Know Your Why

If we spend all our time talking about product features and not about why our prospects are thinking of buying, we will likely lose them.

Well over 29 million people have viewed Simon Sinek’s TED talk titled, “Start With Why”. Sinek also authored a book by the same name. I had the privilege of joining other LILI alumni in Wisconsin to read and discuss this book and how it applied to our businesses and to NAIFA.

Sinek talks about what, how and why we do what we do. It didn’t take long for our group of alumni to point out that we all got caught up in the “what,” especially early on in our careers. We recalled focusing on the product benefits and features, the product brochures and volumes of illustrations when we meet with a new prospect.

When you first start in this business, you are faced with a steep learning curve, and it’s easy to focus on the “what” instead of the “how” and the “why.” Since most consumers make decisions based on “how” and “why,” it seems strange that our instinct tells us to spend so much time on the “what.”

We then started to dive more deeply into the “how” and “why,” and it didn’t take long for the group to realize that over time in our careers, we had moved the discussion toward these two areas instead of getting stuck on the “what”: how you do what you do, and how different you are from others in your space. What’s different about you?

Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to make clear to our clients and prospects is why we do what we do. As Sinek says, “what is our purpose, cause or belief? Why does your company exist? Why do you get out of bed every morning? And why should anyone care?”

Most companies will describe what they do from the outside in. If we describe what we do from the inside out, we will send a very different message to our clients and prospects.

Let’s take life insurance as an example. If we spend all our time talking about the product features and benefits and not about why our prospects are considering purchasing coverage and how that coverage can help their families in times of difficulty, we will likely lose the clients or prospects in the mud. I’ve often heard that life insurance is an emotional purchase. There’s no better way to kill the emotion than to spend all the time pouring through numbers on an illustration.

The same thing goes for retirement planning. If we spend all of our time on what product we will use and the features of that product, we will lose our clients or prospects along the way. Instead we should spend our time first on why we are planning the way we are and look at the bigger picture and the feelings and emotion behind it. Eventually you will get to the “what,” but the “why” carries far more weight when making decisions.

You just might want to pick up a copy of Sinek’s book or at the very least, listen to the TED talk. I know it made an impact on me and my entire team.

I wish you great success this year and in the years ahead!

Juli McNeely, CFP, CLU, LUTCF, is president of McNeely Financial Services, past president of NAIFA, past president of NAIFA Wisconsin and past president of NAIFA-Central Wisconsin. You can reach her at juli@mcneelyfinancial.com. <pull quote:>

Perhaps the most difficult thing for us to make clear to our clients and prospects is why we do what we do.

Joe Betcher,