Selling Annuities Virtually | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 285

Believe it or not, I'm actually getting into the virtual world. I've been actually selling some virtually now and I know I've fought this literally dragging my, my fingernails like a chalkboard on the floor trying to not get into this arena. But I was just actually talking to an agent today and I was saying they were talking about how they were doing seminars and I was saying, you know, I actually think the virtual is going to start to overtake everything. I don't think anything will ever replace the caliber or quality or.

For the lack of a better word of face to face. I just don't. I think people always want something that is going to be more personable. But man, the virtual starting to take off and I'm getting a whole bunch of leads right now that are a lot of virtual type scenarios. So we'll see. I mean last week, not last week, last week ended up with a zero, which just, you know, wouldn't hurt myself because it's just I don't have zero weeks unless I'm on vacation. I don't have zero weeks. And last week was one. It was not for the lack of effort. But I'll tell you what, I think the virtual thing's going to grab on. I really do.

It's a small sample size so far, but you do, you have returned some pretty good numbers doing it. So you've so far this year because we're actually tracking for you specifically we're tracking all the virtual as well as the face to face but we're looking at them individually so we can actually see what are those drop off points for Chad and the virtual process versus the face to face process and try and shore those up. But the numbers you've reported so far, granted extremely small sample size and we'll get more better data as the year goes on. But so far five appointments with five sits, which is great to have a 100% sit rate on virtual. That so far again that's very good. And then you've closed two out of the five for in the second appointment for an average case size of you know, quarter million 250,000. So slightly lower average case size than your norm in the face to face model. You know, at 40% you're pretty much right there. You're a hair shy of what you typically close percentage wise in the, in the face to face model. But again I think our data will get better over time. But that's to say you have reported some pretty good numbers so far. Nothing drastically low like if you had booked five appointments Virtually. And you turned, you know, two, two out of those into actual sits and didn't close anything and be like, well, wait a second, this is, this is pretty starkly different. But given that even the small sample size, there's nothing right now indicating that it's not something that's got the potential to be viable. So keep working at it, keep going. And I think there are going to be more opportunities for you with still some Texas clients, but from Colorado. Right.

I think honestly when you start to think about the generation we're moving out of and into the younger generation will be more familiar and more apt to, to, to adopt the virtual. I mean, if you think about it, 15 years ago, somebody trying to set up an online banking account, that was not a thing. And nowadays to get the highest interest rates in the bank, you have to set it up online. And people are, well, it even goes back to just technology in general. I never have clients texting me 10, 15 years ago. Now it's very, very common that I get them actually texting me versus an actual call or an email when, which actually makes me kind of curious what's going to happen to email in the future as well? You know, does everything just come to your phone in the form of a text now? Who knows? But yeah, I do see that. I, I'm, I'm slowly warming to the, to the virtual thing. I mean, but you remember, what was it, four or five years ago, I still wrote all my calendar, all my appointments down on an actual, you know, like the teacher planner things. And you know, now I live, live by my Google Calendar. So. Yeah, and I'm actually slowly phasing out word docs and moving everything to just one platform. What are you, you guys, you young guys all smirking that you get in the old timer, they're switching things.

I remember a story about when income riders first came out and you were very slow to move on the income riders. And now that's about 85% of what you're, what you're selling.

It is, it took me about a year to adopt it because, you know, the, the biggest problem I had back in those days and still for quite a while was the, the income value was very high, but the actual account value itself or contract value was always very low. Now, now though, interacting with all my clients that bought those income riders, I'm telling you, I can't recall anybody who was upset with those income riders. My, because they're going, well, my account value's not real high, but man, my income value and the amount of money I'm getting on that and I don't need to worry about income ever again. It's so successful and people are so happy with that. It was a good move. It was a good move. And nowadays you actually have income riders that will have a decent account by you as well. So it is important to embrace this virtual thing. I kind of can't even believe it's like getting bigger, bitter, you know, as I'm saying it. But it is important to embrace it because it is something that if you want to be successful, you have to adapt to modern times.

Right.

I'm still, of course, running my face to face appointments, but I'm trying to fill my Mondays and Fridays with some virtual appointments. That way I'm not giving up my Tuesday through Thursday face to face. But yeah, we'll see. I mean, I, I have a gut feeling six months from now, my virtual sales will probably overtake my face to face. Yeah, it depends because it takes, it takes one. The one thing I still see as a massive thing we have to overcome is the case size. It's much easier for me to get someone moving a million plus in a face to face than it would be virtually.

Right.

So we'll see how that goes. And actually for our agents that are contracted with us, we actually now have a place to park your aum.

Pretty good deal.

Crazy times, man. What is going on here? Yeah, we started a company called Retirement Realized Capital and we have a gentleman named Jesse Black that will run that side of it. And I still am not variable licensed. I have no plan whatsoever to get that. But yeah, I mean, if we're talking virtual, we might as well talk about every little crazy thing that's going on right now.

Yeah, I tell agents, I think that demographically, your, your teetering point in the current retiree demographic is, is around the mid-60s, when you get a client that's mid-60s and up, you're probably still demographically better off doing things more face to face. If you get somebody in their early 60s and 50s, then you've got somebody that's probably a little bit more apt to doing the things virtually. And if you've got somebody in their 50s, almost, almost a shoe in that they're, they're capable and willing to do the virtual. And I tell agents too, when it comes to the large case size chat, I tell them, hey, if you're working a major case, you know, for a lot of people, 500,000 is a big deal. So whatever that kind of threshold is, that premium threshold of and this feels like a really big case. I want to get this case, then buy a plane ticket for a few hundred dollars and fly out to them and meet them face to face if they're in another state. Take the time for more than worth it if it ends up helping you close that deal. And so for you, you know, you, you could still be running leads in Texas, you're in Colorado, you could do the things virtually. And if you turned up a 2, $3 million opportunity in Texas, you could fly, fly down here for a few hundred bucks, meet the guy face to face, meet the gal face to face, and, and probably have a better opportunity at closing that deal. So that's another.

Not lately, man. It's been five to seven hundred bucks. This last one cost me seven hundred bucks round trip.

Yeah. I don't know if you'd want to spend that much on a $2 million deal. Me.

I'm making a point that airfares are getting too high. They are getting much higher. I'm going to just buy a jet. Yeah. See how that goes. I don't know.

I, I think there's a few things to look for though, in the virtual world. I think number one, if you've got somebody that's a repeat client that should, that could be, should be a pretty easy virtual. Virtual again, assuming the age is not just, you know.

Yeah, that is true. You should already have a lot of that rapport. Yeah. Once you have that rapport, it is actually very common. I've actually interacted with quite a few people virtually and I'm even doing virtual policy deliveries now for someone who's. I've already interacted with. Yeah, so, yeah, yeah, that's a good point.

And I think too, where the leads are coming from is an important thing to consider and, and kind of the sales medium. Right. So if you're, if you're face to face versus virtual, if you're generating leads through digital methods, you probably got a better opportunity there for, for a virtual type of sales process. If you're running seminars. Okay. And they're actually showing up in person to your seminars, you probably want to maintain that same style of face to face throughout the sales process with those people. I would not encourage somebody to shift a seminar lead that showed up to a physical face to face seminar into a virtual sales. But somebody that generates a lead through a webinar, you know, online seminar, well, that's another, That's a whole nother deal. They've already proven and shown that they're capable of getting on to a digital or virtual, I guess better word for it virtual type of meeting, because they were on the webinar. So thinking about where your leads are coming from and the methods that being used to generate them, and then letting that kind of help indicate whether or not this is a viable option, mixed with the age of the, of the lead, whether or not this is a viable option, to try something virtually or not. And Chad, I want to just shout out your, your process for how you describe what you do. So you don't ask people, so can I come out there and meet with you or can I get on a zoom with you? And having a. You tell them exactly what your process is. So you're telling them, you say, so what I do is I actually come out there, I meet with you, I bring my kit, my book, and a customized illustration for your situation. I explain how everything works, and I leave it all with you for you to do your own research and due diligence. I'm on Tuesday at 3:00pm I, I've heard it too many times.

You've heard that being in the office right next to me, that's like ingrained in your brain.

It's burned in there. It's branded, scarred forever. But you tell them, and I tell agents all the time, like, hey, if you're going to do things virtually, just tell them. That's what you do. So what I do is, and you send them an email. It's got the zoom link. Meet you on the zoom. Bring a customized illustrate. You know, you're telling them exactly what you do. So it doesn't feel like there's an opt for the process. Now, some people still have.

But the reality is people want clarity.

They do.

You know, there's. That's really what it comes down to. They just want honest clarity. This is what happens when you tell someone what to expect. There's no surprises. Therefore, that guard gets let down. I mean, I assure you, even when, when you tell people, hey, you know what? I'm not a salesperson, which I'm not. I basically explain how things work. They decide they do what they want to do. I mean, I just told someone today affects your retirement way more than affects mine. You've heard me say it a thousand times times. And you know, I honestly believe that and feel that because I don't get emotionally attached to that deal, right? And whether they do it or not, someone else will. You know, I mean, that's the reality. If you have the right system, the right process, you have right clarity with people, there will be people that will end up wanting to, want to work with you. And that's, that's what I base everything off of, is. Let me clarify everything with you. So I think, honestly, even with a, with a virtual appointment, it's even more important to be direct and clear of the process. Lay it out. This is expectation. And as long as you do that and you stick with it, you, you won't have an issue.

Yeah, I agree. I agree. Tell them what you're going to do. Look for those clients that are in that age range where they're likely to be a little bit more tech savvy. Consider where those leads are coming from originally, how were they generated, what were the means and the methods to get them there. And then if those things are checking out as, you know, a real viable potential, then, you know, don't necessarily be scared to get on the virtual, but recognize the limitations that it has with those larger cases. And again, statistically, we do, we do tend to see a slightly lower.

It's a, it's the close rate, right? It's. It's the actual number of people that convert to sales. And I think part of that is it's a whole lot easier for people to shop you when it's virtual and there is no physical connection and then they can go find somebody locally. But the way I tell agents you've got to address that is you've got to make yourself virtually look and be. Because you actually are so much better than any option they have locally.

That's why I think it's so important that you have an established website, you have a really good brand, you're known because, you know, people look at me as an author, as a radio host, as a podcaster, as someone who's an expert in the industry. So if they're actually getting me on the. Even on a zoom, they're like, wow, okay, he's actually taking the time. If you're someone who's brand new or someone who has been doing this for 30 years, but you have no web presence, they're not going to have any sort of quote unquote, celebrity, somebody's status, and you don't want to. That's not what I'm saying. You don't want to work off of that. But what I'm, What I am saying, though, is being an expert in the industry, having a good presence. It doesn't matter if it's face to face or virtual. If they feel that they actually get your time and it's very valuable, which everybody knows my time is incredibly valuable. I mean, if you saw my calendar this week, I'm just sitting there going, I mean, how long have you known me? I would like to. Oh, this is the busiest week ever. Yeah, I say that pretty much every week.

Right.

And you know, finally I have my office pretty much unpacked and now I can kind of rest for this. But then, then I got to do the storage room, then I got to do the garage, and they got to do. You know, there's always something. But on top of that, this schedule with my, like actual people booking. Last week was not a great week for the market. There were some pretty sketchy days. And it looks like this week is actually kind of doing something similar. By the way, if you hear that little kind of humming noise in the back, I. I'm kind of old enough to where I have to have a heater by me.

Oh, man.

Just a little cold.

Circulation ain't what it once was, huh?

Oh, you know what?

Before you know it, you're gonna start wearing those knee high compression socks.

Yeah. So, I mean, even today, you know, it's, it's.

Yeah.

NASDAQ is down almost 1% and almost everything's red. I mean, you have meta dropping 2.2%. You have, I mean, you have some pretty big things going now. Yeah, that I think, I think that's also what's been a little bit challenging for our leads. And I know this is off the topic of virtual, but I think, you know, when you have the market continually going up, which it has pretty much for 2022 or, excuse me, 2023, and then you have the high interest rates, you're not going to have people clicking on links as much. And therefore we're not going to get as many leads. So just be patient, you know, get this virtual thing down. You know, get the process. We have a full blown layout and honestly, you know, this, my virtual appointment is almost identical to my face to face.

Right.

You know, I do the same thing. I do the say the same thing, do the same thing. I present the same thing. You know, it's. It's no different there. So. Yeah. Anything else you want to add to that?

Oh, I had something about two minutes ago and then I forgot what it was. So I think about it, there's.

Are you literally out of words? You know, it's funny though, with the mic right here. You know what? This microphone right here reminds me of how you take pictures when you hunt. You know, look at the size of that deer.

How far in front of me?

15Ft. Behind that deer, which makes it looks huge. This microphone is really not that big. But, you know, neither are any of the pictures Caleb takes when he shoots something.

Well, I tell you what. I kill a whitetail deer down here in Texas, and it'll look like it's a. Like a moose from Alaska.

I know. And really, they're no bigger than a lab. A lab dog. They're not even that big, so. Okay, man, well, I hope this helps you guys. You have a great day. And, of course, happy selling.

Sam.