When I joined this profession, I was told to prepare a list of names to contact as prospects, and my friends and family should be on the list. I was reluctant, however, to include people close to me who I cared about, because I didn’t want to upset my special relationships with them and I feared rejection.
Instead, I scoured around to find people who would buy my message, my service and my products. Even as I became more successful, I continued to look for new people who fit my client profile while not contacting those closest to me.
I began to realize, however, that this didn’t make sense. If you were a physician with the only cure to prevent a dreaded epidemic, would you run around looking for strangers to offer this cure to? Or would you first go to your nearest and dearest and make sure they had the cure?
In these three cases, I’m thankful I overcame my reluctance of upsetting friends and family and instead helped protect them.
Case 1: Childhood friend
When my dearest friend since boyhood was made redundant 20 years ago from his job, he lost all his company benefits. I helped him set up his own business and made sure he had critical illness insurance. A few years later, when he needed heart-bypass surgery, his critical illness insurance paid $500,000. This helped the new business during his absence and gave him money to ease future financial worries.
Case 2: A friend’s son
I have known my friend’s son since his birth, and the son and his wife became my clients as well. Last year, the son’s wife had a stroke as the result of a rare blood disorder. She thankfully recovered, and her critical illness insurance paid more than $400,000. The money allowed the couple to pay off a business loan and save more money for their 7-year-old daughter’s future.
Case 3: Close to home
In December 2016, I received this text message from a client:
“I cannot tell you how happy I am I have that policy for Nicola [his wife], and how much I love you for making me do the right thing to have it in place. The thought of not having it would have me very worried right now. Instead, we are already looking into a full-time nanny, which we can afford thanks to the policy. I have told my 2 closest friends to make sure they have cover.”
This client is my own son. It was his wife who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Fortunately, she discovered the cancer very early, so we have high hopes her treatment will be 100 percent successful. You can see above what the $500,000 policy proceeds means to them in the recovery process.
This is what we do. We keep dreams alive. We save families from worry or disaster, we keep businesses going, we deal with school fees or nanny costs, we deliver tax-free dollars where none existed before. That’s the “miracle of life assurance.”
Don’t forget to prospect to those who are close to you. If you don’t, could you justify to yourself or to your loved ones why you had not looked after them properly?
Jack Stone is a 37-year MDRT member from Glasgow, Scotland. This blog was first published in 2017.
When we are thinking about Prospecting Inner circle or Close friends or Neighbours or Relatives..First of all,We have to prove ourselves as Financial Advisors or Insurance Advisors in Market or in community, Directly we could not think to exploit Inner circle or prospecting Inner circle or Close friends or Neighbours or Relatives..You could suggest good plans for them and their family members and kids and Senior citizens..But you could not insist…with Dignity,we could suggest good and Lucrative plans as you know better about them as they are close to you…On the contrary,we have to be very transparent with them and mostly try to canvas them gauranteed returns plans with Risk cover,so your relationship will not be in danger at the time of Maturity or Death claims…