upon the underwriter that my client had no interest in being covered by both plans. The amendment was changed to indicate that the applicant had no intention of enrolling in the voluntary plan now, but he might do so in the future. And there was no mention about a benefit offset. The individual plan was approved.

Edward C. Auble, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, is with Auble Financial in Paoli, Penn. Contact him at 610-889-1640 x101, or at www.aublefinancial.com

15 Ways to Save Time

By Leland Davis, LUTCF, Danny O’Connell, John Enright and Bob Arzt, CLU, ChFC, LLIF

Are you constantly asking yourself whatever happened to the time you thought you had, even as you look at a to-do list that appears to be getting longer and longer? Do you sometimes feel as if you are working harder and harder, but are not seeing the fruits of your labor? If you do, it’s time to learn from these top producers who know a thing or two about making the most of their work day.

Leland “Lee” Davis, LUTCF, is an MDRT Top of the Table advisor who winters in Scottsdale and summers in Denver—and works half days most days!

Working four to five hours daily and getting 10 hours of work done is simple, but it is not easy. I must have 3-4 highly productive client/prospect meetings daily. Here’s how we do it. The tools we use are in italics.

1 Email Detonation. Email is the biggest time waster ever, unless it is leveraged to your advantage. So My Top Ten Rule: I only look at my email messages during the last 10 minutes or the first 10 minutes of the hour, between meetings. I reply by voice (see “Dragon” in next column). Delete, Junk and Unsubscribe are my best friends. We use Outlook Rules & Quick Steps for immediate auto replies like, “Thank You!”, “Got It, thanks!”, or “I’ll call you,” with a forward to my assistants for quick action. One click and it is done. An Email Inbox Sub folder for each teammate gets copied for our Daily Briefing (see below). The “After 5” subfolder gets any non-production-related message I want to look at further. Then, I’m done. I empty all of my email messages daily.

2 Teammate Briefings. Monday morning’s highly structured team meeting and a daily 15-minute briefing with my Scheduler and Advisor Assistant keep us on target. An Agenda keeps us laser focused and efficient (we have an Agenda for every meeting). I have several great teammates, who are the biggest time savers of all.

3 Turbocharged Technology. In no particular order, my fast laptop/tablet has a clean, clear desktop and is highly

organized. Microsoft One Note (cloud based) is used for ALL notes across ALL devices—no use of pen or paper. Dragon Naturally Speaking voice software is used for almost everything (I can talk three to four times more quickly than I can type). A Plantronics Edge Bluetooth earpiece and a phone headset keep me hands free. A 4-minute or less Copytalk dictation immediately follows every single call and meeting. Our scheduler then cuts and pastes precise details, actions, tasks and more into our Contact Manager CRM.  She keeps the data clean. I move on.

Advisor Mobile puts our full CRM on my Galaxy Note Phablet/Smartphone or any other internet-enabled device. And yes, I have a Moto 360 Smartwatch when I give the Rolex or Omega a rest. Texts, emails, weather information and more appear magically there. By the way, two-thirds of our meetings are via WebEx, sharing my screen and webcam with great clients to close cases efficiently.

4 Amazing Meeting Prep.  A Meeting Checklist and Action Folder, with the Naviplan financial plan, proposals, articles and all forms with signing tabs, is fully prepared and ready in advance for each meeting. We use E-signatures or FedEx to speed up the process.

5 An Hour at Night. I spend one hour or less most nights reading, studying, dictating and finishing the “After 5” folder, following my afternoon (most days) round of golf. There. Now use those other four hours you have freed to go have some fun!

Danny O’Connell is a Partner at Benefit Resource Group in Dallas and a past recipient of Advisor Today’s Four Under Forty Awards. He has spoken to numerous insurance professions both domestically and internationally on ways to build their practice.

6 Taking a Client’s Call. Whenever someone calls in to our office and I am not available, I have the staff ask them if they can help. If they say “no, I need to speak with Danny,” I have my staff member let the person know when I am available for a call. At that time, the caller might say: “Well, I am only calling about X,” and it can be resolved. If it cannot, I have my staff member schedule the call and ask what it is about so that I can be prepared for it. At that point, the person might say: “It is about X.” Again, my staff person can usually handle it. If he can’t, then it is placed on my calendar so that we do not play “phone tag.” Also, I know exactly why they are calling and I am prepared to hopefully resolve it.

7 Handling Telephone Appointments. When I got started in this business, I would spend 30 minutes driving, spend an hour with the client, and another 30 minutes driving back to my office. I now conduct most of my initial appointments over the phone. Since so many of my prospects are referrals, this has not affected my closing ratio and it allows me to conduct 4-8 as many appointments in the same time it took me to conduct one appointment when I first started.

8 Writing the Closing Email. We all know that taking some time to prepare in advance for anything will save a lot of time on the back end. This is a lesson I have tried to instill in team members: If we do it right the first time, it saves us so much time on the back end. Once I have confirmed what a client wants to move forward with, I send them an email with confirmation of our next appointment time, along with a bullet-point list of what I will need from them to help them get prepared. The bullet-point list is important because it easily shows the client what is needed and they feel good once they know they have completed it. This also makes the most use of my time, as well as that of my staff.

9 Getting the Apps. For all the main carriers I do business with, every January I email my reps requesting the most up-to-date applications or forms that I use. I then save those to our server so that when we have something sold, we already have the paperwork and can start completing it. I try to complete as much as I can on the application prior to the meeting.

Also, we now complete the paperwork over the phone with the client–filling in the .pdf and emailing it to them to review, and asking them to send the signature pages back to us. In this way, the client has the complete set of paperwork and can review it. This process takes about 10 to 15 minutes, compared to the 90 minutes we used to spend on going to see them and driving back to the office.

John Enright’s practice, Custom Wealth Management, LLC, aims to deliver a unique client experience to clients through a process called The Custom Wealth Architect. He is the founder of www.7FigureAdvisor.com, through which he works with other advisors in strengthening their unique client experience.

10 Time block .  Schedule at least 1 full day a week to work on your practice and the team, preparing for client meetings, returning calls and addressing problems.  Do not have any client meetings on these days.  I use Monday for this activity.  Schedule days when you are focused only on seeing clients or centers of influence and fill those days up well in advance.

11 Stop answering the phone.  It took me a long time, but finally I am at the point where the phone in my office does not ring.  My team handles all incoming calls.  Most incoming calls are related to service needs and if you are performing those service needs, it is time to hire someone to help you.  You should be focused on business development.  The result is that you do not need to answer incoming calls.

12 Create a list of the things you do over the course of a week .  Be diligent about this so that your list is complete.  After doing this for a couple of weeks, turn to the list and highlight the things you enjoy doing the least.  Those are the things that your next hire needs to enjoy doing.  When we are forced to do things we do not enjoy, we can’t help but procrastinate, just as I am doing now so I don’t have to do my meeting debriefs.  When we get around to doing tasks we don’t like, we become easily distracted, and it takes time to get back to the task at hand. This is wasted time.

13 Create or adopt systems and processes.  Identify the repeatable activities that you or your team members perform, either in front of a client or behind the scenes, and acquire or create systems and processes to create significantly better efficiencies.  We have invested heavily over the years in systems and processes, and the result has not only created a great deal of time savings, but also a much higher level of confidence.

If you are performing service needs, it is time to hire someone to help you.

Bob Arzt, CLU, ChFC, LLIF, is President of Insurance Coach U, a training and development organization dedicated to the financial-services industry. He is a NAIFA recommended coach. He offers individual coaching, group coaching and other programs designed to give advisors and managers immediate and dramatic results in their productivity, practice management and business development. Free introductory coaching sessions are offered. www.insurancecoachu.com. 510-671-6226.

14 Commit to doing your most important activities. Ever wonder how the top sales performers manage their time every day and stay organized? They determine and commit to accomplishing their most important, high-value activities.

High-value activities are actions that increase the bottom line by keeping their sales funnel filled and getting them in front of prospects and clients systematically. This is absolutely not negotiable to them-they do everything they can to achieve this goal. This is accomplished by an organized and systematic effort. Here are some of the things top producers do to make effective use of their time:

• They “time-block” their day, week and month. Top producers schedule everything. They create a timetable for what needs to be accomplished and break the tasks down to what needs to be done daily, weekly and monthly. And they stick to it. They very rarely deviate from this schedule. So let’s take a closer look at what they schedule:

• Appointments. They decide how many appointments they need each week and “time block” them in their calendar. They set the specific times they will schedule appointments.

• Prospecting. They don’t forget to keep the potential sales pipeline filled. They don’t get lost in the business of client presentations, proposal preparation and daily administrative tasks. They don’t neglect to schedule time to prospect. Prospecting should be a daily habit. They block out time every day that is dedicated to finding new prospects and expanding their client base.

• Office and administrative. We all need time daily to deal with paperwork, customer questions, and things that come up in the course of business. These tasks are very important to business, but top producers don’t let them interfere with their goals of accomplishing their high-value activities. They schedule time each day so that they can handle these responsibilities and they don’t try to do them as they come up. They know that if it is not scheduled, their focus and their energy will be pulled elsewhere all day long.

• Emails and phone calls. We often feel that we spend the entire day answering emails and phone calls. Top producers respond to their calls and emails, but they control when they do so. They dedicate certain times, perhaps 3 or 4 times a day, to this activity. Scheduling when to check their email messages and phone calls allows them to stay focused throughout the day and not to go in different directions constantly.

15 Try not to multitask. Whatever job top producers decide to do, they stick with it until it is done. All of us think we can multi-task, but the truth is that we can’t. We can only do one thing at a time well. Top producers complete a task before moving on to the next one because they know this will result in a higher productivity level.

I hope these tips will inspire you to make some changes to your daily habits. Remember that the key to effective time management is governed by the decisions you make each day about how and where you invest your time. The choice is yours.

D. Scott Brennan to Receive 2016 John Newton Russell Memorial Award

D.Scott Brennan, a career MassMutual agent in South Bend, Ind., is the recipient of the 75th annual John Newton Russell Memorial Award. The NAIFA award is the highest honor accorded by the insurance industry to a living individual who has rendered outstanding services to the institution of life insurance. Brennan will receive the award Sept. 18, 2016, at NAIFA’s Performance + Purpose Conference in Las Vegas.

“On behalf of the selection committee, it is a privilege to congratulate Scott Brennan as the recipient of this year’s John Newton Russell Memorial Award,” said Robert O. Smith, CLU, ChFC, JD, chair of the 2016 award committee. “Scott’s high regard as an industry speaker and his dedicated service to the Million Dollar Round Table demonstrate his strong commitment to our industry and to helping his colleagues achieve success. We had many strong nominees this year, but Scott’s achievements stood out as particularly notable.”

Brennan began his career in life insurance in 1977. He is a member of the MDRT Quarter Century Club with past qualifications of COT and TOT. He has served as the organization’s president and is an Excalibur Knight of the MDRT Foundation.

“I have had a great career with a few left turns,” Brennan said. “It hasn’t been perfect but it has been wonderful. I have more medals than scar tissue, but I am proud of both.”

Brennan has been a NAIFA member for more than 35 years and is currently on the NAIFA-Indiana board of trustees. He has served as the president of NAIFANorth Central Indiana association. He has also served on the Life Happens board of directors and as president of Forum 400.

A highly regarded speaker, Brennan has presented to more than 200 business groups. His awards include Life Underwriter of the Year award, 1998 NAIFA-Indiana Hoosier Underwriter of the Year award, and the 2002 and 2003 Mass Mutual Agent of the Year for Indiana. In 2011, Brennan was the inaugural recipient of The Forum 400’s Humanitarian Award.

“Scott Brennan has dedicated more than 35 years to helping his clients provide financial security for themselves and their families,” said NAIFA President Jules O. Gaudreau, Jr., ChFC, CIC. “During that time he has also given back to our great industry by volunteering his time, insights and energy. His exemplary passion and dedication make him a worthy recipient of the 2016 John Newton Russell Memorial Award.”

John Henry Russell created the John Newton Russell Award in 1942 as a tribute to his father, an influential leader in the life insurance industry and an early advocate of agent education. John Newton Russell served as NAIFA (then NALU) president from 1916 to 1917 and was a contributing founder of LIMRA International, The American College and the Chartered Life Underwriter (CLU) designation.

For your clients with advanced-stage illness or for seniors with high premiums and identified impairments, don’t recommend a life settlement without calling us first. We’re Fifth Season Financial, and we’ve developed a financial resource called FLAG – FUNDS for LIVING AND GIVING

Rather than your client selling their policy, Fifth Season’s FLAG program provides cash advances of up to 60% of the policy death benefit.

Your clients may realize much greater returns from a FLAG advance than a policy sale. Since Fifth Season’s launch in 2007, cash advances and beneficiary payouts combined have, on average, exceeded 80%* of the face value of policies utilizing FLAG

For qualified referrals, Fifth Season pays financial professionals fair and competitive fees.

• For your clients with serious illness

• Our FLAG program provides cash advances against the face value of almost any type of life insurance policy

• The FLAG advance is generally non-taxable

• Fifth Season assumes premium payments; all advances, fees and interest are re-paid later solely out of the death benefit

• Surplus funds are paid to policy beneficiaries

• A FLAG advance retains optionality for your client (no penalties for early repayment, additional advances on health changes, etc.)

• Faster processing than a life settlement

*Based on analysis of all completed advance transactions through December 2015

Calculated Risk: Ensuring Security in Outsourced Data Services

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he cybersecurity climate is increasingly dangerous. Threats to customer and company data continue to outpace even major global corporations’ efforts to detect and thwart them. Rogue states, international crime rings and data-resale markets continue to thrive. Social media, mobile computing and data stored in the cloud further complicate the landscape and multiply exponentially the number of criminal entry points.

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Meanwhile, the business landscape is more competitive than ever. Financial services companies, in particular, face unprecedented pressure to perform for their clients and shareholders. They cannot afford to sacrifice profitability in favor of security; each is critical.

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Regulatory complexity

What is worse, the explosion of the use of personal devices for work-related communications, document storage and other confidential and regulated functions introduces massive risk. A VP’s iPhone left behind in a taxi can lead to trade secrets being published online and customer data being sold for millions.

As Copytalk’s CEO, I know this landscape well. Because we serve so many financial services companies, these issues come up daily. And, prior to heading our company, I was a senior supervisory manager in a prominent bank brokerage house.

service providers can pull off the shelf to meet their clients’ needs.

Note: All written debit/charge authorizations must provide that the member may revoke the authorization only by notifying NAIFA in the manner specified in the authorization.

Note to Members Paying by Bank Draft or Monthly Credit Card: NAIFA will debit/charge your account on the 5th of every month. Debits/Charges will begin the month following receipt of this application. You will be notified in advance of any adjustments in your monthly debit/charge, resulting from any dues adjustments. There is a $.50 per month transaction fee, which is added to the monthly debit/charge amount. If your membership is being reinstated after a lapse, the first debit/charge will reflect the amount due for the delinquent months. If the participant has insufficient funds in his/her account to cover the monthly draft, NAIFA will charge a $15.00 fee on the next monthly debit. If the insufficient fund status occurs for a second consecutive month or twice within six months, the participant will be removed from the program and all benefits will be terminated. The member will not be eligible to receive benefits again until his/her account is brought current. Once you have enrolled in the bank draft/monthly credit card program, you are committed to pay full annual dues in 12 monthly payments. If you fail, for whatever reason, to complete your full membership dues obligation, you are still liable for the remaining unpaid balance.

Overnight, that low-cost device that gave your manager unprecedented efficiency and availability became a liability, with the potential to devastate the company.

The supervisory environment was heating up then, and it becomes more complex every year. It seems foolish to be lax with corporate security standards, but it happens more than executives want to know.

MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT

I agree to abide by the association bylaws and NAIFA’s Code of Ethics (see below) and certify that:

Data service providers can help by providing a layer of security over that data. Service providers can introduce risk, too. CIO Magazine called third-party service providers one of the six biggest security risks to businesses in 2015.

What kinds of safeguards will you need for the information your provider will be handling? What are your requirements for data loss, file corruption and downtime? A dedicated team that will communicate risk tolerance and supervisory requirements to the service provider helps take the weight off. Taking these steps before the engagement will save time and resources and help get any new service provider relationship off on the right foot.

a. I have not been accused in writing nor been found in violation of the code of ethics of any professional organization of which I am a member. A state or federal licensing or regulatory body has not censured, fined or reprimanded me, or revoked or suspended my investment advisor, securities, or insurance license(s). I am not a defendant in a criminal action. If a criminal judgment has been entered against me in the past, it has been disclosed to NAIFA and its predecessors.

b. I agree that neither the Association nor its individual members, officers, directors, agents or employees shall be liable to me, individually or jointly, if this application for membership is rejected or for the consequences of any disciplinary action which may be sought or taken against me under the local Association’s bylaws or Amendments thereto or any disciplinary or penal action which may be sought or taken against me under the laws of this or any other state or jurisdiction, or for any statement which the Local Association or any of said individuals may issue relative to any such action; provided, for its or their gross negligence or willful misconduct.

So many providers offer data-related services that are in effect no more secure than that device left in the taxi. Meanwhile, financial-services managers focused on the bottom line are too often falsely assured that the services being provided are secure. It’s a deadly brew. As buyers of these services, financial services companies must be thorough in vetting their providers.

c. I understand and agree that my application for membership will be declined if it does not obtain a majority vote of the Board of Directors, or in the opinion of the Board of Directors, I am or will be unable or unwilling to conform to any of the foregoing requirements. OR (check if any statements apply):

Transcription services are essential. Don’t trade efficiency for security, or buy into the idea that they’re mutually exclusive. Copytalk can answer your questions about security and work with you to meet your individual compliance needs and risk profile and appetite. We can talk directly to your cyber intelligence team, leadership and board to put risk concerns to rest. Your security is paramount.

I have been accused in writing or been found in violation of the rules or code of ethics of a professional organization of which I am a member. A state or federal licensing or regulatory body has censured, fined or reprimanded me, or revoked or suspended my investment advisor, securities or insurance license(s).

Ultimately, we all know firms are responsible for service provider security. It bears repeating: There is no getting out of compliance obligations, no matter what kind of assurances your service provider gives you. HIPAA, GLBA, Sarbanes-Oxley, the Dodd-Frank Act, to name a few, require financial companies to treat customer data—in particular, personally identifying information (PII), non-public information (NPI), and protected health information (PHI)—with special care.

I am a defendant in a pending criminal action or a criminal judgment has been imposed against me that has not been disclosed to NAIFA or its predecessors. I will attach complete details with this application. I understand that a finding of such violation may create a presumption that I have violated NAIFA’s Code of Ethics.

What’s your risk?

There’s no bulletproof solution. Your company’s needs aren’t the same as those of your competitors. This is part of what makes compliance tricky. There’s no one-size-fits-all remedy that

Copytalk is a NAIFA Preferred Provider. For more information about Copytalk and the NAIFA member savings, please visit Copytalk within the “Practice Resources” section of the NAIFA website.

Maree Moscati is CEO of Copytalk.

Do Your Colleague a Favor. Introduce Them to NAIFA

National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors

Personal Information: (Please print or type)

members 40 years and younger or in their first five years in the business. Birth year or license year needed

Please DO NOT share my contact information with NAIFA member benefit affinity providers

NON-DEDUCTIBILITY OF LOBBYING EXPENSES DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

While association dues payments may be deductible by members as an ordinary and necessary business expense, dues are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. To determine the total non-deductible portion of your dues, add the NAIFA National lobbying expense ($63.00) to your state association’s lobbying expense (see table below).

Dues Amounts (for official use only) — Local and State dues amounts MUST be entered and added to the NAIFA dues amount.

*REQUIRED FIELDS

NOTICE: NAIFA is required to inform you of the cost of your state and/or national magazine subscription, which is included in your membership dues. This amount is not deductible from your dues. The amount of your Advisor Today subscription is $6. The amount of your state subscription is listed in the table on the front of this application.

ANNUAL PAYMENT ONLY (Please check one)

Check VISA Mastercard American Express

AUTHORIZATION AGREEMENT FOR MONTHLY DEBIT/CREDIT CARD PAY

I hereby authorize the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors, hereinafter called NAIFA, to initiate debit/charges to my: (select one)

VISA MasterCard AMEX (Discover not accepted at this time). Checking Acct. Savings Acct. at the depository financial institution named below hereinafter called DEPOSITORY, and to debit the same to such account. *Please include a voided check with your application.

This authorization is to remain in full force and effect until NAIFA has received written notification from me (the participant) of its termination. Written notification must be received by NAIFA by the last business day of the month to avoid a draft/charge for the following month.

Note: All written debit/charge authorizations must provide that the member may revoke the authorization only by notifying NAIFA in the manner specified in the authorization.

Note to Members Paying by Bank Draft or Monthly Credit Card: NAIFA will debit/charge your account on the 5th of every month. Debits/Charges will begin the month following receipt of this application. You will be notified in advance of any adjustments in your monthly debit/charge, resulting from any dues adjustments. There is a $.50 per month transaction fee, which is added to the monthly debit/charge amount. If your membership is being reinstated after a lapse, the first debit/charge will reflect the amount due for the delinquent months. If the participant has insufficient funds in his/her account to cover the monthly draft, NAIFA will charge a $15.00 fee on the next monthly debit. If the insufficient fund status occurs for a second consecutive month or twice within six months, the participant will be removed from the program and all benefits will be terminated. The member will not be eligible to receive benefits again until his/her account is brought current. Once you have enrolled in the bank draft/monthly credit card program, you are committed to pay full annual dues in 12 monthly payments. If you fail, for whatever reason, to complete your full membership dues obligation, you are still liable for the remaining unpaid balance.

MEMBERSHIP AGREEMENT

I agree to abide by the association bylaws and NAIFA’s Code of Ethics (see below) and certify that:

a. I have not been accused in writing nor been found in violation of the code of ethics of any professional organization of which I am a member. A state or federal licensing or regulatory body has not censured, fined or reprimanded me, or revoked or suspended my investment advisor, securities, or insurance license(s). I am not a defendant in a criminal action. If a criminal judgment has been entered against me in the past, it has been disclosed to NAIFA and its predecessors.

b. I agree that neither the Association nor its individual members, officers, directors, agents or employees shall be liable to me, individually or jointly, if this application for membership is rejected or for the consequences of any disciplinary action which may be sought or taken against me under the local Association’s bylaws or Amendments thereto or any disciplinary or penal action which may be sought or taken against me under the laws of this or any other state or jurisdiction, or for any statement which the Local Association or any of said individuals may issue relative to any such action; provided, for its or their gross negligence or willful misconduct.

c. I understand and agree that my application for membership will be declined if it does not obtain a majority vote of the Board of Directors, or in the opinion of the Board of Directors, I am or will be unable or unwilling to conform to any of the foregoing requirements.

OR (check if any statements apply):

I have been accused in writing or been found in violation of the rules or code of ethics of a professional organization of which I am a member. A state or federal licensing or regulatory body has censured, fined or reprimanded me, or revoked or suspended my investment advisor, securities or insurance license(s).

I am a defendant in a pending criminal action or a criminal judgment has been imposed against me that has not been disclosed to NAIFA or its predecessors. I will attach complete details with this application. I understand that a finding of such violation may create a presumption that I have violated NAIFA’s Code of Ethics. Signature Date

By Julie Cochrane

Increasing Technology Adoption at Your Firm

When you open a software program, you’re given a full menu of options. From core functionality to the shiny bells and whistles, they always have a lot to offer.

But with a program full of robust features that “can make a firm more efficient and more productive,” firms often struggle with getting everyone to adopt this new technology. How do you go about this?

First steps

You always want to start by figuring out why you purchased the program in the first place. Ask:

• Initially, what feature, report, functionality, or interface appealed to you the most?

• Of the efficiencies the program offers, which one piqued your interest?

• What made you say “Wow, <insert name of technology program> is just what we need”?

Answering these questions will create a path toward enhanced usage. But you shouldn’t stop there, and you shouldn’t go at it alone.

At Junxure, a new NAIFA Preferred Provider and an awardwinning CRM platform for financial advisors, we recommend that every firm create a Technology Task Force.

In your work with clients there is a natural progression—from addressing financial fundamentals to addressing their more complex, comprehensive needs. Implementing technology has a similar progression—from learning the basics of a system to building upon your knowledge to leverage more advanced functionality throughout the program. The Task Force is your guide. Your team knows where the firm needs to go, but more importantly, where you are today.

The Task Force should include a mix of team members—those who embrace technology and change, as well as

those who are more resistant. Selecting employees from each area of the firm, your task force should represent a cross-section of responsibilities, perspectives and personalities.

Gathering data

Once the Task Force has been formed, the data gathering should begin. At this stage, you should:

• Focus on goals and prioritize. (Go back to the first three questions mentioned previously). If employees don’t know why you’ve purchased a program, or understand the impact it can have on the firm, they are less likely to adopt it.

• Assess core competencies and usage across the firm. What do users find easy? What areas or features do they struggle with? From there, build a plan.

• Identify available resources to help you learn. These may be internal or external to your firm. Don’t be afraid to engage the software company to help you create a path for learning and ultimate adoption success. At Junxure, the consulting and training team works closely with firms to understand the goals they have for their CRM and makes recommendations on how they can best meet them.

• Repeat if necessary, especially as your firm and the industry change over time. Implementing technology is not a destination. If you have the

right program, it will continue to grow and evolve as you do.

Making it work

Encourage others to share ideas, comments and issues with your Task Force that can then be addressed in your routine Task Force meetings. I encourage firms to include a “Technology Tip” in their staff meeting agenda. It helps to have employees share with others something they have discovered about a program that had a positive impact on workflow or client service. Discussing how systems help your day-to-day business is very effective in getting buy-in from your team.

Think about how you help your clients succeed. You put a plan in place and commit your resources to carrying it out. Why not approach the implementation and adoption of technology the same way? If you develop a plan and assemble a task force to help penetrate the many areas of the business, you’ll continue to move forward and drive additional adoption.

Junxure is a NAIFA Preferred Provider. Annual subscriptions for Junxure Cloud are available at $65/ user/month. NAIFA members enjoy a 15 percent discount. Contact Junxure at 866-586-9873, option 2, for more information and to request a demo or a free trial.

Julie Cochrane is director of consulting & training at Junxure.

If you develop a plan and assemble a task force to help penetrate the many areas of the business, you’ll continue to move forward and drive additional adoption.

By Diane Boyle and Judi Carsrud

Tax Reform Redux

Lawmakers prepare again for tax reform.

Once again, lawmakers are gearing up for another attempt at comprehensively reforming our tax code. While it is unlikely this partisan and largely gridlocked 114th Congress will actually enact a tax reform bill this year, another round of hearings, proposals and discussions is under way.

Most of the focus right now is on business taxes—corporate and pass-through (Subchapter S, LLC, partnership, sole proprietorship)—but there is a new emphasis on the tax rules governing employer-provided health insurance. Key tax writers are floating reform ideas, and some have even released “discussion drafts” of ways to reform large chunks of the tax code. The list of issues that impact NAIFA members and their clients is long and varied. Among the most important are:

• Tax rates—Virtually every lawmaker believes current rates (especially for businesses) are too high.

• Business income—whether a business organizes as a C-corporation, and thus is subject to corporate income tax, or as a pass-through entity (such as S-corporations, LLCs, and partnerships) and thus its owners pay tax through individual tax code rules— is a key issue. Tax writers are seriously examining whether to scrap the corporate rules and replace them with a “business tax” that collects revenue from business activity regardless of the business’ form of organization.

• Employer-provided benefits—Many tax writers are considering whether tax incentives for benefits are appropriately placed at the employer level. Possible new tax rules to encourage “portable” benefits packages—to include health insurance and perhaps retirement savings as well—are under discussion. This means there is the potential for doing away with the familiar exclusion from tax liability for employees whose employers pay for their health insurance or contribute to their retirement savings accounts.

• Life insurance cash values—There is always the potential that tax policy experts will again suggest that life insurance and annuity cash values be taxed in the year any gains are credited to the policy. And with a new Congress arriving in January 2017, there will be new lawmakers to educate on why this is such a bad idea.

But current tax writers seem to have gotten the message. So now, instead of proposing a direct tax on life insurance and annuity cash values, some are looking at “proxy” proposals—taxes at the corporate level that mirror a cash value tax, but impose it on carriers rather than on policyholders. These proposals so far have zeroed in on life insurance company reserves, but could shift to a look at policyholder dividends.

The current investigation into general tax rules and systems could generate other issues, too—whether to tax consumption rather than income, the extent to which the base needs to be broadened in order to lower rates and still bring in “enough” federal revenue, and other specific new proposed rules on life insurance, annuities, qualified plans and other retirement savings, and benefits.

What does this mean for NAIFA members? We must renew our efforts to educate Congress. Regular meetings at home with Representatives and Senators to teach them the importance of tax rules to middle-income Americans’ financial security are crucial. Events that bring financial advisors to Washington to interact with Congress add to this vital effort.

Remember to mark your calendar for NAIFA’s Congressional Conference from May 23-24, 2017. Robust support for NAIFA’s PAC and PIC will also add to our ability to defend our products and clients. This is a long-haul effort. Congress wants to do tax reform. Lawmakers are looking for consensus on how to do it. That consensus will emerge; it is our job to make sure that when it does, it includes a commitment to tax rules that encourage Americans to own the insurance products that enable them to secure their families’ and their businesses’ financial futures.

Diane Boyle is NAIFA’s Senior Vice President of Government Relations. Contact her at dobyle@naifa.org. Judi Carsrud is NAIFA’s Director of Government Relations. Contact her at jcarsrud@naifa.org.

Key tax writers are floating reform ideas, with some releasing “discussion drafts” of ways to reform large chunks of the tax code.

Using Facebook to Grow Your Business

When used properly, this useful tool can bring you new and repeat business.

(Disclaimer: Please follow the social media guidelines established by your governing agency. The advice here should be tweaked to apply to your compliance department’s guidelines. Don’t let the guidelines stop you from being social; focus on what you can do, not what you can’t.)

As I travel the country speaking on marketing strategies to financial professionals, I am astonished at how many financial professionals are not yet using social media, in particular, Facebook, to grow their business. Many are not on Facebook because, according to them: “I have enough referrals,” “my clients aren’t using it,” or “I just don’t have time.” I am here to stress to you that social media, in particular, Facebook, is a great way to get referrals, and it doesn’t take that much time. Here’s the real deal: Your clients are on it (and if they aren’t, their adult children are) and they expect you to be there, too. Here are some things you may not know about Facebook:

• It has 1.09 billion daily users.

• Every minute, there are 510 comments, 293,000 statuses updated and 136,000 photos uploaded.

• Demographics: 82 percent of online adults ages 18 to 29 use Facebook, along with 79 percent of those ages 30 to 49, 64 percent of those ages 50 to 64, and 48 percent of those 65 and older.

(Source: Pew Research Center, The Demographics of Social Media Users, 2015)

• Average time spent on Facebook is 20 minutes.

In this article, I will discuss four keys to success in creating and building relationships on Facebook.

1. Complete your profile. A completed profile includes your picture, by yourself, or with others. It is important that you are in the picture (not your pet, your favorite team or flower). You should include where you work, what you do, and any

Facebook is a great way to stay connected to your network, clients and prospects.

other demographic information. An incomplete profile leaves the viewer guessing and forces him to “fill-in-the-blanks” with information that may not be accurate. A personal picture allows you to “show up” when you comment on your clients’ posts. Seeing your face is a reminder that they have a relationship with you, which may motivate them to call and refer you.

2. Grow your friend base. Did you know that Facebook has an algorithm that shows your posts on your personal page to only 7 percent to 10 percent of your friends? For this reason, you have to grow your friend base to thousands of friends. Start connecting with your clients, their adult children, friends of friends, etc. When people comment on a post that you comment on, connect with them. The more the merrier when it comes to social media. While no one knows how the algorithm works, it seems that the people you engage with the most are the ones who see your posts. This is a great segue into the next important step.

3. Engage. Engagement is the lifeblood of social media. If you are just a stalker (looking at what people post but never commenting) why bother? If you are on social media, then engage. What is engagement? It’s liking, commenting and sharing posts of your friends. ngagement is the best way to show up and remind your clients that you are

there. Engagement is as simple as commenting on their cute grandkids’ pictures or on how much fun they have on their vacation.

4. Educate. This is your opportunity to educate your clients about financial strategies. My best advice in this area is not to create your own content but to share approved content from your parent and partner companies. Visit their websites, social media pages and YouTube channels and simply share their items on your page. There is so much content available that there is no need to create new content from scratch. If you are using your personal page, balance is the key. It is best to only share business information on your personal page three to four times a week. Facebook is a great way to stay connected to your network, clients and prospects. When used properly, it can bring you new and repeat business because it reminds clients that you are available to serve them. If you thought Facebook and other social media platforms were temporary and were going away, they are not. They are here to stay; so, if you are not using them to build relationships that lead to sales, now is the time to get drastic and get started!

Toni Harris is a motivational speaker, marketing strategist and certified coach. She helps her audience and clients take drastic steps to achieve drastic results. You can reach her at www.toniharris.com.

Properly Preparing for a Closing Appointment

Before meeting with your prospects, map out the conversation points you need to have with them.

Most financial advisors wouldn’t dream of not preparing appropriately for a second appointment. However, finding out what your prospects need to do to reach their financial goals is not enough. You need to also properly plan out conversation points to have with them.

When I coach financial advisors and agents, they often want to focus our session on how to prepare for an important upcoming appointment. Many times, it is their second appointment with a high-net-worth prospect that they want to close. However, rarely do they initially understand that there is a psychology to closing a second appointment, which, if done properly, will have prospects wanting to buy well before they are shown any recommendations. My secondappointment formula has several strategic steps that work. You may want to skip a couple in the process, but don’t. Each step is vital to the next.

• Preparing your questions. It’s no secret that first appointments are typically introductory meetings when you ask the prospect a number of questions to get to know him and uncover his specific needs and financial goals. This will help you put together your recommendations.

Unfortunately, after that first meeting, most advisors don’t take the time to ask some necessary additional questions. If you ask those questions before presenting your recommendations, you can actually take the prospects down on what I call the “Questions Path” to help them uncover what it is they need. As a result, they will end up telling you what they should “buy.” If you do this successfully, they will see the need for your recommendations even before you show them what those recommendations are.

• Preparing to listen. It’s been said that “people don’t care how

much you know until they know how much you care.” Try using a technique I call “ The 4 Levels of Empathetic Listening.” When a prospect says something, most advisors often mimic what they hear or rephrase what they hear.

While I don’t recommend mimicking, I do recommend rephrasing. If you want to make an even better connection, reflect on what a prospect is indicating that he is feeling. An example may be, “That sounds frustrating, is it?” After you’ve started incorporating this, try reflecting the feeling and then rephrase it as: “That sounds frustrating because it sounds to me that you really aren’t sure what to do to reach your financial goals?”

• Preparing the close. Once you use a combination of questions and empathetic listening, the prospect will hopefully come to the realization that he needs YOUR help. At that point, simply explain your recommendations, but also reiterate how this will help him fill his need.

Use a question like this: “Based on what we talked about, how do

you think these strategies will help you the most to reach your financial goals?” If you used the aforementioned techniques, he should be able to answer this question. When he does, simply ask, “What do you think is the best course of action for you?”

Putting it all together

To implement these strategies in your practice, use the formula: Think Question, Answer, Filler. Ask a question, let the prospect answer, use empathetic listening, and then repeat the process. When you prepare your questions ahead of time and practice your listening skills, you will make it easy for your prospect to want to work with you.

Daniel C. Finley is the President and Co-Founder of Advisor Solutions—the Premier Financial Advisors Business Consulting and Coaching Service dedicated to helping Advisors Build a Better Business One Solution at a Time.  He can be reached at dan@advisorsolutionsinc.com or via 715-262-2040.

The new Life Underwriter Training Council Fellow - LUTCF® - Designation Program is gaining positive momentum among NAIFA members. And now, you have the option to take the LUTCF® Designation Program online or in a live classroom setting. No matter which option you choose, both follow the same course curriculum, each achieving outstanding results! The online program offers an element of flexibility while the more traditional live classroom program provides more face-to-face communication and social interaction with your peers.

What NAIFA Members Are Saying About Their LUTCF Experience Invest in Yourself! Enroll Today!

“Being in the business for 10 years, I didn’t think I’d learn anything, but boy was I wrong.”

–Jason E. Carter, Carter Insurance Agency, Texarkana, TX and president-elect of NAIFA-Arkansas

“This course provides me with an opportunity to build my knowledge and competency. I’m very new to the business but no matter where you are in your career, you’re never at a point in your life when you’re not learning. There’s always room for improvement.”

–Lisa Reuth, McNeely Financial Services, Inc., Spencer, WI

What You Should Know

Recent findings show 50% of the students enrolled in the new LUTCF designation program made a sale as a result of a Course 1 homework assignment.

Of the 76 students that have enrolled in Part 1 of the course that beg n in July of 2015, most have re-enrolled for Part 2.

NAIFA Members receive a 15% discount. Students should call the College for Financial Planning at 800-237-9990, option 3. Be sure to mention you are a NAIFA member. To see if a live class is forming in your state, visit the NAIFA website at www.naifa.org/professional-development/pdp/lutcf. For a full list of online classes and other information, visit www.cffpinfo.com/lutcf-life-underwriter-training-council-fellow/.

By Brian Ashe, CLU

Disruption

Today, a little stability would be a welcome oasis in a sea of uncertainty.

Disruption. That’s the catchy, cool new byword for business progress. Its proponents believe the new pathway to success is paved with tearing out the old by its roots, constantly questioning established business models and replacing them with new structures that are perceived to be more flexible, more consumer friendly, more adaptable and more appealing than anything that currently exists.

Now, in my 47 years in the financial-services business, I’ve seen lots of change, some of it good and some of it bad. Regardless of the actual result, we tended to refer to the process as “innovation”—with an emphasis on bringing about something new, something fresh, a progressive iteration of something that existed before—not a process that seems to have the negative connotation that “disruption” seems to carry.

The real disruptions

And as I survey the current environment in the financial-services business, I kinda think we’ve had enough disruption in our business already. The latest has been the onerous new regulations imposed by the Department of Labor on retirement plans and IRAs.

And the drumbeats have already begun to empower the DOL to have a much longer reach into our products once someone has actually retired. Think about the DOL controlling whether a client can use his own, personal taxable IRA withdrawals to purchase cash value life insurance without DOL’s approval!

The current environment

We have the lowest interest rates in 40 years, an interest trough that wreaks havoc on company reserves, challenges the long-term viability and premium predictability of our life insurance

policies and limits the attractiveness of our fixed annuity products.

We have attrition in our advisor ranks that experts say will eliminate about 30 percent of them in the next 10 years or so, right as 76 million Baby Boomers are retiring and need more help than they ever needed before.

Today, I believe only about 30 or so life insurance companies in the United States actually recruit and train a captive field force anymore. Field associations are, and will continue to face, declining membership, weakening the “voices” that speak to legislators and regulators about legitimate concerns of advisors and consumers.

Companies, focused on tighter budgets, are cutting back on their financial support for these same organizations. In response, the destructive specter of “cannibalization” looms in the shadows as associations seek to convince varied supporters that “only they” have the answers, only they, have the resources to make a difference.

Over the years, these “disruptions” have reduced life insurance ownership in the United States to its lowest levels in 50 years, left 40 percent of the adults in the country uninsured, and produced a level of coverage for those who are insured at 3 times income— significantly below the 15 to 20 times income most families would need post-death to stay “in their world.”

Disrupt? Dislocate? Tear apart? Throw into confusion? Alter normal functioning? We’ve had our fill of that stuff. Instead, a little stability, a little positive innovation, a sense that we are all better off if we hang together— because, if we don’t, we shall surely hang separately—would be a welcome oasis in a sea of uncertainty.

Now that would be revolutionary!

Brian Ashe, CLU, is president of Brian Ashe and Associates, Ltd., in Lisle, Ill., and the 2012 recipient of the John Newton Russell Memorial Award. A past president of MDRT and a past chair of LIFE, he may be contacted at bashe29843@aol.com

We

have attrition in our advisor ranks that experts say will eliminate about 30 percent of them in the next 10 years or so.

MDRT Executive Committee: (From left) Ross Vanderwolf, CFP, Second Vice President; James Douglas Pittman, CLU, CFP, First Vice President; Mark J. Hanna, CLU, ChFC, President; Brian D. Heckert, CLU, ChFC, Immediate Past President; Regina Bedoya, CLU, ChFC, Secretary

Failure