Embracing vulnerability when your biggest sale turns embarrassing
You’re on the verge of selling an enormous policy for the CFO of a massive, international company. You’ve established a relationship with the client. You’re excited for him to at...
Tag Archives: advising clients
The retirement fears clients rarely say out loud
Clients may tell you they are worried about the economy, political events or market volatility. What often lies beneath those concerns, however, are deeper personal fears about their future. The good...
Gaining money, time and financial freedom through critical illness insurance
A major traumatic illness creates special problems and forces you to change priorities. It brings about increased stress and anxiety, massive medical bills, employment issues, home alterations or quality family...
Turning a cancellation into a lifesaving moment
When a client calls to cancel, many financial advisors either ask what’s changed or restate the policy’s value. Often, though, the decision is already made. Next time you get one of...
3 ideas to grow your practice and clientele
When working with clients or looking to grow your practice through strengthened processes, try these ideas from MDRT members. Framing questions I use the STAR behavioral interview method (situation, task, action, result)...
5 levels of client satisfaction that grow your business
Loyalty-driven marketing doesn’t just strengthen relationships — it grows your market. To do this, I segment clients into five levels of engagement and communication. These are Fundamental value Expected value Desired value Unexpected value Empathetic...
3 ways to open up the conversation about income replacement products
Everyone knows they are going to die, but they’d like to believe they won’t ever get seriously ill or injured. It is difficult to talk about income replacement products that...
Making the full-service, family office model accessible to clients
The following is taken from an MDRT Podcast recording in which two members talked about developing and communicating their service offerings as holistic financial planners. Brandon Heckert: Let’s say we get...
Creating more client opportunities with a 20-minute fact-finder
You create more opportunities to assist your clients when you better understand them. A thorough fact-finder sets the tone for the work you do with clients, and it can assist...
Being ethical in an unethical world
Today’s environment, political and otherwise, can seem very unethical. Financial advisors need to remain above this noise and uphold the MDRT Code of Ethics, not only with our clients but...
Mastering meaningful and productive follow-ups
“Let me think about it” is something we’ve all heard from clients. So, you follow up a week later with a phone call, and they’re still thinking. Every time you...
One powerful question to ask clients about retirement
It doesn’t matter if it’s a younger client or an older client. It doesn’t matter if the client has a lot of large assets or more modest ones. During the...
3 empowering questions to change mindsets
We don’t want to just survive. Instead, we’re designed to want to figure out the world, extract meaning from it and find our place in it. We want to feel...
Big money, hidden challenges: Lurking issues for the great wealth transfer
Potentially over $100 trillion. There’s no denying the first two words of the now-unavoidable term “great wealth transfer.” Yet the “transfer” part may not be as guaranteed, with a 2025 MDRT survey of 2,000 U.S....
Beyond the numbers: Guiding clients toward a better life
As a financial advisor, my role goes beyond recommending products. My focus is on the overall well-being of my clients — not just financially, but in all aspects of life....
