Every salesperson has wrestled with the age-old question, “What’s the best way to get referrals?” Depending on how you’ve been trained, you might have a few different ways to answer. Many say “ask” or “ask the right way" or “make sure you’re planting referral seeds along the way to make it easier for someone to provide them to you” but I beg to differ. I have always found that the best way to get referrals is to be referrable. To me, there is only one way to be referrable in our industry: by creating a superior client experience that fosters stark raving fans.

Join Talent Development Center partner, Advisorist, for their Virtual Standout Summit this Thursday, March 30, from 9 am to 5 pm eastern. This all-day, live event will feature some of the industry's top names—including several from NAIFA Nation—to help you learn industry tips, secrets, and techniques to help you get more clients, more leads, and more income.

NAIFA is proud to announce that Advisorist has joined NAIFA in supporting the Talent Development Center to raise awareness of their respective brands and promote membership and participation in their respective organizations.

Led by CEO Jeremiah Desmarais, Advisorist is a group dedicated to helping insurance and financial advisors generate qualified leads and appointments to help their businesses grow. Under the partnership, Advisorist will feature six NAIFA members in their live weekly Virtual Advisor Power Hour (VAPH) workshops in 2023. NAIFA will promote the VAPH and Advisorist through social media and marketing efforts. 

NAIFA marketing partner InsurTech Express recently launched their new IE Bookshelf to help promote and highlight books written by insurance and financial services professionals.

Current books by NAIFA members in the IE Bookshelf library include How Not to Tear Your Family Apart by NAIFA's Executive Director of the Centers of Excellence, Carroll Golden, The K-Method of Roulette by Ken Leibow, and Diversity Means Dollars by Vince Vitiello.

Why religiously following these commandments will catapult your practice to the next level!

What will it take to make 2023 your best year ever? Ever think about finding religion? No, I’m not talking about going to church or joining a cult. I’m talking about following the digital commandments, not handed down by Moses or even Meta, but embodied by some of the best practitioners in the digital marketplace. If you are wanting to up your game and take your marketing to another level, then pay close attention to these foundational keys to success:

Join NAIFA's Business Performance Center for a webinar on Tuesday, January 24 at 1 pm eastern. Hear from NAIFA Coaches Circle leader Joe Templin to learn how you can reliably get your foot in the door and get your name out there.

Digital Marketing had the biggest growth for generating insurance sales since 2021. In a recent global study conducted by Accenture, most insurance buyers now search for information on digital channels. 48% of insurance customers who responded to an Accenture survey stated that social media would factor into their insurance-buying decision. Introducing agents and training to effectively utilize email, social media, web-based advertising, text messages, and personalized videos which helps maximize their value delivery.

Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the technology driving the industry to new insurance sales as it does with other industries in e-commerce. Winning agencies will become more data-driven and introduce agents to tools that utilize data analytics and AI to grow their businesses. Whether finding patterns based on past data to predict future events or leveraging AI to make assumptions and predictions beyond human capabilities, successful agents and agencies will take advantage of these new technology tools.

In the past, I have written about lead generation solutions as well as tracking clients on customer relationship management tools (CRMs) and marketing programs, but there hasn’t been a focus on lead conversions. At an industry conference this year, I learned about Phonexa, the company working to bridge the gap to generate more sales from leads. It’s important that advisors, especially those who run agencies and invest heavily in lead generation through marketing, learn about maximizing those leads.  

If you are a financial advisor trying to grow your practice, Dean Thurman, Senior Partner of InvestWise Financial and Co-Founder of White Glove, has a few growth hacks for you.

While many advisors were down in revenue during 2020, Dean’s office showed a 5% increase.  So far in 2021, Dean’s office is showing 53% revenue growth.

Dean attributes much of his success to these 7 growth hacks that his office has put into place over the last few years.

Are you leaving money on the table?

If you aren’t nurturing and engaging with your leads and clients, the answer is yes. According to Invesp, “Companies that excel at lead nurturing generate 50% more sales-ready leads at a 33% lower cost.”

Lead generation is only the first step in a well-rounded, efficient marketing plan. To maximize your lead generating efforts, you need to interact with those leads and connect with your clients. If you don’t keep in touch with them, they’re likely to forget about you, and that leaves the door wide open for your competition to creep in.