It’s a fact: people absorb information best from pictures and stories; yet, as an industry we continue to present brochures, PowerPoints, and selling systems full of words, numbers, and charts. Should we really be surprised when our prospects aren’t dazzled by seeing a bunch of graphs they can’t understand, explained with words they’ve never heard?
Granted, there is a time and place for detailed descriptions and analysis, but it isn’t in the first few hours with our prospects. At MoneyTrax, we believe there are two things required for a successful career in life insurance: what you know, and what you can communicate. Numbers and charts are a great way to prove what you know, but not a great way to communicate.
Taking a Lesson From the Medical Field
If you’ve ever spent time in an exam room waiting for medical attention, you know the routine. First you wait, wearing that paper robe and sticking to the paper bed runner. Then the doctor enters, he looks over your chart, and says a few long Latin medical terms you can’t understand. Finally, seeing the blank look in your eyes, the doctor grabs that model of the body part in question, and points out your problem and the solution.
Why do they all use those little models? Because it’s the only way non-medically trained people can grasp what’s happening in a short period of time. It’s no different in our business; we diagnose financial problems and recommend treatment plans. So why wouldn’t we use a financial model to communicate with our non-financially trained clients?
Well, some of us do. Members of the Circle of Wealth® have been using the Personal Economic Model® for the last five years with remarkable success. It’s a picture, without numbers, that shows a prospect their conceptual lifelong cash flows, assets, and liabilities on a single screen. In addition, it highlights the necessary insurance protections for every aspect of their economic model. It’s our equivalent to an anatomically correct model of the human body.
We’ve created the following script to accompany our Personal Economic Model®. We hope you can take something away and use it with whatever model or set of charts you’re currently using. We have also provided a link to download a PDF of our model and an expanded script that you might find communicates with your prospects at a whole new level.
The Personal Economic Model® Script
I’d like you to understand that we look at insurance differently than most. We look at insurance as a piece of your overall financial picture. The reason to have insurance is to protect you from loss against events that can impact your current cash flow as well as deplete savings and investment dollars you have worked hard to set aside for your future. Protection is just one part of a solid and well balanced financial strategy and we will answer your questions today and help you determine the level of protection you want.
I’d like to introduce you to a simple picture, called the Personal Economic Model®, that will provide a visual platform for us to discuss your personal situation. The model is a visual representation of the flow of money.
To offer you the best service and advice, it will be important that I have some insight into what you are doing today and where you hope to be tomorrow. To reach your goals, it’s clear you need a plan and well thought out strategies. It makes little sense to accumulate assets without protecting them. What you have is not really yours if someone or some event can take it away.
We help you keep what you have worked so hard to achieve. Let me share how.
You’ll notice on the right-hand side of the model are the protection areas which you came in to discuss. We’ll get to those in just a minute, but first I would like to share with you what makes us so unique.
On the left side, you see a large tank representing all the money that you will earn during your entire lifetime. While a lot of money will flow into this tank, no money resides in this tank. Your money flows through the monthly cash flow tube into the tax filter where the government takes their share. With what’s left over, you have two choices. One is to pump money up the future lifestyle tube into the savings and investment tanks to secure your future lifestyle, and the other is to allow your money to flow to your current lifestyle to be consumed.
Unfortunately, many people purchase their protection products from someone who knows little to nothing about what is happening on the left side of the model. And they seek investment advice from someone who focuses solely on savings and investments and knows little to nothing about the levels of protection you need to secure your financial future.
I’m not suggesting that you move everything you’re doing financially to us, although we can help you in many areas, I’m just sharing what makes us unique in that we believe the best way to serve you is for you to understand your entire Personal Economic Model® and where every financial decision fits.