Transcription
Welcome back to the CA Power Players podcast. We have Mr. David DuFord back in Springfield, MO, in the studio. Dave, welcome back.
"Greetings and salutations, dude. I like, I love spending time with you, man."
"Well, thank you. I really do. It's fun. You're such a great host. Uh, we've had such a nice time. Uh, Chipotle a couple times."
"Yeah, can't argue with that. So, dude, this dude is, like, he's very systematic. He's super disciplined. Um, good dude, has a huge heart, someone I trust a ton. And so, if you're out there and you're like, man, I wanna, I wanna know more about this cat, you got to start checking them out. You gotta start listening to his stuff. He's one of the top sales trainers in insurance, period. And today, we begin a lot of questions about a presentation. Yes. So, I really want to, like, if you're cool with it, I'd love to walk through, like, a mock final expense sales presentation. Sure. An agent can learn from. And then we could share with them what you do, how you do it. We get a lot of new agents on the channel, new subscribers, people getting licensed, almost licensed, brand new licensed, or been licensed, but, but they're in, they're plugged into the wrong company, and nobody's helping them, you know?"
"Right."
"Right, right, right, right, right."
"So, I don't know where you want to start, but I'm happy to role-play along, whatever."
"Sure. So, a couple things here. I'll say, at the start, this would be a presentation workable for face-to-face or over the phone, okay? Whether you're in, in person or over the phone selling final expense, it's the same prospect, right? There's definitely some differences with things like tonality and presence on the phone that you need to do, but the essence of what it takes to convince a stranger for them to hand their money to you, the agent, it's the same, no matter if you're in person or on the phone. So, just want to make sure that's clear upfront."
"That's good. That's good to note."
"So, the first, the first thing we can go through is the rapport building and introduction stage, okay? So, I think, um, what I'd like to start off with with rapport building is, this is probably the most, um, overthought, too much time wasted on part of the, of the presentation. Uh, the goal of rapport building is not to become best friends. It's to get your prospect to kind of like you and be open-minded to listening to you. So, for example, I don't want to spend five to ten minutes talking about the golf clubs in the corner or the fish on the wall, right? At some point, you're going to wear out your prospect, and they're not going to really care."
"Good point."
"Yeah. Now, but you want to do a little bit because you want to differentiate yourself from the other type of prospect, or the other type of telemarketers that are out there. So, to show that you have some kind of interest in them, that, uh, you're curious about them, but it's not over the top."
"Very important."
"If you're selling over the phone, I don't recommend any more than 30 to 90 seconds of it."
"Wow."
"So, you know, we like to, a lot of the leads we get, we're going to talk about the favorite hobby. They say their favorite hobby is spelunking. What is that? Like, you know, and then we go into a conversation. We focus the questions on the client. Like, we don't say, 'Oh, you love spelunking? I do too. The last time I was walking, I fell 100 feet off a cliff.' Boring. Like, nobody really cares."
"We want to make it about the prospect first and foremost, okay? And then once you're about 30 to 90 seconds in, and this would be true for face-to-face too, yeah, then we gotta shift gears and do what I would call, uh, the introduction, setting the table, the agenda of what, what to expect. So, can I go through that script-wise?"
"Yes."
"Okay. So, again, the point of this is to let the client know who you are, why you're there, and why they should care. So, here's how it sounds. Okay. So, now I know a little bit more, Cody. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. My name is David DuFord. Um, I am a licensed life insurance agent in the state of Tennessee. And again, the reason I'm here is because you requested this information about our new state-regulated final expense programs. I've been licensed since 2011, have over 1500 clients. And the reason people do business with me is because I'm what's known as a broker. That means that I go out and shop the major companies that are out there so that I can bring you the best combination of price and coverage. So, if you're looking for the best bang for your buck, Cody, this is, I'm, I'm your guy. Does that make sense?"
"Yes."
"That's good. So, what does that do? What that does is it frames in the mind, this agent's not just an agent. This is a specialist. This is a unique selling proposition. What that allows us to do is to help us, again, you pigeonhole yourself here in a sense, but people want to do business with specialists, the, the people who really know about the subject matter, as opposed to just another agent, right?"
"Yeah."
"And we're speaking the language of the client. For final expense, the language is, we're all on a fixed income. I, you know, barely got much at the end of the month. So, I'm showing some kind of appreciation and understanding that getting the best bang for their buck is an important thing."
"Yeah. And your clients love that when they hear this, by the way. So, if, as, as an agent out there, if you need to say this because they like hearing that, look, this guy's getting my corner. He wants to help me find something that's not just a good value, but a good price too."
"Yes."
"Yeah. I actually had an agent years ago that he used to go in and be like, 'Yeah, I used to be in insurance and I left and was a pastor for a long time and I'm thinking about getting back in it.' And I'm like, 'Dude, nobody wants to buy insurance from somebody that's thinking about getting back into insurance.' You know? Like, yeah, either you're in it or you're not."
"Yeah."
"And I like, too, how you framed up that you've helped a lot of people, you know, 1500. You've been doing it for a dozen years, you know, etc. Like, the, those things are like, those memory pieces of things people remember. Like, 1500 clients really stood out, you know? And so, for those of you who are new and you're like, 'Well, Dave, like, I just got licensed yesterday. What do I say instead of that?' Um, we were doing, these are called appeals to authority. I'm a licensed life insurance agent. Um, I've jumped through all the hoops, taken all the tests. The state has said I'm a bona fide life insurance agent that specializes in final expense. And continue the script. So, you can change a script up and really emphasize the fact that you are a licensed professional."
"Okay."
"One other thing that's very useful if you're in person or over the phone is not just to tell, but to show. Okay? Uh, life insurance, final expense, is the most intangible product sold. You have to die to get it, right? You don't really know if the things in pat. You hope it is. You can't see it, touch it, jump into the car, experience it. It's just one of those products that, you know, it takes a lot of conceptual understanding of it."
"Yeah."
"So, somebody said, 'I'll enjoy it real quick.' Somebody said that, um, one time, 'Life insurance is the only product on the planet that you buy that you personally never get to use it, right?'"
"Right."
"Yes. Unique. And it's hard to sell somebody on that concept sometime, right? Because that's not how we buy things. We buy things for immediate gratification, not, not like you're dead and now you're gratified. That doesn't make sense, you know?"
"Correct."
"So, one of the things I like to do in, in the presentation, over the phone or in person, is show along with telling. So, one thing I like to do in showing is, if I'm in person with the prospect, I show them my license. I show them I'm regulated, or I'm licensed by the state. That's right. I like to show in a text message, if I'm selling over the phone, the actual business card of who I am to put a face to a name. Again, that legitimizes me in a sense, and it allows some kind of tangibility in the presentation. It was very, very important."
"That's big."
"Yes. So, do that. One tip that always works well, too. Um, you could do this over the phone, but in person as well, show a picture of your family. Again, part of our, our stick here is to not be the typical salesperson, right? So, it's hard to be, you know, to treat somebody, you know, unfairly as a salesperson when you show them you've got a family. Even if it's just you and the dogs, you know."
"Sure."
"It's, it's differentiating. It's humanizing. People are gonna be like, 'I love dogs too.' You know?"
"Yes."
"So, do that in addition to showing your license because that's, because again, who, what is the most important thing, Cody, when it comes to insurance sales? Is it the product or is it you?"
"It's you."
"It's you. It's always you. Product comes second."
"So, we got him introduced. Should we go into the most important part of the presentation?"
"Yeah, let's do it. I love it. This is phenomenal so far, by the way. I hope you guys are taking notes."
"Man, me too."
"So, what I go into now is what I call the pre-qualifying and fact-finding stage. My job is to figure out if the person across the table is a qualified prospect that will buy, or if they're an unqualified suspect that probably won't buy. And I use terminology like high odds and low odds. You know, I guess sometimes you could find somebody that you thought was unqualified that will buy, but it's a very low odds chance of buying, just like somebody who is qualified may not buy because of something. So, there's a high odds, low odds. We're trying to play the game in our favor, right? And what I want to do is figure out for myself, should I spend my valuable time with this prospect? Is this somebody who is highly likely going to buy? Or if they're not, then I need to leave and find a real prospect, or get off the phone and dial the next number. I mean, why would you waste your time, Cody, trying to sell somebody that doesn't have need, want, health, bank, or a budget?"
"Yes."
"Kind of a waste of time. So, we want to take care of that all ahead of time. So, here's how this sounds, transitionary, transitionally speaking, from the introduction to the pre-qualifying stage. Okay. So, Mr. Prospect, the reason I'm here is because you had sent this card back. You would requested information about a new state-regulated final expense programs. The reason most people send this in is because they don't want to be a burden when they die. The sum of them love somebody they love and leave behind some kind of final expense. So, with that said, what were your thoughts, concerns that prompted you to even fill this card out and send it back?"
"Hmm. Yeah, I had a, I had some family that didn't prepare recently passed, and it got me thinking about really that maybe, maybe I should prepare, really."
"So, can you tell me more about what happened with your family?"
"Yeah, so it was a, yeah, it was, it was, it was a grandfather, heart attack about a month ago. We had to pass the head of the funeral. How much of the family had to chip in, really?"
"Yeah."
"He had had life insurance years ago through work, but, you know, when he left, he didn't get to keep it, and he lost it. He lost, he retired. Yeah. And just didn't do anything else after that, you know?"
"What was the impact on the family having to come up with? How much was it again?"
"Yeah, it was about fourteen thousand."
"Fourteen thousand? Wow."
"Yep. Um, and we went all out and wanted to make sure that we honored him really well, but, yeah, it was, it was tough. I mean, people are scrounging up credit cards and money and, you know, so it just wasn't laying around."
"No."
"You had to like, really struggle to find it."
"We did. Yeah. It was a group of us had to come together just to make it work and figure it out and, and it put some of us in some bad situations, you know?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah. I was gonna ask you, you know, they say sometimes that money is the main thing that breaks up families, you know, when somebody needs money and they don't pay it back. Did you find that kind of experience happen with the grandfather?"
"Actually, it's, it's interesting you bring that up because, yeah, my brother and I, um, were, yeah, we were at odds. It was, it was, uh, there was, there was there was some, um, there was some family turmoil, if you will, you know?"
"Right."
"Family turmoil. I mean, that's, that's what happens, right? You know, it's not every day that you have to come up with such a large sum of money. It's, it's terrible. True. We hope we never have to again. It was, yeah, it was not fun."
"So, seeing firsthand what it's like not having coverage, that's what you're saying?"
"Yeah."
"So, what are you doing right now for your life insurance?"
"Nothing yet. Nothing."
"Well, God forbid, if you died tomorrow, how would you pay it?"
"I don't know. I'd probably put my family in the same situation again."
"Do you have kids then? They'd really hate you."
"They'd hate you."
"Um, I love how he's repeating things too, that he's hearing, right?"
"Yeah, this is good. No, this is great."
"Um, can we go back a little bit and kind of tell us, this is really important for you guys out there. So, here's the thing. Life insurance, and I say life insurance, the final expense, any kind of life insurance, all falls in the same bucket, right? It, there's typically something that happened early on in life. I feel like they hear this a lot."
"Yes."
"Yes. That there's, I'll call it an inception moment. Something has happened in their life where they were just walking along, just fine, then boom, somebody dies, and they were either well-prepared, and the person saw the benefits of that, usually that's not the case, or the dead person had no coverage, financial turmoil, all the problems that came along with it, and it's set off in motion in the prospect's mind that they don't want the same thing to happen to them. If that turmoil happened, or they want to do like their mom did, who was smart and prepared ahead of time."
"Yeah."
"And we need to revisit that pain because as time passes, we kind of forget the pain."
"Yep."
"Because we need to go back to the inception point, talk about that pain, the struggle, the emotion, and then connect it with the immediacy. What are you doing right now for coverage? Most glaze over it. If they do hear it, they're like, 'I'm so sorry to hear that. I'll do my best to make sure that it doesn't happen.' It'll help you today. And then they'll, like, transition something else quickly. And it's a matter of like, minutes versus, or seconds, you know, versus, you took your time, you didn't interrupt me, um, you were sensitive to what was going on, you were intently listening, you were responding, and, you know, reiterating what I was saying. I mean, yeah, it was, and, and hopefully you all saw that and and picked up on some of those things because this is somebody that's been doing it for a long time and does it really well."
"Thank you."
"And, and the other thing, too, is once we've painted that picture of, of the turmoil and the stress and experience, then we have to ask the question, the disturbing question, 'What are you doing for coverage right now?'"
"And, and it may sound like we're pinning them into a corner, but we are. This is not a fun topic to talk about. It's death, and it's the consequences of you dying, and those consequences left to your loved ones that really matter at the end of the day, right? So, you have to ask that question. You need to be comfortable asking disturbing questions as an agent because nobody else is going to do this, and this is what is going to sell the policy."
"Correct."
"And that's why I asked, 'God forbid, if you died tomorrow, how does this get taken care of?'"
"I love that question."
"And so, we're, we're contrasting that painful experience, and many times it is painful. It's not, not everybody's well-prepared. Yeah. We take that painful experience and then think about it in that context with, 'What if the same thing happens to me?' And then I'll go further and say, 'So, okay, so you don't have coverage. You have savings?'"
"'No, no, not a lot.'"
"And that overcomes that savings objection, right? So, we've like, now, now we know that's out of the way. Um, so, think about your kids. If you died and it was $14,000, today, everything goes up, might be higher in the future. How would they pay for it? Are they financially ready?"
"'Definitely not.'"
"So, we're making it, and this is what, this is the need and want part of the pre-qualifying section. We, we get to the, the cornerstone of what drives that person and their urgency to buy today by relating it to something in the past and thinking about their loved ones because ultimately life insurance is a purchase based off of love for somebody else other than yourself."
"And another term we like to use, we have to help the client picture the hearse backed up against the front porch. Right? This is all what we're doing here."
"One more thing. I'm sorry, I have so much to say. Cody, this is great. Make sure you're doing, and this, this is something I've started implementing into my scripting, um, with my, my guys and gals, um, is clarifying questions. You notice when we were talking back and forth, I'm like, 'They hated it.' Yeah. I caught that, right? Or I'll say things like, 'Okay, so what I'm hearing here is you're saying that your grandpa wasn't prepared.' And when you make sure that you say that you understand them, and you feed back what they said, people feel understood. They feel like, 'This guy understands me. He understands my pain.' And if you can get somebody to feel that way, they'll buy anything from you. So, that's why you gotta make sure, even though if you may understand it, you want to make sure they understand you understand it."
"Yes."
"So, from there, what we'll do is, once we've kind of, uh, talked about them not being prepared and the consequences of it, then we'll summarize and say, 'So, Cody, so let me make sure I'm understanding this. The reason you sent this card in is because you know you need coverage, lived through your grandfather dying, you saw the consequences of not being financially prepared, you love your children, and you don't want them to go through the same thing. Does that all sound correct?'"
"That is accurate. Yes, sir."
"Correct. Correct. Perfect. So, this is a trial close. I would call this a trial close, right? So, what we want to do throughout the presentation is to make sure we're on the same page with each other. Like, I don't want to leave behind something important. So, this is my opportunity to make sure again that they know I understand them, but also that we're on the same page. That, in other words, they conceptually know and feel they believe they need and want this."
"From there, what we do is go into a health questioning line. Now, if you're new, you want to make sure that you're asking the questions, um, deliberately, and you're going line by line through all the major health questions that you run into. Don't be coy about this, okay? Don't be like, 'Wow, do you got any major health issues?' You know, Mildred's gonna say, 'Yeah, I'm pretty good, except the cancer I had five years ago. It's, uh, recurred again two years ago. Perfect health. It's been, it's been at least a touch of cancer seven days. That's all I got.'"
"Yes."
"Right, right. That is so funny, though. People be like, 'No, I'm not in very good health.' We're like, 'Okay, you take any meds?' 'Well, no, I mean, I'm actually.' 'Have you ever had any surgeries?' 'Now.' 'Any major health questions?' 'No.' But then the other person that's like, um, 'Yeah, I'm actually really good health recently.' You know? It's like, 'What is it? Recently?' 'Yeah, I just got out of the hospital, you know?' But that, you have to be deliberate about that because what you don't want to find out are these mystery health issues because people only answer what they're asking. That sucks to like walk through and present something and be like, 'Oh my gosh, I forgot something,' and they have to go back, and it's like, 'Oh no, now it's three times more.' What do you think now?"
"Yeah, it's never going to work, you know?"
"Yeah. And then you gotta back pedal on what you're offering them, and the price may change."
"Yeah."
"So, get the stuff upfront. It's going to be tedious, but it's better to take care of it now than later. Is it much in life, anyways?"
"Yes."
"And tell the client to go grab their medications. Don't, don't beg for them. Please, could you please grab the medic? No, no. Go grab your medications. If you're selling over the phone, please spell the medications to me. Hydrochlorothiazide. Your client's not going to be able to say that. Hydroclock-the-Thursday. You're gonna be like, 'Whatever, just spell it.' H-Y. And then you'll figure it out. So, make sure you get them to spell it."
"It's good."
"So, after need, want, health, we got two more: the bank account and the budget. So, the bank, the purpose of asking a bank account question is to make sure that we have somebody we can draft their account. There are still people in America that don't have bank accounts."
"Yeah."
"And what's the point of selling them? Because you can't sell them without an automatic draft, right? That's why debit routes still exist. They do. They're out there still, yeah."
"And, um, but I'll say something along the lines, okay? So, two more questions for Miss Prospect. So, about how we do payments. I don't come out like the old days where you probably Grandma had the insurance man come out, collect premiums. The way that companies require it now, companies require, put the blame on the other guy, not you. The companies would require us to set up an automatic payment. Comes out when your check comes next month. Doesn't need to be set up today, uh, on a recurring monthly basis, either out of a local checking account or savings account, or one of those cards like the Direct Express card. Which one of those do you use?"
"So, notice what I did here. Not, 'Which one did you do?' 'You want to pay this with?' 'Which one do you use?' 'Which one do you use?' Right? Notice."
"Well, also what I did here, um, I find that sometimes times people think their debit card, which is like a NetSpend card or a MetaBank card, right? These non-checking account cards, they think they're checking accounts. But some companies won't take those as bank drafts. So, you need to delineate the difference. A local checking account, so that kind of is more like where there's an actual bank you can go to. Many of these cards don't have that."
"I like that."
"So, local checking or savings, or one of those cards like a Direct Express card. So, so that kind of fills in all those other kind of weird payment processes. So, then you can kind of get that and know ahead of time before what you're going to offer, if the premium, if the payment is even accepted by the company, because you don't want to, for example, if you're a broker, pitch a company, but the company doesn't take Direct Express. You want to know that ahead of time, yeah, and not have to back pedal later."
"What's your opinion on accepting Direct Express as an agent?"
"Good question. I take it. Um, I always did. I never found there was as much problems with it. The key thing nowadays is Social Security deposit billing, which most of these carriers require. And all that is, if you don't know out there, is that the billing is set up on the exact date the deposit hits Mrs. Jones' account. Which, hey, if the third falls on a Saturday, get paid Friday. With Social Security deposit billing, we also get it out on Friday, even though it's a day earlier. But if we didn't set that up, it would be on Monday before the draft hits. They may have spent it all, or taken it on on coke and booze. Jesus. Who knows this day and age? You never know."
"I was going to say, Coca-Cola. We've had a lot of fun here since I've been. I've had a lot of fun. There's been no cooking food. So, we've had a blast."
"Well, you know, I wouldn't put that past our clients. That's right."
"So, unfortunately, not, man. We've got some stories. I'm sure y'all got some stories."
"Yes, I do. I can think of a few that kind of remind me of just that. We didn't do story time with with Dave someday. We do."
"I've got a few."
"I love that. I love it."
"All right. What else? This is good, man. I like this."
"So, now that we've got the bank information out of the way, the last question I have to ask is about budget. So, the question here, we, we want to know before we get into it, what budget range they're able to work with. I don't want to find out they're broke like 20 minutes later, right? I want them to say yes to a price range. Again, this, all of this happens in like 15 minutes or less, right?"
"I love how you asked this. By this is good. It makes you pay attention to this piece. He does a really good job of this. So, here's, here's how to script. So, Cody, here's my final question to you. It's about price. Nine out of 10 people that I see, Cody, on a fixed income, they get one check a month, whether it's Social Security or a disability, and they got to live on that check. And the last thing that you want to do is spend more money than what you make, or spend too much on a life insurance policy you can't afford. What's the point, you know? Here in Missouri, a couple months, it's going to be snow and going to be cold. You can't afford the heat bill. Why would you take out a plan you can't afford? Because your budget changes, right? The best policy to have is the one that's there when you die, right? Because that's the only one to have. And that's the one that easily fits your budget. So, this is my question. You, if I can qualify for a program today, can you afford somewhere between $150 and $200 a month?"
"'No.'"
"'And that's fine. The good news is I've got other programs available for you. So, what if I can find you a different program in the summer between $100 and $125 a month?'"
"'Still probably a little higher, too high.'"
"'Again, not a problem. So, let's look a little bit lower. What if we can find a different program that was between $75 and $100?'"
"'I could probably do something like that.'"
"'So, when you say, "probably," is that like, "we were sure you can do $75 to $100?" Or do you want to go look a little lower? Maybe a little lower, about $50 to $75?'"
"'Can we do that?'"
"'Yes.'"
"'Perfect.'"
"I love that you clarified that 'probably' too."
"Yes."
"Yes. 'Probably.' Because you'll get that, 'Probably, I can afford that after I pay my, you know, washer and dryer off in the next 12 months.' It's like, 'That's not why I'm here.' Yeah. No, that from a year. I'm here today. You're here to stop policy today. So, you need total confirmation. So, 'probably.' So, the way I say it is, if you hear anything other than a 'yes,' it's a 'no.' 'Maybe,' 'I think I can,' anytime you hear that, you want to say, 'Okay, when you say you think you can, are you sure 100% that you can't afford?' And if they say, 'Well, depends on when I pay my bills.' 'Okay, fine. Let's go lower again.' I never argue with the client. I don't care if I get a big policy or not. I know I'll get them doing enough activity, right? But if I just serve the client and find something that's easily affordable for the bud, budget, they'll buy from me. Yeah. It's all about activity. Yes. Closed deals, no matter the size. Yes. The money takes care of itself if you do right by your clients."
"'What if they say under $50?'"
"'Under $50? Just keep going down. I'll keep going. I'll do $10 a month.' Okay. I don't care. Cool. And money's money, and coverage is coverage. So, it does still help their family. It does more than zero does."
"That's right."
"Something's better than nothing."
"We say down the South."
"Yeah."
"That's right. In Chattanooga, right?"
"Chattanooga."
"Now, when we've gotten the client to agree they have need, want, bank, that they'll let us draft, health, and budget, what do we have?"
"Yeah, you've got it. You've got what, what you need. You got a qualified prospect."
"Yeah. The rest of the presentation should be pretty simple. It's like a, it's like a downward slot. That makes a lot of sense to check those off to make sure, okay, this is someone that can actually qualify."
"And the rest is pretty simple because you've got them hooked. Remember, you did a really good pre-qualifying process. They know they need it. They feel understood. They kind of have clarity what they want to accomplish. You've also talked about, you know, um, the health, you know, that they've got a pulse. That's the easiest part of the pre-golf finance, actually. And then bank, the budget, right? So, the rest is pretty simple. You just need to explain how your products better than the others. And what we do in our presentation is just basically segment by describing the big, well-known brands and their shortcomings."
"Can I say those on here?"
"Sure."
"Okay. So, I usually start by saying, 'Okay, so now we got that out of the way. I want to talk to you more about how our programs work. And I think the best way to do this is by describing how others work so you can better understand how ours is the best option for you. It makes sense?'"
"Perfect."
"So, the first kind of program you can get is called term life insurance. Have you heard of term before?"
"'Yes.'"
"'So, AARP, Globe Life, haven't you heard of them? They just send you junk mail all the time, right?'"
"'True.'"
"'So, here's the thing with term, and this is with any kind of term. And if you remember one thing, it's this from this conversation: a term terminates. Term terminates. Do you know what that means?'"
"'Yes.'"
"'You get your plan that's term. It's great. It covers until you outlive it, and then you have no coverage whatsoever. So, take a look at this.' Again, showing and telling. I actually show them a brochure from AARP or Globe Life and I'll say, 'You see right there? See how it says "Level Term to 80"? And it's like, don't believe me, read this. This is their own stuff, right?'"
"'And that term to 80 is strong.'"
"'It's, it's just, it. And one thing I picked this up from an agent, I have to mention this, it's really good too. I used to, I used to read it to them and just show it to him. Then I listened to this, um, I think Christine was her name, agent. She said she, what she started doing, she started giving it to him. Said, "Read that to me. What it says." Then they're saying it. Then they're saying it.'"
"'Oh, that's awesome.'"
"'That is awesome. So, tell me, what does that say? The, you know, the premiums, what this plan are in five-year level rates and and go until age 80 when they cancel.' And they kind of read it and they're like, confused. And so, 'What does that mean, Mr. Prospect?' 'It means this cancels at 80.'"
"'Yeah.'"
"'So, you can pay on this thing, pay on this thing, get past 80, keel over and die the next day, you will not be covered. Your loved ones do not have protection. What do you think about that?'"
"'Nope. No bueno.'"
"'Yeah, that's basically what they say. Usually a few more choice words. This is garbage, trash. Glad I always threw it away, is kind of the things I said. And I say, 'Hey, that's exactly right. Why would you want a plan that's not going to be there when you need it? What's the point of having insurance?'"
"'You said that at the beginning of the appointment too.'"
"'Yeah.'"
"'Yes.'"
"'So, this is not a plan I recommend because we don't know what the future holds, right? And then, dad, insult to injury, the price goes up every five years. And, uh, you may get to a point where you can't even afford it anymore. And sometimes I'll segment, segue, and I'll say about a client of mine that was paying $50 a month at 75, and when she turned 76, it went up to $140. She made $800 a month and, um, disability. Had to choose between this, prescriptions, and rent. That's the reality of fixed-income seniors.'"
"'True.'"
"'And every senior fears that idea that they got to move back in with their daughter, or they got to scrounge for money like that. So, that's really important to share those stories if you've got them. So, I've isolated out term as an option. Sometimes I'll even say another thing I'll add to that. I'll say, 'Hey, one of the good things about term, and this is, we call this a damaging admission in sales. This is where you, as a salesman, admit something about a competitor is good, but you spin it in a way that shows where it's actually been.' So, I'll say, 'Hey, one of the good things about AARP is that they have a low price. It's cheap, but you get what you pay for, right, Mr. Prospect?'"
"'All right.'"
"'So, it starts cheap, but then it keeps going up and up and up to you can't afford it, and then if you outlive it's gone. So, sometimes I'll integrate that into that.'"
"That's good."
"'So, term terminates, rates go up. Not a good choice if you need permanent lifetime protection.'"
"'So, the second option you have is what's called guaranteed acceptance coverage. Um, probably seen those commercials, Colonial Penn on there, the old, uh, Jeopardy guy used to do those. Remember those?'"
"'Yeah.'"
"'So, those are what's called guaranteed acceptance programs. And, and like the commercial says, you, they don't require you to answer any health questions. All you gotta do is fill the application out, send it back in, and you're approved for quality coverage. They say, "Well, what's the catch?" There's always a catch. So, here, Mr. Jones, take a look at this. This is a brochure from Colonial Penn. Read that right there. What it says.' And get them to read it."
"'They say, uh, what does it say?'"
"'So, the coverage is full coverage after the first two years of non-only, non-accidental covers, or only accidental coverage the first two years.' And I'll ask them, 'What does that mean?'"
"'Well, there's no coverage for the two, first two years if you die by natural causes, which is the most common form of kicking the bucket, right?'"
"'Yes.'"
"'Very rarely do people die from accidental coverage. So, what's the point there? And why is that bad?'"
"'Well, just like it's a risk taking out term insurance where you could outlive it, if you pick this plan when you could get other plans that are better. What if you died suddenly, had a heart attack, got pancreatic cancer, and died? You probably know people who were healthy one day and dead next, right?'"
"'And they'll usually say, "Yeah, yeah, that's right."' So, this program, damaging admission, this is a perfect program if you have nine toes in the grave. That's not you. Yeah. You've had a few health issues here and there, but you're otherwise in pretty good shape. And then what leads me to what I do and how my program works. Again, part of this off-script presumes at their first day, full coverage, right?"
"'Yeah.'"
"'I'll say it a little differently, just as a side. Now, it won't go too deep into it, but if they're actually guaranteed acceptance qualified, like they have oxygen, COPD, they're smoking all at the same time, they're not going anywhere other than the guaranteed acceptance plan that we have. So, I'll pitch that as the best option, which it truly is. I'll say, 'Hey, you should be thankful anybody will touch you with your health issues. Most won't even do it with all these.' And so, I'll paint it in a better light, of course. Um, but back to the, the, the final phase here, um, I tell them what we do. So, now let me tell you how my plan works. I do what's called final expense whole life insurance. It's very simple to understand, and it's very good. So, let me explain it to you. First of all, it's day one, 100% coverage because your health qualifies you. You can get fully covered from the first payment date. So, there's no worries, Mr. Prospect, like, you know, what if your grandpa had one of those guaranteed acceptance plans and died in the first years? You do not have to worry about that whatsoever. It's as certain as a sunrise. And the second benefit is the premiums never increase. So, what I'm going to show you in that and price range you gave me are premiums that never go up, period, under any circumstances. You just pay your premiums, you will always have your coverage. And last, but not least, this plan cannot cancel due to age or health. You can never outlive it as long as you pay premiums. That's the catch. And you're never in a situation where you get that dreaded cancellation letter from the company because you had a term. So, long story short, if you're looking for peace of mind and you want to know you're fully covered, then that's why my plan would work best. So, my question to you now, this is the trial closure. Out of these three options here, term that cancels, guaranteed acceptance that does not cover you, and then my coverage is this full first-day coverage, rates never go up, can never be canceled. Which one works best for you?"
"'Option three.'"
"'Option three. That's a great choice. So, what do you like about it best?'"
"'I like that you asked that a little deeper. Um, I like that it doesn't end. It's just never, you never outlive it. That kind of thing.'"
"'Yeah. It's always with me.'"
"'Yeah. That's, that's what basically everybody says. I mean, why would you choose the other ones? You're crazy to take a plan knowingly to cover final expenses when we don't know we're gonna die. Everybody wants peace of mind, right? They want certainty.'"
"So, off-script, sometimes I hear from people, it's like, 'I know people watching like, Dave, why are you asking them questions you already know the answer? Just dumb questions.' You know, that's thinking, like, 'Well, of course I like yours better. What do you think I'm an idiot?' That's how I would react. Right? But the reason we do that is we want them to admit they want it. Yes. It's not enough to assume it. I want to hear it from him. 'I like it because of this, because it never ends.' I like yours. I want them to tell me they want it because them hearing themselves say they want it and agree that they need it is the way that you get them fully on board and committed, right? So, I like that kind of tie-down, if you will. It's not so much a tie-down, it's just, 'Admit to me you want it.'"
"So, so we've got them. So, we go again, they're qualified. We've exhibited our, our expertise and explanation. It's a very educational presentation. It helps the client understand insurance. Most people are confused by it. They appreciate that. They never knew the differences with the options out there. So, they already like you and have more authority, or believe in your authority a little bit more, if you will."
"Yeah. Strong. You're in a perfect position now to close. The close we have is very straightforward. Again, the easiest part of the sale, not the hardest. If you've gotten this far and done everything else we've talked about, should be, there's like two objections you can run through, but the rest, it should be easy. It really should be. And if you're running into difficulties and closing consistently, it's likely because you're not doing stage two with the pre-qualifying effectively, right? You're just not asking the tough questions."
"So, closing is this. I'll figure out their health. I'll go to the companies that I have. I'll select one. And then I say, basically, the following. So, 'Here's, I've done some digging around, Mr. Prospect. Here's what I recommend for you to get today. So, the company you can qualify for is ABC Life Insurance Company. They're out of Hixson, Tennessee. They've been in business since 1984. And the reason I'm recommending them to you is because your health is outstanding, and for healthy men like you, they offer the best combination of the highest amount of coverage for the lowest amount of price. Recommendations.' Off-script, very important. Your client is now at a point they know they're about to be sold. The money is starting to come out of their wallet into your hands. And people get commitment weary here, right? Nobody wants our clients are world-class procrastinators. Their final expense prospects. They're going to try to put this off a little more. So, you need to give them, um, logical reasons to justify their emotions to buy. So, 'Hey, you need this because it's the best combination of price and coverage.' Oh, well, I'm getting a good deal, right? I feel better about buying. Yes. So, make sure you're making that right. And maybe it's because they have a litany of health issues, or, 'Hey, this company does great with COPD.' Let them know that that's special and important, and that's differentiating enough that that might be the only thing that pushed them that little bit more to buy today."
"Yeah."
"Okay. So, after I explain that to them and why they should buy, I take out a clean sheet of paper. I write down three prices. And I put on the top, if I'm in person, the face amount of coverage in big bold letters or numbers, and then the premiums in little tiny numbers, right? Sounds silly, but Ben Feldman, who was world record holder, Guinness World Record holder of like premium sold and applications, he would literally sit down with these like wealthy business owners that ran, you know, big manufacturing operations, and he would show the giant big check that the coverage would be for with New York Life, and then the tiny check he'd pay every month, right? And he visually showed it to him. So, if it works for him with VIP, very wealthy clients, why wouldn't work for ours in our niche, right?"
"I like to visually show that difference. And I only show three options because we don't want to do too much showing choice. If we show them like five, six, seven options, too confusing. It's not Starbucks, right?"
"No doubt."
"Too much choice, confusion, people don't buy."
"So, we'll definitely think about it."
"Correct."
"Now, if you're over the phone, um, what I would say is, you can't show them anything like that, but you would say, 'Grab a pen, write this down. Ten thousand dollars.' Now, next to ten thousand, write 'five, one, dot, three, two.' So, I don't say $51.32 because maybe they heard it was $15, $31, $32, instead of $51, and now you're like, 'Well, actually, there's a lot more.' You know? Because you didn't clarify more. So, make sure you write, say each numeral or each digit of the number out. So, you show those three options to them. And then you say, 'So, here's your three options. Here comes a recommendation again. So, my recommendation is to pick the first one or the second one. Here's why.' Again, people need direction. You're their assistant buyer. You need to tell them what you think they should do. They trust you. It's okay to do that."
"Yes."
"So, if I say, 'Hey, here's why you need to pick one or two. Remember when you said you just want to be cremated? You just want the funeral cremation, Cody, you know? Just that. We don't need to have a big plan necessarily because it doesn't take a lot of money, even with inflation, to account for. So, the first option or the second option is really going to do the job and be best for you. So, my recommendation, if you're my dad, I love saying that. Yeah. My dad, for my mom, or my grandma, or my grandpa, this is what I'd recommend. So, out of these three options, which one do you want to start today?' And then shut up. Don't say anything until they say something solid. And that's it."
"So, good. It's that easy, right?"
"Yeah."
"Yeah, it is. We're kind of, you broke down a lot, though, man. I mean, you walk through a lot of detail, a lot of specifics, all the things they need to know to get a qualified prospect."
"That is one of the most detailed mock presentation videos I've ever seen."
"Yeah. So, freaking good."
"So, good. Thank you."
"If they want to, uh, thank you for doing that, by the way. That was very thorough, very detailed. I told you guys, man, systematic. Like, he's disciplined. He knows his stuff. He, he's, uh, someone that believes in learning his craft, you know? Like, a lot of agents, they need to take this more seriously. Like, if they want to be good at this, man, they got to know all this stuff, man. They gotta practice it and role-play it and put it into effect. If they want to learn more about you and everything you're doing, how would they do that?"
"Can I tell them a little bit about my organization?"
"Please. Thank you very much."
"Yeah. So, dave24.com. If you want to learn more, um, what we do a little differently than other agencies is we actually do one-on-one mentorship and coaching with our agents that come in. We're, um, all in on the training side of this business because it sorely lacks. And, and if you like what we do today, like this is just a sampling of the kind of detail that we go into. So, just go there, peruse the website. You'll learn more about how we help agents on final expense, telesales, face-to-face, also Medicare, ACA, annuities, as well. We've got a bunch of free resources too, if you want to check that out, sales training resources, etc. No cost or anything."
"I love it. DavidDuFord.com. Boom, boom. Thank you, brother. Appreciate you've been back on the podcast and the channel. Appreciate it."
"Thank you guys for listening. We'll see you next time. Hey, if you enjoyed this, I got another one you're gonna love. It's right there. Click on it. See you in there."
"When I first joined and decided to kind of jump in, I was really, it was kind of one foot in, one foot out. And I remember being out in the field. I went to my first home, my second home, my third home, and it was by the end of that."