3 Challenging Parts of this Business Pt. 2 | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 185

Today we're going to be talking about the most challenging parts of the annuity business. Part dos.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to today's new podcast. Well, it wouldn't be an old one. We Don't Recycle podcast. You know, it's funny, there's a time where I remember, how am I going to do this? Because it was so short. And I said, you know what, maybe we could just take an old one. My team won't let me do that now. They've got to be new, they've got to be relative, and they got to be important to you.

We'll do new takes on prior topics.

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. You have to. Yeah. I mean, you and I were just off air. We were talking about that. What did you say? The 3.0?

The DOL 3.0.

3.0, yeah. Somebody needs to get rid of these DOL people. You know, just. Department of labor should not be interfering with our business. That's the reality. We are regulated by every state. And I don't know about you guys, but our insurance commissioner is on it. They are very good at what they do. They make sure it's a really good organization. We have very few complaints in the entire state for any insurance company. So, man, it just. God, man, the greediness and the, the audacity to talk about. Well, it's like one senator was talking about gun control and they didn't even know what a magazine was.

Right.

You know, it's like you're.

You're legislating things you don't understand about.

It's just the stupidity and arrogance drives me nuts. Because it affects us.

Yeah.

It affects our clients. Now, I'm all for the insurance commissioner saying, hey, you know what? We have a new form here. When we make sure people are doing it right, we're going to make the background check stricter. I' all for that. But, man, when you start talking about things you know nothing about, that is a problem.

Well, and I agree with you on that. As far as the DOL stuff goes, the SEC getting involved and all this, I mean, the, the products.

That's all it is.

It is. But we're. I mean, you mentioned it yourself, talking about the fees and things. Now you've got index strategy fees, you've got Ryla strategies where can be lost even within a fixed account. Like, it's weird. The, the line that the insurance and quote, unquote safe money fixed type accounts are starting to dabble in the sphere of losses.

I will not do an indexed with a fee, period. I Will not. And I think we're getting in a dangerous area. I think doing all these fancy little indexes I think can be fine. But you better make sure what is going on behind there. Because it's really hard to explain an index when you can't talk about recommending a product. So that's why when I'm talking about indices, I'm always doing a 30,000 foot view on how they work and factually backdating this is what they've done. So yeah, maybe we just added another the challenging part of the annuity world. People sticking their nose in our business when they shouldn't be there.

So fourth, the fourth one is a little freebie for you today. But it is important to remember these are ones that we find over. I mean, quite honestly, talking with hundreds of agents a year. Myself, Chad been doing this for so long. Local agents we've talked to, these are pretty accurate.

I was first Modern Annuity was born 300 years ago by the Lutheran church.

You were, you were riding your donkey around.

I had a horse. I did. What a donkey it was.

You know, it's a little thoroughbred.

I had one of those big Clyde Stells. I. Dude, I don't mess.

Donkey was good enough for Jesus.

Ouch.

You know, there's a moral of that story. Just be the donkey. Because be the donkey. The donkey didn't take any credit for carrying Jesus in. The greatest man that has ever lived, the most powerful man that has ever lived, the most humble man that's ever lived. And the donkey carried him in. And the donkey didn't go, oh, look at how great I am. Look, I brought Jesus in and we know the donkeys can talk.

Jesus would have just been like, bonk. Yeah, that's funny. Okay, so let's get to our actual point. Well, you know what though I will say there's a lot of agents, I hear that they love how we are not so serious. And you know that this stage. Hi, Caleb, how are you doing today? Can we role play on air? Oh my gosh. Just talk about real things.

Yeah, it's a lot more fun for us to record it too. It's a little bit more organic.

And remember I like I said I'm going to do the plugs. Be sure you like share, ring the bell. Share this information to other people. Because I started watching some videos about other people that are talking about how to do indexed annuities. I cannot believe some of the things they say. They can't even explain an index right yet. They're trying to tell you on YouTube how to do this. And once again, if it's on podcasts of whatever source, Spotify, I mean, we're not all over the place on podcast. Just make sure you like make a comment. I would love to hear what people say. I am all for positive comments. That tells us we're helping you because that's my fuel. That's what motivates me. That's what motivates me with my clients, that's what motivates me with my training, is that I'm actually making a difference in people's life. So I'm all for that.

All right, well here's.

If it's a lower than a four star rating, do five star. But if slower than four star, just be sure and add something about Boy Wonder.

Yeah.

You know, causing some problem and you know, I'll fix that.

There it is. Boy Wonder is back.

Yeah, Boy Wonder. Yeah, Boy Wonder did come back.

Yeah.

Okay.

Okay. So we already hit one challenge. Right. People nosing their business.

Yeah, right.

Okay.

Getting in our industry and no business being there.

Challenge that I originally.

It's okay to have insider trading. Yeah, it's okay. You know, it's okay to do that.

But you know, NC Pelosi is the best stock picker.

Like you know what, actually, honestly, it was on both sides is Republicans and Democrats. It was. I was blown away about the number of top people that are smarter than the stock market that it's on both sides. This is not just one sided.

The stock pickers are bipartisan.

I mean, you know, I'm a conservative by nature. Everybody knows that. But in all fairness, this was everybody on both sides. They all dabble in this. And that's not. Right. That's not happening.

All right. Well, IMO relations can be a challenging subject. Right. And there's varying degrees of quality, I would say amongst IMOs out there.

Yeah. If you switch right now, I'll give you 100 extra points and I'll give you all the free leads you want. Sign on the dotted line.

Yeah. Yeah.

By the way, you'll never get in touch with me.

I can't tell you how many conversations I've had with agents that that's literally what they talk about is I was under the impression that dot, dot, dot. But I realized later that dot, dot, dot.

Oh, by the way, you can move contracts just so you know.

And that's why I'm talking, to reach it out to get some information about retirement realized financial. And it's evidently IMO relations, not for you, but for a lot of people, a lot of agents out there can.

In the beginning this, it was tough. I went through some tough IMO relationships.

Good.

I had a market, cost me a $2 million deal.

Yeah.

Now I will take full responsibility because I had them send me the illustration and I didn't check it. I just assumed it was right. And when we opened it up, the guy just what the heck is this? And I'm like inside I'm going, what the heck is this? And just totally messed up everything. So I've had my fair share.

I do something that probably most marketers don't do. When I send agents that I work with illustration, I always have my calendar link in the email so that, and I tell them if you need to talk through this, like set a time, I've got 15 minute time slots set aside, I can go through this product with you. Talk about the index strategies selected on this illustration because as soon as you do the application, that can change that. You know, there's a bunch of things, let's just talk about it. So we're all on the same page for sure. Um, but lack of service, lack of systems, communication, time, you know, all these different things that IMO's can either do really well or do really poorly creates these challenges. And honestly we talk about solutions to this problem. My, my initial thought was, well, number one, have a conversation with them and express like where you're coming from, what your expectations are. If that's something that the IMO can adjust and, and fix, then good, good, but.

Or just fire them and move over to us.

If they're not, then actually find that one first, find a new organization. You know, it's, there's tons of IMO's out there and they all do things different and trying. But here's the big thing and we'll talk about this idea here in a couple weeks as well. When, when to do what others do and when to do what others don't. But.

One of the things that you're going to want to consider with that is are you in alignment with their morals and ethics and values. And I would encourage agents to apply the same principles to their IMO search.

Yeah. If you see them bragging more about the home they have, the car they have, the jet they have than they do about your own business, then that's a problem. You know, I mean the reality is, and I'm not knocking that, I mean there are Some very successful IMO's out there that they have jets, they have nice cars, but they've worked their Tail off for it. But when you start to see more about the brag on themselves than they do, actually accolades and congratulations to their team, you know, that's not, that's what you want. You want people that are part of your team. That I love saying with my team is, you don't work for me, you work with me. And they know that. I am so uncomfortable when I introduce someone that works with me that says they go, oh yeah, I work for Chad. No, you don't. You work with Chad. If I have agents, you're not working for me, you're working with me. And I want to help, help you get to that point. So it's all about a team there. And when you're the king or the queen and you treat everybody else like peasants, well, then once again, problem.

Yeah, absolutely. So talk about it. Voice your concerns, your needs. If it's fixable, great. If not, there's other organizations. I mean, that one's pretty, pretty easy. Another one that I found challenging and this is probably more with newer agents, younger agents, whatever you want to call it. But access to information, product details, all these different things. And it's largely due to in the contracting world, just in time system and when you're actually able to get fully appointed and access to agent portals and all this stuff. But you really need to be utilizing your IMO on the front end of things to be getting product information, beginning product details. And I always encourage agents talk with them and ask your IMO specifically what were over the last year, what were your most sold products? And then ask for the, for the.

Details on those and you have to be cautious on that too. This is important. There's a lot of people that just product funnel and they do it to hit their bonuses and they don't care if it's the best product.

Yeah.

And so me personally, B plus plus or higher, that's what it's got to be. An asset to surplus ratio of over 4%. You know, I'm just very strict on things like that.

Yeah, yeah. And that's. We're talking financial stability, customer service.

Benefits. And then I mean, quite honestly, a lot of, a lot of agents, when they're looking at product and trying to figure out what's going to be best, they actually go reverse of what you're talking about. They'll look at payout or growth potential first and then they'll reverse engineer back to, oh, is the company financially stable? Oh, do they have a good reputation? Oh, what's their renewals like?

It's like you start with financial stability. Best. Best. Best customer service. Excuse me? Financial stability. Best benefits. Best customer service. Highest payout or potential index growth with a high rate integrity.

Yeah, I always recommend shopping around too. I mean, Chad, you hit a nail on the head. A lot of IMO's product push, right? This is what they do. They. They get a larger spread override on this particular product with this carrier. So now all of a sudden they're trying. They're hounding their agents, trying to get them to sell that product.

Well, we have product right now. We push that. It's one of our lowest.

It is. It's literally like our. Our lowest paying product we offer, but it's been so strong, I consistently recommend it. At the end of the day, the mindset client, it needs to be. And this is where IMO's get backward a lot of times. But it needs to be client first, agent second, IMO third, when the IMO is operating.

But in all fairness, I do think the IMO needs to make money.

Absolutely.

I'm totally.

Can you sell the farm and have good service and all the other things.

I think about what happened with 151A and DOL rule. It was some of these big IMOs that were really fighting for us. They really were. They put a lot of energy and effort into to it. And I'd really go back into, you know, Google that, because There were some IMOs that were all for the DOL taken over. And so they were not fighting for the agent. They were fighting for their own best interest. And so it's important to see who's really fighting for you. You know, there were some leaders out there that just stood firm to protect the insurance agents. And part of the. I mean, honestly, protecting the insurance agent protected the client because it didn't allow the government to get control of everything.

Yeah, that's good. All right. Well, the third one I would say is differing types of clients and communicating what you're doing, what you're offering, the way the product works in a way that they can understand. Right. And you do a great job of that. You're. You're great at understanding the person across the table and the way that they think, the way that they're wired. I think that somebody that maybe hasn't been in the business as long or is maybe as keen on picking up people's personality and type as you are. Struggle with that.

Well, you know, it's interesting. I used to work in the jewelry business in Hawaii, and then I worked in the jewelry business in Las Vegas for four years. So in Hawaii, I was. Did that for about two years. In Vegas, I did that for about four years. Plus before that, when I was a teenager, I worked on a boat in Hawaii. And we used to get so many different cultures, and it was really neat because I got to learn what's acceptable, what's not acceptable in different cultures. There are certain things you do. Like, I'll just say a lot of times in a Filipino culture, if they offer you something, take it. Because if you don't take it, that's not. That's not cool.

It's rude.

And so, you know, but they're always wanting, oh, you want to eat? You want to. That. I'm like, okay, when I was young, I could do that. Now I need to go. I can't eat. It's just. I need to be.

Unless they're offering you some kind of red meat.

Oh, still. Still. I don't know about that too. When I lived in Hawaii, Filipinos, Asians often would leave the meal from the previous night out on the counter, and it was normal. Or leaving mayonnaise out. And in the, like, white culture.

Yeah.

You put it in the refrigerator and you seal it up, and you do not leave mayo out on the counter. And it's amazing because sometimes I look there going, dang, that fish has been out there for three days. And they would just grab it, and no big deal. Yeah. So that was Norma to me. That's not. But now it is. I mean, I'll leave. Well, I can't say I'll do that, because then I'll get in trouble with my wife.

Don't want her to accidentally stumble upon this episode.

No, no, definitely not. But, no, you got to know people's cultures and what's acceptable and what's not. You know, I had an Indian couple where it was, if you didn't take your shoes off at the door, and they had the sign if you didn't take it was disrespectful. And so there's often ways we communicate that we need to understand that, you know, the Southern culture, it's normal. They're gonna offer you some sort of cobbler or sweet tea, and I'm like, I'm gonna die because I'm diabetic. I can't do that. But, yeah, it's important to be able to understand how to relate to a client.

Yeah. I mean, you. You. You go through the fact finder, you find out what's best for somebody, and, you know, you can go into that with confidence. Being able to take that solution to the problem and then explain it to them in terms they understand that that is something that should be improved upon as you go through it. But I think it's being very attentive to how is this person wired? What are they like, what's their personality? You hear about personality mirroring and trying to communicate in a similar way back to people. Like, if you're across the table from a real bulldog, you probably need to put on your. Your big boy underwears. Yeah. So.

But I mean, I also think about circumstances, too. If I'm helping a widow, I am incredibly passive. I have authority, but I'm incredibly pass. I want. I will take so much extra time to make sure because a lot of times the widow didn't take care of the finances. Right. So that means I need to be very slow, very methodical, help them understand.

What it is, how it works, and why it's the best for them. You know, if you have a husband there and sometimes the wife is in charge of the finances and the guy's not. I just ran an appointment last week where definitely the wife is in charge of the finances, but I still want him to understand how it works, just as if the guy's in charge of the finances. I want the wife to understand how it works.

You want them both to be absolutely unity and have confidence individually in what you're doing.

Well, I hope this helps you guys. Once again, if you can please hit, like, subscribe and hit the bell. I'm gonna. I'm not even saying it right. It's like that old person. That's not how that works. You know, Boomer. I'm trying. I'm trying. I'm not a boomer. I. I'm. But my wife is a boomer, but. Oh, God, man, you really hope she doesn't find this podcast now. Okay, I'm leaving on that note. You have a great day, and, of course, happy selling.