In June, along with 42 other New Zealander’s, we experienced the best of MDRT’s magic and religion. This year’s meeting had probably the best line-up of Main Platform speakers anyone has experienced – it was impossible not to be excited about our careers and to enjoy the company of those Members in our profession. The regular attendees go with the certain knowledge that we will return better people – they learn about themselves.
Then at the end of July, many of us experienced another great day, courtesy of Tower Health. National Sales & Marketing Manager, Jeff Page (ex-Aetna Life days), with the assistance of Peter Morrison the MDRT Zone Chairman, assembled 250 Advisers together to re-launch Tower back into the forefront of the NZ insurance market. Included in the program were two Top of the Table MDRT Members, Garry Avis from Australia and Mike Wilcox from USA and it was definitely reminiscent of the atmosphere we use to enjoy in LUA days.
The common threads of both meetings were about developing relationships and getting back to the enjoyment and sole of our wonderful business.
What Business Are We In?
Reflecting over recent times, it would be easy to get an impression that our "professional career" is about financial planning, investment products, risk management and continuing our education.
But it is not! Our professional career is about building relationships and trust in the field of financial security and management. By achieving these results, we will have a profound effect on the business and family community. Our career is about giving respect to people and solving their problems. The quality of our career mirrors the quality of our relationships. Everything we learn is secondary to how we serve others.
The No.1 priority is establishing meaningful relationships. It isn’t about offering financial products but about caring about the customer and their problems and developing solutions. It is wants (not needs) and the crux is about listening – to determine if that person is ready to accept your solution.
This requires special personal qualities, not the least of which is the love and concern for mankind. We are about creating a better (professional) relationship with our clients – that means, "caring". The Financial Planning Process and Standards are critical elements towards developing that trust. But without a meaningful relationship, these are theoretical, clinical and probably useless.
And what is best practice? It is about caring for humanity; best practice is a process of caring. Our clients didn’t buy our advice because they understood; they bought because they felt you understood them.
We are in the "people" business and not the Financial Planning business. Investments, returns, insurance and compliance are only some of the benefits, or by-products, of the service we provide. Unless you are good developing relationships you’ll never reach your potential.
Is ‘Life Insurance’ Really a Commodity?
In recent years, brought about by the intrusion of other financial institutions getting into insurance, we have seen life insurance turned into a commodity. When I mention life insurance, I am referring to term life, trauma, income protection, TPD, etc., all those financial instruments (insurance) that provide people with more certainty to ‘life’.
There are concept difficulties trying to market these Benefits, as they are intangible. With the introduction of the Investment Advisers Act, the regulators had major difficulties dealing with insurance benefits associated with investment products. And finally, there’s the fact that far too many of the Insurance Advisers, unquestionably an insurer’s most effective method of distribution, have not been productive enough in the past. All these elements have lead to life insurance being turned into a commodity.
But is it? Ask yourself this question, do you remember the manufacturer of the last dose of penicillin you had? Of course you don’t, people don’t want the commodity – they only want to know how it affects their concerns! Financial services are what we have to be marketing.
Without love & concern, life insurance is not bought. There has to be concern for the financial security of others who love something, or somebody, and they feel the desire to arrange protection. When arranging life insurance protection, it often a deeply emotional time and requires a unique skill and dedication to get behind what a person wants and has to do.
So if the above is true, why do we now refer to insurance as "risk products". What a damn cold clinical image this expression brings! Does a widow or beneficiary view this financial protection as a "risk" product? Hell no, they have arranged financial security – like it always has been, always will be and nothing has changed. So why are we accepting this industry-introduced colloquial language depicting life insurance as a commodity?
It has been said that the financial planning business is about moving money, whereas the life insurance business is about creating money. Either way it is still in the field of financial security and management. Whatever your predominance, FPIA has the ability to represent our profession as one body but Members have to willingly accept the dynamics of each other’s cause and their perspective. It is the wider industry wanting to push products, not us.
So, thanks to Tower Health and MDRT ("Members Dedicated to Relationships & Trust"), these two exciting and stimulating experiences have refocused my thoughts and I hope that I have challenged your thoughts too.
Finally, here are some memorable one-liners that had appeal:
Brian Klee, CLU, FPIA Life Member.
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