Does the client really know best? | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 211

On this week's episode, we're going to talk about what to do when the client does not know best.

Hello, everyone. Welcome to this week's episode. I am Chad Owen, the annuity sales coach, owner of retirement Realized financial Retirement Realized agents Academy. Click on the link below and you can. You can find out all about us, more than you ever want to know.

Well, I don't know about that.

Yeah, maybe that's not true. But of course, my sidekick Caleb north here, Pinky in the brain, he actually has done pretty good at keeping sunscreen on.

Yeah. This.

So this time. Yep. And hopefully he doesn't turn like that again, because that's bad. Skin cancer. We don't want you to get skin cancer.

You know that sunscreen can actually cause it.

You know, I know. I get it. There's always. Don't eat avocados. Eat avocados. Don't eat eggs. Eat eggs. You know, they're the devil. They're the miracle food. I just don't trust anything. So I'm gonna go have some fried chicken with biscuits and gravy, and I'm gonna die happy. There you go. No, I can't do that either. Okay. But I know we are talking about something really important today.

Yeah. When the client wants something that you, as the agent, know is not in their best interest and the reason that this is coming up.

You mean we have clients that think they know more than we know about the product, what we're doing, and we're experts in.

Well, they. They think they know what they want. I think. And I think that they think that because of perceptions that they have preconceived notions, all these types of things that may or may not be true.

Yeah, that makes sense. So give me an example. What are you talking about?

So I'll give you. I'll give you an example. Client says, you know, maybe they. They read something about the old. You know, the old 4% rule. I mean, you know, you have a 4% withdrawal out of your brokerage accounts.

Are you the client? You said, hey, I heard something about the old 4% rule, right? Yeah.

I want an annuity that I can just protect and grow and. And just make my 4%. Just draw my 4% every year.

You said you want to know about the old 4% rule, right? What was the key word you just said there?

Okay, well, I said the old 4% rule.

They say that, too.

They might.

Yeah. It's like, do you realize the 4% rule was created in the 80s and the 90s because the stock Market actually was doing pretty good. But that had a lot to do with, you know, the number one thing right now with our problem is this right here, number problem, one problem I think with the stock market because we have a lot of people that can trade from emotions and you have people that get on their laptops and their phones and they start trading. Now we could go into deep stuff and we could start saying do I believe companies manipulate their numbers and the stock market's manipulated? Yeah, I actually do believe that.

Yeah.

But I believe every financial institution has a capability being manipulated. You know, even annuity companies over time could be if you're doing a variable annuity and somebody's trying to sell it to you that it's a low feed product or there's no risk. That's not true. You know. Now I personally have not ever seen a company misrepresent their product. I've seen maybe the training to be desired, to be a little better. I've definitely seen that. That's really what helped me start retirement realized agents academy.

Yeah.

As I was tired of having to rely on marketers or insurance companies to train you on their products when a lot of them didn't even understand how the products work. Now I'm not knocking good marketers, right. And I had a keyword there. Good. Because I've had some mark marketers that were just horrible. Number one, you couldn't get in touch with them. Number two, they gave you the wrong type of product for the right wrong situation because they only use one or two companies even though they say they have access to all of them, but they funnel everything through it to me. I've already, I think I've used six or seven different companies so far this year and probably a lot of products. I mean I don't know the exact number, but I know every situation is different. Now I do have one that's primarily focused on, you know, it'll meet most needs, but when it comes to the client, think they know what's best. God, man. If you ever went in a doctor's office and said that, you'd probably be kicked right out. Or if you went up to a pilot in an airplane and said, hey, I know how to fly this better, why don't you leave?

Right? That's like going to the doctor and saying, hey doc, I've got this, I need this prescription. And expecting the doctor to write you that prescription based on, how did you do that? Based on your, your assessment of what you've got.

Well, I do do that. If I have a sinus infection. I know that a Z pack is the only thing that's going to knock it out. It happens once a year, twice a year maybe. And it does. It knocks it out. But I usually wait too long, then I can't talk and I lose my voice. And then once I take the Z pack, it comes back. I do tell my doctor. This is what works for me.

The first time you went to that.

Doctor, I had to figure it out. Bag. They put me on wrong antibiotics and stuff.

Right. But did they. Did they just take you at your word and say, oh, okay, Chad, you want a Z pack? Yeah, here's a prescription?

This has to be a doctor. I know. Like, it's the one I've had for years. So in that scenario, it works. But right when it comes to. I use the example more of like being a pilot. Even if you're an expert pilot and you still cannot go to the cockpit of the plane, go, I know more than you. Move over. I'm flying. They're gonna be like, you're now gone. You're kicked off the plane. So. And I also tell people, too, if you think you know more than me, then why am I here? I mean, I've told people that before because it's usually the husband and it's. It's rare. This is a rare circumstance. But they want to appear in their wife to their wife as the smart one. And I respectfully say, if you're so smart, then why am I here? If you're so smart, how come we don't have $10 million here? If you're so smart, why are we trying to figure out how to make your income work right now when if you're so smart, we probably would be dealing with millions and millions of dollars here.

Got a humble them a little now.

Unfortunately, that's true. And I've physically said, you know what? I'm sorry, apparently you don't need me here. So I'm going to go. And I go to pack up my bag, and the wife's like, sit down. You shut up. And tells her husband to shut up. I've had that happen before. And it's because I am not there to try and convince you to protect your own money. I'm not trying to convince you. For you to get income for life and not worry about it, that's got to be your decision. I'm going to present how the product works. And if you think that works once I presented it to you, and if you think that's best and you choose not to then, hey, more power to you. But if you see there's a need, for example, they often think, well, I don't need income. They know what's best. I don't need income. I already have all my income taken care of. Wait a second. So if you die, the lower of the two Social Security just goes away. Your pension is 0% survivorship, yet your expenses are 6,000amonth. You pull in 8,000 if you're both alive, but you pull in 3,000 if one of you is dead. You don't need income. Oh, you know what? We do need income now. Most of the time, 99.99% of time, you don't have to be a jerk. You just present yourself as confident. Not arrogant or cocky, but you present yourself as confident and knowledgeable, and you won't. There will never be a power struggle in there. And that's a problem. And that's another thing. Sometimes agents think they got to kind of prove themselves, and they think they got to overpower the situation. It's like, I have no vested interest in your money because you, Chad, you get paid commissions. I get that. But I still don't ever let that control what I do or don't do. Right.

Well, and you're kind of to the point now, too, with production, and most agents probably can't use this, but you can tell somebody, listen, I'm going to write over 30 million in annuity premiums this year. Your $200,000 is, is, is really not a thing to like. I mean, and you don't say that.

No, I don't. I would write it like this. Go. You know, I write a lot of annuity premium, and whether someone wants to do it or not, it doesn't make or break me. This could make or break you if you don't make the right decision. And that's just a fact. It could.

And, and in other words, it is what you always say of this affects your retirement far more than affects mine.

Yeah, it's a little bit more elegant, you could say. Well, that's kind of a scare tactic. No, I genuinely. This affects your. It's. It doesn't actual statement. It's not something I'm trying to say to get you to make the decision.

Right.

It's a fact. As I say, if you look at the way I present things almost every single time, I just present facts, and then you apply the emotions that make sense to you.

Right.

So if I tell you, hey, the stock market went down approximately 50% from 2000-2003-2007-2009. And at the beginning of 2000, it went down 32%, approximately. And then. But we've had a phenomenal return from 2009 to 2000 now. But the reality is we didn't have a phenomenal run because if we went back to where the stock market was at the top of 2007, we have had a good run from 2007 to now. If we didn't have that big drop, because you lose 20%, you gain 20%, you're not back to where you were. That being all aside. And I know I said that really fast, but that's. That's what's in me. This is why I can present things, is because that stuff is just in me. But the root of everything is knowing in my heart that I'm doing what's best for the client, not what they think is best. Right now. Once I present something and then they go, you know what? This does make sense, because even the hardest people I've ever talked to about thinking they know what's right is once you present it to it respectfully and. And as an expert with passion and care and concern and empathy, they'll change that viewpoint.

Yeah. The problem with this particular type of case is for agents that maybe aren't producing as much as they'd like to. It's been a while since they've had a sale.

They get desperate.

They get desperate and they think, oh, man, okay, the client's telling me what they want. If I can just give them what they want, they'll buy and I'll get the sale. Right. The problem with that is that most of the time, clients aren't meeting only with you. And if another agent takes out what is actually best for their situation and does their job and educates them about it, not only are you losing the deal, but you're losing the trust and any potential business.

How many appointments I've went on where someone they met with before said theirs was the best, and they just exactly, oh, I have a hundred thousand I want to put into annuity. I find out they have a million. This is, you know, stretch. Because let's just say. Let's say they have 400,000, right? And I show them how this product can protect their money during retirement and during the growth, and they're going, wow, you know, I actually want to do 250,000. Or, you know, it's. It's. They change it. And if I would have just stuck with, I only want to do 100,000, that's not what's best.

Right.

And there are times I've walked away from deals before because they thought it was better for them. But I knew, I said, I'll use this for phrase. I say, I am not going to set you up to fail right now. I'm a commission. And this, I'm telling you what I'll tell a client. I said, I'm commission based and I make money determined off of how much I'm going to move. So if I'm walking away from this knowing that I'm not going to get anything, do you think I'm operating in my best interest or your best interest? And they go, you know what, you're right. And it's, it's. You just cannot use the scare tactic. You can't use the guilt thing. You, you just present facts.

It's true. It's true. I think we agents need to be willing to.

Not combat, but just address an incorrect thought process. You know, like don't.

Parenting.

Yeah. Don't just appease the client. Because, because the reality, and I said it earlier in this episode, and I'll say it again, if they are saying they want something, that desire is coming from a place of their preconceived notions that they know or don't know. And if their knowledge is limited on what's actually available, they may be saying, I want this. But as soon as you show them what's actually in their best interest, they want that that much more they're getting taken care of. And you're actually setting yourself apart from everybody else they've met.

A lot of people don't have the proper education about the types of annuities we use.

Exactly.

Because your 401k company is not going to tell you about it. Your broker definitely is going to tell you about it. Your banker is going to think they know everything about it, but they don't. Your accountant's going to say, well, this is why I think they're usually wrong. Now, once again, I'm making very broad statements here because there are accountants that are experts in this field, there are bankers that know a lot about. There are some variable people that actually do present indexed annuities. So I'm, I'm making more of a broad statement versus the exception. Because it still is an exception that a variable person will take money out of the market and put it into an indexed annuity. That's still an exception. It will change. Right. But it's still an exception.

Yeah. One thing that I think can happen, albeit probably rare, but can And I'm like, thinking through, how would Chad handle this? How would Chad respond, knowing you in the way that you work with clients?

Too bad you don't do that in every part of your life. But anyway.

If.

If a client is saying that haircut, you would not be wearing that shirt. I've got a.

There's a picture of you with a. With a haircut quite similar back in the day.

Maybe.

It was definitely slicked down, more than that.

Okay. But yeah, if a client says, hey, I want this, and you as the agent, you know that's not in their best interest, you explain why that's not in their best interest and what is, and you educate them. If a client were to come to you and say, chad, I want this, and you do the fact finder, and you realize that is actually what's in their best interest. You don't. I could see a lot of agents just going along with it in playing the card of service, but you actually don't play that card. You would affirm.

Yes.

That they, you know, Mr. Client, it's actually rare. But you're. You're right. That is actually what's best for your situation. I'm an expert in this, and I can tell you that is actually what's best.

Yeah. Most of the time, though, people do, especially nowadays, they know what they want and they're right. They want safety and security. They don't want to deal with market volatility. So nowadays I get more people with actually the right expectation and index annuities and fixed annuities are definitely becoming mainstream now. It is no longer the unwanted product, the product with a bad name. It just really isn't. There's more people that want it than don't. And so that's why when I market, I use annuities in the marketing, I don't try and hide what it is. I'm very clear what it is.

Yeah, yeah, it's true. I guess the bottom line here is your job isn't to get the deal. Your job is to figure out what the problem is, find the best solution, and then educate them on that solution. Because it does affect their retirement way more than it affects yours.

100%. Well, I hope this helps you guys. You have a great day. And of course, happy selling.

Sam.