Thursday, July 30, 2009

Matthew Sapaula Brings It!


Chicago's Matthew Sapuala



by Tammy de Leeuw
Financial Advisor Netzone

If you were on this week's call with Matthew Sapaula, you got a treat. This talented young advisor offered us a peek into the mindset that brought him from being a laid-off stockbroker to a sought-after financial expert interviewed on national television.

Matthew demonstrated first hand why celebrity positioning is the fastest, and most cost-effective (in terms of leveraging your time and marketing dollars) way to get to the head of the pack and why investing in yourself is the most important thing you can ever do for your business.

Check out the recording if you haven't already. (link expires on August 5, so do it now!) I also included some of the other bonuses we offered, just for you FAN readers.

Thanks for your support!

Here is the link for 2009-07-28 09.57 How to Own Your Niche Through Celebrity Positioning_ A 7 Figure Agent Reveals His Rise From Laid Off to On Top_

https://download.yousendit.com/dVlxRGw5R0ZQb0pMWEE9PQ


Here is the link for Niches pdf.pdf:

https://download.yousendit.com/dVlxRGw5OW56NE9Ga1E9PQ


Here is the link for foolproofpresentations.pdf:

https://download.yousendit.com/dVlxRGw5OW5laFNGa1E9PQ

Here is the link for 2008-10-29 10.44#B How to Use Automation to Get and Keep More Clients

https://download.yousendit.com/dVlxRGw5OW5CTWwzZUE9PQ


Try the Same Stay In Touch System Used By Matthew Sapaula, Mavericks, and Tammy...for FREE

http://www.sendoutcards.com/50147

For More Information:

http://www.socreview.com/grouchymarketinglady

http://www.socreferral.com/grouchymarketinglady

Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Life Health Advisor Interviews Grouchy

(this is part of an interview I did recently with LIFE HEALTH ADVISOR magazine online
http://www.lifehealth.com)

By Carolyn Ellis
Life Health Advisor Magazine


Tammy de Leeuw, aka The Grouchy Marketing Lady, helps insurance agents and business owners with marketing tools and techniques to generate leads and client referrals. As a consultant and teacher, she analyzes financial professionals' marketing materials, maps a strategy for building referrals, and recommends experts in all media to implement marketing initiatives. De Leeuw's light-hearted and meaty website is www.grouchymarketinglady.com

L&HA: How did you get into insurance marketing?

TDL: I started out as a part-time insurance agent in 1996. I found out I didn't like insurance as much as I liked marketing. Once you have exhausted your warm market and alienated all the people who love you, the hard part is learning to generate your own leads. I then took a job in lead generation and marketing. I met thousands of agents and listened to their triumphs and sob stories. I decided if the day ever came that I wasn't working for this company I would go out on my own. As it turned out, that company got dissolved, and little by little I grew a business.

L&HA: Tell us about The Grouchy Marketing Lady.

TDL: I work with about 25,000 financial advisors and insurance agents ranging from property and casualty to life-only sales people, annuity-only, and viaticals. You name it; I've got them on my list. I find people these agents can connect with to grow their business, and I find the weak spots in their marketing systems. I consult and I educate. I see myself as an expert in finding experts. I'm like a general practitioner in marketing. I can look at your marketing and see where the problem is. But if it's a tumor, I am going to put it to the brain surgeon. I have identified the best people in psychology, customer relationships, and social media, for example. I bring those people on, do webinars with them, form a joint venture if they had a good product or service, and present them to my list.

L&HA: Is prospecting tough for most agents?

TDL: Most corporations put guys into the field having taught them everything about how to close the sale but nothing about keeping a pipeline full. Put these agents in a room, and they can close eight out of 10. The weak spot is lead generation. If you learn to generate your own leads and grow your own warm circle, you are much better off.

The guys that get that make a lot of money. No matter how many degrees they have or how many alphabet letters after their name, at the heart of it, they are marketers. If you think and act like a marketer, the rest will follow....

(rest of the interview at: http://www.lifehealth.com/page3_profile.0709.htm)

Thursday, July 9, 2009

"Say All There Is To Say, Then Let The Chips Fall Where They May..."

by Sid Walker

Selling Without Wrestling


In the 1998 romantic fantasy, Meet Joe Black, Anthony Hopkins plays a mega media mogul who is about to die at a relatively young age. As the movie opens, Brad Pitt is a sales rep sitting in a coffee shop who by chance meets Hopkin's daughter, a young medical doctor played by Claire Forlani.


Pitt and Forlani have a love at first sight connection. They part but never get each other's names. Pitt then walks away from the coffee shop, gets hit by a bus and dies instantly. This provides a body that the personality of "Death" can take to come and get Hopkins. So Death (in Brad Pitt's body) ends up at the Hopkins estate and appears to be a friend of Hopkins.


Claire Forlani can't believe that the guy she met in the coffee shop is a friend of her Dad's. Pitt, now with his body inhabited with the personality of Death (not the guy in the coffee shop) and Forlani fall in love. Forlani knows something isn't quite right, but is so in love she ignores her intuitive warnings.

At a critical point in the movie, Hopkins confronts Death, who is in love with his daughter, and asks him what his plans are for her. Surely she can't have a long-term relationship with Death.


Death says that they love each other. Hopkins explodes and says that what they have isn't love because she doesn't know who he really is. She is in love with the guy she met at the coffee shop not Death. He further explains that love is knowing everything there is to know about someone and only then can the other person choose to be your partner based on who you really are.

I won't spoil the ending in case you never saw the movie. My brief description of the story can't capture the great acting and opulence of this visually spectacular epic. It is worth a look, or a re-look.


So why have I added movie critic to my long list of duties? If you are a Relationship-builder in your approach to sales rather than a Client-Controller, you care more about people and your relationship with the client than you do about making the sale. Sure you want to make the sale, but you are not going to do everything you can to get your client to buy like a Client-Controller would. You are going to help your client make an educated decision that feels right to them and trust their decision whatever it is. This is the basic premise of the Selling Without Wrestling® approach.


It occurred to me that this is the same point that Hopkins was trying to get across to the personality of Death in Brad Pitt's body. You say everything there is to say to the person you care about. You tell them everything there is to know about you, and then let the "chips fall where they may." (You trust the other person to do what feels right to them.)


As a Relationship-Builder, you find out everything you can about your client's finances, how they feel about what they are doing with their money, and what their hopes and dreams are. You find out what they want that they don't have. You show them options on the best ways to achieve their goals. You educate them on the pros and cons of the best options. You make them aware of the consequences of not doing anything. And then, at the end of all that, you ask them to make a decision based on what feels right to them. You and your client, "say everything there is to say to each other, then let the chips fall where they may."


I once coached a woman named Leslie who was selling Long Term Care insurance with some Client-Controller types. They were doing a very aggressive one-call close sales approach. She was dedicated to the concept of Long Term Care insurance and what it could do for people. She was very technically astute about the products and had been a nurse for many years prior. But she felt horrible using the tactics of the Client-Controllers.


After hearing Leslie relate all the frightening details of the aggressive approach being used by the Client-Controllers, I asked her this question. Could you have an appointment with your parents tonight and help them make an objective decision about whether or not they should own Long Term Care Insurance? She said, "Absolutely!" I said, that is all you ever need to do with anyone!

I said go help people make an educated, objective decision that feels right to them. This isn't about trying to sell everyone you talk to. This is about helping people make the decision that feels right to them. If it turns out to be a sale, great. And it often will with this approach!


If the conversation doesn't turn into a sale, you have still succeeded in helping someone make an informed decision that feels right to them. What often happens when you treat people with this level of honor and respect, is that they will find something else they need to buy and you end with the sale of another product.


And who is more likely to be willing to give you referrals, someone who has just been hammered into a corner, or someone who really appreciates you for the approach you have taken and the help you have given them in making an informed decision that feels right to them.

Rent the video Meet Joe Black. It will give you an analogous metaphor to hold the power of the low-key approach. (This movie isn't violent but it isn't for kids.)


As to Leslie's success...I talked to her a few weeks after we had our conversation. She left the Client-Controller's to work on her own selling Long Term Care and was making one or more sales a week without all the trauma and drama!

Enjoy your summer,


PS: If you'd like to get Sid Walker's free ebook: "How to Psych Yourself Up for Prospecting" go to this link : http://www.sellingwithoutwrestling.com/psychyourselfup.htm.


Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Useful Ideas from the Blogosphere and Upcoming Fan Events...

Why You MUST Put Your Agency On Autopilot

by Tom Wiecek
Agency Autopilot

Don’t you love it when sales happen out of the blue? Like when someone calls in and wants you to sell them a policy. They don’t waver or concern themselves on how much it’s going to cost. They just want it and they want it now.

Well, this has been happening a lot in my agency lately. We’re getting clients that we’ve had a long time, calling our office and telling us exactly what they want. Just the other day, we got an email from a client that said, “I need a million dollar 30 year term policy and I need to get this handled today”. That was the easiest $1400+ commission I’ve ever made. Cross selling policies to our current clients has jumped an astounding 17% last month with no effort from my staff except quoting and issuing the policies. They’re not calling anyone or sending letters. Just taking the calls and writing policies.

How can you make this happen in your agency?...

(see the rest at: http://www.insurancemarketingmaverick.com/use-systems-for-automatic-sales/#more-506)

Your name matters to your prospects. Or does it?

by Jeffrey Gitomer

Here is a question I’ve received more than a hundred times in one form or another: How do I make a (better) name for myself?

Here is the premise, the definition, and the answer: In sales it’s not who you know, in sales it’s who knows you.

The challenge is not just making a name for yourself or building your brand; it’s building the components that generate that name. How do you achieve more recognition, more notoriety, and a better reputation in your market and your community? Those are the elements that lead to a better name.

And to be clear, I’m talking about a better name for both company and individual.

There are no easy answers. And there are very few answers that don’t require commitment, planning, and work -- hard work....

(rest of article at: http://www.gitomer.com/articles/ThisWeeksColumn.html)

Don't Miss A One of These Upcoming Events!

  • Selling Without Wrestling Society: No Cost Live Preview With Sid Walker on July 16th: Learn some of the language that has helped agents and advisors increase their closing ratios by as much as 70%! http://www.marketerschoice.com/app/?af=796698







Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Create An Instant Flood of High Quality Referrals

by David Frey
Marketing Best Practices

Let me tell you a story about a friend of mine who
generated an INSTANT flood of super high quality
referrals in just one day with very little effort and
how you can do the exact same thing that he did.

Not long ago I received a phone call from a friend of
mine in California who was going through a down time in
his business.

He called to ask me for some advice, knowing that I was
in the business of helping people market their
businesses.

My friend is an independent professional who does great
work, but is not a great marketer and doesn't do a lot
of networking. (In fact, he hates networking.)

So I asked him if he had a friend who sold
complimentary products or services to the same people
that he wanted as his clients. He, of course, had
several friends that did that.

So I then revealed to him the secret of one of the most
powerful referral strategies known to man, which is
guaranteed to work 100% of the time in generating a
flood of new referrals for your business.

I've seen this strategy used and I've used it myself
dozens of times and every single time, IT WORKS!

And it just doesn't just produce a trickle of
referrals. It turns on the faucet of referrals. I mean
it instantly generates a flood of high quality
referrals.

It's simply the fastest, easiest, and most effective
way to generate a large quantity of hot, qualified
referrals for your business that I know.

________________________________________________

Here's the "Instant Referrals" Secret Strategy
________________________________________________


The "Instant Referrals" strategy is pretty simple. In
fact, it's so simple that anyone can do it in just a
few hours.

STEP 1. Find a fried who is also a professional that
sells complimentary products and services to the same
people that you sell to. (Actually, this isn't
mandatory, but it helps.)


STEP 2. Ask your friend if they would like to
experience a flood of referrals for their business. If
they say, "Yes" (and why wouldn't they), then simply
tell them that if they are willing to recommend you to
all their clients and customers, you would be more than
happy to do the same for them.


STEP 3. Create a simple, low or no risk offer like a
free trial, a free assessment, or a free sample of your
product.


STEP 4. Create a card recommending your friend and
their products or services and extending their low risk
offer to your clients. Have your friend do the same
thing. (Better yet, do it for them.)


Here's a great example of a "recommend card."

http://www.TheReferralNewsletter.com/a/recommend.jpg

(copy and paste the link into your browser)


STEP 5. Send your "recommend card" to your entire list
of clients and customers and have your referral partner
send their recommend card to their list of clients and
customers.


The day your recommend card hits the streets, both you
and your referral partners phones will start ringing.
This is a guaranteed, foolproof way to generate a lot
of referrals in a short period of time.


STEP 6. Rinse and repeat. You can do this exact same
strategy with many independent professionals. Think
of all the professionals that you do business with
and that deserve your endorsement. Each one of them
is a candidate to apply this strategy.


NOTE: Don't be afraid to send multiple mailings to
your clients and customers. They'll appreciate you
for introducing them to a great resource.

___________________________________________________

How to Double the Response of Your Recommend Card

___________________________________________________


It's simple to to double the response of your recommend
card. The day after you do the recommend card mailing,
you get together in an office that has two phone lines
and start calling every person that you sent the card
to and personally recommend your referral partner.


I've witnessed professionals get 30 plus super high
quality referrals in just one day doing this method.


All you have to say on the phone is who you are (they
should know you) and you let them know that you've
sent them a card introducing them to someone that you
highly recommend. You can even leave a message on their
message machine.


Another option is to wait until the card hits people's
homes and then make calls. These calls are a bit more
serious because you actually try to set up appointments
for you referral partner, if possible.

___________________________________________

Why the Instant Referrals Strategy Works
___________________________________________


The reason this referral strategy works so well is
because you are basically "borrowing" your referral
partners reputation and relationships with their
clients.


You see, people will do business with people that are
recommended by a trusted friend or business associate.
This is a simple and easy way to tap into the
relationships of another business professional.


And you would be amazed at how many of your current
business friends and associates would jump at the
chance to have YOU mail out a recommend card endorsing
them to all your clients.


There's no reason why you can't do this four to five
times a year. So let's just say, for conversation sake
that you do this strategy with four other professionals
who have a customer list of around 400 people.


And let's say that for every mailing you get about 5%
of the people to call you. That comes out to 80 high
quality referrals! Imagine what that kind of referral
surge could do to your business!


___________________________________________________

How to Automate Your Instant Referrals Campaign
___________________________________________________


Using Send Out Cards you can literally automate
this entire process and complete a high impact endorsed
mailing in less than 20 minutes.


Here's how...


First, take a digital photograph of you and your
referral partner.


Second, upload that photo using "Picture Plus" in
www.sendoutvcards.com and create a heartfelt, personal
card from your customer.


Select the link below to watch a quick video demo of
how to create a Picture Plus card with
Send Out Cards.

http://www.PicturePlusDemo.com

(copy and paste the link into your browser)

Third, upload your list of customers and your referral
partners list of customer into two new groups in your
contact manager in Send Out Cards.


Fourth, attach your new groups to your new recommend
Picture Plus cards and hit the "Send" button.


You're done.

That's it.

_____________________________________________________

Isn't It About Time You Started Using SendOutCards?
______________________________________________________


Send Out Cards has the ability to literally transform
your business forever.


It's a simple tool that allows you to generate
referrals, almost on demand.


Select the link below to review the three sign up
options that www.SendOutCards.com offers.


http://www.SignUpOptionsVideo.com

(copy and paste the link into your browser)


P.S. If you'd like to see a demo of how to create
a custom card in Send Out Cards, be sure to attend the live
webcast "3 More Ways to Use Send Out Cards to Grow Your Business"
with Robert Breiner and Tammy de Leeuw on July 15th. It's free
and it is in THE EVENING this time.

https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/354755456


______________________