Successful Annuity Selling by Becoming a Barber

Have you ever considered the experience in getting a haircut to the marketing of annuities? They are very similar in the process.

Many agents call me and want me to help a specific case with all sorts of contingency issues. The agent wants to make the sale and if he could get some help on a certain point then the prospect will surely buy. Generally this is a situation where the issues are not as clear and the agent thinks. My experience has shown that resistance to buying is based on one thing?a lousy fact finder.

When I encounter this issue in my own practice and a prospect I think should buy will not then I just use the ?barber syndrome.?

NEXT!

It is so much easier to move on to another sales situation than to beat a dead horse to death. Put your energies to work in marketing and finding new prospects than worrying about one prospect. If they haven?t bought after you presented the solution developed in the fact finder?they are never going to buy from you.

The idea of firing the prospect and moving to the next one is totally liberating. It puts you as the salesperson in control and makes the business model work so much better. Our products are not for everyone and our prospects situation can never be put into a prefabricated mold. By retaining control over who you do business with gives you an attitude of control and professionalism. Do not be afraid to fire a prospect and move on. There is always someone else to see and someone else to tell our story too.

Next!

Bill Broich is a 30 year annuity salesman who helps agents generate annuity leads. Visit his website to learn more - Annuity.com

A Guide to Annuity Products

Annuity is a fixed amount of money received for the whole life or a definite time period specified and agreed upon, in the contract. A savings account is the most common example of an annuity, where the annuitant deposits the principal amount of money to earn a certain percentage. The annuitants may invest this money in business, insurance companies or lend it to individuals. The percentage of the income is specified at the time of agreement. This serves as a partial return of the principal amount and an additional income, simultaneously.

In case of group annuity contracts, the periodic payments are made to one of the employers, covered by a master contract signed by the employer. Retirement annuities are paid only post-retirement. In case of the annuitant?s death, before the expiry of the agreed period or the annuitant?s decision to surrender the policy, a certain amount is paid back to the annuitant?s beneficiary.

A fixed annuity refers to a specific amount of payment after the defined period, irrespective of the financial crisis faced by the company. In case of a variable annuity, the payment amount depends on the success of the investment and fluctuates accordingly. Straight annuities are contracts for making variable payments on a monthly or yearly basis, while life annuities are paid only during the lifetime of the annuitant and ceases with death.

Deferred annuity payments commence on a decided future date, provided the annuitant is alive. This also delays the income tax payments till the annuity payment starts. A refund annuity promises to refund certain amount of cash during the lifetime of the annuitant and in case of death the person?s estate receives the money. Joint annuities are payable to two persons named in the agreement, one of whom receives the money, in case the other dies.

Buy Annuity provides detailed information on Buy Annuity, Buy Annuity Leads, Buy Fixed Annuity, Buy Retirement Annuity and more. Buy Annuity is affiliated with Fixed Annuities

Annuity Rescue - How to Save Yourself a Bundle

Is Your Annuity Really Working For You? Annuity expenses have a significant impact on your potential returns! Tax-deferred investing

• An income stream in retirement.
• Insuring your principal in case of death.
• Unlimited contributions.

For all these reasons and more, annuities offer a world of promise for investors in search of growth and/or income investing opportunities. Unfortunately, annuity purchasers don't always spend enough time understanding the real costs of the annuities they purchase. Do you know whether your annuity is low cost or high cost? Or the effect these costs may have over time? First, it's important to understand that every annuity carries an administration charge known as M&E (mortality and expense). There are also costs associated with the mutual fund investments found within the annuity. In addition, most insurance companies charge a surrender penalty of 5% to 10% if an investor wants out of the contract before a designated period of time is up. The bottom line: annuity expenses can have a substantial impact on your potential returns. In fact, your investing success and the resulting stream of income at retirement are greatly affected by the administration fees of your annuity - similar to the mortgage rate of your home loan.

To see what a difference lower fees can make on the potential growth of your annuity policy, visit one of our favorite tools: the Ameritas Annuity Cost Comparison Calculator at the Ameritas Direct website.

http://www.ameritasdirect.com/services/lowfees.htm To compare costs accurately, enter your current annuity expenses, an investment amount and time horizon, and other expense assumptions you'd like to consider. Keep in mind that all variable products have some investment risk, including possible loss of principal.

Also, investment returns will fluctuate over time due to market activity and an underlying portfolio's objectives - so that investor shares, when redeemed, may be worth more or less than their original cost. Also, if you're considering switching annuities, be aware that there may be penalties and surrender charges which can be substantial. It's your money. Ensure that your annuity is working for you and your retirement nest egg, not for the insurance or fund company.

Article reprinted with permission of Ameritas Life Insurance Company

Steve Hood

LifePlan Advisors, Inc.
A Registered Investment Advisory Firm

For help or answers to your questions call 541 549-1154

http://www.allweatherinvestors.com

"Your Guide to Lifetime Financial Security and Independence"

26 years of helping our clients and friends meet their retirement goals

Prospect Accessibility is the Key to Annuity Leads and Sales

We all want to make the big annuity sale. We all want to climb to the top of our industry and get that special trip the insurance company is offering. We all want the respect and the income we envision for ourselves.

So why is it some of us can achieve it and some of us languish in mediocrity?

Is it because we don?t work as hard as the big producers? Is it because we don?t have the magical close? Is it because we don?t have the best products?

It actually is none of those things. What is it then?

It is nothing other than target market accessibility. It is that simple.

Here is an example, if we only want to work with brain surgeons, how likely is it we will have a full calendar every day?

What about CFOs, CEOs? Get it! The more refined our target market is the more narrow our options. So what would be a great target market?

A nationally know brokerage house recently put in guidelines for their brokers as to who would be the basic client. In other words what was the lowest denominator for a potential client? They suggested to prospect based on income and net worth.

Their suggested guidelines were household income of $100,000 and a minimum net worth of $1,000,000. I looked at this and wondered how hard it would be to find people in this category and if I could find them, could I see them under a favorable basis?

If all the brokerage firms were chasing the same target market, where should I go? How do I fill my calendar each day with my target market? It really was easy once I realized who would best benefit from my simple and easy to understand products.

Here is my target market and one in which there are unlimited people to see and guess what? They don?t come with advisors in tow! I can see them for daytime appointments and they appreciate my annuity products.

My target market:

A married couple with total assets of $600,000 or LESS! This would include their home. Household income was not important and it still isn?t. I like folks in there 70?s and who would have about $200,000 in available assets. A typical case would be an IRA with about $100,000 and the rest in banks and mutual funds.

This target market is everywhere and they all want someone to help them.

If you want to be an annuity salesman and sell $10,000,0000 a year in premium do what I do. Find nice people who are in this target market who will see you and who will appreciate your products. You will have more annuity leads and prospects than you can shake an appointment calendar at.

It is as easy as can be. Let the brokers all fight it out over their target market, use mine and get rich.

Bill Broich is a 30 year annuity salesman who helps insurance agents attract more annuity prospects and sell more annuities. Visit his website for a free annuity quote. Annuity.com

News Article Expert Annuity Lead Program

Are you an annuity agent looking for a surefire lead program? Try writing news articles for your local newspaper. Neighborhood newspapers gladly print compelling copy of interest to readers. You also position yourself as the expert in your field and, being perceived as the expert, your sale is practically in the bag even before you meet your prospect.

Successful annuity agents are those who position themselves as the "expert" in their field. An expert is held in higher regard than a salesperson. An expert substitutes the sales presentation for a polished dialog of probing, educated questions that expose symptoms of financial disorder. After proper diagnosis, an expert does not attempt a close. An expert simply prescribes a cure, finishes up the paperwork and moves on to the next patient or client, the unspoken question being, "Do you want to stay sick or do you want to get well?"

Experts are experts because their reputation precedes them. It's all in the setup. There is no reality, only perception. If the prospect first hears about you by reading your newspaper article, you are already the expert. People want to be clients of experts for many reasons, including bragging rights. Sales transactions are pretty much understood even before appointments are set. Your starting point in the sales process is leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. Your annuity lead program is uniquely personal. And one of the most powerful ways of becoming the expert while generating referral-quality leads is through systematically submitting topical, high-content news articles for publication in hometown Senior newspapers.

Newspapers hunger for news and will gladly print informative content, especially from a local expert whose specialty is of interest to their readers. Articles of 400 and 600 words in length should be submitted periodically, should be informational (not a sales pitch) and filled with take-home value. The author's name, photo and contact information is included in case readers wish to pursue additional information or contact the expert about specific concerns. There is no cleaner annuity lead program, no higher quality lead than a news article inquiry.

Unfortunately, most successful annuity advisors don't have the time to write compelling news copy. I've known successful agents barely capable of constructing one-word sentences. But now, a limited number of agents have the opportunity to participate in our News Article Expert Annuity Lead Program.

In the time-honored tradition of ghostwriting, I provide qualifying agents with a new article each month, packed with vital information on Senior financial issues. Territories are exclusive to avoid overlapping geography, and I include my author's release of copyright allowing you to list your name as author, your photo and contact information.

If you are a licensed life insurance agent not currently contracted through Life Sales and wish to begin or advance your career selling fixed annuities, our News Article Expert Annuity Lead Program is for you. Come onboard with two or more of our carriers - Allianz, ING, Sun Life Financial, or American Equity - and receive 200 leads as a signing bonus. Then with your first 2000 QPCs (roughly $40,000 in paid business depending on carrier and product) in any one month, within two months of coming onboard, you'll receive your free six-month subscription to our News Article Expert Annuity Lead Program. Remember, territories are exclusive and you will receive my ghostwriter release of copyright.

http://www.Free-Insurance-Leads.com Gary Le Mon is a wholesale distributor of fixed indexed annuities for Allianz, American Equity, Sun Life Financial, and ING. Author and developer of the Safe Money Seminar, a financial planning seminar for Seniors, Gary serves as guest speaker on behalf of agents and agencies nationwide

Annuity Settlement Options: Annuitize or Lump Sum?

Annuity settlement options can be puzzling. Many people have purchased annuities of all types for the tax deferral feature. For many retirees the time has come to make the shift from accumulation to payout. Here are some considerations to help determine what?s best for you.

The most popular annuity settlement option is annuitization ? to take payments over a time frame that you select, which may include the rest of your life. When you annuitize, you receive payments (monthly, semi-annually, annually) in exchange for surrendering your annuity to the annuity insurance company. Your annuitization options usually include:

Lifetime Income

Period Certain

Period Certain Plus Life

Here is how Lifetime Income works. Let?s say you have $100,000 in an annuity and the insurance company calculates that, due to your age and gender, it will pay you $1,500 a month for as long as you live. You collect $1,500 the first month, $1,500 the next month, and $1,500 the following month. Then you get run over by a truck and die. You bet the insurance company you would outlive your $100,000 and you lost. $4,500 is all you get; they keep the rest. This is maybe not such a good deal.

Your second option is called Period Certain. This means you can take your money out over a period of 5, 10, 15, or 20 years. The insurance company guarantees to pay out all your money (plus interest) over that period. If you do not live to the end of the period, your beneficiary gets the remaining money in your annuity over the balance of the period. Live or die, you or somebody else gets back all your money.

The third option is Period Certain Plus Life. Here the insurance company guarantees to pay you a check each month for a certain period of time, plus, if you live beyond that period (even if you live to be 150 years old) you?ll receive monthly income that you cannot outlive.

The choices are not so simple. A monk in a monastery, for example, may well expect to live to a ripe old age and do better with a Lifetime Income (Although I wonder what he would spend the money on). Someone with a terminal illness may want to take a lump-sum settlement or a 5-year Period Certain. Take a close look at factors such as your health and spouse?s health, your age and spouse?s age, other sources of income, and your tax bracket.

For more flexibility you could opt for Systematic Withdrawals. In this case, you would receive a fixed percentage of the account value or a fixed monthly amount. You could stop this arrangement at any time and simply withdraw your remaining balance.

Although Systematic Withdrawals appear to have advantages over annuitization, note these two differences: With annuitization as your annuity settlement option, you can lock in a guaranteed monthly income regardless of the performance of your annuity. In addition, annuitization lengthens the tax deferral period since only part of each payment is taxed. The IRS considers the other part of your payments a return of principal.

Finally, you may want to just keep the annuity growing and not take payments at all. Some annuities, however, do not allow this and force withdrawals by a certain age. One option for you is a tax-free exchange to another annuity that may have more liberal withdrawal requirements, but watch out for surrender charges on your existing policy.

You probably never thought getting a check could be so complicated. It?s really not as messy as it sounds. In fact, I have annuity agents all across America who specialize in solving such problems. There is no charge or obligation. To have your choices compared, we would be happy to review any type of annuity settlement option and figure the most appropriate withdrawal option for you. Just click on the link in my bio below and fill out the form.

http://www.insurance-quote-advisor.com/annuity-settlement-options.html Gary Le Mon is a wholesale distributor of fixed indexed annuities for Allianz, American Equity, Sun Life Financial, and ING. Author and developer of the Safe Money Seminar, a financial planning seminar for Seniors, Gary serves as guest speaker on behalf of agents and agencies nationwide. He is coach, mentor and motivator to over 700 general agents in his insurance marketing organization, InsuranStar Marketing. See also Free-Insurance-Leads.com.

Annuity Lead Scam Watch

Although annuity lead scams are out there, agents agree that leads are the lifeblood of their business. No matter how good the products or presentation, without a qualified prospect there can be no sale. Annuity agents also agree there is a vast difference between a lead and a qualified prospect. If you are among the majority of agents who depend on lead generating companies to supply both prospects and suspects, you need to know the standards and definitions of a legitimate lead, a qualified prospect, and an outright scam.

Leads fall into two categories, raw and qualified. Raw leads are generated according to demographics. Qualified leads are further refined by the subject's level of interest in you and your products. All leads should be filtered by specific criteria which often includes age, income, geography and possibly home ownership and marital status. When you pay extra to have your leads qualified, you refine your list of suspects down to prospects.

Annuity lead costs can range from 10? to 75? for each name on a raw list, up to $10 to $35 each for individuals who have qualified themselves by (a) knowing who you are, (b) knowing what you sell, and (c) agreeing to talk to you further. Internet leads and direct mail/direct response leads are often well qualified and worth the investment. Insist on exclusivity (you are the only agent getting the lead) and freshness (the fresher the better). Anything less can be a waste of time.

Telemarketing is still a viable means of lead generation, but there are two red flags to watch out for. Beware of companies using immature, inexperienced telemarketers who have an hourly quota to fill or who get paid per lead generated. Ask specifically who makes the calls and how they are paid. Another bad omen is the telemarketing company that charges per lead instead of by the hour. In my 30 years in the lead business I have never found a telemarketing company that consistently generates a predetermined number of leads at a fixed cost without compromising the quality. Unfortunately, most annuity agents opt for the false sense of security of knowing how many leads they get for their money instead of how good the leads will be. Quality is always the bottom line.

The gold standard of qualified leads is the preset appointment. This prospect fits the demographic and is further qualified by (a) knowing who you are, (b) knowing what you sell, and (c) agreeing to meet with you at a time and place to hear your presentation. Salespeople of all persuasions yearn for the days when they can leave prospecting behind and just do what they do best: sell and close, sell and close. But this yearning often overpowers better judgment, and many promising careers have been cut short by preset appointment programs that sound great but just don't deliver.

Ironically, the preset appointment program I hear cursed most often is the one promoted by the highest grossing field marketing organization in the country. Every agent I talk to (that's 100%) describes them as a complete waste of money. One agent told me he was quoted a fee of $5,614 for 40 appointments, of which only 25 would be replaced in case of a no-show. As expected, their standard operating procedure is to use immature, inexperienced telemarketers who have an hourly quota to fill or who get paid per lead generated. They also charge per appointment instead of by the hour.

In all fairness to legitimate annuity lead producers, however, there are three things an agent must do with every lead or appointment that often get neglected. First, assuming the leads can be emailed or posted to a web calendar as soon as they are generated, the agent must call the prospects and confirm the appointment time, place and date. Do not talk product. Just confirm and show up.

Second, if you purchase direct mail/direct response leads, do not take the lazy approach of calling for an appointment. It is imperative you use the Drop-By System. If you try to skip the work by calling for an appointment, you are just another junk phone caller - even though they signed the postage-paid card and mailed it back asking you to call them. Your appointment setting rate will struggle to reach 20%. But if you follow the Drop-By System to the letter, your appointment setting rate will soar to between 60% and 80%.

Third, before you spend any money on annuity leads or preset appointments (or before you use up the free leads your marketing organization gave you as a recruiting bonus), make sure your presentation and close are well rehearsed and brightly polished. I often hear agents say, "Just give me someone to talk to, I can sell anybody." The next thing I hear from them is, "These leads stink!"

Annuity lead scams are out there. But fortunately, there are enough good companies to keep faith (and production) alive. If you want to report on an exceptionally good, or bad, annuity lead generating company you've had experience with, please drop me a line by clicking on one of the links in my bio below.

http://www.Free-Insurance-Leads.com Gary Le Mon is a wholesale distributor of fixed indexed annuities for Allianz, American Equity, Sun Life Financial, and ING. See also Insurance-Lead-Programs.com

Buy Fixed Annuity

Annuity can be bought in different forms. However, the deferred annuities come under three main categories. They include fixed annuity, variable annuity and the equity-indexed annuity. Each has its own characteristics and offers varying returns and benefits. Fixed annuity is one the most popular of annuity offered in the financial market. In this form of annuity, the risks are minimal and are the liabilities of the financial company ? also known as insurer - offering it. However, the investor ? also known as the insured - has no risks on investments, whatsoever.

Generally, the terms of fixed annuity hover around the following main aspects. The insurer offers to pay you a fixed amount of return on your investments for a certain amount of years. The insured has the option of paying the investment money either as lump sum amount or paid over a period of installments.

Now whatever be the market conditions, the insurer has to pay the insured the fixed amount as guaranteed in the agreement. This feature makes fixed annuity the safest and surest way to make assured returns on investment. The issuing financial company offers to reimburse both principal and the earnings.

However, there is a flip side to it too. If the prevailing market conditions are buoyant, the investor has to be content with only the assured amount of return. While insurer, on the other hand, makes handsome gains from the invested money. Conversely, there are some issues that an investor should consider before buying fixed annuity.

It?s not ideal to invest in an annuity unless there are ample contributions to other retirement plans, such as an IRA or 401(k). Simply because, these plans offer the same tax deferral as annuities minus the fees. And if an investment is made in an annuity inside a tax-advantaged account, there would be no extra tax benefit to avail. The other repelling factor is the 10 percent penalty an investor under the age of 59 ? has to pay on earnings. It?s also advisable to check the credentials of insurer before making investments. Insurers with AA or higher ratings reflect positive financial strength of the company.



Buy Annuity provides detailed information on Buy Annuity, Buy Annuity Leads, Buy Fixed Annuity, Buy Retirement Annuity and more. Buy Annuity is affliated with Fixed Annuities.

The Terrible Truth about Insurance and Annuity Leads

You see the websites, you see the ads: exclusive, never before sold, prospects eager to buy, insurance and annuity leads. Some leads cost a few dollars - others are over one-hundred a pop.

I was curious, just how good are these insurance and annuity leads? I decided to find out.

Im not going to name specific insurance and annuity lead websites, but I will give you a summary of how it all shook out.

Insurance and Annuity Lead Website A:

Cost: Cheap

Results: Terrible. 10% of the leads my staff called got number no longer in service recordings. The rest: the people had no idea what we were talking about. They were not interested in annuities, insurance or investments, nor did they remember filling out a request for information form on the internet.

Sales: 0

Insurance and Annuity Lead Website B:

Cost: Average

Results: Terrible. Prospects didnt recall filling out request for information on anything related to annuities, insurance or financial planning. Most just hung-up.

Sales: 0

Insurance and Annuity Leads Website C:

Cost: Expensive

Results: About twenty percent remembered filling out a request for info. However, they had been called numerous times by different agents. Most were getting sick and tired of the calls. A few had begun working with other agents. Most hung-up angrily.

Sales: 0


I spent two-thousand dollars on this experiment. I did not find one-receptive buyer. I had thrown away my money, not to mention time spent by my phoning staff to contact these hot prospects.

What the heck was going on? How could these websites sell such garbage?

I poked around, wrote a few e-mails to industry experts, not surprisingly, nobody got back to me. Luckily, I did end up making contact with a marketing person who had previously worked for a big lead selling outfit. She gave me the juicy details of how the majority of these lead companies operate, whether it is insurance leads, long-term care leads, annuity leads, or MLM/Work-from-Home leads. They all employ the same methods.

Method 1: You send cute E-card to your mother wishing her a happy birthday. You fill out name, e-mail and click send. Your name and e-mail are captured. If the site is a lead harvester masquerading as an e-card site, you will now be e-mailed by people looking to sell you annuities, business opportunity offers, etc.

Method 2: Leads site buys huge database, often just regional phone book listings. They sell these leads, which are nothing more than names and numbers picked from the phonebook. Some of these people may even be on the Do Not Call list, which could land you in hot water.

Method 3: Harvesting leads from search engines. Often these leads are quality, but are expensive to capture, so the leads companies will sell the leads over and over. By the time you buy the lead, it could have been sold twenty times. Sometimes youre the first to buy and you will find some quality prospects, more often youre not.

Method 4: Internet robots crawl web sites hunting for e-mail addresses associated with insurance and annuity content. Somebody might be inquiring about annuities on a newsgroup or forum, next thing they know theyre getting offers from annuity companies. The Annuity Lead companies dont let you in on how theyve harvested the leads. Its called spam and you could get in serious trouble for contacting these people unsolicited.

My contact did say there are decent leads sites. She said to check their policy to see if they guarantee the leads. Keep in mind, just because they have a guarantee doesnt mean youll get your money back if the leads fail to produce results. But often sites with some kind of guarantee are sites that harvest only quality leads and only sell them once.

If youre still of the mind to try internet leads my advice is to try just a few. Dont buy into a huge program that requires a minimum monthly or a large upfront purchase. Experiment a little with a cross-section of sites. Who knows, you may find one thats legit thatll help you make some money.

Bill Broich is the founder of The Broich Approach, an annuity selling and marketing system based in Olympia, Washington. You can find more information about him and his system at: http://www.broichapproach.com