October is Financial Planning Month

When do we meet? When I was first starting, that question was music to my ears. It means the prospect was comfortable enough with me that we could sit down in person and I could potentially close the sale. But time marched on and technology changed, meaning it was no longer necessary to make a sale in front of everyone I spoke with. And as the generations changed, the desire, no, the need to meet clients to make the sale eye to eye has diminished.

At this mid-year point, we are finally experiencing what we hoped in the fight of our country to reduce the incidents of COVID-19. We're seeing the lowest level of new cases and deaths in almost a year due to progress with vaccines. With this encouraging trend, what are some of the services we should focus upon to provide, following the directives of our NAIFA Code of Ethics?

I’ve given dozens of talks on the need for financial professionals to navigate the digital landscape effectively, and invariably the conversations veer into the arena of “what’s the newest, best tech to help me grow?” As a self-avowed tech junky, I am always obliged to engage in this conversation, because it’s a lot of fun to talk technology.

NAIFA has announced that its Business Performance Center Impact Week will offer an amazing slate of virtual programing led by industry experts, March 23-25. Presentations will be high-impact and provide valuable takeaways focused on practice management, growing your business, and reaching new markets.

Dawn Wolfgram, CLF, is regional managing director at Principal Financial and the national president of Women in Insurance & Financial Services (WIFS), a key industry partner of NAIFA. She will also be the featured presenter at the August NAIFA Live event.

An industry pulse survey of insurance and financial services professionals released today by NAIFA, LIMRA, the Insured Retirement Institute and Oliver Wyman found that the COVID-19 outbreak has made it challenging for agents and advisors to connect with new clients. More than three-quarters said that either all or a higher proportion of their insurance, annuities and investment sales have been to existing clients. Only 17% said new clients have accounted for a higher proportion of sales, while 5% said new clients accounted for all of their sales.