NAIFA Members Serve Main Street

In the September 23, 2013, issue of Investment News, various advisors were asked how they respond to the question: “What do you do for a living?”

November is Long-Term Care Insurance Awareness Month, making it the perfect time to reach out to your clients to start an LTCI conversation. And it’s not as hard as you might think.

Advisors invest a large amount of time and money in generating sales leads—only to lose a large percentage of them, simply because they aren't in contact quickly enough.

On Monday mornings, prospects are too busy. On Friday afternoons, prospects are gone. Don’t want to bother the prospect by calling too early? They’ve probably left the office by mid-afternoon, and by the middle of the week, they’re very busy. So what should an advisor do?

Imagine Amazon sending you business leads regularly and even paying you to do so. Amazon is desperate for reading material and you can publish your content for free as Kindle books. The twist is to use them as a generation system for sales leads.

Cold calling has reportedly died. No one cold calls anymore and it doesn’t work. Is this true?

When it comes to referrals, focus on quality instead of quantity

Whether you've asked for a referral or one has been volunteered, what do you usually do with it? Do you just say, "Thanks, I'll let you know what happens." Or do you linger a little longer to learn more about your new prospect? I always advocate quality over quantity. Coming away from a meeting with 12 referrals all at once doesn’t usually yield the kind of results you’d like, because the quality of the referral is usually not very good.

You can acquire the ability to close sales and, through practice, you can perfect it.

There are no mysterious secrets to closing a sale. There are methods that must be learned, principles that must be applied and techniques that must be used. Anyone can acquire the ability to close sales and, through practice, anyone can perfect that ability.

It's possible to get referrals from clients and prospects without even asking. Here are 5 different ways to plant powerful referral seeds with prospects and clients:

Valentine's Day is a day for people to celebrate their love for each other. That's why every February, the LIFE Foundation asks people to look beyond the traditional gifts of chocolates and flowers, and to show their loved ones that they care through the selfless gift of life insurance.