Annuity Marketing Idea

[insuranceexec]

I have an annuity marketing idea that has worked well for me. Be careful with this; as there are many moving parts!


Have an accountant run an AD in the newspaper stating:


"POSSIBLE TAX REBATES TO THOSE WITH ANNUITIES"

In the Ad the accountant will state that some accountants file annuity interest as earned as opposed to tax-deferred. Therefore, possibly a rebate. There is some more to this that your accountant can add if he chooses.

The accountant offers a free consultation; and to you (insurance professional) an introduction. This is given extra credibility because of the nature of the visit.

The best time to run this ad is during the off-season for an accountant, as this requires a great deal of time. Again there are many moving parts.

The last time I ran this ad in the paper it cost me $800.00 for a month. The accountant had 283 calls, which resulted in roughly 128 visits. In these 128 visits the accountant found almost $157,000 worth of mistakes or an average of $1,200 bucks a piece. The accountant made almost 15K for his efforts filing amendments.

The golden part to this is that out of 120 people I could approve 93 of their current annuity positions.

Out of the 93 only 67 of them wanted my help. But out of the 67 people I wrote just a hair over 4 million in annuity production in about a two month period. Not a bad marketing idea for $800.00. Not to mention I have the names of the other 60 folks that I can go back and see this year.

Note to self: Make sure you keep records of Annuity Maturity dates.

I hope this helps bring in the New Year with a BANG!

 

[Freddie]

I have an annuity marketing idea that has worked well for me. Be careful with this; as there are many moving parts!


Have an accountant run an AD in the newspaper stating:


"POSSIBLE TAX REBATES TO THOSE WITH ANNUITIES"

In the Ad the accountant will state that some accountants file annuity interest as earned as opposed to tax-deferred. Therefore, possibly a rebate. There is some more to this that your accountant can add if he chooses.

The accountant offers a free consultation; and to you (insurance professional) an introduction. This is given extra credibility because of the nature of the visit.

The best time to run this ad is during the off-season for an accountant, as this requires a great deal of time. Again there are many moving parts.

The last time I ran this ad in the paper it cost me $800.00 for a month. The accountant had 283 calls, which resulted in roughly 128 visits. In these 128 visits the accountant found almost $157,000 worth of mistakes or an average of $1,200 bucks a piece. The accountant made almost 15K for his efforts filing amendments.

The golden part to this is that out of 120 people I could approve 93 of their current annuity positions.

Out of the 93 only 67 of them wanted my help. But out of the 67 people I wrote just a hair over 4 million in annuity production in about a two month period. Not a bad marketing idea for $800.00. Not to mention I have the names of the other 60 folks that I can go back and see this year.

Note to self: Make sure you keep records of Annuity Maturity dates.

I hope this helps bring in the New Year with a BANG!

Thanks. This is a cool idea. Just hook up with a good CPA in the slow season for them? August-Sept?? $1200 in tax refunds per person? Any DOI advertising issues? What should the CPA look for where tax returns charged taxes for deferred annuity income?

Just the local paper?

Did you review and move them into better annuities? Any more info you can PM or the ad? I am not in your market area. Thanks.

 

[billyb2909]

Thats good stuff, I had never thought of anything like that before.

 

[Freddie]

How does the CPA do the pass off to you? Are you both in the same building?

 

[KConway]

Very creative idea. How long have you worked with this particular CPA? And I can see that you would have increased credibility if a CPA is referring you.

Also, would you please post the ad that you used?

Thanks for sharing.

Happy New Year!

 

[insuranceexec]

Thanks. This is a cool idea. Just hook up with a good CPA in the slow season for them? August-Sept?? $1200 in tax refunds per person? Any DOI advertising issues?

Just the local paper?

Did you review and move them into better annuities? Any more info you can PM or the ad? I am not in your market area. Thanks.

I am glad you like it. I will answer you questions one at a time.

In my original post I stated there are many moving parts; Congratulations for finding a few of them.

1. My accountant personally works for me on my payroll. He is quite busy for the first few months of the year; as I am sure you can imagine. The accountant must have sole loyalty to you, if not and he can refer the business elsewhere.

2. Slow season for my guy is generally from May to September. October he picks up again for the people who file extensions. I have also found that November is a good month to run my AD.

3. The numbers I quoted were from my last AD run. So the $1200 figure was an average per client that the accountant met with. Now the accountant had to in some cases go back a few years and file amended returns. With a cost of between $100-$500 per amended return, you can see where an accountant, even if he is not being paid directly by you, can make some decent money in a short period of time; potentially picking up some new clients in the process.

4. An accountant is not under the authority of the DOI, so No, there were no issues. I DID NOT RUN THE AD! THE ACCOUNTANT DID.

5. "What should the CPA look for where tax returns charged taxes for deferred annuity income? " I am not an accountant and in saying that I ask you to pardon my ignorance. I do not understand the question.

6. Yes, just the local paper. My local paper has a saturation of about 55,000 people. So I spread it out over about 100 mile radius, and I have about 6 different papers that I run this AD in. Giving me a total sturation of about 350,000 people. I know I live in Rurual Arkansas; What can you expect.

7. I did a full needs assessment on each individual, and there were some cases that I could not approve their situation. In those cases I did not replace their annuity.

( I am curious now; Are you a compliance director?.........LOL)

I KEEP TRACK OF THE ANNUITY MATURITY DATES FOR FUTURE REFERENCE. There is also a huge potential for cross-selling here; Which I utilize.

I hope this answers your questions and I am glad that you found my thread useful. Happy Hunting and good luck.
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How does the CPA do the pass off to you? Are you both in the same building?

The accountant has an initial review; which I am not present during. the next review is when they( Accountant and the client) get down to the brass tacks. I am present during the second meeting. He says something to the fact " I have an Individual meeting with us today that I feel will be very beneficial. He is a licensed Insurance agent and is an expert in the field of annuities; May he join us? YES.


We are not in the same building, but he does work on my payroll, and is right down the street. I will not go into particulars here as this is an hour conversation in itself. Lets just say that our relationship is mutually beneficial. If you would like to know more feel free to call me.

I have a saying that I would like to share here:

"Give a man an idea and you will change him for a month, Teach a man to think and you have changed him forever."- ME

I am in the business of teaching people to think. My services are relatively inexpensive, considering the obvious. To be very candid with you I have a great many more ideas, that are more successful than this one. My best marketing piece has generated almost 20 million in annuity production per year for the past 3 years running now.
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Very creative idea. How long have you worked with this particular CPA? And I can see that you would have increased credibility if a CPA is referring you.

Also, would you please post the ad that you used?

Thanks for sharing.

Happy New Year!

I do not think this public forum is the place for such an AD, as I have a patent on it. I did however want to share an idea that somebody could take and possibly alter to their own area. I do provide this to my agents.

I am sure some will come on here and say that is not fair. To those I say this. There is a fundamental difference between an idea and a marketing piece. An idea is a thought of pure enlightenment, where as a marketing piece has been tried and tested. Anybody who tells you that they are going to give you something for free; after they have spent 100's of hours perfecting it and countless thousands of dollars is lying to you.


I have worked with this particular accountant for 4 years now.

 

[Charpress]

Maybe I'm missing something in the first link of what seems like a good marketing idea.

How many dumb accountants are there out there? I know there must be some, because I know a few. However, annuity growth would not normally even get a 1099. So, under what circumstances would someone report non-reportable income from an annuity?

It seems to me the success of this would largely depend on how happy someone was after they first met with the CPA and that a mistake was indeed made on the annuity income. "Oh boy, I'm getting a refund and I'm meeting with an annuity expert."

 

[Mr. Bill]

Maybe I'm missing something in the first link of what seems like a good marketing idea.

How many dumb accountants are there out there? I know there must be some, because I know a few. However, annuity growth would not normally even get a 1099. So, under what circumstances would someone report non-reportable income from an annuity?

It seems to me the success of this would largely depend on how happy someone was after they first met with the CPA and that a mistake was indeed made on the annuity income. "Oh boy, I'm getting a refund and I'm meeting with an annuity expert."

Oh, I've seen it. Think H&R Block. Then again, think of the basic premise of Missed Fortune strategies - if the CPA doesn't understand the tax laws, their name is still on the return, and they get to represent the client before the IRS. When it comes to IRAs, think IRDs. 'Nuf said!

 

[Charpress]

Interesting. One problem I have is with over-estimating people, especially people that are supposed to have some level of expertise. I certainly don't over-estimate the American voter any more.

On the H&R block thing, I definitely get your point. Locally there is almost nothing involved in licensing to become a "tax preparer."

Also, I wonder how many people screw themselves with TurboTax and the like? Maybe that should be a line in the ad: "Are computer tax preparing programs costing you tax dollars?"

 

[Mr. Bill]

Well, the one difference is that ultimately, with Turbo Tax, it's garbage-in-garbage-out, and while TT may guarantee their calculations, those who try to mess with the feds will have an awfully hard time 'splaining themselves. A bit of overconfidence, I would say.