You now have a budget of $15k

[Tahoe Ray]

100% of my marketing is dinner seminars and they absolutely work but you might have to change some things around.

I didn't have a lot of success when I would host things like a social security seminars or a tax planning seminars because I struggled with transitioning to the sale.

However when I changed the seminar to focus directly on the benefit of the annuity...safety, protection from market risk etc I started having success. I cover the downsides of the annuities at the seminars as well.

Like some of the other posts have mentioned the key is consistency. Do one every month no matter what. It is not uncommon to blank two events in a row but write 1.8 mil on the third.

Yes the sale is transactional at first but over time you can layer in additional sales(life,LTC) over time as the develop relationships with the people.

Agree 100% with this.

To the OP:

Consistency is key but the mailing often costs as much or more than the dinner seminar so mail for multiple (Tuesday/Thursday)

Have a system to get appointments literally at the seminar. This may sound pushy but it works. It is very hard to work a seminar by yourself. You're the star, your assistant (or spouse or whoever) is there to help with all of these tasks.

You want a check-in table, and someone to help out when something goes sideways (a/v, servers, a disruptive attendee, etc.)

Present before the meal and after the waitstaff has taken orders. Ask the waitstaff to take orders as people come in. Have a set time to present and then however long your presentation is, have them served afterward.

While they're eating, walk around and introduce yourself. Ask if they have questions. You're presenting to the person but also to the table (again).

Make sure that everyone knows to book an appointment with your assistant before they leave. I have been at many dinner seminars where the assistant follows the presenter to the table on the spot. Again, that is pretty pushy but it works depending on your geographic region.

The issue with dinner seminars is that they're very expensive to figure out what works for you and for your demographics.

Once you figure it out though, there is a lot of opportunity.

Good luck.

 

[Narwhal]

100% of my marketing is dinner seminars and they absolutely work but you might have to change some things around.

I didn't have a lot of success when I would host things like a social security seminars or a tax planning seminars because I struggled with transitioning to the sale.

However when I changed the seminar to focus directly on the benefit of the annuity...safety, protection from market risk etc I started having success. I cover the downsides of the annuities at the seminars as well.

Like some of the other posts have mentioned the key is consistency. Do one every month no matter what. It is not uncommon to blank two events in a row but write 1.8 mil on the third.

Yes the sale is transactional at first but over time you can layer in additional sales(life,LTC) over time as the develop relationships with the people.

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one struggling to convert from tax seminars. I am holding another seminar in October directed at annuities and my rep from my IMO is coming out to delivery the content. This event will cost me much less and I'm hoping to learn more about the process from someone who has done many of these. Thank you for your response.

 

[Narwhal]

Agree 100% with this.

To the OP:

Consistency is key but the mailing often costs as much or more than the dinner seminar so mail for multiple (Tuesday/Thursday)

Have a system to get appointments literally at the seminar. This may sound pushy but it works. It is very hard to work a seminar by yourself. You're the star, your assistant (or spouse or whoever) is there to help with all of these tasks.

You want a check-in table, and someone to help out when something goes sideways (a/v, servers, a disruptive attendee, etc.)

Present before the meal and after the waitstaff has taken orders. Ask the waitstaff to take orders as people come in. Have a set time to present and then however long your presentation is, have them served afterward.

While they're eating, walk around and introduce yourself. Ask if they have questions. You're presenting to the person but also to the table (again).

Make sure that everyone knows to book an appointment with your assistant before they leave. I have been at many dinner seminars where the assistant follows the presenter to the table on the spot. Again, that is pretty pushy but it works depending on your geographic region.

The issue with dinner seminars is that they're very expensive to figure out what works for you and for your demographics.

Once you figure it out though, there is a lot of opportunity.

Good luck.

Thank you. I held this one at the library and knew from the getgo it would be a challenge because I had to deliver certain content that didn't align with my personal mission statement but I did it anyway. Shame on me. I know my skill set as a lot to blame for this and I'm ok woth that right now. I learned a lot from the process and I know some of what needs done to improve the next one. Thanks for your response.

 

[Narwhal]

First and foremost, ask for referrals from your existing clients.
"Hey, you are great and I really value the type of client you are. Not everyone is like you! I grow my business mostly by word of mouth. And I need more clients like you. There is a good chance you probably know a few people similar to you, who would benefit from how I help clients. Would you be willing to introduce me to 2 or 3 friends like that?"

IF you do a seminar, dont feed people. Water/coffee/soda/snacks are all you need. If you need a location, choose the public library.

This not only reduces cost, but it eliminates the plate lickers and gets you people who are actually interested in the subject matter. However, it will reduce response rate as well. But it will be a smaller pool of much more interested prospects.

Try online ads promoting MYGA rates, instead of seminars. But you will need at least a basic website. And you will need decent looking ads. You will end up selling some FIAs as well.

If you are good at door knocking, go door knock for annuities!! Not FE...
Just choose a different neighborhood. Not the nicest in town, not the worst, somewhere in the middle with a good amount of people 55+.
MYGA rates are very easy to market and tell people about. And you will sell some FIAs while doing it. Edward Jones reps still door knock to this day for investment clients. It can work.

If you want to buy leads, buy term leads. $15k goes a long way with term leads. And you will not have the chargebacks like you do with FE. Different demographic. Plus you could cross-sell DI to them.

Network. You have a "natural market" with the people/places you normally go. Dont "sell" them, just tell them how you help people, and ask if they are in a position to speak to you about it. Sell them term/wl/gul/di/annuities/etc.

Thank you for your response. In regard to MYGA and advertising in general. I worry about compliance. I know not to mention specific products but I'm not sure where exactly all the red tape hangs.

 

[Narwhal]

I don't like what these guys call the FE market. I do like SIWL. Table rated Whole Life. Sold to regular bill paying people that may have small <$50k need and some normal ailments.

A lot of my termites fall into that category as they term out. Great reason to collect orphan termites. Xdate



It's a very underrated activity.

I guess it is now called drip marketing. Kind of gives me the cringeys.

IMohsoHO

I don't like it either. The way it's gone about seems predatory and that not how I want to operate. Maybe I was woth the wrong IMO with the wrong process, or maybe that the way they all operate. Either way its not my cup of tea. After years in the car business I want to do somthing that actually helps people and puts them in a better situation. Thanks for your response.

 

[WinoBlues]

I don't like it either. The way it's gone about seems predatory and that not how I want to operate. Maybe I was woth the wrong IMO with the wrong process, or maybe that the way they all operate. Either way its not my cup of tea. After years in the car business I want to do somthing that actually helps people and puts them in a better situation. Thanks for your response.

A lot of ways to do what we do.

 

[LostDollar]

X date CDs of the tax clients as the CDs renewing are generally 1 of 2 things: 1. Lower now than when most were bought 7 -14 months ago, or 2. Most banks pay almost 0% on renewing internal CD renewal rates compared to the lure in rates they put on billboards for new money

Caveat, not an agent.

In my city, right now at least, the lure-in rates still exist at the local credit unions I use. You have to watch your mail for CD renewal dates, mark it on the calendar, and then get into their facilities within the 10 grace period for changing renewal instructions on the maturing CD.

 

[Allen Trent]

Caveat, not an agent.

In my city, right now at least, the lure-in rates still exist at the local credit unions I use. You have to watch your mail for CD renewal dates, mark it on the calendar, and then get into their facilities within the 10 grace period for changing renewal instructions on the maturing CD.

yup, still that way in most cities. But if you walk in at your existing bank & say you want that rate with, say, money you have already in checking/savings, they many times wont give existing clients the lure in rate.

yup, local banks usually set up on auto renew & your job as consumer to micro-manage not having it renew.

I own a lot of CDS, but I have them in my Fidelity Brokerage account & none are set up on auto-renew.

Local bank my dad has been with for 50 years just screwed up his CDs last week. He had CDs my mom bought years ago, all were literally paying .10%, even though all renewed in last year. He & my sister went in to the bank to get the 4.75% rate posted. They gave him a hard time, but allowed him to get the higher rate. But the teller messed up the paperwork & put the CDS in my dad & my sisters name instead of in his trust name like his checking, savings & other CDs. So, if my dad dies, all those CDs are now legally my sisters. Bank manager said they cant change the ownership now & would require all new paperwork to open new CD # with Trust as owner. Seen this many times where people have had trusts for years, but a bank rep or mortgage rep not paying attention takes an asset already owned by a trust & puts it in personal name. 80 year old neighbor owned house in trust for 20 years, sold house & bought a condo. Realtor & mortage person put the deed in his personal name. He died & condo has to go through probate. crazy stuff

 

[LostDollar]

yup, still that way in most cities. But if you walk in at your existing bank & say you want that rate with, say, money you have already in checking/savings, they many times wont give existing clients the lure in rate.

I have to have the cd's on auto renew at the local institutions.

Some of the local credit unions do require the money to be new money to the institution to get the higher rate, but that is not the case at the particular credit union I do business with. I can take money from a cd on a teaser rate and put it in a new cd at the current teaser rate as long as I get there within the 10 grace period from the maturing cd.

And this is where the small amounts I have become a problem. I wanted to get some of this money in an annuity in order to reduce this amount of effort but the amounts I have are small enough that agents are not interested in helping me. I had closed out my annuity ladder system to accumulate money to buy the annuities. With the lack of help, I am going back to CDs at my credit union.

Fidelity and Schwab are useless to me. I have 3-5K in an account at Fidelity for 2 years that I can't get out because I did something when I put the money in that prevents me from moving it back out. No clue. I will have to talk to a CSR to get it worked out and not looking forward to that.

The menu systems at Fidelity and Schwab are obscenely complicated, I can not navigate them and figure out what to do when I want to put money in, move it around, or find index funds to put it in. It is one thing to read simple sounding steps in a book like the Millionaire Teacher and another to actually try to go to the organizations and manage the money. That was another reason to try to go with annuities, but again getting an agent to sell me what I want (three 20K annuities for income and one 10K annuity for wealth transfer) has not been possible. (And now income rider rates on FIA's seem to have dropped so the plan I developed 8 months ago is not even a reasonable plan currently.)

I do have a place I can understand the menus, but I have also been told getting money back out of that organization might be a challenge, at least in some circumstances, so I have been hesitant to pursue that as a solution.

 

[genefl]

Experience annuity agents this is for you. You've just finished you first year in the space and by the standards of many your doing well and written about $2MM in business utilizing your partnership network. The problem is your partnership is with another licensed agent who's main business is preparing taxes for a 2k client book of business and your commissions are 50% of street comp. You've held your seminar, spent $9K and landed 0 business. Needing to do more and branch out you realize you are down to your last $15K. What are you doing to brand and market yourself to acquire new leads?

May need to stop seminars selling and look at buying leads or appointments to get a larger allotment of potential customers.