Best Ways to Overcome Holiday Objections | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 121

Hello everyone. I am Chad Owen, the annuity sales coach. And welcome to today's podcast. We are wrapping up the year. We still have obviously a few four weeks left. But it's important to get a mindset down and really understand what we come up against at this. It's the same time. This will be my 16th or 17th Christmas. I can't remember, but it's been a long time. And so, you know, I mean, I used to work in jewelry business and this was the time where literally I knew beyond any shadow of a doubt I'd kiss my family goodbye at Thanksgiving and I would see them the evening of Christmas Eve. I'd be so exhausted and tired because I was working 110 hours a week at Christmas, literally jam packed malls. And now I actually get to take it a little easier in Christmas or this whole month of December. But I end up writing some of the biggest months I ever have with literally not working as much as I normally do during the year. I mean, man, I wish I could remember exactly, but I know generally the last three to four to five weeks in December, I'm not running near as many appointments. As a matter of fact, there's a lot of times I take entire weeks off where I maybe just write or work one day, an entire week. But man, those days are really good. Good people that want to meet. So what are we going over today?

Yeah, well, I think we'll give them a little treat today and do some objection handling. I think we'll do some of that. And really the design of this is to be three objections that these agents may hear from their clients around the holidays.

I want to do four.

If you want to do four, we.

Can, you can be a Grinch or something. I mean, three.

I've got three.

I don't have a limited mindset. I'm in abundance mindset.

There you go. Yes, there you go. So I've got three for them. If you've got more you want to throw out, we can absolutely do that. But a number of objections that we.

Will be able to cause them to grow right there. I encouraged him to think beyond the mediocrity of three.

Three is a good number. Three is three is happy. It is the trinity, Father, Son, the Holy Spirit. There you go. Absolutely, we'll take it. So it is, we've got a few objections that you may hear from clients, you know, this, this holiday season. And then we've got a couple that I think agents may have in their mind about working this season. And I'll just throw this out there. Last year you had up to that point a record month in December, almost $5 million produced in December. So if you think December is slow, just get out there and start writing because it can be big.

I'm ready.

All right, well let's, let's throw out one that I think everybody has had before. And I'm curious how you would respond to this, Chad. I just want to wait until after the holidays.

Why?

Because I want to.

Stump the Trump. It's easy. You can't stump me, but I can stump him, no problem. Well, I was the question I would.

Ask though, why I was naturally going to go into what I actually think is the second objection for today. And it was, well, I have family in town.

Okay, so you don't have any time to protect your retirement and have a peace of mind.

That's good.

I mean, I don't know, I mean, don't you really need a break from your family? I mean, if they're gonna be there that entire week, don't you want to take a two hour break and protect your money? I mean, it may sound corny, but the reality is, you know, people saying, hey, I want to wait till after the first of the year. I say, hey, no problem, it's your money. Remember, your decision to protect your retirement or not protect your retirement affects you way more than it affects me. Now if you don't want to meet, I have plenty of people that do want to meet this time. And it's your money, your decision, honestly. And I truly feel that, I really do. And I've always been that way when I used to do life insurance. Now granted I was in a much tighter financial situation, but I still would be your decision, you die. I mean, I used to say things like this, if you die and you say you can't afford this, do you think the persons or your kids are going to worry about what TV show was on, on the CA network that you paid for and you couldn't afford life insurance for your family? I mean legit, I mean that's not trying to sell anything. That's a genuine concern. Right? I've seen people die just out of the blue and I've seen families that are taking care of very well. I've seen families that are now in a serious situation. I mean not just this is not sales, this is real life situations that happen. But what if the market falls at the end of the year and you want to wait till after the beginning of the year, until the beginning of the year? Who knows? We don't know. I said this how many times? I don't know what the market's doing tomorrow, let alone four or five or six months from now, four or five weeks from now, I don't know. Right. But, you know, it really is a very short time. And I do emphasize this a lot. And this isn't just a Christmas time we've got. I only need 35 to 40 minutes to explain everything and answer questions effectively. If you need more than time than that, I do block more time out. But if you only need that amount of time, we can do that. I've had appointments where literally I went in first time written application, explained the product in under 30 minutes. And so a lot of the times when it's someone like that, they've understood, they've heard about annuities. I was just first one that actually explained it to them in a way they can understand it and how it helped them with their problem. So, like, oh, absolutely, I want to do this right. But you know, when you. If you don't want to meet, that's okay. I mean, like I said, Christmas time or the month of December, you will generally run less appointments. Now, there are years where the stock market starts as a major problem. Sure. Or a company changes product, which I love that. Not. Yeah, when they're changing a product and I'm going, they do it two weeks before Christmas, and I'm going, oh, my gosh, I gotta call all these people, tell them a product that I showed them is now changing, and if they want to do it, they're gonna have to get it. Because I hate that. Well, if you don't act right now, well, that's a true scenario that happened two Christmases ago where a major company was switching their product and they were by far the number one, and they were changing it. And yeah, I had a huge December, but, man, I didn't want to work that much in December. I really didn't. So it's not just the client that doesn't want to meet. There's sometimes agents don't want to meet. It's true. But, you know, I would just say anytime you're talking to people about 100. Wait, your money, your decision. Yeah, it's true.

Now, do you ever actually answer those quote unquote objections with questions like that, like, well, why?

Oh, absolutely you do.

So it can be really good. Forces them to think about.

Because it's not. I'm not trying to slam the dealer or close deal or hard close. I legitimately want to know why. Right. Well, I want to wait till after the first year. Why? Let them talk. Well, I don't think it's a big importance to me. I just don't think there's a problem with the market. I think I can be fine this way. Okay, no problem. I just want to know why, you know, if it's something. Why don't really understand the product. Okay, let me help you with that. Sure. You know, let me explain a little bit more. What questions do you have? I think objections are often enhanced or created where there's more objections because we didn't answer the question they originally asked. That's very. So they. They ask another question or another objection because you never answer the first question. Their objections, you explain it while you talked around it, and now they're even more confused. So, I mean, often we're our own worst enemy there because we're creating more objections than ever needed to be. If you just would have listened to the first question and found out what the answer was. So. Yeah.

Do you, do you ever remind them of the fact that, I mean, if they're a fresh lead. Right. If they were freshly generated, you know, this week or last week, somewhere in that timeline, do you ever remind them, hey, you know, you've. You filled out the form or did whatever it was that. That's the reason I'm calling you.

Yeah.

So it's important to you at some level here at this time of year. So why. Why not meet? And the other reality of the situation, too, is a lot of these people, if they're coming up on retirement, they probably have time off to be able to meet with you at a time that maybe is convenient for them. Right. We're talking about Christmas holidays now. Maybe they don't have, you know, it may be Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It may only be a couple of days.

You not get me to meet you on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day on a Saturday or Sunday.

Right.

I just don't do it.

And that's not. I would never suggest that somebody try and do that by any means. That's important. Time to spend with family, make memories, all of that. Absolutely. But some people may have more time around the holidays there to actually be able to do this. Have you found that to be true or is actually the opposite?

I don't know if there's. I wouldn't say yes or no on that because people have different vacation times. They. I mean, a lot of people still have to work the same number of hours, so I wouldn't put that. They may have extra days Off. But that's New Year's Eve, New Year's Day, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day. So, I mean, nobody's going to want to meet on those days anyway. But the reality is, I have had people want to meet on Christmas. Why? Their religion, they didn't celebrate Christmas. So to them, it's just another day. Sure. I mean, we automatically make that assumption. But there's a lot of people out there that don't celebrate Christmas. Right. So we think, oh, it's Christmas. So, I mean, I remember helping a Muslim family out. This was probably two or three years ago. They didn't have a Christmas tree up. You know, it wasn't a big thing to them.

Right.

So, you know, don't make that assumption that everybody celebrates Christmas because everybody doesn't celebrate. Celebrate it. But the reality is it comes down to is what is your schedule, what is the time you can meet? And if they're like, I've said this so many times, I get tired of hearing myself saying it. November and December are some of the biggest months of the entire year. Right. People that want to meet are very serious about protecting their retirement. So they're very interested in what you have to say. What. What if the stock market fell October and November in December, they want to protect it. I mean, I know that's how that's worked before. Right. So we want to make sure, once again, we're very aware of each person's situation and we're very aware of how important is it to them. Here's the reality. We, us protecting their money should never be more important than it is for them to protect their money. It's their money, their decision. Yeah. Their retirement, their decision. So it's important that we just don't get stuck in the mindset of it's important to us, so it's important to them. That's not necessarily true. Right. So if they want to wait, let them wait. Sure. You know, force them. No, you can go over there and.

Put them in an arm bar.

Good. I'd end up arrested and then my Christmas would be all messed up. But come and visit me in jail, guys. But, you know, it's, I think also where it becomes a challenge is when we're desperate for sales. Yeah. It reflects on the people we're meeting with.

Absolutely.

Well, I only got three leads this week, so I got to meet with them because. And this, this is where I talk to people throughout the entire year. Establish a budget, have a lead budget, have a savings budget, budget your own money. I mean, how can you be A retirement planner or retirement expert or someone who helps people with money when don't even do it yourself. And then you put yourself in an environment where you're going, I have to have this deal now. You're forcing people through your sales pitches on meet with me now. It's important to me. Well, it's not important to them.

Right.

So if they say, hey, I want to spend time with family, great. Spend time with family, it's perfect. Yeah.

Well, that kind of answers those first two objections. Here's the third one that I've got that I think may be common. You can tell me if you've had this one before, but basically.

You'Ve never had it.

Nope. Never.

Oh, I want, I want to wait and see how the market finishes out the year.

So is that how you felt the entire year?

I mean, there was a few times. I mean our. A few times I did.

I mean, why.

About what the market was doing, but.

So why'd you call me?

Well, get an idea.

Okay, so you're probably concerned about your retirement situation. Right. So why would you call me if you didn't want to do something?

I mean, now I do get. Obviously I've got to explain it. They could be just completely curious about the product. They may have never even heard of it before. They may have just clicked on something. Sure, I get that. But I find it challenging. There's very few people I ever run into that just click on something. Just click on it. They're usually inquiring about something because they're not happy where they are. So if they're saying why is just curious, generally that's a reflection. They're not interacting with you. Well, sure. You know, a lot of times people come up with objections because they don't like you or they don't like how you're presenting it.

Sure.

And I'm not a perfect fit for everybody. I assure you that I'm not the go to. I mean, when I was 31 years old getting started in this business, I was the age of, you're the age of my grandkid. What do you know? You're snot nosed, kid. You know, I mean, I used to feel that way sometimes where I'm like, God, they have no respect. They looked at my age automatically and they're like, this guy cannot help me at all. So, you know, the reality comes down to is they clicked on it for a reason. But if they're coming up with objection after objection, sometimes it's just you're not a good fit for them. Sure. And I'm fine with that. I'm not. There is no way. Everybody is. That one person is a perfect fit for everybody. There's no way. There's certain personalities, there's certain situations that you're just not the person to help them. Some people don't like a super passionate, excited person, which I am when I'm very passionate, when I'm talking about safety and security. Right. But you know, my mentor, he's in his early, early 70s, I think now, but he's got a very grandfather type style. And some people can say, I want someone like that. Right. I mean, this is why let the gray grow out. You know, I gotta look a little older. You. You would never make it. You would have a hard time looking at you going, I have great grandkids your age. Are you still in, what, middle school? No, not quite. Quite. Better be careful. You're married to my daughter. So anyway. But yeah, objections usually happen because we're not addressing. When you see objection after objection happening, that happening generally because we're not interacting. Right.

Yeah, well. And it sounds like too, the way that you approach that is kind of address their question with another clarifying question. You know, it's not necessarily a hey, here's this question, and then, boom, you just have to tackle them to the ground. It's. It's okay. Well, if that's. If that's really where you're at, this is where your mind is. If that's really where you're at client, then what about this? Right? And it's like you're kind of positioning this other thing for the.

I'm not looking for an argument or debate.

Right.

I mean, I honestly want to know what they're thinking about.

Absolutely.

You know, I really want to know why do you ask that question?

That will sniff that out.

Yeah. And you know what I mean, I use this. I can't. Man, I hope she doesn't watch this. But I use that with my wife sometimes. She asked me a question, go. What would make you think that or why are you asking that question? Because I truly do want clarity. I want to tread carefully. My wife is super peaceful. I'm joking. But there's nothing wrong with asking a clarifying question. Great.

Well, that's our three client objections I want to jump into. We've got two mindset objections that an agent might have. And the first one is I don't want to sacrifice time with my family, which, please, I mean, if they've heard us. Well, yeah, then don't.

You know, I Honestly, I mean, that's. That's it, right? That's the handle. If you don't want to do that, then don't.

You don't.

But also don't complain that you're running out of money for leads or don't complain that you don't have enough money to do things that you want with your family. But no, legit. If you want to spend time with your family, do it right.

Well, and that's what I was gonna say. Anybody that's heard the podcast before knows how much we value that time, knows how much we say, hey, you've got to have that time. So if that's a legitimate thing, you've got to take that time, spend that time. So. Absolutely, Chad.

Totally agree with that one.

And then the second one is the mindset of, well, nobody wants to buy right now. Nobody wants to do anything.

Well, then guess what? Nobody's buying from you.

That's absolutely right.

I mean, like I said this before, if you don't think people are buying, they're not buying. That's funny. My two biggest months in the entire year are the end of the year. So I guess I have a different mindset. You know, it's honestly, any time is a good time to protect people's money. And so I just look at as a way to start the year off right. You know, December, you protect your money. You get it started in January, You've already met a New Year's resolution. You don't have to worry about market volatility again. So once again, just simple ways to handle these objections and don't be forceful. It's. There's nothing wrong with asking clarifying questions. That's right. So I hope this helps you guys. You have a great day, and happy selling.