How communicating the miracle of insurance led to my early success

One of the reasons I joined the financial services profession about three years ago when I was 27 years old was because I wanted people to understand the miracle of life insurance and how it can help you live life to its fullest. I saw what life insurance could do for families when I was in college and my uncle died of heart disease. His life insurance provided much needed financial assistance to his mother.

Throughout my training period, I dreamed of talking to as many people as possible about life insurance. I also noticed that while I couldn’t control what others were going to do, I could control my activity level at work as far as how many people I could call.

Setting “impossible” goals

On the first day in the office after I finished training, my manager asked me what my premium goal was for the first month. I told him with pride, “The amount of premium will be determined by the level of needs and affordability of my clients. I want to use the number of people I will meet to talk about life insurance as my monthly goal.” My goal for the first month was to meet with 100 people.

My boss did not seem to be convinced, and my colleagues told me it was an impossible goal. I had a list of 5,000 people, many of whom I knew from my previous occupation, and I started calling them one after another to ask for an appointment. I made 102 appointments in the first month!

Creating a no-pressure environment

Not all who agreed to meet me purchased insurance from me, of course. Even if they did not buy from me, I explained to them that I was available as an information source for anything to do with money. At the beginning of each interview I explained, “You have no obligation to buy from me today. But if there is something I can do for you, just remember me and let me handle it.” This takes the pressure off of my prospects and creates a good environment.

Even those who never became my clients gave me something valuable as I listened to them talk about their love for their family, life goals, values and dreams. Those stories gave me confidence to continue with my profession. I think I learned that sooner than other people who were starting in this career.

Furthermore, I kept contacting those who did not buy from me after six months, one year, two years and so on. As a result, 70 out of those 102 that I met in the first month have become my clients to date.

Yuta Tamai, of Chiyoda-ku, Japan, has been an MDRT member since 2019 and is a Court of the Table qualifier.

For more about goals and activity levels

• Watch “Schedule consistent success“
• Read “It’s a numbers game“
• Watch “Moving from 10-3-1 to 10-9-8,” an Annual Meeting presentation with Tony Gordon