2 low-cost, simple ideas to prosper in tough markets

The Australian insurance market is a challenging one — not just for financial advisors to thrive, but to stay in business at all. Yet one MDRT member excelled, and not with convoluted and expensive ideas, but with simple and efficient solutions.

Australia got rid of permanent life insurance more than two decades ago, so all life insurance sales are term. Furthermore, the compliance requirements on a small insurance policy are exactly the same as the requirements for a multimillion-dollar investment plan. There also are no estate taxes.

“It’s a really tough market,” said 16-year MDRT member Guy Munro Mankey, who is the managing director of Pax Financial Group in North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. How has Mankey managed to not just survive but qualify for Top of the Table in these conditions? “By being very strict with our processes and by being as good at what we do as we possibly can,” he said.

Protect your time

Our most limited, and also most precious, resource is time. Mankey makes the most of his time by staying focused. First, he eliminates distractions. His staff reads his email and answers his phone, only forwarding him what’s necessary. Mankey also has as few internal meetings as possible. When he does have staff meetings, they have a clear goal.

Furthermore, Mankey doesn’t multitask. “When you’ve got your task in your calendar, do it until it’s finished and then move to the next one,” he said. “Multitasking is not doing two things at once. It’s doing one thing and then rapidly flicking over to the next thing, and it wears us down. When you multitask, you are not as good as what you should be. It adds stress to your day. And you just don’t get as much done.”

Write it well and write it once

Did you ever feel like you’re writing the same emails over and over again to clients? That’s probably because you are. “We have all of our letters and our compliance documents templated into our database,” Mankey said. To automate this, he uses a free app called AutoHotkey, which assigns entire emails or other text a six-letter code. Use the code and the already-written text appears.

“If I need to send out my financial services guide and my advisor profile to a client, all I have to do is type ‘FSGAP’ in the subject line of the email and the whole email is there. It takes about three seconds,” Mankey said.

“You also save time because you don’t have to vet what’s in there. You know it’s perfect. You know it’s concise. You know it’s saying what you want it to say,” he said.

Read more about Mankey’s processes in “Achieving Top of the Table with nothing but term insurance” (For Top of the Table and Court of the Table qualifiers only) 

Discover additional ways to improve your efficiency from MDRT members in the following:

• Read “Improve your office processes”
• Watch or read the “Can-do culture” (MDRT members only)
• Listen to “Improving your time management”
• Watch “Controlling your time with mission control,” which is about how to have enough time for family and work