URGENT Help With Annuity Sales Idea
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So we have ANOTHER practice presentation in front of managers tomorrow and now we're presenting on one of our VA's riders, guaranteed minimum income benefit. Basically what it does is that it provides you a guarantee minimum income payment for life while also allowing you to reap upside potentials. The guaranteed income base will also compound at 6% every year if they stay within certain withdrawal provisions. Another edition is that in the event the market does skyrocket, the income base will also lock in it's highest anniversary value.
We're role playing where all the managers in the room are going to be brokers while I am the wholesaler trying to sell them this annuity rider. I'm really struggling coming up with an opening, 3 main selling points and a STRONG-hard hit conclusion. Any help would be SO MUCH appreciated. Please no jokes/cracks/sarcasm because it's actually a real life situation where my job is on the line. A summary of what I'm going to sell is probably a parachute analogy. Someone goes skydiving and brings their standard/normal parachute. However with this extra insurance/rider, the guy brings an extra pair of parachute. Is he going to have to use it? 99% chance is that he probably won't. But in the event that his primary parachute really isn't going to work, then he'll definitely be glad that he brought along that second parachute for a minimal fee. Any critique? Comments? Different analogies hopefully (because a lot of people are probably going to use mine)? Strong sales points about annuities with these riders? THANK YOU everyone in advance.oh yeah, there is also a guaranteed principal option if the market and account value completely tanks to zero.
How about a report on the LAST presentation you had to do before asking for more help on another one?
lol sorry about that! Actually they really liked my opening analogy, how I walked into Macy's and instead of picking out my own suit, I asked the Macy's "Fashion Adviser" to help me suit one that tailors to my needs (sort of how Morningstar helps NYL chooses different asset allocation models). The only negatives they gave about my presentation was that I did not have a strong enough closing sale. I was also not as relaxed and confident as I should be (which I will definitely work on before tomorrow morning). However, tomorrow's sell might be a little bit harder since it's a VA rider, I'm going to have all the details of the product down. But I just need help with some general sales pitches, opening, closing, analogies, stories and some great attention grabbers. This week is nuts, a practice presentation everyday.How about a report on the LAST presentation you had to do before asking for more help on another one?
We’re role playing where all the managers in the room are going to be
brokers while I am the wholesaler trying to sell them this annuity
rider. I’m really struggling coming up with an opening, 3 main selling
points and a STRONG-hard hit conclusion. Any help would be SO MUCH
appreciated. Please no jokes/cracks/sarcasm because it’s actually a
real life situation where my job is on the line.
Your job is on the line based on how well you play the role of a VA wholesaler?! Are you in training to be a wholesaler? Take a breath, lad - you’ll become your own worst enemy if you imagine each training exercise is so important.
While the words you choose are important, you need to remember that HOW you say them will probably be just as important - if not more so. So you gotta relax a bit and try to have some fun with this. They are judging you not just on the clever stories or lines you use, but the way in which you communicate and connect with them.
You also need to make an important decision - are you really supposed to target your pitch to them as brokers, rather than as end user prospects? If so - which seems absurd to me if you’re not training to be a wholesaler - you need to take the main product features and translate those into the benefits for them. This is where the target audience becomes important - the benefits to the brokers is going to be different than the benefits to their clients/prospects.
Assuming that they really want you to focus your pitch to the end user rather than the broker, consider asking your audience for a show of hand of many of them insure their homes? Their cars? Their stuff?
How about their retirement? NO? Why not? Is their retirement less important to them than their car? Their home? Wouldn’t it be great if you COULD insure your retirement sort of like you do your car and home? Let me tell you how this product with the right riders can help you do just that …
You get the idea. Take the benefits of the insurance company guarantee and run with it. But whatever you do - RELAX and connect!
Just out of curiosity, what does the GMIB cost nowadays? Do they use a different age other than attained age for annuitization? And do they have to annuitize to reap the benefits? And what surrender schedule are you suppose to be presenting? None, 7 years, 10 years?
wow, GREAT example with the client interaction of house/auto insurance. but yeah, since we're wholesalers, we would be selling the product to the brokers directly. but the sales pitch kinda interrelates with each other as you have to sell the broker that this product is a good product to sell to their client.We’re role playing where all the managers in the room are going to be brokers while I am the wholesaler trying to sell them this annuity rider. I’m really struggling coming up with an opening, 3 main selling points and a STRONG-hard hit conclusion. Any help would be SO MUCH appreciated. Please no jokes/cracks/sarcasm because it’s actually a real life situation where my job is on the line.
Your job is on the line based on how well you play the role of a VA wholesaler?! Are you in training to be a wholesaler? Take a breath, lad - you’ll become your own worst enemy if you imagine each training exercise is so important.
While the words you choose are important, you need to remember that HOW you say them will probably be just as important - if not more so. So you gotta relax a bit and try to have some fun with this. They are judging you not just on the clever stories or lines you use, but the way in which you communicate and connect with them.
You also need to make an important decision - are you really supposed to target your pitch to them as brokers, rather than as end user prospects? If so - which seems absurd to me if you’re not training to be a wholesaler - you need to take the main product features and translate those into the benefits for them. This is where the target audience becomes important - the benefits to the brokers is going to be different than the benefits to their clients/prospects.
Assuming that they really want you to focus your pitch to the end user rather than the broker, consider asking your audience for a show of hand of many of them insure their homes? Their cars? Their stuff?
How about their retirement? NO? Why not? Is their retirement less important to them than their car? Their home? Wouldn’t it be great if you COULD insure your retirement sort of like you do your car and home? Let me tell you how this product with the right riders can help you do just that …
You get the idea. Take the benefits of the insurance company guarantee and run with it. But whatever you do - RELAX and connect!
You ARE training as a wholesaler, not a rep? I read both your Morningstar presentation thread and this one and never realized you were not training to be a reg rep.
Not sure how much relevant info on being a wholesaler you’re going to glean from a forum for reg reps, but good luck.
Jim,
Most products are pretty similar. What sells the product is a story. Brokers use stories to sell to their clients. A good wholesaler will provide a broker a great story that can be repeated. Sometimes when I meet with a wholesaler, I put myself in the client's role. If I could be sold on the story, I could sell it too. Morph's story about why would you insure your house and car, but not the most important asset you have (nest egg, retirement income, etc), is a great story. In fact, I have had numerous wholesalers tell that one. In my opinion, you would do quite well in your interview if you told a story and showed how the benefits would come into play throughout the story. Don't get me wrong, you need to know the nuts and bolts of the product, but most people relate to stories, including your managers. So try hooking them with good stories and analogies, then go into details about how it actually works after you've connected with them.Oh yeah, I forgot to add this:
Today's annuities can guarantee that the day someone retires, their paycheck in retirement can never be less than their first. Think about the power in that. Good luck.[quote=snaggletooth]Jim,
Most products are pretty similar. What sells the product is a story. Brokers use stories to sell to their clients. A good wholesaler will provide a broker a great story that can be repeated. Sometimes when I meet with a wholesaler, I put myself in the client's role. If I could be sold on the story, I could sell it too. Morph's story about why would you insure your house and car, but not the most important asset you have (nest egg, retirement income, etc), is a great story. In fact, I have had numerous wholesalers tell that one. In my opinion, you would do quite well in your interview if you told a story and showed how the benefits would come into play throughout the story. Don't get me wrong, you need to know the nuts and bolts of the product, but most people relate to stories, including your managers. So try hooking them with good stories and analogies, then go into details about how it actually works after you've connected with them.[/quote] I couldn't agree more, do you have any stories/analogies you might be able to add? Thanks Snaggle.[quote=JimYoung][quote=snaggletooth]Jim,
Most products are pretty similar. What sells the product is a story. Brokers use stories to sell to their clients. A good wholesaler will provide a broker a great story that can be repeated. Sometimes when I meet with a wholesaler, I put myself in the client's role. If I could be sold on the story, I could sell it too. Morph's story about why would you insure your house and car, but not the most important asset you have (nest egg, retirement income, etc), is a great story. In fact, I have had numerous wholesalers tell that one. In my opinion, you would do quite well in your interview if you told a story and showed how the benefits would come into play throughout the story. Don't get me wrong, you need to know the nuts and bolts of the product, but most people relate to stories, including your managers. So try hooking them with good stories and analogies, then go into details about how it actually works after you've connected with them.[/quote] I couldn't agree more, do you have any stories/analogies you might be able to add? Thanks Snaggle.[/quote] I'm really short on time, but here's a little bit. Some wholesalers like to draw pictures. Draw out a chart of the market from 2000-2008. Make a dashed line from the same beginning point of what the minimum income base would be...(hint: it should be linear). Let's assume this is a $500k case. In your case, you would show the broker what should be one his worst fears for his clients - retiring at the beginning of 3 bad years. With a mutual fund, the client would have a good chance of running out of money because they are taking withdrawals. But, with your product, they have a minimum amount they can rely on, so they will never outlive their money. If they struck coal instead of gold and retired in 2003, their mutual fund account would be worth $270k. A 4% withdrawal rate gives you $10,800. (Sorry Client, you screwed up and retired at the wrong time...don't say that). With your product, that same client had $655k to withdraw 5% for the rest of their life. That's $32,750. Who's the hero? The broker. Clients tend not to understand percentages, just dollar values. Brokers understand both. So use both. Saying the actual dollar value is a lot more powerful than the percentage. Also, a broker understands cash flow. Do the math, but worst case scenario, the cash flow in 10 years when your income benefit almost doubles is 9.83% on the original amount invested. Ask questions. Ask about clients calling in wanting to sell out because of the market. With your guarantees, investors have more peace of mind and sleep better at night because they know their income base can never go down. A client asked me, "How much of our money should we put into the annuity?" I said, "How well do you want to sleep?". Then I gave a more thoughtful answer. Point is, you create peace of mind. And you do it better than the competition for whatever reasons your company has (I hope you're with a good company). For a broker, clients who understand the purpose of the annuity are happy right now. Very happy. Happy clients want their friends to be happy, this equals referrals to the broker. That will get you started. I'm out of time.Also, go to w w w dot r e g r e p s dot c o m for other good ways to sell a VA with a story.
Current withdrawal benefits were not available in 2000. Past results are not a guarantee of future returns. Pray whoever is in the room does not have a compiance background if you use this example as it illustrates past performance with a guarantee that you could not have purchased.
Are you serious? There is nothing wrong with showing how something would have worked. If it's that big of a deal to you, change the years to numbers 1, 2, 3... or letters a, b, c... or whatever you want. If you say "had this been around and had you invested in this" what difference does it make? What if instead of 2000-2008 you picked 1930-1940? Yeah I guess it's probably a good idea to pray instead. That's just dumb.Current withdrawal benefits were not available in 2000. Past results are not a guarantee of future returns. Pray whoever is in the room does not have a compiance background if you use this example as it illustrates past performance with a guarantee that you could not have purchased.
I ran into this exact issue when I was in training. My point was not to be too specific on time frame as this could lead to a compliance issue, which they will ding you for on the presentation. Be far more general in your presentation and you will stand a better chance of success with the trainer. Keep in mind, he is doing the presentation to a trainer, not a client.
Oh I see your point. Yeah I would agree in his case he should just do year 1, 2, 3, etc... instead of an actual year then. Also, for the original poster, it might be good to suggest to the broker (trainer) that they can put the portion of their client's assets which are most volatile in the annuity because of the guarantees. If you listen to Nick Murray, clients need to be invested in equities as they retire, not bonds. So if you could wrap a minium income benefit around an equity portfolio, they would be far more helpful to their clients than moving them into fixed income.I ran into this exact issue when I was in training. My point was not to be too specific on time frame as this could lead to a compliance issue, which they will ding you for on the presentation. Be far more general in your presentation and you will stand a better chance of success with the trainer. Keep in mind, he is doing the presentation to a trainer, not a client.