Dec 18, 2017
Today's episode is on breaking out in a competitive marketing
place. Richard Weylman is a highly sought-after marketing
consultant in the financial services industry. Learn more at
MarkMiletello.com. Note:
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TRANSCRIPT
Announcer
Where The Insurance Pros Meet, Episode 3.
Richard Weylman
Remember, relationships drive revenue, and if you want to grow a
practice today, they want you to relate.
Announcer
Where The Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest
talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers; the
very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has
to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your
most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top 1%
producer, manager, and your host of Where The Insurance Pros Meet.
Mark Miletello
Today we're going to discuss breaking out in a competitive
marketing place. We have a very, very special guest on the show
today. He's a highly sought-after marketing consultant in the
financial services industry. He's the author of two best-selling
books, Opening Closed Doors: Keys To Reaching Hard-To-Reach People,
and a recent read of mine, The Power of Why: Breaking Out in a
Competitive Marketplace. This book has been endorsed with names
like Donald J. Trump, yes, that's now President Trump, Christopher
Forbes, Richard S. Bernstein, Milton Pedraza, founder of an online
university, the Weylman Center for Excellence in Practice
Management. By the way, his work has been described by Christopher
Forbes of Forbes magazine as brilliant, and I personally agree.
I've been following and learning from our guest for a decade now,
and I'm honored and excited to welcome Richard C. Weylman to the
show. Welcome, Richard.
Richard Weylman
Thank you, Mark. Great to be with you. I appreciate the privilege
of being part of the programming Where The Insurance Pros Meet.
Thank you.
Mark Miletello
And thank you. Richard, were you able to catch the
Mayweather/McGregor fight?
Richard Weylman
Oh, absolutely. I'm a huge boxing fan. Although a lot of people
thought it was going to be for show only, I thought it was very
interesting. I thought that McGregor handled himself well given the
fact it was way outside of his, how shall we say, his sweet spot.
But it was really an interesting fight. I think that it was truly
once in a lifetime.
Mark Miletello
Yeah, it's neat. I love the way the announcers even were
questioning in the early rounds. It's funny. I like to start my
show with a Mayweather jab, followed by a straight overhand right,
which he implemented so well, but knock out information that will
immediately help our listeners win in the arena of marketing and
sales in the insurance and financial industry. Now, Richard, I know
someone who paid $5,000 for a ticket. I personally paid $100 to see
the fight. And others that I've talked to cannot even believe
people were paying this much to see this fight. So, I think there's
a lesson here. As a marketing coach, I can't help but relate this
to consumers of our products. I guess the question is, regarding
our products in the insurance and financial industry, products that
may do the same thing but are priced differently, how is it that
agents or reps stay in business unless they're the lowest price? I
think you're the perfect person to ask that question too.
Richard Weylman
Wonderful question. It's a perfect analogy. Why would somebody pay
$5,000 or $100 to be able to see that fight? In the end, there are
a couple of things to always consider. Why do people, and why are
people willing to pay more? If they can afford it, why are they
willing to pay more than, let's say, the low-cost provider. It
really gets down to a couple of very fundamental things. Number
one, it's the value that they place, in the case of insurance, on
the recommendations that are being made. If you do a great
discovery and really uncover, hear me clearly now, the emotional
issues they're dealing with, not just, "I need more life insurance
to protect my family," but really be able to tell a story of
delivering a death benefit, to tell the story of why disability
insurance is important, to be able to tell the story from your own
perspective, that engages people emotionally, and when people are
emotionally engaged, the value is far beyond just the product, but
it also brings value to the relationships they have. The important
thing here is value is created. Cost is a function of value. If you
expand the value, cost becomes a minimal or a minor issue. That's
one. Two, the second piece of that puzzle is they really want to
feel that their life insurance agent, or advisor, use any phrase
you want, is really a resource for people like them. What do I mean
by that? I mean, they want to feel comfortable. You're not just
there to create a transaction, but you're there to be able to help
them, more holistically, if you will, with all their financial
issues. Now, you may not be cross-licensed. You may not be able to
sell investments, but you certainly can be the individual that they
can call when they have a financial question, and through strategic
partnerships you can then place yourself in their mind as a
resource to them so that they see the value you bring is not just
the product, not just the platform, but the insight that you have
and the specialist in your firm that you can deliver to them to
help them to get their financial life in balance. Is that helpful?
Mark Miletello
Absolutely. I mean, I want to say, "If we could bottle that up and
sell it, or give it away," but you really have. You have in
everything you've done, in your books, in the classes that I've
studied for 10 years, and you've done it with the Weylman
Institute, so you really have bottled it up. But there are so many
nuggets in what you just said. What I think, Richard, is I think
people can afford what they want to afford as well. When you think
about the value the promoters built in the right marketing
campaign, it's numbers that they calculate, and they feel is their
worth, not the cheapest that they could do it for. Right? I guess
from the south I have a different perspective. I've seen a $5,000
pickup truck driving down the road with a $20,000 ATV in the back,
so it reminds me that when you want something bad enough you find a
way to afford it. It becomes part of your budget.
Richard Weylman
That's right. As I said, the cost is a function of value. I think
it's important too for insurance, particularly with DOL and all the
things, you know, there's all this noise out there. And people are
like, "Oh, fee disclosure, or commission disclosure." Part of the
problem, frankly, Mark, is that insurance agents and advisors, even
on the financial advisory side, when they're asked ... and I asked
an insurance agent recently who is a friend of my wife, and I said,
"So, how do you get paid?" "Oh, I get paid on commission." Wow. And
I ask advisors all the time, "So, what kind of a practice do you
run?" "Oh, I run a fee-based practice." Well, either one of those
statements, if you say you run a fee-based practice, my first
question must be, "What's the fee?" If I say, "How do you get
paid?" And you say, "I get paid in commission." I'll say, "So
what's your commission?" My advice to everyone listening to this
discussion today is very simple. If somebody says, "So, how do you
get paid?" "Well, I get paid for the recommendations that I make
that you accept to protect your family."
Mark Miletello
Love it. Absolutely. Well, you know, like I said, it seems like
everything that you say, and when I'm reading your book, and
listening to you, you add one little twist to things that people
say that brings so much value. You're right. If someone asked me
today how I got paid I would have said the same thing, because
that's ... But that makes a lot of sense, and thank you for sharing
that.
Richard Weylman
You're welcome.
Mark Miletello
We've kind of talked about the pinnacle of boxing, so as one of the
leading minds, I believe, in professional marketing, Richard, right
off the bat let's give the listener a professional tip or tool. Is
there a tip or tool or a piece of technology that you can share
with the listener that is either transforming your business or
could help transform theirs?
Richard Weylman
Well, not a self-promotion. Obviously, I've been producing
coursework for many years. We're a research-based consulting firm
first. We've done a lot of discovery of what's going on with the
consumer, and that's really our sweet spot, it is understanding how
to engage the consumer, and, more importantly, convert them into a
client. Our online platform The Weylman Center has allowed us now
to bring 41 courses that used to be on DVD, et cetera, it's allowed
me to upgrade all of that and put that in the marketplace. It's
WeylmanCenter.com, and an agent or an advisor can sign up for $27 a
month, have access to 41 different courses, hot links to every
single market in the United States right at the local level. But
setting that aside for the moment, because we've really designed
that for people that really want to build a practice of
distinction. I think the large picture here is this. We've just
concluded doing research with 350 affluent individuals. What does
that mean? Well, we have about 7,000 agents and advisors that
belong to our online university. We do a lot of webinars, we have
masterminds, it's a very interactive site with a lot of people,
they're taking courses, they have all the tools they need to
execute. I do a lot of webinars and masterminds, and they dial in.
I got 70 of our members to go out and interview five of their best
clients to ask four questions. Number one, "How can I get more
clients like you?" Number two, "What do you look for when you
engage with an advisor initially?" Number three, "How can I do a
better job of explaining my platform to you?" And number four, "How
important is good service?" In response to your point, as a tip, I
will tell you this is what's critically important. 87% of people in
this country today belong to an organization that supports what
they do for a living or their special interest. Now, that could be
everything from golf, and tennis, to book-reading, too, in our
case, the fight game. But the bottom line is, 87% of people belong
to some network that supports things they're interested in,
including their occupation, business, or profession. But here's the
bigger point. 71% of those people said they and people like them
only want to work with an advisor that's in their network, meaning
that individuals that really understand their situation. And
everybody on this call, I mean, we all know this. If you all are
honest with yourself, you've been asked the question. "Have you
ever had clients like me, or have you ever worked with anybody like
me?" They're really trying to get that discover in their own mind;
do you know them, and do you know their situation. My tip for
everybody is that absolutely not target small business, or not just
target doctors, but to really break that down and say, "What type
of small business? What type of doctor?" Because as an example in
physicians, maybe 5% of physicians belong to the American Medical
Association, but well over 97% belong to an organization that
supports their specialty, whether it's anesthesiology, or
chiropractic care, or orthopedic surgeons, because that's how they
get their CE credits, and that's how they expand their learning. So
that's really my tip for everybody based on our research, is that
87% of Americans belong to something that supports either their
business or their interest, and by determining where your best
clients, your top five or ten, what they spend their time on, the
organizations they belong to, and then target those organizations
where you can become a resource to the people in those
organizations, that changes the game. Of course, we have our online
platform, and you can sign up for $27 a month, and take the
coursework, and participate in the study groups and all of that,
but the most important point I want to make here is not just about
our site. Let's set that aside. The key thing is, the tip: focus
your marketing efforts. Being all things to all people today is a
non-starter. If you do that, if you're targeting small business,
you're targeting 13% of the population that's no longer involved in
something. Is that helpful, Mark?
Mark Miletello
Absolutely. What you've shared, we usually take this opportunity to
break for some industry news, and you really kind of segued right
into what I've recently read; that some industry firms are not
hiring experienced reps. To me, this is a complete about-face from
past hiring procedures. I can honestly say, as a manager of over 20
reps and being in this industry for 27 years, and from thousands of
interviews, I think I understand, and maybe perhaps agree with a
little that it's difficult to hire experienced reps. But not
because I don't want an experienced person, I mean, hey, I would
love to bring someone on board that I don't have to teach all the
little things to, but Richard, I really believe from personal
experience the reason this news that I've read has come about is
because it's hard to teach reps that are set in their ways new
marketing skills, if you will. That's kind of what you've just ...
You must be involved and plugged in. Just banging out the phone is
not working as well as it was when I first started.
Richard Weylman
Well, that's true, and no disrespect to anybody, but I will tell
you we have seen a massive shift in consumer behavior in the last,
well, let's say the last ten years just to come up with a ... You
know, this is '17, so let's go back to '08, and we all know what
happened in '08, but we've really seen it in the last five, six,
seven years. There's been a massive shift in consumer behavior, and
because of that, many of the things we used to do in marketing
simply just don't work anymore. Mass marketing is a good
illustration. Of course, that's not to say that our best experience
is not good. It's just that sometimes all of this best practice
legacy experience, while it worked 15 or 20 years ago, it doesn't
apply to the consumer today. The millennials are different. They're
very engaged at a completely different level. They are buying life
insurance. They're very engaged but at a different level. As an
illustration, if you look at boomers, boomers give their money to
major charities. Millennials give their money to their alma mater.
That's a massive shift in consumer behavior. The point being that
even individuals that are in the market today, and let me speak to
the veterans for a moment. A lot of people say, "Well, veterans
won't change behavior." They won't unless you really set a vision
in place. If you can help yourself as an individual listening to
this, if you're an experienced advisor, agent, or producer, any
phrase you want to label yourself with, but if you're experienced
in this business it's critically important you reset your vision
for the impact you want to make, not just on your own personal
income, but the impact on the lives of so many people. If you reset
your vision, then a couple of other things come into play. The
things that are important to change behaviors, first you've got to
be open to new ideas because things have changed. Secondly, you've
got to be willing to execute. And thirdly, you've got to be
transparent if you're stuck. I mean, we've got several thousand
experienced advisors on our online platform. We have mastermind
groups, I have a whole top-of-the-table group. It's amazing how
open they are. But they all have a story about, you know, "I
finally got the point I was spending all my time running this thing
and I realized I need to invest in services, I need to get back to
doing what I love, which is bringing in new business. So, I got
open to new ideas, I became willing to make some changes, and when
I'm stuck I log into the masterminds and I'm moving forward." So
those are the things that are important, I think, for people to
think about. You must reset your vision for what you want to
accomplish with your career with your business, and then be open,
and willing, and transparent to make the changes.
Mark Miletello
Well, and they have such a leg up on a brand-new person, let's say,
coming right out of school or someone with no experience in the
industry. They have such a leg up, so it hurts my heart to see a
veteran come on board to fail. After reading your book, Richard,
The Power of Why I kind of felt it's possible a veteran in the
industry could use the advice I think your layout so well in your
book. I love even, and I've told you this before, what I really
appreciated is by page seven you answered this why question,
whereas I believe many others that I've read and listened to don't
even know what the why question is, and that's "Why are we failing?
Why do customers do business with us? Why are we not performing
like others in the field?" And you answer to why companies or reps
are excelling while others might not, is the message and deliver
from their customers perspective. The veterans especially are
sometimes stuck in the only sales process they know, which is
selling a product, presenting a product, talking about their fee,
their commission like you said earlier. I think they fail in my
eyes, mainly from a lack of understanding your book The Power of
Why. And just personally here recently, and I didn't mean to kind
of get into this, but over the last three years as a leading life
insurance agent in one of the largest companies and oldest
companies in the nation I kind of felt clients weren't accepting
things that they had did in the past, and I was not getting the
same results. And little by little I saw this transition, Richard.
I really think after reading your book I finally pinpointed that
I'm not delivering from a customer's perspective. As a personal
story, I've thrown out everything that I know in my life insurance,
I call it, presentations, and I've changed to a new life insurance
discussion that is centered around the customer. And I've got to
tell you, my sales have increased tenfold over the last, just three
to four months by implementing this new concept. But it's
completely based on what you said right at the beginning of this
book, of delivering from a customer's perspective. I think veterans
have the hardest time accepting that. That's from personal
experience, but…
Richard Weylman
Well, you're exactly right. Just to piggyback on that for a minute,
John Wooden, who is America's basketball player I guess is the way
he would be described, and just something he said many years ago,
one of his great quotes, and I don't know if I'll get it exactly
right, but it'll be close, and that is that "You learn the most
when you think you know it all." I think that's so important today,
and we've seen this massive shift in consumer behavior. To your
point listen, information is ubiquitous, opportunity ... I mean,
gosh, you want to buy life insurance? Type it in your computer and
pull it up on the screen. Want to do a financial plan? You'll get 2
million links. So, the truth of the matter is that the consumer
already has all the power. They've got all kinds of places they can
get information, and they can source things, they can buy things.
If you don't explain your value from their perspective, meaning,
"This is what it means to you, and the benefit to you is ... " Then
there's a complete disconnect. Let me put it this way. If you are
there trying to convince them to buy as opposed to explaining the
value you deliver, people are rejecting convincing. What they want
to know is, "How is this recommendation going to solve my problem
or address the issue I want to get handled?" So, when you make a
recommendation, whatever it might be, "I think that these are the
two recommendations I want to make. You've got two options here Mr.
and Mrs. Wilson. Here's the first one. The first one is you could
buy this particular product, and let me tell you what this will
mean for you." And then explain what they will accomplish with
that. Then, go to the second piece, "And the benefit to you is ...
" Same thing when you make the second recommendation. When you make
that ... "And here's what this will do for you. And the benefit to
you is ... " People want to know how does your recommendation
apply. That's the issue they deal with. When I did the research for
the book and we surveyed and talked to thousands of people, the
thing that people kept saying is, "I'm sick and tired of people
trying to convince me without understanding they need to tell me
how it applies to my issue. I want to know how it applies. What's
the application? If they don't want to give me how it applies, I'm
just going to find somewhere else to buy whatever that product
might be." That's everything from life insurance all the way out to
you name it. I'll give you an example. You go to Amazon or Walmart
online, and no matter what product you click on, it always tells
you, "What this means to you is ... And this is what it'll do for
you." Because both of those firms have realized if they can
articulate application to whatever it is that individual is
attempting to do, people will buy it.
Mark Miletello
Well, perfectly said. That's why I love when you accepted coming on
this show because I knew I would get that right there. It's
something that, I'm still in the field as a producer, as a manager,
as a recruiter, I'm still in the field, and I can tell you that's
where I was going with it, is that you must get to the emotional
issue as you said earlier and just talking about products, we have
to move away from products, because products are everywhere. I'm
going to get into some rapid-fire questions here for you. I want to
talk professional strategy. Now, Richard, I've mentored under you,
like I've said, for a decade now. I've read your books, articles,
your email messages, which people should sign up for, which I very
much enjoy the little short articles you put out on your blogs.
Richard Weylman
Thank you.
Mark Miletello
You have a tremendous and endearing story of where you've come from
to where you are now. Now, not to compare it all, Richard, but I do
feel like I'm also that guy that can say, "If I can do it then
anyone can." And you have shown by a successful career that, no
matter what the odds, it can be done. Success is obtainable. So
maybe you can share with the listeners your professional strategy
of how you succeeded? That would be something we'd like to hear.
Richard Weylman
Well, I thank you, Mark, and I'll be brief here. But I was an
orphan, my mother died when I was five, my dad died when I was six,
and my father had no insurance. I went through all his ... He was a
journal. He wrote down everything. I could tell you what he had for
lunch on May 5th, 1942. He just wrote everything down. I've gone
back through all his old diaries, logs, journals. And there was
never a mention of life insurance, but again, it wasn't a topic
back in the 40s and even in the 50s like it is today. So as a
result, we had no insurance. My brother and I and my sister were
split up and lived in foster homes. I lived in 19 foster homes,
went to 11 different schools. We didn't get back together until we
were in our mid-20s. But here's the thing that ... And people say,
"Oh, that must have been tough." Every one of you that are
listening to this has a story you can tell. You might have been in
a loving, nurturing home, but at the same time, you had that
entrepreneurial fire burning in your belly, and you had to overcome
obstacles to even be on this call today, or listening to this
podcast. It's not that the story is important. What's important is
what do you do about it? So, from a professional perspective, I
will tell you, I read many years ago a scripture that said, "People
without vision perish." And I mentioned this earlier about the
importance of vision. From a strategic perspective, as a
professional, the most important thing, even if it's your first day
in the business or your 25th year in the business, you really need
to have a vision for what you want to be in the marketplace. I
mean, if you look at the big companies that are doing
extraordinarily well, like, oh gosh, pick some, Ford, I mean, we
could make a long list here, they all have reset. They've recovered
from a lot of dark days, perhaps, in their industry because the CEO
came in and reset the vision. "Here's who we're going to be in the
marketplace. This is who we aspire to be. This is what's going to
put us on track." Now, why is this important? Well, from a
strategic perspective, the first step, get your vision clear. What
do you want to be in the marketplace? Not a mission, but a vision
statement. What do you want to be in the marketplace? Secondly,
then you will make decisions about the right strategy to fulfill
the vision. Now, let me flip that around. If you don't have a clear
picture of the type of practice you want to build, the kind of
impact you want to have on your community, the type of agency,
perhaps, that you want to build if you're in a leadership role. If
you don't have a clear vision, no amount of strategy in the world
is going to save you, because you'll try this, and, "I'll try that,
and I'll try this for six months." So, what happens is, if you have
a vision in place then you are far better at selecting the right
strategies to make that vision a reality. That's the key. From a
professional perspective, I have a very clear vision. I'll just
tell you what it was. Living in a foster home, I made up my mind
that I was never going to live in basements and attics again, and
my vision was that I was going to be able to live in some of the
homes that I had seen when I was shoveling snow, and delivering
papers, and all of the things I did when I was a young guy coming
up, and I said, "Someday I'm going to live in a house where I don't
have to live in a basement. I'm going to have a house of my
dreams." That was my vision early in my life when I was like 11
years old. So, I became a student of that lifestyle, and I began to
study the affluent. I read all the books on social graces. I mean,
which silverware to use, I mean, incredible, Julia Child's books,
I've read all those books because I wanted to learn how I could
live in that lifestyle having never been raised in that lifestyle.
Then, of course, as I got into the business I began to learn the
things that were necessary to be effective in business, having a
very clear picture of what my market was, meaning, "Who did I want
to do business with?" Secondly, "How could I engage them at a deep
level?" Thirdly, "How can I set myself apart in the ways that our
product made a difference?" I was in the automotive industry, I was
in the industrial laundry industry, I was in the publication
industry, many other things, but I always looked at it from that
standpoint: "Who's my customer? How can I bring myself and our
product to market in a way that's set apart from others, and how
can I engage people for the long-term, so it wasn't just a
transaction, but it was a relationship?" So, I read everything I
could. I spent a lot of time on strategy. So, to recap, get your
vision clear. That's the crystal clear important point. Who do you
want to be in the marketplace? Secondly, start selecting strategies
to help you identify markets, strategies to help you bring your
product to market in a way that's distinct. Mark mentioned that.
Meaning what? Articulate from the, let's say, customer, or client,
or prospect's perspective. Then, thirdly, it dawned on me very
early, and by the way, our research now proves this out, that
service was meaningless to people. In our country, if you go to
McDonald's and the fries are cold, I don't know what ... Let's say
they're $1. You can take them right back in and they'll replace
them. So, for us to have somebody buy a life insurance policy and
then tell them, you know, "We'll take your call when you call, or
we're going to provide you service from time-to-time during the
year," I don't know how-
Mark Miletello
That's a minimum standard.
Richard Weylman
Yeah. I mean, how magnanimous of us. What we've found out is people
today are not interested in good service. That's a minimum
standard. What they're looking for is an elevated experience. That
means you know their name, you record the things they're passionate
about. You send special notes on special days, "Happy anniversary.
Another successful year as a policyholder." Not just a birthday
card that your policy is going to cost more if you don't buy
tomorrow. The important thing is, if you get your vision right,
start setting the strategies in place about the market you want,
the products you're going to deliver, how you're going to set
yourself apart, and then, once they're a client, how you can turn
them into delighted advocates.
Mark Miletello
Well, thank you. I'm taking notes as we're on this show because I
love it. But I do want to say thank you for sharing your personal
story. You're right. We all have our personal story and our
challenges and the things ... I think I just learned something, and
that was, "I always said," and I even wrote it in a book myself,
"that fear was my motivator because I did come from means where I
had to take care of myself at an early age." I used to think that
it was fear, but I think now that you say it in that light, maybe
it was the vision of wanting something better. So maybe that was my
motivator more so than the fear itself of living like that. I know
from knowing you that you've done a lot of work in the field with
large corporations with advisors and, more importantly, their
customers, and you've surveyed and met. I think you can answer this
question better than anyone, which is, Richard, what would you say
that people today want from an advisor in the field of insurance or
related financial services, what do consumers want today from their
advisor?
Richard Weylman
Mark, that's a great question. What do people really want today?
Well, the truth of the matter is, what they really don't want,
first, are they don't want somebody that's transitionally oriented.
People today want a relationship. When you look at the industry,
you must realize that relationships drive revenue. So, what do
people want? Number one, they want personalization and
humanization. They want to be remembered. They want to have
memorable experiences. A lot of people talk about your insurance
portfolio. Well, how about your portfolio of memories with my
agent; about the things he or she did to really help me to get my
financial life in balance, or to protect my family, or to educate
my children? When you think about it from that perspective,
relationships drive revenue. If you personalize and humanize,
that's what they're looking for. I mentioned earlier they want you
to be a financial resource. It doesn't mean you have to have all
the answers, but it does mean that you need to pay attention to the
specialists that work in your agency or in your firm or in your
company that you can plug people into so that they really realize
that when they have a question, that you're not just a custodian of
their money or a seller of life insurance, but you're the guy or
gal they can call when they have a financial question, because
it'll open doors of opportunity, whether it be for an annuity,
whether it be for an investment, or whether it be for an additional
life insurance policy. It's important for us to think along that
line. Remember, relationships drive revenue. If you want to grow a
practice today, people want to have a relationship ... What's the
keyword? They want you to relate. Think about if you took Latin.
What's the core?
Mark Miletello
I agree. I'll tell you, it just happened this past month where I
still have a property casualty agency as well, and we've taken our
largest increase in three or four years. I've had one client
consider leaving because of the relationships that you build
through everything ... Not sending a Christmas card with the whole
office name stamped on it where you can tell it's a
computer-generated thing, it's a relationship. So, I think you're
spot-on with that, and I try to teach that to my own team and to
the listeners out there that you better find a way to build those
relationships differently than you have in the past. I think that's
where you're going with it.
Richard Weylman
You're exactly right. That's what the challenge is, that people get
focused on the transaction. But we know that there are lots of
psychological needs people have. One is meaning and significance.
They want to know that they're meaningful to you. Secondly, they
want emotional security, not just economic. They need to feel
comfortable they can talk to you about their fear, their
uncertainty, and their doubt. So, what that means is you've got to
ask questions that allow them, gives them permission to engage.
"What are three things you're most concerned about in terms of your
financial future? If you were thinking about your grandchildren
today, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, what are three things you want to make
sure happens in their life after you are out of the picture?" These
are the kinds of things that people want to talk about, but if you
don't give them permission to talk about their fear, uncertainty,
and doubt, if you don't engage with them at a deep level, then it's
all transactional, and they'll have those concerns, but they won't
bring them up. I'll give you a good example. I was in a city
recently, got on the elevator with a couple. The agent was very
kind, "Thank you very much. Appreciate it." Now, he should have
gotten on the elevator and ridden down to the lobby with them. You
never put them on the elevator and say, "Thank you very much." But
this couple got on, he dusted them, "Thank you very much. We'll
talk to you in six months or so." Now, we're going down the
elevator. We were on the 23rd or 24th floor, something like that,
and she turns to him and said, "Honey, why didn't you bring up what
we want to do with the grandkids?" And his response was, "Oh, he's
not interested in stuff like that." Now, my take was simply this,
"How did that agent get in a position where they don't think he's
interested? Is it because he's about the ... " I don't know, and
obviously, that was a situation, but for the, shall we say, that
couple, particularly the guy to have that mindset ... I'd say he
was probably in his early 70s, late 60s, but it just reinforced to
me how we must engage people at a far deeper level than just the
surface transaction, taking care of the need now. We've all seen
the statistics. Most people buy insurance from somebody else
because they never hear from there, shall we say, the existing
agent again, or somebody sells a policy and then never revisits
them for additional policies. We've all seen those statistics, but
the truth of the matter is they're very real because there is not a
lot of relationship building that goes on that ... engaging people,
sending them an article of interest. Setting up a Google Alert
account. I mean, if you've got a client and you're working in the
industry like chiropractors, and you live in Dayton, Ohio, well,
just go on Google Alert. Go to Google, type in "alert", it comes
right up. It's free. You can put "chiropractors, Miami Valley"
which is where Dayton is. Great. Overnight, the internet will
search, Google will search, and anything that gets published about
chiropractors in Ohio or Miami Valley will show up in your inbox in
the morning. That's the kind of thing you just forward onto your
clients and say, "Hey, I know we haven't gotten together in four or
five months, but I saw this article, thought you might be
interested in it." What does that say? "I'm interested in you as a
person, not just your money or that life insurance transaction."
Those are the ways you build relationships. You mentioned Christmas
or holiday cards. Those are all good. But why don't we send
Thanksgiving cards, because nobody else does? "So thankful to have
you as a client. Enjoy Thanksgiving." How about New Year's cards?
"While we're celebrating the New Year, we're looking forward to
another wonderful year as clients of ours." How about 4th July
cards? "While we're celebrating our companies, independence knowing
we're working hard here to make sure that you always can achieve
financial independence." Those are the things that stick out in
people's minds. Find out the month they started their business or
got their job and send them a "Happy anniversary for another
successful year on the job or in the business." You're going to be
the only one that does that, but believe you me, that alone will
help you stand out and say to them, you're about them, you're not
just about that which it is that they've transacted with you.
Mark Miletello
Good tip.
Richard Weylman
Is that helpful?
Mark Miletello
Oh, that's a great tip. That's a great tip. My little addition to
that would be if you're going to consider the card mailing, find
out their kids' ages and send their kids birthday cards. I don't
want to grow another year, and I don't want as much celebrating,
but if you send my kids something, that's special and thoughtful.
Now, Richard, we've talked about 10 years ago. So, I want to ask
you a professional prediction. Let's say the year is 2027. What
will the financial services industry maybe look like, and how do we
fit in from a marketing perspective?
Richard Weylman
Well, that is a wonderful question. The reason it's wonderful is
that I can remember 10 years back, and everybody was concerned,
"Well, we've got trades, we've got all of this, so you can buy
insurance online," and everything. "Oh, the insurance industry's
going away. I mean, it's all but over." And people were like,
"Well, that's it. The [inaudible 00:38:03. Start closing agencies
here because consumers aren't going to go there. They're just going
to buy the low-cost provider." But how shocked ... I mean, we could
go back 20 years, go back to 1997 when the internet was first
coming alive and eTrades were ... everybody's like, "That's the
end. The warehouses are going out of business. Everybody's going to
go to these $8 trades and that's going to be the end of this
business." And yet, when you look at the numbers it's exactly the
other way around. I'll give you a good example. You look at
Betterment, which everybody's like, "Oh my God. A new way of
investing." Yet, they're hiring advisors like crazy to work in
their call centers because people want to call in to get advice
even though supposedly it's more of a robot-advising platform. I
mean, just an interesting piece. So, the year is, let's say it's
2027, just for our conversation. There's no question that
relationships are going to still drive revenue. I know people are
like, "Oh my God." But the millennials, I will tell you that
cheaper rates and lower fees are always going to be in the
marketplace, but what people forget, boomers are dying, and those
who inherit even medium sums, they want guidance, personal
connection. So, consumers are going to continue to migrate to those
who can provide guidance and direction. Now, does that mean that
millennials are going to be coming to everybody's office like, say,
boomers do today? Or are they going to want a big conference room?
Likely not as much. They tend to like to operate in their own
"personal space". So, I think there's going to be a lot more, shall
we say, out of the office time meeting with people that we see
today. I do think the office model will change. I think we're going
to see a lot of people that are going to be on a relational side of
the business, really reaching out in the community establishing
relationships with, let's say millennials, who will, of course, be
getting older by that time, and they'll have children, and that
will be a whole other issue for individuals in terms of protecting
their assets, protecting their children's education, and taking
care of the money that they've inherited that have come into their
life. So, you're going to see a shift, I believe, in the way we do
business. What I mean by that is there's going to be more time out
of the office engaging with people in their personal space because
that's how millennials like to operate. They like to operate on
Skype. They want to operate on LinkedIn. And there's going to be
another technology that'll come that we're not even aware of in the
next 10 years. You know, we got Facebook, we got LinkedIn, and
we've got Skype, but even, there's another one coming. You can
pretty much bank on it given the mobile society we live in. I can
tell you now, just think about how many times you FaceTime. What I
have found is a lot of my clients today, they want to FaceTime with
me if they're on their cellphones, which is fine. I think you'll
see more of that. There's going to be more technology bringing us
closer together, but people are going to want that guidance,
they're going to want that direction, and that's what they're going
to migrate to because, A, what they inherit, B, because millennials
love to personalize, i.e. SnapChat, i.e. Instagram. They like
humanization, i.e. SnapChat, i.e. Instagram. So, what that tells us
is in 10 years I think we're going to see relationships drive
revenue at an even higher level because people are going to be very
networked, people are going to work only with advisors that are in
their network and that work with people like them, and word of
mouth is going to be a tremendous way to grow your business.
Mark Miletello
Well, I see that as exciting, but I also see it as scary for those
that don't know technology or have the ability to do that.
Technology, I think ... I guess my question, and I know your
answer, but I'm going to ask anyway, I mean, I guess you could keep
those ... In fact, the relationships may even be tighter by using
these technologies, right?
Richard Weylman
Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think about just our client base. For
years, I mean, we did conference calls. I do, well, even the people
that are members of our online university, the Weylman Center, same
thing. I mean, when I first launched it a few years ago I didn't do
anywhere near the webinars that I do now, and people plugin.
They're involved in those. We do a lot of Skype with clients. As I
said, we use FaceTime now more on calls than ever before. People
want that personal connection, and if you can take-
Mark Miletello
And convenience. Yep, it's convenient too.
Richard Weylman
Correct. It's convenience, it gives you a personal connection. You
don't have to sit there in a room to have a connection given all
the technology that's available today. I mean, we have six offices
worldwide. I mean, we all Skype in. We're not all in the same
location. But the advantage is we still have that personal
connection, and the reason we're able to have it is that of
technology. Anybody that's in this business today, insurance or
advisory, absolutely, I don't care if you're 65 years old and say,
"I don't use a computer." You need to use a computer if you intend
to be in the business another five years because your clients are
going to demand it.
Mark Miletello
Oh, perfect. Some other professional recommendations before we get
to the close, Richard? Give me one book that I'm going to read in
the next few weeks or a month, and one person that I should follow
that you follow that has been instrumental in your career.
Richard Weylman
Oh, great question. Well, I read a lot. I think the book that had
the greatest impact on me is the Book of Proverbs. That's not a
religious statement. That's in the Old Testament. You can buy that
separately, and there are lots of versions of it. But it was
authored by King Solomon. And boy, that is really ... I read that
very early on. I probably read it ... I have no idea, 20 times
likely, every few years I read it again, because it gives real,
practical advice that will help lead you to better decisions with
greater confidence. Can I give you just one quick example?
Mark Miletello
Please, yeah.
Richard Weylman
I had a young guy, and he had asked me a similar question. Anyhow,
I said, "Well, I remember reading ... " He was starting a business
and had an opportunity, got married and they wanted to buy a new
house. He came to me and he said, "Do you think I ought to do
this?" Or whatever. He's like two years in the business. And his
business was doing fine. I said, "Well, I remember reading a
proverb that says, "Build your business before you build your
house." And he just looked at me and he said, "Boy, that's great
advice." And six months later his business took a real downturn.
There was a regulation passed, and boy he slugged it. He had a
tough two years. And now he's roared back and has built a massive
business, and he and his wife have built a beautiful house in
Hawaii. What's the message? Sometimes just getting that, you know
there's a proverb that says, "In a multitude of counselor’s
mistakes are avoided." And what that really did for him, just by
asking me that question, he just kind of gave me that look. Now,
that's one case. Someone else might say, "Well, forget that. I'm
still going to build the house or buy the house. That's up to you.
But what I found in the Book of Proverbs, it just gives you a real
sense of reasoning, and it helps you make better decisions, so that
would be one thing I would do. The other thing that I, in terms of
who I follow, there's a lot of different people that I look to see
how their mind works.
Mark Miletello
Well, and the reason I ask you this is with all this information
and technology it's getting harder for us out in the field to
figure out who is the real deal. You know what I mean? There's a
lot of noise out there. So that's why I point that question at you.
You don't have to give one. You can give several. But I think it's
getting harder to follow the people that are really going to make
differences in our careers.
Richard Weylman
Yes, that exactly right. And the second book I'd mention, by the
way, was to read anything by John Wooden and his quotes. They're
very sage advice. He was an incredible basketball coach, and this
we all know, and player. But I think the person that I tend ... I
used to follow Mark Cuban a lot. I don't anymore. What I've found
is that Richard Branson has an unusual view of things. They're
always positive, but his way of expressing himself or solving a
problem is quite good. You can follow him on LinkedIn, and then you
can set up a Google Alert account as I have for Richard Branson, so
anything that happens in the Virgin business world I get
notifications of. A good example, during the hurricane he evacuated
all his guests from Necker Island, that's his private island in the
Bahamas, but he stayed because his staff was staying, and he really
felt like the best way to support them was to be there with them.
And then he gave a long dissertation about why. Here's what struck
me. The thing about him, he's always focused on purpose, not
pressure. Everything he talks about is based on the purpose that he
sees for the business and for himself. He doesn't talk about he's
under pressure to do anything. And you could say, "Well, he's worth
$1 billion." That's not the point. If you go back to his early
history, that was one. The other one that I do a lot of reading on
is Winston Churchill. My intent next year as soon as they open, I'm
going to go to Oxford for six weeks to take a comprehensive course
on the life of Winston Churchill. I go to England just about every
year now to speak and all over Europe. I always go down to
Chartwell, Winston Churchill's home in the country. I've read
everything on Churchill, I've spent literally days at his home
there. Churchill was a lot like Branson. He saw things. He was a
curmudgeon, but he always saw things from the positive light, and
more importantly, the way he made decisions was always on purpose
too. So those are two people that I could mention to you. If that's
helpful?
Mark Miletello
It very much is, and, Richard, as I said earlier, it's an honor to
have you as one of the very first guests on Where The Insurance
Pros Meet. We're so busy planning and marketing for today and
tomorrow we can't even begin to look years out in the future;
things we need to do now, technologies and techniques that we need
to embrace so that not only will we be relevant in the future, but
also thrive in the future. I feel we must take your advice to
prepare for the future that's ever-changing as well as a tomorrow
that's changing as we speak. I really hope the listeners reach out
and subscribe to your emails and connect with you like I have. I
hope they read your book, because it will change, I think, the
perspective by just a small change in the dial, just enough to get
it when you're thinking about how to brand maybe, or market, or
present yourself and your company moving forward, I believe, in a
world of complete commoditization. Richard, again, I want to thank
you. Richard, tell us, what's the best way to connect and follow
you.
Richard Weylman
Okay, just a couple of things. For those of you that want to
subscribe, just go to ... I'll just make it very easy. Go to
RichardWeylman.com, very simple, and you can enroll in my
performance tip, and that comes out every week as Mark illustrated.
You can also connect with me on LinkedIn because I do post a little
... It's very short. It's not like an article. It's just kind of an
action item for the week. I post it there every week if that'd be
helpful for you. A couple of other things really quick, when you go
to RichardWeylman.com, if you just make a note of this, you'll see
where it says, "Richard's Recent Videos" right on the homepage. We
have just posted, and it will remain there for quite a long period
of time, so we have just posted the findings from those 350
face-to-face interviews that members of our online university did
with their clients. They're there in a strategic format. You'll see
it. It's basically how to overcome the challenges. It's a
six-minute video. Watch that video, because it will help bring some
of what we talked about today to light for you. Then, the final
point I would say just simply, like I say, connect with me on
LinkedIn, certainly connect with me ... go to RichardWeylman.com
and sign up for my weekly little tip that I send out. Then, also,
if you're interested in really building a practice of distinction,
finding your best markets, setting yourself apart in the
marketplace, elevating the client experience, you can just go to
WeylmanCenter.com. There's a little tour you can take there. It'll
take you to a homepage. You'll see how our online university is set
up, and you can sign up for $27 a month. That's month-to-month. We
don't make you sign any contracts, et cetera. We've got about 7,000
advisors that are on there every month with us. Then, you'll get
masterminds, and you get webinar notifications, et cetera as part
of your membership. Mark, thank you for the time today. It's been a
blessing to be with you.
Mark Miletello
Well, very good, very good, and highly recommended. If you like
what you hear on this show, go to iTunes, rate it and review it.
It'll help others find us. As your host of Where The Insurance Pros
Meet, you can follow me at MarkMiletello.com.