The Annuity Lead

Direct mail is a great way to get your message in front of targeted annuity prospects.  It gives you the chance to be creative with your message, is relatively inexpensive to implement and will help you separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to identifying potential annuity clients.  In fact, many annuity agents say direct mail is their best source for qualified annuity leads.  But you need to spend your time talking to prospects, networking and closing the sale – you don’t have time to create and run a direct mail campaign!  Instead of trying to do everything at once, consider outsourcing the production of your direct mail pieces. 

The following are some tips for outsourcing your annuity marketing direct mail campaign.

• Determine your approach.

You can find companies that handle the campaign from beginning to end.  This includes the creation of the pieces, strategy and the mailing.  However, some of these companies can be expensive and may be out of your budget.  If you feel the expense is worth it, ask your fellow agents for referrals to companies they’ve worked with.  Check the company’s other references, not just by what they say but by calling each contact and talking to them yourself.

• You can outsource each step of the direct mail campaign.

If a full-scale media production house is out of your budget, you can outsource the separate steps in the process to save money.  Typically, you need to find a professional who can do great graphics, and one who can write good copy.  Some professionals will offer to do both, but it’s often better to find one person for each element of the piece.  Be sure to outsource the copy first so that you can forward the finished text to your graphic designer.

But where do you find these professionals?  You can check you local yellow pages for advertising agencies, or you can look online using services like www.guru.com or www.elance.com.  These websites feature freelance professionals who will bid on your job, often charging less than the professionals you can find offline.  And with the power of the Internet, you may be in Texas and work with someone in California!

• Once your direct mail piece is completed, you can either mail it yourself or outsource this step as well.

If you already have a list of annuity leads, you can save yourself money by mailing the direct mail piece yourself.  First, you’ll need to have it printed, and there are a number of different discount printers online who can do this for a few hundred dollars or less.  Once you’ve received your printed pieces, you can sit down and spend an afternoon labeling, stamping and mailing out your direct mail campaign.

If you don’t yet have an annuity lead list, you can contract with a company that will not only mail the piece for you, but will send it to a list of qualified leads.  You can get a list and the piece mailed for one price!  This is a great way to get leads and send out your direct mail piece quickly and efficiently.

In addition, there are two things you should remember when outsourcing any component of your annuity marketing direct mail campaign.

1. Make sure you have everything in writing.  Most freelancers sign contracts that state they are independent contractors. These contracts protect you and them, by laying out every detail of the project timeline and deliverables so that there’s no misunderstanding during the process.  You can find one online, but if you can’t, ask your attorney to draft one for you.

2. Give the company/freelancers clear instructions.  Nothing is as frustrating as requesting a job and not having it done right.  Be responsive to their questions and communicate as clearly as possible.  If you aren’t as clear as possible with your instructions, it’s likely that the job won’t be done right!

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Stop This from Happening

You meet a prospect, but he does not make an appointment. Or you do meet with him, but he decides
not to take action. So you put his contact information into your tickler for a call in 90 days. When you
call him in 90 days, you find out he has just invested $100,000 into an annuity that would have grossed
you $8,000. But he had forgotten about you. In fact, he says, “Geez, Joe, I would have made this
investment with you, but the guy at the bank caught me when I was rolling over a CD.”

To maximize the yield from your seminars, direct mail or any other marketing program, it’s critical
to drip on people you have met but who did not make an appointment or become a client. Eventually
they will. You have to be in front of them:
1. At the right time, and
2. With the right message

And if you fail to maintain contact, the above scenario will happen to you again and again. Money,
transactions, policies and commissions will continue to slip through your fingers.

“The very best money I have ever spent in my business is the insurance newsletter I obtain from your firm … it never fails to generate $15-20k of commissions each mailing.” B. Broich, WA

This is where most financial professionals fall down. They waste significant prospecting effort
meeting people, yet never bring these people to full boil. They waste time and energy heating the water,
yet fail to keep the flame burning. Their hot prospects cool off and disappear. Read on and see how the
right insurance newsletter converts these prospects to clients.

Drip Monthly

The right monthly insurance newsletter will help you turn prospects into clients. Why monthly? Because people have a lot of distractions in life and they see lots of offers and advertisements. After 30 days, they barely remember who you are. But by having your silent salesman (your insurance newsletter) show up in their mailbox every 30 days, you stay fresh on their mind.
If you’ve been sending a quarterly newsletter, save your money! After 3 months, they don’t remember who you are and when they receive your newsletter they think to themselves, “Who’s this guy?” and they toss it out.

If you do not keep in touch with clients and prospects, someone else will. Another financial professional will invite your clients to seminars and keep pounding them with their insurance newsletter, and your clients’ assets and prospects will drift elsewhere. The only efficient way to stay in front of your prospects and clients is with a monthly insurance newsletter.

“Just a note to let you know that in the short time that I have been using your newsletter I have picked up an additional $300,000 in assets under management.” T. Treacy, NY

Target Your Audience to Generate Sales

Sending just any newsletter WILL NOT do the job. You’ve seen what most professionals send—some boring junk about a change in the tax law, the latest economic report, statistics from the Fed, political commentary… BOOORING!!!!

The prospect cares about only one thing: “What’s in it for me?” They couldn’t care less about some economic prognostication or the change in the fed funds rate. They want to know, “How am I gonna make more
money?” Or in the case of seniors, they ask, “How can I best preserve my principal and obtain more income?”

Your insurance newsletter, targeted at the affluent 50+ audience, addresses their concerns and solutions regarding investing for income, investing for growth, mutual funds, annuities, long-term care, estate
planning, and tax minimization.

So you send an insurance newsletter that tells them point blank how they can make money or save it. Every article answers the question, “What’s in it for me?” As a result, the newsletter generates business for you because people call you to learn more; it’s not just some low-key public relations tool. It generates commissions and fees! In the next post, I’ll explain why they call you from this insurance newsletter.

See a sample of the Insurance Newsletter

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The annuity business is very competitive.  Not only are you competing with other annuity agents, but also with the possibility that the money from a potential client could be deposited into an IRA or a different retirement plan altogether.  Obviously, you want to be the one that the client entrusts with their money, so you need to find a way to make yourself stand out to sell annuities. 

One way to show that you’re an expert in the financial field is by earning specific professional designations.  Think about it – when you’re looking for a new health care provider, would you trust anyone without the “MD” designation?  If you’re an annuity agent and you don’t have a professional designation, you may find yourself losing clients to agents with better credentials.  Just having your insurance license may not be enough to make a living selling annuities.

Some of the better known professional designations include:

• CFP (Certified Financial Planner)
• ChFC (Chartered Financial Consultant)
• MSFS (Master’s of Science in Financial Services).

Each of these designations has different requirements you must meet before you can begin using it.  The CFP designation is one of the most widely recognized in the industry, although you’ll need to take several courses and pass a board exam before you can use the credential.  The ChFC, on the other hand, requires some coursework, but no exam, while the MSFS credential comes from completing a two-year graduate level program.  All of these will make you a far more competent financial advisor and significantly impact your annuity sales.

In addition, there are many professional designations for annuity agents who focus specifically on selling to seniors.  Some states don’t allow annuity agents to use these designations – depending on the wording – so it’s important to check with your state board before you pursue them.  These designations include:

• CSS (Certified Senior Specialist)
• CSRS (Certified Elder Planning Specialist)
• CLTC (Certified in Long Term Care) – this professional specializes in planning for care in nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

For more information on the specific requirements of each credential and the schools that offer the necessary training courses, visit www.brokerworldmag.com.  Depending on your schedule, you may be able to find courses can be taken either online or by correspondence.

At first, these courses may seem expensive – especially to someone just starting out in the annuity business.  But by earning a professional designation, you give yourself several advantages:

• You learn more about selling annuities and marketing annuities. The classes go beyond what you can learn on the job or in a basic college course.  For example, if you earn the CLTC designation, you’ll learn much more about long term care and nursing homes than you would just sitting behind your desk.

• If you want to market to a specific group like seniors, a credentialing program can help you learn more about how to tailor plans to them and their unique needs.

• Professional designations build trust with clients.  When a certain set of letters appears after your name, clients know you’ve taken the time to learn more about how to help them with their financial needs, and will reward you with increased business.

• Often when someone sees a designation after your name, they’ll ask you, “What does it mean?” This gives you a perfect opportunity to market your services to clients you never would have met otherwise.

If you sell annuities, compare earning professional designations to the steps an educator takes to advance in their career.  Most school principals begin as teachers with bachelor’s degrees.  Later on, they earn master’s degrees – usually in administration – to learn more about working as school principals.  As you progress in your career, you may find that you need the additional education and qualifications provided by a professional designation course to advance in the field of selling annuities.

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