The Power of a Professional Presence | 7 Figure Annuity Sales Podcast | Ep. 139

Hello, everyone, this is Chad Owen. Welcome to this week's podcast. And hopefully we don't have any outside distractions from who I will not name right now, but let's go ahead and get right into it. What are we talking about today?

We're going to talk about the power of Internet presence. And I've heard this big time in your calls and I've even heard you mention it in appointments before where maybe they're having a hard time seeing you as an expert or they're the. The perception is somewhere, somehow it's off. Right. And so you're able to bring in.

This in all fairness. I mean, even if they just met me for the first time, they have every right to think that. Absolutely every right to feel that.

And I'm not saying that that's anything done wrong on your end on the calls, but there is a particular thing that I've heard you say before and it always has to do with Internet presence. When they have a hard time with trust or they have a hard time.

Or they're trying to pick between me and another agent.

That's fair. That's fair. You're able to build your expertise by this. But it's the statement of Google Shadow and safe money. Google Shadow and Annuity. You'll see that I dominate the first.

Shadow retirement shadow and annuity expert. I mean, you Google that, you'll see I dominate the first five pages of Google.

And you tell them that and they do it.

And it's funny because I actually a lot often will do that in an appointment and it doesn't matter whether I know a lot of times you have to use a in private browser so it doesn't remember your search history because obviously my name would pop up if I'm pulling up my website and everything. I tell them you do it on yours. You've never looked for me before. And then they do it with the other agent that I'm competing with. I always, always, always dominate more pages than they do. That's through a crazy amount of. Now granted, I own a lot of companies. I have, I've been doing this for 17 years. Let's see, I have a very active on social media. Like I had a lady the other day I left the house and she was full on Facebook stalking me. I mean, she was looking at all my posts. Fortunately she was liking and commenting. But I mean they want to and they have the right to do that.

Absolutely.

I mean it's the whole thing, you know, you can't pick a client based off of their personal beliefs and values, but they sure as heck can pick you. Absolutely. And so, you know, I'll help anybody anytime. I mean, obviously they gotta have good morals and ethics if they're trying to say, hey, I got this money I just inherited and I want you to just trust, you know, you don't need to see my driver's license. I don't need to tell you where it is. Now, of course, we got to do our suitability responsibilities, but they absolutely can choose to use me based off of what they think of me and what they see. But yeah, Internet presence is huge. Huge.

It is. How do you build an Internet presence?

Well, part of it is don't have Chad Owenahoo.com or Hotmail.com and it's like, yeah, they're gonna move 300, 500, 700,000 when you got a Yahoo or a Hotmail.com or Earthlink or what's the old school one?

Did you say Hotmail?

Aol. There's aol. That's an old one, too. Yeah, just like earthlink sold. You think they're gonna move that kind of money if that's your email address, it just doesn't happen that way. Do you have a signature on your email? Professional signature. Do you have a good kit that you leave behind that has custom and branded material in it, or do you go to Office Max and stick to get your sticky sticker on a black folder? You know, it's all those kind of things. And you say, well, what does that have to do with Internet presence? Well, if they see that you look like a rookie, they're not going to even bother. Got Googling. You goggling? You goggling. Googling.

Some things you need to take care of first.

Absolutely. So they see your professional signature, which we do all that, by the way, if you're part of our organization and we even have branding packages. But the point is we have the look. And then if they go to Google me, they'll see that I'm everywhere. Social media presence, LinkedIn, Instagram, I mean really, it's Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram are my three primary. Sure. But then throughout the years I've written articles just the better. I remember the better business I met when. What's that called?

Accredited.

Yeah, but I'm accredited with a Better Business Bureau, National Ethics Association. So let's see, you have Better Business Bureau, you have National Ethics association, you have my websites, all them. You have the social media pages. So that all brings my name to the attention in many more areas. So yeah, you Got to have that. Absolutely. Got to have it done.

Well, that's key. And those were the two things that really came to my mind when I started thinking, okay, how do they do this? To be fully honest with you, I didn't think about the kind of the prior steps of the branding and having that, because realistically, if you don't have that, they're not going to expect to see you on Google.

You know, we come professional, we have a creative team. And it's kind of funny because I had this logo for one of my companies and I was like, I love this logo still this day, I love this logo. But my creative team goes, yeah, that's kind of outdated. And then I pull up this other website and they go, this website was made around this time and they were dead on. And. And I was like, man, I didn't realize how quickly something becomes outdated from look. And they even talk about, what is this guy we brought on to run one of our companies? He goes, oh, this gold color is the color right now. You'll see a lot more sites with this right now. And, oh, if you have Instagram, you want more of the white backgrounds and that's. That picks up a better algorithm. With Instagram, I have a clue of any of this kind of. Yeah, it is. It's like I really know nothing about this, but I hire people when I don't know, I hire people who do know. And that's. I'm never going to be an expert in that. That doesn't matter to me. I'm not even real big into social media. A lot of times I do my post and I drop and I run. I just don't say that active. But I'll tell you what, you get someone who's an expert in that area.

They can help you out.

Yeah. And then all sudden you find people hitting your website more, because when they developed the website, they knew the right keywords to use and they use the right color scheme. And I mean, if I had my way, my, my colors would always be black, gray and white. Yeah, that was true. Excuse me. Black, gray, red and white. That would be my color scheme. And they go, oh, no, no, you don't want that. You know, or you would for this particular thing, but not for that. And so it's so important that you get someone that is an expert in that area.

Right.

And prom is really hard. This is why you use someone who's already been successful. You know, there are a lot of people out there that say they can throw together a website for A thousand bucks. No, you can't. Not a good one. Yeah, you can find a cookie cutter where they can use clip art and things like that. But if you want it done right, why wouldn't you want to spend a few thousand, $5,000 or whatever it is? I don't even know what our branding.

It doesn't even touch that.

Yeah, but you know, they have. Doesn't touch. What is that?

It doesn't touch five. It's lower than 5,000.

I don't know.

It's not even 4,000.

Okay. Yeah. So with that though, every kid. Sorry, that's. It's like, see, I don't know, but I know when someone goes to my website, I'm not embarrassed.

Right.

I already know ahead of time they are going to see an incredible website. They're going to see real, crisp, clean videos that I've created. They're going to see everything done well. And so I can't even think about, man, when I got started this way back, what. I don't even remember what my website was like back then. I don't even think I had a website when I first got started.

I don't even know when my website started. I mean, it was probably. It was a while ago, but I'd.

Be curious on that to cross reference that to your production as well.

Yeah. I don't know how to even find out what that would be. But I know right now my clients can go on Google my name and they can see it's really clear who I am and what I do and why I do it, and that I am professional. I can keep up with anybody because I've spent lots of money making sure it looks good, it looks professional, up to date. I mean, you have web formats that they go, oh, yeah, that was in the latter 2000s, or that was in the early 2000s, or that was in THE early 2000 teens.

Right.

I'm just like, how do you know that? They know.

They know the look of the time.

They know branding and marketing. Like I know annuities.

Right. So it's true. Well, and those were the two things, just to get back to it, the website and the social medias. Those were the two things that I could think of right off the bat that I was like, you know, what if somebody has a really solid website and they've got, say, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, you know, that may be a tougher one with clients. That one may not be as much client facing because you're dealing with people in their 50s.

We have a lot of agents that are life insurance people. Their Medicare there. I mean everybody has a mom and dad usually that. Oh, you know what? I just saw this. My mom and dad just talked to me about risk. I want something like our man. I need some life insurance. There's always things you can do. There's always.

Absolutely. Oh, sorry, I wasn't.

That's it.

No, I've got, I've got a few more things to add. Just really. Oh no.

That's all I had to say about that.

He was abrupt and I was like, wait, okay, did I do something?

Yes, you did.

I did anyway, I did it all.

We're not going to talk about that.

I was trying to think because I know your stance on things. Right. And when you consider what is, what is worth you spending your time on, you have to factor in what could I do in annuity production, you know, in spite of this, if that makes sense. Right. So bear with me here for a second. For you to, for you to come to that bridge of realizing, okay, I need a website, I need these social medias, I need these things. Do I try and do them myself.

Or do I outsource?

You're not an expert because it's not so much the cost of having somebody else doing them as it is the cost of you missing deals because you're.

Not in the sales. So you're gonn. So if you're going to open a store, are you going to make your own sign? No. Paint. Are you going to inch paintbrush like Bob Ross Prints R Us and have a vinyl sign outside that's just on a banner?

No. You're going to go to an expert.

You're going to go to an expert. I, like I said, I say this all the time. Why people think they could get into this industry and think they can just launch into it with having a professional website, a professional signature, a professional logo, have the great Internet presence. I never see companies start like that. Like I said, well, you know, I don't need a sign. I'm just gonna paint the name of our company on the side of the building.

No, it doesn't happen.

No, it doesn't. But in this one, for whatever reason, people think they can be cheap in that area and wonder why they're not getting the big deals. It's because you don't have a big deal presence. Right. Period.

Typically. Typically. Because I'm sure there's exceptions to just about every rule. Agents who have that kind of mentality of, you know, I don't want to spend that, I Don't want to. I don't want to buy those leads. I don't want to do this. I don't want to, you know, because it's a cost associated with it. Typically their production reflects that.

Oh, it's not typically it does. You may have, you may have a lucky shot where you got a big annuity because Uncle Joe just retired. Sure. But it is not. You do not see people writing 2, 3, 4, 5 million a year unless they have a good presence. And generally the guy. Actually not generally. I've never met someone that does more than 10 million a year that doesn't look sharp from top to bottom. I mean, you go their website, they look good, their writing is good, they have the copywriting on it where it is professional. There's no grammar errors. I mean, I'm telling you, you do not see the big producers having cheap halfway stuff. You just don't. Why can't afford it. Then don't get into the business. Yeah, I mean that's a reality if you're not going to give your all. And when I say that I'm not expecting somebody to have $10,000 when they start in this business. Sure. But it's funny once again, how many businesses can you start ever that don't have more than that? That's going to be a multi, you know, six figure company. You know, we talk about this. If you do, even if you write, let's just say 3, 3 million a year make $200,000 a year. Most businesses that sell $200,000 a year don't make $200,000 a year. You're writing 3 million and you're getting 200 plus thousand a year. But you think you can do that without a really good presence? It just boggles me.

Right, right.

Just boggles me. I can't figure it out. If you want the effort, you need to put your money where your mouth is. And I use a scripture says where your treasure is, your heart is. So where you're willing to invest your money, if you're willing to invest in the appearance you have, then that's where your heart is. You want to look good for your clients. Now side being, you know, side note there, obviously you want to prove that you are with your knowledge and your expertise, you do provide the best products. But man, if you had the best products and they go to Google me or they go to Google the other agent, they're going to definitely, well, I just got a deal for that. I got a $300,000 deal. So I said, hey, Just out of curiosity, Google my name and annuities and Google that guy's name and annuities. He didn't even show up.

Right.

He wasn't even there. You couldn't even find a website for this guy. Mm. And I'm like, who are they gonna.

Put their business with?

Yeah.

Especially when you come in and you're actually solving the problem with a product that beats his. It's like it makes it a no brainer decision. It is absolutely a no brainer for the client.

Now it's even when you're running against someone, let's say you run against someone who has a really good web presence. Now that happens. There's a few organizations around here that they do have a really good web presence, but then you come into the expertise.

Oh yeah.

And so now it's not a matter of which looks better, which has a better presence, which one actually knows what's better for me. But the Internet presence, a web presence, the rapport, it goes so far when you. It looks good, right? I mean, you go to Chatty Es Life and Annuity or excuse me, Chad at if you go to retirement, realize Financial retirement realize Agents Academy. If you go to Chad, I did it again. Eagle Shadow Life and Annuity. You go to all these places, you go to increase. You, you go to Heaven's Armory. These are all companies out and you can see all the websites up and running and great. Before we even start the company. The new company we're working on right now is Heaven's Army. The websites already up. So now if I'm out somewhere, I go, hey, just go check out my website. So when you're looking at that, you want to have that presence up. So that way when you go to client. How about would it be? If you go to a client, they're ready to move 500,000 with you, but then they go to look up your name and you're not existent or they go to look up your website.

What was the cost?

Yeah, well, that's, you know, it's interesting. So there's a cost of doing it. There's a massive cost to not doing it.

You know, that's the whole essence of you having somebody else call your leads. Why do you still call your leads? Because the cost is not whatever it costs you to give up the lead, the 300, 350 bucks for the lead. It's what if that person doesn't book an appointment and get it.

I know that you would. I'm telling you, there's so many people says, why do you make your own calls? Because I know there's a lot of times I can actually get an appointment with that person who has a million bucks that most people could not get an appointment with. It's just reality.

I just. Oh, this line. You ready? In this industry, it's not the cost of doing business that's most expensive, it's the cost of loss.

It's when what you're not willing to do, I mean, it just, it's like, you know, what if I have, if I have an opportunity to just tow a trailer full of cash and that trailer weighs 19,000 pounds, if I hook up my little beat up car to it, I'm not pulling anywhere if I have vehicle that's prepared to tow that kind of weight, right? And I get to take the money with me. But the thing is, is we actually get to take the money because we actually did something for the clients. We presented ourselves as professionals. So, yep, really important.

I want to throw in one last little statistic thing that I love. It's not a true statistic. This was from Annex Broker. Okay. A guy who used to be a broker, now he is selling safe money products. He is specializing in fixed fixed indexed annuities. He told me one time, he said, caleb, it was so easy to sell against life insurance agents that were selling annuities, he said, because 80% of them were hacks and 15% of them didn't know what they were talking about. So there's 5% of you left.

Did I make it?

You made the 5% check.

Just barely.

You snuck in there. But that's, that was, that was a broker's perception of agents in this industry. 80% are hacks and 15% don't know what they're doing.

Man, it is so true.

And it's so, and it's a heartbreaking thing because I know that if an agent gets in this business, it's, they want to help people, they want to help the clients. It. Let's do the things that are necessary to actually be the help that they need.

Well, that's actually why I created the leave behind kit. Because I ran against a very large company and I saw me little Office Depot little thing with a sticker on it, and I'm looking at theirs and they go, man, this all what a four color, what do you call four color? Basically it's a very high quality, right Then it had a DVD in it. Now that tells you how long it's been or actually probably a CD ROM back then. But you know, it's funny. They had everything there and I looked at mine and I looked at theirs, I looked at mine and looked at theirs and I'm going I won't want to buy an annuity from me.

Right.

You know, and so I created that and granted this has been however many years ago.

Yeah, yeah, it's over a decade ago.

It's actually probably 12 years ago because I remember there was a while I, there was probably a couple years I went with those black, black folders and then all of a sudden I started seeing all these big brokerage houses coming up with really good brochures and really good literature and I'm like I am not going to be beat by those guys by the appearance I give.

So that's awesome.

Is that it?

That's a great way to wrap today up.

Awesome. Well, I hope this helps you guys and you have a great day. Happy selling.