Transcription
[Music]
Can't lose like I. No attacks. Show and tell. I got fans, I got bracel. I take loans. You can hate it, they can hate it. I don't care. My dad, 50 with one hair. Now pay me. Got [Music].
Are you going to rap for us too? No, no, no. Pass, pass, pass. That was awesome, by the way. Thank you. I wish I could sing, though. Yeah, pass. I mean, maybe your son can teach you, who knows?
So, I'm assuming you write a lot of IULs? Yeah. Did you sell IULs from day one, or did you start on mortgage or final? The very first sale I ever did was an IUL. I've not sold anything other than IUL. If they get declined, I decline. Do I sell the true sage or just something else? Got it.
What attracted you to that product? You know, I wish I knew about it. I wish I knew about it 100%. Going back to the deep dive about the guys that invested half a billion dollars, these celebrities. If you go back, there's a book. I don't know if... What I found is that Jay-Z opened his company and he called it Rockefeller Records because he came across what the Rockefellers teach their kids. It's basically almost the same principle, but you do it with insurance, whole life insurance. At the time, I would imagine that was the only thing that was there. So, it does become the perfect product, and I really wish that I had known about it sooner.
I'm kind of actually, for everything that I thought I knew about finances, I'm kind of actually embarrassed that I didn't know about the benefits of IUL sooner, you know? So, I think it's the perfect financial product.
Got it. So, you're doing a deep dive like we talked about in your true talk on insurance financial services, and through that, you found this ethos article? Yeah, if you will. And deep. And that's where you learned about IUL? Yeah, 100%.
Got it. I'm going to ask you some questions about that I think would help the agent, right? So, there's all the... You know, there's a learning curve when you become an agent. I don't know what your experience is, even little things like filling out an application, right? It's not as simple as just punching in the information, but it's, you know, getting the information from your client, right? You got to get the right... Because like you said, the only time you don't sell an IUL is if they get declined.
Well, you can avoid someone being declined if you get the information out first, right? So, talk to me about some common application pitfalls that you see new agents kind of falling into and how have you overcome them.
The first pitfall that I think every agent comes into is overselling. They sell so... So, show me an agent with chargeback debt that's higher than normal, and then I'll show an agent that's overselling. Because a lot of times, people look for this index universal life insurance. They're misunderstood.
I remember talking to a guy that he thought by getting a $300,000 IUL, he was going to be able to take a loan against it for $300,000. Like he was hellbent. "Mike, believe, show me that product." Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, I think they come in with the wrong idea. You could tell when they... Because there's two parts, right? There's the protection and there's the investment. You could tell when they keep asking questions about the investment.
Some of them, most of them are roundabout shy. Like they know they're doing something wrong, but then they'll just kind of ask that question like, "When can I get my loan? When can I take out a loan?" So, you already know that it's going to be that kind of pitch.
My point is that sometimes these guys will sell a big deal, be a chargeback. So, I deal with the rule. My rule is 3%. Being an underwriter for mortgages, I kind of brought that in. 3% of a gross annual income. So, if a guy makes $100,000 a year, don't sell him an IUL for $3,000 a year or more, period. Because that's going to come back.
After the excitement of them buying from you, they've got to make that payment for a long time. 13 months for us, but for a long time for the protection to last. So, 3%. And that's the first thing I see new agents do.
Got it. Got it. Medications, right? These will make or break your deal. I mean, how many times now? You've only sold over the phone, right? Just over... You know how many times I've back in the day been in the house? "How's your health?" "Great, fine, no problem." "Okay, cool." We start asking questions. "Oh, I take something for that." I'm like, "Okay, can you just go get all?" And then they bring out a box of meds. Oh my gosh, they say they're healthy.
Yes. But then there's also times where, like you ask them, "Are you taking anything?" And you know they're nervous because they're taking a blood pressure pill. I'm like, "Well, I'm taking..." How do you explain the medications to your clients? What information are you going to need? What they should share so that there's no surprises, right?
100%. So, first for me, it's always a sale, right? It's always a sales pitch. Yeah. So, when you're talking to the customer, the number one thing to do, I think new agents always go back on their heels the first second they get a question, right? Most times it's a fake objection, meaning they're just jousting with you, just trying to see if you believe in your product.
So, they'll ask a question. You'll see that guy go back on his heels and fold. This is the right answer. The right answer is just to turn it right back around and say, "Guess what? I actually, Mike, can't tell you anything today. The most you could do is apply. So, share with me the last time you went to the doctor's office."
And I start from there, and I keep digging. Now, what about the... Like in the last year, have you been to the hospital at all? Did you get sick? And I keep talking. Every time they ask me a question, I go back and hit them with a medical question.
Then I'll even go back and be like, "You said to me three years ago you had fainted, and then they found out your blood... What happened there? Now, what did they prescribe for you? Now, whether you took it or not." And I just keep talking about that because what'll happen is through that, a customer will buy from you if they believe you care about them.
And this is how you know if you care: that they're talking more than you're talking, right? And the only way you can get them talking... And most people, they don't want to talk, but they're going to talk if you ask the right questions. And I just keep talking about those medical questions over and over again, just like head, heart, lungs, cancer. Talk to me, right?
A lot of times, I'll be like, "I'm healthy. Get out of here. You've never been to the hospital once." And you just keep digging and ask those specific questions. "When's the last time you were sick?" Yeah. And then they'll unfold with that big box. Very rarely, man.
And you know what's weird? I feel like truck drivers are healthy because very rarely, other than some of the truckers that I talk to, very rarely do I find anyone that's not on something, right? Right. Everybody's on something. Very, very rare.
Except, I don't know why, but I rent just truckers. They eat right. I mean, like there's not a carb, high-carb diet. They don't go out fast food. Other than that, if they don't tell me they're a trucker, then I'm like digging.
Yeah, yeah. You've been selling for over a year with us. You've probably had some death claims. Yeah, had three. You had three? Yeah. Did you have any that got caught up with contestability?
That's interesting because I've got... Alright, so the very first person that passed, first off, the M called profusely thanking us. She had been trying to convince her husband to get insurance forever. She actually said the words, "Because of your persistence, because of the way you kept... I heard her in the background trying to say, 'You have to this year,' and he didn't want to at all. But she goes, 'Because you kept talking about our family, and you kept saying my daughter's name, you just kept saying it and what it would be like if he made the decision.'
I remember him hanging up the phone. He didn't say anything to me. He just did it, and he passed away three months later. They paid the claim, which I thought was incredible. I mean, because one of the things I teach new guys too is that be accurate on the application, especially for the first two years.
You got to imagine it from a business standpoint. There is a contestability period for a reason. Think about this: after two years, the guy could completely... The guy could have had anything, correct? They're going to pay out. Well, then it's a reverse for two years. So, be accurate because you're the agent putting your pen to that. Be accurate with what you say.
So, that's the first thing. But two of them right now, that's happening right now, was like back to back. Just September, I don't think the claims have paid yet. And the first person, they had applied multiple times. The brokers took them to the same carrier. Luckily for me, my application was spot on, but apparently some other people put in some other...
And it was true stage too, so they got declined for... They weren't healthy at all. So, it was a guaranteed issue product, but they got declined. But fortunately, and what's weird is that, you know, I would imagine the application went with altered information because they were trying to get qualified for something else.
But going back to what you said, because I'm doing the discovery, and I know for a fact I'm not even hitting the apply button because they're not going to get it right. So then, if they're really interested in the benefits of an IUL, you can actually... There are benefits in a whole life product. Sure, there are benefits. I mean, the money's with the insurance company, not linked to the market, so there are benefits.
But to be able to actually sit there and get that... Yep, got it. Are you... Do you explain the contestability period to your clients at all, or is there any discussion?
I will if they have a current policy. Okay, if they don't have a current policy, I have a... My script talks about there is a two-year period of contestability, which means... And I do that right before I hit go on the application.
And so trust is an issue. This is nationwide, right? And if I feel like I need it, I'll do a Zoom conference call so they can see me and they can see my screen. And I sit there and I say, "Hey, right before I hit go, here is there anything in the application you wanted to change or amend? Now is the time."
And then I'm very careful to even ask nowadays. I ask, "Have you applied within the last two years?" Because that's going to come up too, what you write down in the application. So I do that application in detail because it's important if I'm going to hit the go button or not.
Then I find out later the carriers don't even like if you're applying and they get the CL, that ratio there. So, yeah, I ask the big questions before I even hit apply. Plus, I think you look pretty stupid if you hype somebody up on something and you were the expert. Man, I followed you. You're supposed to bring... And now we can't even drink water, right? It's your job.
So just finding that out and then just lightly... Don't oversell. That goes back to, "I can't sell you this today. All we could do is apply, so tell me everything." Because I'll tell you what, and especially it's like to meet the I in the pitch. If 100% of the people in America tried to get it, I'm telling you right now, 49% is going to get denied, shut out cold.
But there's different things that we can do, so just be open with me so we can build the right application for you. The worst feeling in the world as an agent, one of them is, "I wrote a policy on you. I didn't do my job properly," right? Because you got to be accountable. You die, death benefits contested, and then your family is asking me why there's no death benefit.
100%. I've been there. Wow. I had a client, and it was early on. I should have known it was fishy. I did everything wrong, John. I met with him by himself. I met with him when he asked me to meet with him. He was like, "Let's just get to it. How much is it going to be?" No problem giving me the check, and I'm like running 15 appointments.
I'm on to the next one. Dude dies two days later of a heart attack. Wow. He knew he had some significant issues, wasn't taking any medication for it, but of course, contested, declined. Now, he did this kind of behind his family's back, so there was no like, "Hey, where's the death benefit?" Just knowing that, like, now what could I have done for him? Nothing, because he... But I didn't do my job to go, "Hey dude, there's no way this is going to pay."
So he's going, he's thinking, "I got a policy." You know, I don't know if he knew he was going to die in a couple of days, but he knew he had something going on. But his family got nothing. Wow. And there's no policy I could have given them to tell, but just the fact that I didn't do my job.
Wow. And that's why, you know, when you're working with agents, you're a brand new agent out there, some appointments you need to walk away from, 100%. Some appointments you need to offer them something different. Like you said, you offered a guaranteed issue because you have to.
Yeah, because you don't want to be in... And make that sound sexy because the best policy is the one you can get approved for, correct? That's what I tell people all the time. Yep, yeah, yep.
Yeah, it's... You know, you just do right by clients. And I'm Lally, if I can go back to my old self, like take your own insecurities out of it. Get uncomfortable. "Hey dude, something ain't right here. Why is your wife not here? Why are you so quick to just want to give me your money?"
Like I've been doing this for a while. That's not normal. You know what's happening? But if I would have asked more questions, like you talk about now, I would have uncovered that.
100%. Selling IULs, so it's funny that you do them over the phone and virtual if you need to, right? Yep. So I've had people sit in that same seat tell me a year or two ago that, "Mike, you can't sell IULs over the phone. You have to go in person." I'm like, "That's funny because there's a lot of premium out there this past year that proves it's not true."
100%. Are you doing any follow-up interviews, meetings? Like, so the IULs, there's a lot of bells and whistles on this thing, right? There's a lot. Even though you can do the best job explaining to them, a lot of times clients forget, right? They don't know what they have.
How many times have you met a client that has a policy and has no idea what it is? Most of the time. Are you doing follow-up interviews? 100%.
So, one of the things I believe that the sale, and this is everything I've ever sold, it's the post-close that matters the most. When I wrap up, I make them grab a pen. I ask them to grab a pen. I share with them how important it is. I let them know what's going to happen from here.
I let them choose how they want the policy delivered. Do they want it through email? Do they want it over the phone? But I make them write down the policy number. And even if I'm on a Zoom with them, I want them to write the policy number down.
And then I share with them how sacred that is. That's like gold, right? And so that policy number, and I go through everything except I reconfirm the payment, what it's going to be, and the payment date.
And I really like the today payment because if it's... I'll tell you what, but a lot of times if a person doesn't have the money in their account today, in my opinion, that's going to be a chargeback. That's what I've learned.
So, make that payment. I like to call it the disappearing payment. The disappearing payment is like a Netflix. "Hey, how much is Netflix?" You don't know. That's the point, right? Because it just leaves your check, and it doesn't hurt your life. It doesn't change.
And so, do that confirmation. But also too, I tell them that... And here's what's funny. The reception as far as how many people pick up may not be there, but I tell them I pick the same time that we're talking now. I said, "Listen, when you get the policy delivered, I'm going to call you back because it is a big thing, and we're going to go through what's important there."
And that's my opportunity for me from a marketing standpoint to grab a referral. Then that's when I want to talk about the beneficiary role because think about it. If you're in the parking lot, and you're... Say you're in a Walmart parking lot, you kind of... You take your car and you hit the light post. Dude is not going to send you a check. You have to file a claim, correct?
So, God forbid you're doing this for your family. Something happens to you. How are they going to know who to send the check to? What's their role? And immediately their role as a beneficiary being over 18. What do you have for protection, right? Obviously, this is important, and they are kids and like that.
So, yeah, the follow-up is the necessity for one, being greedy to be able to get more business, sure. Right? But in addition to that, also to answer their question because the thing is if they easily found us through an online form, they're easily going to go to another online form, especially if they have a question about it, right?
And so I want to lock that down as much as possible. Yeah, and also look at what everyone else does and do the opposite because most agents out there, most other companies... I mean, you've met plenty of clients where they got a policy, right? Maybe through the mail, maybe over the phone, maybe in person.
But what percentage of those clients have had a second meeting or even phone call with their agent? Not many. And you know they freak out too when you call them back. They're like, "Hey." And then even I like to do this. Even the ones that aren't like... For a New Year myself, the agents, I said, "Call them. Just say happy New Year. Start there."
Plus, if you take good notes, like I'm a big note-taker, they've got a cat, they got a dog. You say the name, "How is ex?" They love it. You know, "How is he? Still digging the hole in the backyard?" Like that.
And I've called people back where all I did was talk about the sheet that I had, their family, and they were like, "Huh? Were you calling for any particular reason?" I was like, "I just want to say hi." Boom. I was like, "You know what? Now that you think about it..." And then boom, they either bought more insurance or they gave me a referral.
Why is that cool? 100%. Worst case is you just called someone and talked to them for two minutes. Yeah, exactly. Make sure everything's good.
Yep. Overcoming objections. Yep. Now, I like to say we remove them, we avoid them, but sometimes, especially as a new agent, they're going to come up, right? So, I'm going to kind of just throw some at you, and you let me know how you would either handle this or if I was your agent working with you, how you'd advise me, right?
So here's one: "Life insurance, honestly, right now, is an unnecessary expense." Yeah, what's weird is that the conversation you said earlier. Let me preface this. I do a deep discovery, like it's super deep. And I do... In my training, we call it seven... Well, I was trained to do four dominant buying levels.
So there's a dominant buying level, right? So in the beginning, the first question I ask is, "Are you doing this for protection or more the investment?" Then when I lock that down, then I become a five-year-old. Everything's why. So it's for the protection. Why is that important?
I'll say, and they don't give it up, right? It's always general. It's always a, "Well, because, you know, I think it's time." Yeah, but why is that important? Then I'll find who they love because it always comes out to love.
So a sale made from the heart is a sale that's going to keep. So who do they love? And then it's going to be Brenda, their wife. Well, why is it important for you to have insurance for Brenda? And then I talk about the what is. Well, and I make them say it.
I make them... It's almost like the Dickens pattern, Tony Robbins. I make them do that rocking chair with me as much as possible. What happens in one year, five years, ten years from now? And as we go through that, I'm building enough, and I'm taking notes the whole time.
So when I get an objection, like first off, I don't believe I'll get that because what's crazy is that people ask me all the time about an objection. If you listen to my calls, I'm not getting objections, right? Because I keep doing my job until they naturally go, "It's time to move on. What's the next step?"
And so my sale, my favorite sales, and I'll tell you, 90% of my sales, if you build it right, which is a lot of front-end work, they're going to throw their information at you like ninja stars. They just want it. They want to do business with me.
That's how I've tailored everything. So you'll ask me objections. I'm telling you, let me say this the right way. I don't get that objection. Oh no, I believe it because... But it's what you're saying. You remove it in the beginning. It got removed in the beginning.
But I mean, if there's somebody, a jerk that's in a rush... But this is the thing about steps, processes, right? The process is a discovery. You got to do discovery, correct? And if I pass the discovery, there's going to be a heat on the end. It's going to be a pitch, then it's going to be a pressure, right?
I don't want pressure. So to me, this is how a sale works. In order for somebody to say yes today, especially over the phone, it's a tremendous amount of pressure, but administered in a very small drip. A lot of people don't get that.
What a close is? A close is just a question. That's a close. "Hey, how's your day today?" Great. It's a question. So asking, but asking the right questions. So going from the beginning, so again, it goes back to that discovery.
But you have to go... What I do, what I've learned, if you go seven levels deep in your discovery, you're going to go places where that person's going to tell you things that they've never told anyone, right? Like literally, they'll tell you private things about them that happened, that you know, bad things that have happened to them, right?
In the dark. And when you can get that from a person, imagine this: they're only telling that to people that they trust. Automatically, you're done. Now it's trust. Then the only reason why they won't actually buy from me at that point is because it's just out of their budget, correct?
I could literally write a policy for $17 a month, right? Actually, I did once. In our office, we wrote $7.96 a month. I just wanted to choose a sweet lady. It was just... And she actually said, "I don't know if the $7 is going to be there." And I was selling everything in the beginning just to get it done.
For the record, the $7 wasn't there, for the record. [Laughter]
So I guess we'll kind of change this to avoiding objections. What are you doing in your process to avoid these? Because I agree with you 100%. I mean, I'm the worst guy at how to overcome it. No, you do things in the beginning. Yeah, and you never have to.
Absolutely. So here's one: how do you avoid this? "I'm worried it's a scam. How can I trust you?" What are you doing on the front end to... That's fantastic.
When I first started selling too, how my sale is today, when I first started selling, I came across a bunch of people that were giving copies of their license, right? And they were literally kind of disparaging other people and how you can trust. I don't do that anymore.
What I do is I know my product so well. I know my game so well. And if you structure the questions right and you sound and you enunciate properly, that's big on... I'm big on that. I get a guy that's like, "I'm like, you sound like you have marbles in your mouth. This is over the phone. I don't know how well you're going to do."
But if we ask the right questions and we enunciate right, we already sound like a professional. I don't have to give them my res. It's the questions that I'm asking. And so I try to take the approach. I try to train people to take the approach. You should sound like a doctor, and you should talk about things like that.
And we're always talking about qualifications. And again, that goes back to if I'm always asking them the question, they're on their heels. And by my questions asking so deeply, I'm not focused on the sales. I'm focused on your medical qualifications.
And so if you can tailor... Think about this. I'd say if your pitch is an hour, right? If you spend literally 35 to 40 of those minutes talking about medical questions and their medical history, like they're going to... It's dogma. They're going to be trained. You're going to be like the nurse, the intake nurse before they see the doctor.
And they're already conditioned. The level of trust is there. Asking for a social is no big deal. Banking is no big deal because I'm so concerned about you getting qualified, right? Right.
Setting tone is huge. Last one. This is probably the most common one. "I need to think about it. I need some time." Whatever. How do you do to avoid that?
Well, I'll tell you. That's changed, right? So when I first started, I threw out the 30-day free look. Yep. I think that was a... What would that do for your quality of business? I got a phone call. They yelled at me. Like some of the carriers are like, "Hey, what are we seeing this for?"
Yeah, so I think that's a weakness. One of those, what would I do? What do I do a year later that I'm not good at today? I'm okay coming from a different world and having that last experience where I had such a high closing percentage in the beginning. I wanted to close everybody.
I think that's a mistake. You said the right thing. You got to walk away from business, correct? There's some business, which is crazy to say, but it's true. And so you choose your client.
And I believe today that if you're in a place where you have to sell that person, they're going to smell your commission breath, and that's going to be selling out of scarcity, not selling out of abundance. And so a lot of the rebuttal that you're... The objections that you're saying, after if I've done my job right at the end, you will get some kickback from hurt people.
And remember this: I find hurt people hurt people. So I quickly, if I hear the objection once, I IGN it, whatever it is. If I hear it twice, I'll lightly address it. If I hear it the third time, Mike, I just stop and say, "Can I ask you who hurt you?"
Let me ask that. Somebody, something happened. I don't even... Don't buy from me. Take away. Don't buy from me. But seriously, I want to know who hurt you. Was it somebody? Was it another insurance person? Was it somebody? Did you buy something and they got...
They'll tell me their story. Yeah, I got robbed. This happened. I gave up my information. I got... Somebody got identity theft. They'll always tell me. And I'll just do a deep dive on that disc.
And what ends up happening is if you ever watch these shows like U, you know, like a restaurant impossible, Chef Robert Vine, you realize that it's not the restaurant that's failing. It's the owner that's failing, correct?
So the person has no trust, but it's not against me. They don't have trust in general. So if that trust is truly an issue, now this is a crazy pitch because Mike is going to take longer. But if trust is truly an issue, I'm going to find out who hurt them, and I'm going to travel that memory lane so much that in the end, they're going to sit there and go...
And I always wait for that deep breath. Ready? Watch this. "Alright, so what were we doing?" Yeah, I was just needing your social. That's it. I'm done. Yeah, because I took... And you... It's like this. It's a record. Bad memory, bad pain is a record. They don't trust because it's a record they play, right?
So all I try to do is play the record again. And by playing it again, you're dulling the record. You're scratching it out so that they will trust you. So you almost have to rehabilitate trust.
Yeah, absolutely. That's great. Last thing, I'm going to wrap up with some different client scenarios, right? I say this all the time. If you've been selling at a high level for over a year or two, you've run into just about every type of client, right?
There's nothing that if I start today, I go run my first 10 appointments and I call you, there's nothing I'm going to run into you haven't already seen, right? But you do have to approach clients a little bit how you present things, right?
So I'm going to give you a few scenarios. You just kind of let me know, "Here's what I would do with these types." So young entrepreneurs, right? People, business owners. What are you doing with them differently? Are you explaining how life insurance can protect their business? Like, what is that conversation like?
First and foremost, it is about... One, I try to educate people. If you read any sales book, they'll say it's rapport. And what do they tell you rapport is? Which is fake. They say it's mirror and matching. That's the fakest thing in the world.
Yeah, if you say you like cats and I don't like cats, I go, "I love cats." That's fake. Yeah. So if you take the word rapport, and I'm a big... I love etymology. I love where words come from. The word rapport comes from "to go back in time." That's what rapport is, to go back in time.
So what my first goal is is to get somebody to tell me a story about their life. And the farther you can go back in time, like this talk show, the farther you can go back in time, the more they're going to already feel like they know you.
Where do you think the statement comes from? "I don't know why, but I just feel like I know you forever." Because you're talking to me. Story. Say, "11, 16 years old, 20 years old, I'm in the room. 20 years old, I'm in the room. 20 years, you're 40 now. We're friends."
Right? So that's the first thing. So one is having to understand what rapport is. I go in there with that mindset, but I'm very instant when a person picks up the phone. I'm going to match their energy level.
So it's, "Hello? Hey, Bob." I'm not always me, right? Not this version of me. "Alright, make it quick." "Alright, brother, whatever." I have to match their intensity because now there's a place where I go to sell. That's that closing box, right?
But we're not there yet, so I have to earn that business. I have to earn the right. So I'm going to meet them where they are. And also, in sales, that's what you don't say. Once I find out somebody... Something, and this is an advantage that I have, but I recommend this to everybody.
You have something that you can share with them that's relevant about them. Ready? Okay, if I was... Go back to the entrepreneur. If I was 18 years old, ready? I'm an entrepreneur. I run a bus. Get out of Dodge.
And then I act like I become a student and a mentor. I go, "Hey, is that hard to do what you're doing?" But see, the thing is, I'm genuinely interested because here's the thing. My dad always told me that you could get paid what you're worth. Tell me about that.
Okay, so that's in my 18s, in my 20s and 30s. Now I've already done business. So same entrepreneur calls me, and I'll be like, "Have you tried..." And I'll actually go through a software program. "Have you tried Palo Alto?" And they'll tell me yes or no, right, in their business software.
"What do you do for taxes?" Boom. I love talking about taxes. Plus, I'm really good at taxes. Like, "What do you do for taxes?" And then they'll tell you. And so then today, being 51, having had so many businesses, and the thing is, you can't fake this.
You have to be the generative article. So whether you're 18, 20, 30, 30, 40, or 50, whoever that person is, find a way to relate to them. And this is something you should do in advance because there are basically four different personality types.
But that pragmatic guy who's a business owner, I'm going to hit him, be like, "Get out of Dodge." And then I'm going to give him some current event about being a business owner. "How do you like the new... Hey, so you run a tour business. How do you like that they just sunset Section 179? You can't even write off 100%."
Boom. I already win. They know I'm an expert. So I often... What I'll do, let's say that they say to me, you know, whatever about weight loss. I tell them I lost 70 pounds, and we start talking about different dieting techniques.
If they can trust that you're an expert in any one industry, the sale of the insurance is over. We're not even making an insurance sale. That one's done. They already know I'm an expert.
So I love that. I love finding out instantly what a person is and then giving that back, retelling their own story in a way that I fit in, right? Right. You know, you talking about rapport, and you said this earlier, was it seven points? Dig deep.
Oh, dominant buying motive. My dominant buying motive is for the investment. Why is that important? So their first question is that is a level one. Why is that you have a retirement? They'll tell you. The second answer, their second why is that important to get seven answers from the original dominant buying motive will get them.
And literally, that means if you can get a person to show you on the doll where they got touched, you're done. Absolutely. It's a level of trust that they've never gone through before.
I look at it like this. I used to build houses, construction, right? And we used to do a lot of decks. So up here in Connecticut, you know, you got to get below the freezing level, right, to get your foundations in your footing for your post or whatnot.
If you're digging surface level, if you're asking surface level questions like, "Hey, what's your favorite color? You know, you like cars? You know, you like pizza?" We're doing just a bunch of nonsense. Got it? It's all surface. There's no rapport.
So I look just like building a deck. If I were to dig a bunch of one-foot holes, John, and build you a nice deck, dude, the first time it rains, that thing's in the ground, done. Right? But if I dig three holes, you're done down 48 in, dude, that thing, you could park a truck on that thing.
What helps me with that, Mike, is to actually write down seven and then keep going. That's on my customer sheet, seven. Yeah. So I'm going to keep asking. I don't always get to seven because sometimes the talker, they fold, right? They fold at three, four, five.
But the guy who doesn't tell anyone anything, that you get them to seven, yes, you're done. You're completely done. And then you can relate. Like when you're talking about... I thought this was where you were going. Rapport.
Like my job is to not copy you, mimic you, but find something we have in common. There you go. And I don't care who you are, what your background's from, what you've done in the past. You could sit down with anyone, ask them a handful of questions, and we'll find some stuff in.
But it starts with like, "Hey, how long have you lived here? Four years? Okay, where'd you live before that? Where'd you grow up? Do you like this neighborhood? Kid sports? You're down here."
But how long you lived there? Four years? Okay. Is that your car out front? Well, go down this hole. You want to know why new agents fail? Because you're calling about the IUL. Do you want insurance or do you want protection insurance?
Okay, good. So, what's your name? How long you been? The address? Are you kidding me? That's the point. Why do you want... Right? That's literally... You said it's literally one foot of post.
How long you been looking into insurance? Why don't you have any now? There you go. Well, you did. When did you get that policy? Where did you get it from? Like just... I love that talk, by the way.
I love when they tell me they had insurance because then I actually pounce on the laps. I actually tell them today, I'm like, "You know, it's kind of like a mortgage where your payment history matters."
Because there are... Because, and I found this out, by the way, by talking to the carriers, right? And finding out what's important for them. But they do. They keep track of everything. That medical information knows everything about that person, right?
So, it matters. It all matters. Absolutely. Last thing, switch gears a little bit. We are about less than a week away from convention, right? Were you at the last event?
I wasn't. You weren't? Okay, so this is your first event? This is my first event. I'm excited. Why are you excited? Well, because first, I get to go on stage. Yes, and I'm on day one.
And after like some of the big guys talk, that's kind of fun. And I didn't really know what it meant until we started doing the calls, and the format impresses the heck out of me. Because, you know, as a leader, right? Speaking to the leaders out there, when you have an organization that's doing well, you know what the new people want to do?
They want to know what the secrets are of the current people that are doing well, right? And so the fact that there's 130-plus speakers given five minutes and that a lot of people... I don't even know if I'm supposed to say this, but a lot of people, you don't know that Shawn is so intimate in this and making sure that all of us are delivering something that's going to add value.
It's about value. But the new people love to hear from the heroes what they're doing, and I think that that's exceptional. Then when you sprinkle on... I mean, look, to me, when Deion Sanders was on 60 Minutes and he's like, "You ever be so clean somebody meet you, they look at themselves, they have to check themselves?"
I have that effect on people like that. I can't wait to hear him speak because I know I'm going to allow him when he starts to impact me along with Tim Grover and Eric Thomas. Like this is big stuff.
And people don't realize that in order to get to where I am today, my brothers and I, we were average buyers when we had the paper route and the dish. We put all that money together to get into every get-rich-quick program.
I live here in Providence. We flew my brother Jerry for $5,000 to see a Dave Delado how to buy a house, no money down seminar. I am 16 years old. We closed on our first property. We bought it for 60. We sold it for 90. $30,000 we made, and I'm 16.
But first off, not everything works, right? Not all the programs are, but we did the work. I remember being 16 years old walking into the local real estate office, and I was like, "Can I have a rider or addendum?" And I got denied like six times.
I changed my pitch. I finally walked in. I was like, "Hi, I go to the local middle school, and I need a rider addendum for a school project." "Oh, sweetie, come in here. It's cold outside."
See, so I have to change my pitch. But at the end of the day, I think that people, if we approach this in a way where we already know what they want, this conference is incredible. I'm already just visualizing it, how incredible it's going to be for...
I imagine myself being brand new, and what I need to have. There's somebody out of 130 people. There's going to be somebody with my story, yep, and it's going to impact me. Absolutely, right?
Yep. And then if you're an agency manager, if you're training, recruiting people, it's less work on you. Bring them. That's what Shawn did with us. We just did a, you know, last week's true talk with... We were talking about this at the old company.
Yeah, and he's like, "You know, Shawn's what, 10, 15 years older than me? We have a lot in common, but we don't... You know, we're a decade plus apart." So he's like, "I wanted to bring you to convention so you could go meet someone your convention."
It was a different company, but it was September of 2009. Okay, so I met Shawn the month before. No license. Got a license within two weeks, and then I'm on a plane to Dallas with no money. I had 40 bucks in my pocket.
There were about 12 of us in one room. Yeah, that speaks volumes to Mike. Finding out how long that people have been here for over a decade, that's a big deal. Yep.
To watch everybody. This is from Andrew Grady. It's amazing. Speaking of, I always give Andrew credit for this. One of the reasons I'm still sitting in the seat is I saw Andrew on stage at this other company.
Andrew's a few years younger than me. I think I was maybe 23 or four at the time. I don't even think he was 21 yet. He couldn't legally buy a beer, but he's on stage talking about making six figures. At the time, I was making no figures.
Wow. So I'm like, "Well, if that kid, no offense, but this not even 21-year-old bagging groceries in California can make six figures selling life insurance, well, why the hell can't I?" There you go.
You know, so for that alone, as much as, you know, we left that company, we started our own, the whole deal. But if I didn't go to that event, if I didn't see him on stage, if Shawn didn't believe enough in himself, me, the company, whatever, to push me to go there, I wouldn't be sitting here today.
Yeah, and you know, that's impactful. One of the things that I think is unique about my position is that I don't have to do this, right? And the fact that I chose wholeheartedly to be in Family First Life, that to me, if anybody who knows me speaks volumes because I run a training business on the side from after that because people wanted to know how I did what I did.
So I charge $5,000, and they'll come to the Flamingo Crossing Hotel in Disney, and they'll learn from me, and it's a two-day program, right? But then it's an upsell, and I'll charge $10,000 a month for six months because they need the...
It's not that Michael Jordan doesn't know how to dunk. He uses Tim Grover for everything else, right? Correct. But what I'm sharing with you is that if somebody came to me and said, "This is where I'm at. This is the market. What do you think I should do?"
Even if I wasn't here, I would do my due diligence. I do my deep dive. The same conclusion I came to, it's Family First Life, right? It's for you. It's Family First Life, right? But don't reinvent the wheel.
No, I mean, why would you join a company and then break what's already been built for 13 years, right? And so that... Because a lot of people don't realize this. What? 99% of all businesses out of 100 will always fail within the first year.
The fact that Family First Life took this crazy idea to literally pay the comp that we pay, to give the support and do it, and now being its 13th year of business and still, we're on the precipice of the milestone.
Shawn used to say when you guys... He told us that when you first do a billion dollars in IP, brother, to hit that in 2025, that's going to be incredible. I want to do my part. Oh, yeah, that's incredible.
But you're right. I think new agency, even agency owners, it starts in sales. How you are as a salesperson is how you're going to be as a leader. So if you're verbal diarrhea, you want to tell everybody everything you know, well, then you're going to waste all your guys' time just being on the pulpit talking about everything you know, right?
And so if you're whoever you are, so as they move up into leadership, what I find to be successful is literally work the system that's in place, right? And even this new guy today, he comes in, "Hey, tell me again how the comp works."
"Well, that's online. There's a video for that." But tell me, "Do the script again. Do the front for me." See, just the same way I... The customer asked me a question, and I'm going to talk back and say, "What about your medical?"
This person's so new, we have no business talking about, right? I just made the example. One of my guys just had a baby. I said, "Imagine if you spent the entire day teaching your infant how to drive." Why? Right? It's completely irrelevant.
So I'm not talking about anything back here when the number one thing is, "Do you have your pitch? Do you have your script? Are you going to make an impact when you talk to that customer?"
Yep, absolutely. You know, you talking about all these trainings, and I mean, you could pay up the... The Lao, what, 99 bucks to get you that? That's insane.
Okay, so I... My brothers and I, going back to spending $5,000, we tallied. Now, this is huge. I dropped out of high school. I made it a little bit into the ninth grade, but people don't realize I was already working. I was making $1,000 a week selling over the phone, and I was at the library and just reading, right?
So, and it's not that it didn't... Just that my environment needed me to actually produce income, right? So talk about not having a formal education. My brothers and I just tallied. We spent collectively between the five of us over $800,000 on our education, books, seminars, tapes.
And for $33 a day to get 140 industry-specific people, I told everyone in my office, right? So me, I didn't know. I didn't know what it was going to be, right? I just knew it. The flyers flying around.
And then Shawn said that when he first went to his first convention, it was the percentage of people, and it was the statistical thing that the bigger the groups that brought the most people, right?
So I've got 25 full-time guys in my office. Really? I mean, we've got like 80 people listed at HTMs. I think we're at 90, but 25 that actually plug in, right? So I took it up on a challenge. You know, at first, it was just going to be myself and my sons that were going to go.
Then I realized the value, right? And then it was like from Florida to Texas, it was like 200 bucks for the ticket, right? And Airbnb is so cheap. You can get a room for 100 bucks, and you can all grassroots us all pile in, right?
I actually sat there and said, "If you can't spend $33 a day for what will be the biggest impact of your life, unless you've got something happen, the birth of a baby, I said, then you're actually not serious about being an entrepreneur."
And so anyway, I got like 18 out of 25 guys going now, so now it's exciting. Got 18 for this year. 100%. Not only against, but those are the ones you're going to bet on. We got two sprinter vans.
It's funny. We're like, "Is this going to be us?" We cool. They're young. Awesome. That's cool as hell. I got good stuff, dude. Well, hey, keep kicking ass, man. I appreciate you coming up and doing this.
Guys, fflcconvention.com. There are a handful of tickets left, all of 99 bucks. If you don't want to meet people like John, you'll see Deion Sanders. There you go, Sanders.
But even that, like you meet these guys for... Not meet them, but go watch them talk for 99 bucks. All well. You... I heard you could meet them for VIP, by the way. Sold out.
I was going to say one of my last guys that he's like, he pulled it up. He's like, "I want to meet." It's like, "You can't now." Yeah, there's always next year. There's always next year, dude.
So, hey, thanks for coming up, guys. Thanks for checking us out. Subscribe if you haven't already. Hopefully, we'll see you in Irving, Texas in a few days. If not, we'll see you next week right here on TNL. Actually, we won't see you next week because we'll be in Irving, Texas.
So the following week, every Friday here, next level. We'll see you. [Music]