The 100 Best Sales Ideas Ever

You want to be at the top of your sales game, right? You want that competitive edge, that Brian Tracy agility with your sales process, right? That’s what we thought and that’s how we came to create this all-inclusive feature with the top tips to successful selling.

Every month, Senior Market Advisor strives to provide the most effective sales and marketing techniques available. In fact, according to our own unscientific calculations, over the past six years, SMA has offered readers 6,275 sales ideas. Not bad.

But never before have we aggregated the top ideas in one spot. This time we’ve gone overboard.

Most are serious. Some are funny. All of them provide darn good advice for industry professionals who rely heavily on their sales skills to attract and convert prospects, and generally keep the appointment book full.

We have culled top tips from our own pages, coming from industry leaders quoted in features, cover interview subjects, and monthly columnists. Many industry leaders also contributed tips specifically for this section. We also solicited sales ideas from readers, which are noted with a special “Reader Tip” icon.

The tips have been categorized to help you quickly access areas of particular interest, and there are a few longer ones in there that show how an idea made a difference in the real world.

So grab a highlighter, sit back and have at it – the best, most comprehensive collection of sales ideas Senior Market Advisor has ever compiled: The 100 Best Sales Ideas Ever. Brian Anderson
Editor

THE POWER OF THE MESSAGE

Bundled Services: They aren’t just for the telecommunications industry. Offering bundled services makes sense for most businesses. They are more economical when purchased together and everyone likes one-stop shopping. We offer bundled services for marketing and PR for advisors and it’s been a huge success for everyone.
Stephanie Ursini, Capital Momentum LLC

Little things can add incredible value to your client and help you stand above the crowd. When the client comes in, there is a sign: “Kelly Shaw welcomes Mr. & Mrs. Jones.” People love that. I think the sign and the letters cost us less than $100.
Kelly Shaw, Nov. 2005 SMA

READER TIP: I work with financial professionals to integrate reverse mortgages into their practice. The reverse provides money for life insurance, annuities, long term care, Medicare supplement insurance, etc.

Many individuals who want insurance products don’t have assets or much income; therefore, they are often overlooked by the insurance and financial planning community. If they don’t have money to invest or can’t afford the product, an agent/planner can’t help them. After I put $60,000 to $150,000 cash into their hands, it solves the problems their agent/planner has identified and that individual gets the business.

Everyone is chasing the clients with money and there is great competition for their business. Our way is a fundamental shift in marketing as well as the sales process. Instead of asking for the money that is already invested somewhere, we create the money and then invest it or use it to pay for the necessary insurance products.
Gregory T. Fuentes, Baton Rouge, La.

When we receive a call from someone who doesn’t know about our firm, they are almost always online. So we say, “Let’s go to our portfolio on our Web site and we can show you samples of our work.” They don’t have to wait for us to mail them something. They get immediate attention and information.
Stephanie Ursini, Capital Momentum LLC

READER TIP: When I got started in the life insurance industry in 1972, I was asked by several companies if I had a natural market – a list of all my relatives, friends, acquaintances in my city that were prospects. Because I did not have this, I was intrigued by a company that interviewed me that said they sold to strangers, but professionals in particular. Anybody with initials after their name (MD, DDS, CPA, JD, etc.) was the target market. So from a shotgun approach of trying to sell everybody in every occupation across the board, I was now working in a narrower spectrum. When I heard the words “physicians” and “lawyers,” I expressed extreme interest right away. I narrowed my practice down to these two occupations, as they tended to be the top earners. As time went on my reputation grew, as in the narrow world of professionals – doctors ate with doctors, lawyers had lunch with laywers – referrals came easily. By target marketing, you can become very well known in your niche and sales get easier as time goes by.

Frank “Albert” Albuero III, G.A., La Jolla, Calif.

The Apathy Killer: When someone asks us how we are different from our competition, we reply, “We are in the purple cow business. We help our clients stand out in the crowd.” Then we add, “That’s how we will position you with your competition.” They immediately “get it.”
Stephanie Ursini, Capital Momentum LLC

When I am in an environment with an opportunity to network, I do not carry business cards. Why? If someone asks me for a card, there is little chance I will hear from them. If someone asks me for a card, I say, “Sorry, I just gave my last one out. Why don’t you give me your card (or number) and I will call you?” Then I have control of making the call and a much better chance of getting the appointment.
The Million Dollar Round Table

“Solution-based marketing is effective simply because people don’t feel like they’re being sold.”
Rich Schuette, Nov. 2006 SMA

Wear a lapel pin. We wear our Rotary insignia pins everywhere we go. When our prospects and clients ask us what it is, they find out that we are part of the largest service organization in the world and that our business philosophy is centered around social responsibility in our community as well as around the world. They are impressed beyond words.
Stephanie Ursini, Capital Momentum LLC

“Effectively marketing your own credibility through books, articles and speaking engagements will set you apart from the competition.”
Allyn Kramer, Jan. 2007 SMA

“Today, if an advisor doesn’t have a Web site, he is behind his competition.”
“Utilize a virtual employee,” Feb. 2007 SMA

“It’s not just about having access to e-mail, it’s about being out there, getting your brand and your name on the Web.”
Carrie Le Grice, Dec. 2006 SMA

“We like the personal touch when it comes to direct marketing. But if your handwriting sucks, then don’t send me a handwritten letter. Type it up.”
Grace, a senior panelist from 2006 Senior Market Advisor Expo “Seniors Speak Out” session

Positioning yourself in the media as an expert – a quotable, featured authority on the business – is entirely possible by creating and hosting your own weekly radio program. “It gives us credibility and distinguishes us from our competitors,” explains one source. “My objective going in wasn’t to write any business… I really considered my radio show an investment in establishing credibility,” another says. “And in an 11-month period, it has done that.”
Nick Hartshorn, “Tune up your message,” Jan. 2005 SMA

We get stuff in the mail [from advisors] that is addressed to my husband, but I make a lot of the decisions in the house. Don’t assume the man makes all the decisions just because we’re seniors.
Grace, a senior panelist from the 2006 Senior Market Advisor Expo “Seniors Speak Out” session

Selling and marketing everywhere we go. We wear logo shirts or give away our promotional items everywhere we go.
Stephanie Ursini, Capital Momentum LLC

PROSPECTING PLAYBOOK

READER TIP: (from e-mail 3/29)
One of the best sales tips I’ve used is actually the easiest: Whenever you meet someone (after you get to know them a little), ask them if they plan on leaving any money to heirs or charities. It’s that simple. Maybe 75 percent of them say yes. You can then show them how to make, say $50,000 turn into $100,000 or more instantly (by using a single premium life plan). It is very simple, yet it works great.
Tim Johnson, Innovative Marketing Strategies Inc.

Be specific in determining who your perfect clients are. Have you and your staff write down a list of your top 10 or 20 clients. Then write down three to five reasons why these clients are liked so much. Compare the lists with your staff and identify which ones you have in common. Discuss what you like about these clients, what they have in common, and why you enjoy doing business with them. Those common clients can become the foundation of your perfect client profile. Start directing all your marketing materials and advertising toward your perfect client and you will attract more of them.
Kelly Shaw, Dec. 2005 SMA

READER TIP: One day my boss from a previous life said, “Dee, magical things happen in the field.” This hit home with me … and the more I find myself out of the office and in front of people networking, guess what? Magical things do happen in the field!

Dee House, reverse mortgage specialist, Des Moines, Iowa

“[An advisor] should be some place for prospecting, in an area where he’s comfortable. I play golf. I meet a lot of clients and do a lot of prospecting on a golf course. I belong to a couple country clubs. In other words, [an advisor] should deal with people that have the same interests that he does.”
Gerard Turtora, Sept. 2005 SMA

“Successful advisors are willing to do uncomfortable things, the kinds of things that are uncomfortable for almost everyone.”
Bill Bachrach, Jan. 2007, SMA

“It’s about building instant, yet long-lasting rapport that causes seniors to relate to you easily and begin to trust you.”
Derrick Kinney, April 2007 SMA

“In the long-term care field today, our clientele is becoming younger and younger, so we’re dealing a lot with working people, and as a result, you have to work a lot of evenings and weekends. Therefore, I try to be productive during the day. I get bored just sitting around during the day. Luckily, there are breaks in between where you don’t have appointments, and that’s when I spend a lot of time at my desk. You never know when a phone call comes in.”
Alan Stuart, May 2007 SMA

THE CUSTOMER COLLABORATION

Like many others in our industry, I have always struggled getting referrals. Magdalein, Stratton & Associates has been locally and nationally recognized through this magazine and others to be leaders in our field. Happy clients; still not referrals.

We decided to make giving referrals easier to our clients. We offer all of our clients a “Private dining experience.” They can invite as few as two people and as many as they want to attend a free dinner at a local upscale eatery. Our client gets to sponsor the event and we provide the talk and the dinner. We give a brief 10- to 20-minute talk about our practice. At the end of the dinner we ask if anyone would like to come in and talk, and it works great. I don’t have to ask for referrals and they don’t have to give them. We find these dinners take the discomfort out of the process.
Eric Stratton, Magdalein, Stratton & Associates

READER TIP: When I work with an estate and/or a business owner, I explain up front how I get paid. I tell the prospect that I get paid in two ways: 1) If after the process is over we find that a product I offer will solve the problem I expect them to give me the opportunity to fill the need; and 2) If you think you are better off after we are done than you are now, I expect you to “introduce” me to someone like yourself. If they don’t agree to both I leave. I never have to leave because they like the idea that I have to prove myself before I expect anything. This came from the Coaching Series.
Chris Gassman, Agent, New York Life Insurance Company, Andover, Kan.

READER TIP: The main thing that contributed to my success was the personal training I received from my sales manager regarding referrals. In 1964, the year I entered the investment business, he taught me that the best time to ask for referrals was immediately after closing the sale. That’s when the client was the most excited about taking the action to achieve financial security. I developed a script. “Congratulations on starting your investment program. Don’t you feel more people should hear about this?” The answer would always be yes. “Wonderful. What I usually do is get the names of three to five people that you feel would benefit by hearing about these ideas. Who are your two best friends?” After receiving the first two names I’d say, “I know these are only names to you, Joe, but to me they’re gold. Can you think of two more?” My script goes on and on with other ways to help the client think of others that would benefit if I contacted them. It’s hard to believe, but over the years I have received as many as 50 referrals from a single client. Most advisors will not do what I did. I realized that if I didn’t ask for referrals, I’d have to call cold.
Jerry Webb, CFP, Webb Financial Group LLC

When forming a leads group, ask yourself how these professionals can help your clients, and find professionals who are asking themselves the same question. Referrals are a two-way street – sharp professionals want to be known as a referral source, rather than just another guy with his hand out for leads… Keep the membership of your group small and focused precisely on your target market. Consider CPAs, trust officers, financial planners, home health care agency owners, and reps from senior centers, assisted living facilities and senior service agencies.

From “5 step marketing plan for lazy agents” by Ryan Urban, SMA Dec. 2005

When you ask a client for a referral, ask the client to introduce you in person to the referral.
The Million Dollar Round Table

Become a part of your community. Create a wish list of 10 professionals in your community in four categories (CPAs, estate planning attorneys, business brokers and commercial real estate agents) and befriend them. Become the trusted financial advisor who gets introduced to more people like your top 10 clients.
From “The Close” by Jack Keeter, SMA Dec. 2005

“There are three types of clients: Customers, clients and advocates. A customer is someone who has some business with you but has business placed with another advisor, too. A client is someone who empowers you fully but who never refers people to you. An advocate is someone who is an absolute joy to work with and who endorses you to anyone who will listen. The value of your business has virtually nothing to do with how many clients you have and everything to do with how many advocates you have. In fact, the ideal financial services practice consists of about 150 advocates, not a collection of 500 customers and clients.”
Duncan MacPherson, Sept. 2005 SMA

“When it comes to referrals, my goal is always to be introduced in person.”
Jack Keeter, Jan. 2007 SMA

“I don’t ask for referrals, I ask for my clients’ advice.”
Jack Keeter, Jan. 2007 SMA

ACROSS THE FINISH LINE

READER TIP: Quoting Will Rogers with retirees is always a home run. One of my favorite Will Rogers quotes is, “It’s not necessarily the return on my money that concerns me, it’s the return of the money that we should be focused on.” Make sure we don’t lose what we have.
Mark Gremler, President, Billion Dollar Mentoring

READER TIP: When discussing LTC, I show a copy of my most recent bill from the nursing home for my mother. It shows the monthly rent, $5,100, a date, and check number. That totals to $61,200 this year and probably will go up 5 percent next year. I explain that my mother had purchased LTCI 3 years before being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. I also explained the 3-year lookback period (now 5) and how we were able to transfer ownership of my mother’s home to my two brothers and my name. Her retirement and Social Security checks have been coming in unaffected. I then ask the question, “How long could you afford to pay the nursing home from your personal assets and savings? It becomes real using a real example.
David L. Harrell, Harrell Financial Services, Greenville, N.C.

When we meet with each client we offer a free “financial strategies work up.” This computer-based program can cost as much as $1,200 at some of the bigger brokerage companies. We use this idea for two reasons: 1. We believe we should calculate future inflation against any income our clients may want to withdraw. To calculate a client’s lifetime income needs without inflation is very dangerous in the long term. 2. By calculating the income needs we can determine what rate of return the client needs throughout his retirement. When we have the needed return, it’s easy to select the proper strategy. By using this strategy (in March) I wrote $7.6 million of new business.
Eric Stratton, Magdalein, Stratton & Associates

READER TIP: I’m a big advocate for selling disability insurance. In working with medical professionals, I have found residents to delay in the process of making such a purchase. The majority of residents don’t see the urgency of purchasing long term disability insurance. I was frustrated using the basic language of “buying while you are young and healthy” or “your income is your most important asset” (duh!). It just didn’t work. It seems that medical professionals have been bombarded by the typical language from hungry, aggressive salesmen for years. Who am I to now all of sudden find the cryptic sales language? My epiphany became pretty simple. I started to equate disability insurance to the simple playground activity we all did as kids, which was playing on the see-saw. Remember when that one knucklehead jumped off the end and you came crashing down? Ouch. That always hurt. I believe having that cushion underneath no matter what wise guy jumped off, lessened the blow. So, I used to find T-shirts or sweatshirts to strategically place under my can just in case. How about spousal LTD? Supplemental coverage? How important is it to make sure that we each have some coverage? You don’t have to maintain the same weight on the see-saw, but you better have something, just in case.

Chris P. Slajchert, CLU, ChFC, financial advisor, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Princeton, N.J.

You can avoid the situation of a prospect “tuning out” by asking him questions, keeping him engaged and making the presentation interactive. If we are truly trying to educate, then we want the prospect to learn through self-discovery and feel as if he is contributing to the solution. A prospect’s level of involvement in the presentation is directly correlated to his level of understanding the solution. Studies show we tend to remember 20 percent of what we hear, 50 percent of what we see and hear, and 70 percent of what we ask questions about and discuss. It is imperative that we identify opportunities to involve the prospect in the presentation and create discussion in the closing appointment. Asking questions to solicit feedback during the closing presentation is imperative to maintaining control of the meeting and helps you gauge the prospect’s feelings to know if you are on the right track.
Robert Chiron, Ph.D. and Joey Davenport, Dec. 2005 SMA

READER TIP: In a first interview, if a financial plan is needed, we always suggest to the client – especially if they have multiple advisors – that they get a financial plan done. We tell them that we discount our financial plan 75 percent, allowing it to be sold at $500 and that they can take advantage of this since they came to us by referral or by way of a seminar. However, this rate is only good for the remainder of the month we are in. If they choose to do the financial plan at a later date, they will be charged the standard $2,000. It gets people moving toward getting a comprehensive plan that they’ve probably never had done before, not to mention they are paying for a service which enables them to view us in a completely different way, allowing us to be able to gather more assets, consolidate more accounts and have larger sales.
Mark Gremler, President, Billion Dollar Mentoring

“We’ve found that if you put a picture in front of clients, they’ll get it in 10 seconds. If you put 20 pages of insurance documentation in front of them, it puts them to sleep.”
Terry Balding, Sept. 2004 SMA

“You have to really know your products. You have to really understand how seniors think, how to handle objections and unknown things that come your way. You have to dedicate yourself strictly to [the senior market]. I spoke … about the five things that you have to do in this business to be successful: research, study, practice, rehearse and then perform effectively.”
Matt Rettick, Jan. 2002 SMA

“One way to increase sales is to see the sale from the consumer’s point of view. What is the consumer’s real problem, and does your solution fit? If you correctly address a need with the right message, the consumer will take care of the close.”
Jack Marrion, Sept. 2005 SMA

A sample script to use with prospects when trying to attract your ideal client: “I’ve made the commitment to be a specialist rather than a generalist, and as a result, I am very selective with the clients I work with. Unlike some advisors who are trying to build a big business and attempt to be all things to all people, I prefer to be all things to some people. I know my capacity and if I go beyond that level, it will dilute the service I provide. I can’t allow that to happen. While some advisors are fixated on making a sale, I’m concerned with fit based on the lifetime of the relationship. It is for that reason I have an ideal client profile and I stick to it ardently.”
Duncan MacPherson, Sept. 2005 SMA

Right at the start, show prospects how they will benefit from our proposition. “I want to show you how you can have [dollar amount] at retirement.”
The Million Dollar Round Table

“To move from a cold lead to a warm one to a close, you need as much client information as possible.”
Russ Story, Feb. 2007 SMA

“Selling is not an event. It is a process of asking the right questions to determine if you can help someone.”
Mark Lindsey, Feb. 2007 SMA

THE LTCI MAP

“When facing rejection, don’t be afraid to ask, ‘When may I contact you about this again?’ That should determine the sincerity of your prospect. If the prospect gives you a vague reply, you can pretty much write them off. If, on the other hand, the prospect gives you a specific reason why they won’t, or can’t, buy LTCI today, assure them that you will try to find a solution, and continue the conversation at a later date.

Paul Bunkin, Feb. 2002 SMA

“[In LTCI sales], you’ve got to have your clients engaged. And that’s usually defined as something common you share. But now what I do is say, ‘Tell me about your grandparents.’ Because they would have seen their parents taking care of their grandparents … It has made a world of difference in starting an empathetic conversation where we can now talk about what that was like.”
Lynn Devitt, Nov. 2005 SMA

“I’ve found that the best approach to selling [LTCI] is to balance the conversation – be serious and informative, but use a light tone.”
Jody Hubbard, CSA, CPA, Dec. 2006 SMA

Closing the LTCI sale: “You will never be successful if you do not have follow through … You’re not going to close 100 percent of them. So you’ve got to do that – follow up to find out. After I’ve finished and they still need to talk to their financial planner, whatever excuse that they have given, is I will take the apps out and say, ‘Well, you know what? I think I’m going to leave these apps with you just because of time elements and you’re so busy. But I think, just for a minute, to make it easier, there’s a few things here I need to know the answers to.’ And I just fill those out and I ask other questions and I’m going along, and before we know it we have one of those apps filled out, other than signatures. And I put an ‘X’ there and circle it or highlight it and tell them where they’re going to have to sign and make the check out to ‘X’ Company for this amount. And here, you’ve got my cards, but I’ll just write my address on the outside of this. In fact, I’ve got an extra envelope here that you just have to stick it all in. I close a ton of business doing it that way. It allows another contact with that client. If there’s still any questions or they want it run in a different way, we’re building a relationship.”
Lynn Devitt, Nov. 2005 SMA

“I think the No. 1 thing is that an agent – as with any LTC policy – understands the provisions that the policy is going to provide. They can’t assume it. They need to know it.”
Phil Sullivan, president and co-founder of SellingLTC.com, quoted in “Home Sweet Home (Care),” SMA Dec. 2005.

TURN “NO” INTO A “YES”

READER TIP: When discussing tax-deferred annuities or Roth IRAs, I always ask, if the client were a farmer, would it make more sense to pay taxes on the seed they are going to plant or the harvest? Get them to realize that the larger dollar amount in the future that would be tax-free is much more important than the tax benefit they’d receive in a minor basis today.
Mark Gremler, President, Billion Dollar Mentoring

“All the sales resistance in the world can be boiled down to four simple words: need, trust, help and hurry.”
Kelly Shaw, March 2007 SMA

“If you’re passionate, prepared and a good listener, there’s no objection too big.”
Amanda Buchanan, Nov. 2006 SMA

“I’m not judged by the number of times I fail, but by the number of times I succeed; and the number of times I succeed is in direct proportion to the number of times I can fail and keep trying.”
Tom Hopkins, “Rejection can make you stronger,” SMA, Sept. 2005

“If you can get a person to listen and if you can listen – if you can agree with them and acknowledge their feelings, then try to get them to think a little bit about how they’re affecting their spouse by taking out the insurance for themselves – you try to get them to see that if they do it, no one is left in a financially devastated position.”
Marge Elias, “Break through LTCI objections,” SMA. Feb. 2007

The ability to walk away from a case gracefully and graciously is the most powerful attraction you can have. You can waste a lot of time by spending too much emotional capital on someone whose values are not compatible with your own.
The Million Dollar Round Table

“Rejection is the price you pay for sales success – it’s a natural part of the selling process, not an aberration and not necessarily a permanent rejection. Most people aren’t willing to pay that price, which almost single-handedly explains why most businesses – and financial advisors – don’t make it to their fifth anniversary.”
Marilee Driscoll, “Rejection can make you stronger,” SMA, Sept. 2005

“We give clients a road map. The road map shows them where they are from a personal and financial perspective. The road map is how we show them, ‘This is where you are now. This is where you possibly need to be if that is where you feel you should go, based upon our recommendations.’ We give them that option and let them make that decision. Giving clients choices is how you overcome objections.”