Suspicion

[Glad2bHere]

Hi Folks:

Had my first solo sit-down with an elderly woman. "Fiesty" does not even come CLOSE to describing her defensiveness. It was very plain that she had a hard life and generally dealt with me like I crawled out for under a rock. I'm guessing that she has had more than her fair share of run-ins with Snake Oil Salesmen. Anyhow my goal rapidly shifted from an informational meeting to just getting her to agree to meeting next Saturday for some conversation and maybe a bit of gardening.

Question: Have any of the more experienced folks here have any experiences with bruised or battered folks and care to share how they were able to establish a level of trust? Any input would be welcome.

Best Wishes,

Bruce

 

[VolAgent]

I'll be frank, I prefer to spend my time with people who want my help. I can't get rid of time wasters fast enough. I'm sure she is a lovely lady and a great mother and grandmother. But I prefer not to invest my time in people who don't want my help. My time is better spent that way and there are more than enough people who do want my help to keep me business.

I like to help people, but I am also not a charity. Find people who want your help and can afford to take action. While they are not the majority, there are more than enough to keep us all busy. In fact, most will buy from several different agents during their lifetime. Why spend your time on someone who doesn't trust or appreciate you?

 

[xrac]

The FE business is the simplest to understand of all. You are going to need money at the end and how are you going to come up with it. Do you trust me? Is this option better than anything you have now? Sounds to me like you never gained her trust but that was probably because it was your first sit down. You are going to burn through some at the start.

 

[Glad2bHere]

Thanks, guys. Would it be enough to simply sign her up for a 20 year term (she's 70 now) and make the pay-out about $10K or should I actually go looking for an FE instrument. Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

 

[xrac]

Thanks, guys. Would it be enough to simply sign her up for a 20 year term (she's 70 now) and make the pay-out about $10K or should I actually go looking for an FE instrument. Thoughts?

Best Wishes,

If she lives to 90 she has nothing.

 

[Stephen]

I'll be frank, I prefer to spend my time with people who want my help. I can't get rid of time wasters fast enough. I'm sure she is a lovely lady and a great mother and grandmother. But I prefer not to invest my time in people who don't want my help. My time is better spent that way and there are more than enough people who do want my help to keep me business.

I like to help people, but I am also not a charity. Find people who want your help and can afford to take action. While they are not the majority, there are more than enough to keep us all busy. In fact, most will buy from several different agents during their lifetime. Why spend your time on someone who doesn't trust or appreciate you?

This is the truth. Why spend hours gardening with an angry person while there is someone that needs insurance?

Tell her that you have more people to see that need help making sure that their final arrangement are taken care of. Does she want you to see what you can do for her, or would it be best to go see the people that actually want your help?

 

[GreenSky]

I'll be frank

Did Frank's wife agree?

Rick

 

[GoCubsGo]

I'll be frank, I prefer to spend my time with people who want my help. I can't get rid of time wasters fast enough. I'm sure she is a lovely lady and a great mother and grandmother. But I prefer not to invest my time in people who don't want my help. My time is better spent that way and there are more than enough people who do want my help to keep me business.

I like to help people, but I am also not a charity. Find people who want your help and can afford to take action. While they are not the majority, there are more than enough to keep us all busy. In fact, most will buy from several different agents during their lifetime. Why spend your time on someone who doesn't trust or appreciate you?

True when you are a more experienced agent but for a new agent with not a lot of clients to get in front of it might be worth spending some time. Those types can sometimes be worn down with niceness if that's a word. I think from the interaction you might come away with some experience you can use later. Yea, if you don't have time then bitch slap her and move on. ha

 

[moonlightandmargaritas]

True when you are a more experienced agent but for a new agent with not a lot of clients to get in front of it might be worth spending some time.

When the problem is not enough prospects (common), according to your "theory", they're better off "spending time" with unqualified prospects, praying and hopin' that they'll catch lightning in a bottle, than using the time to prospect for qualified prospects?

Geez, I hope you don't "manage" agents. No wonder this kind of thinking has lead to the 95% failure rate of agents...

Brutal.

 

[VolAgent]

True when you are a more experienced agent but for a new agent with not a lot of clients to get in front of it might be worth spending some time. Those types can sometimes be worn down with niceness if that's a word. I think from the interaction you might come away with some experience you can use later. Yea, if you don't have time then bitch slap her and move on. ha

M&M nailed it. I use to have that same thought process, make the most of meager prospects. I found the light. Instead of hard closing low quality prospects, spend your time finding more and better quality prospects.