Good day my friends!

Winter has arrived in my part of Canada. The ground is covered with snow and the temperature is hovering around 0 degrees Celsius. This must be difficult for you to imagine when you do not even get rain in Cyprus. I love the seasons in Canada and the weather changes makes it very interesting and a positive experience. Generally I love change.

Even when I have to deliver the same seminar to different groups, I never deliver it the same way. Now you may assume that some participants get a better seminar than others. Well, because I pride myself on my professionalism, I make sure every group of participants get value. I acted this way when I was an advisor just like you. I constantly looked for ways to add value to my customers. I think most MDRT members think this way.

My desire to add value gave me a competitive advantage and a competitive edge. It allowed me to reach the top ranks of our profession. I worried about how I could add value and what would that value look like. The first policy I adopted was to ‘under-promise and over-deliver!’ When asked to do something by one of my customers, I would be slow to accept, generous in my response commitment, and then I would always respond sooner and ‘wow’ the customer. Here is an example … the customer asks me to get some information … I would say … humm, I might be able to get it to you in 3 or 4 days, okay? The customer would say ‘okay!’ Then I would get the information right away or the next day and call them back with it. I would say to the customer, that I really valued them and made it a priority to get back to them. The customer would feel special. If gave me a competitive edge.

Another way to gain a competitive edge or advantage was to be more professional than my competitors. I memorized my scripts, practiced and role-played until I knew the word-for-word. Some advisors think memorization is too hard or they feel it is unnecessary. Actually memorization is hard until you get in the habit of doing it. then like anything, the more you do it, the better you get at it. As well memorization allows you to be creative in how you respond to the customer. Memorization empowers you for you always know where you are going and what to say. Most advisors who are struggling don’t memorize or role-play! Remember success is a choice!

As well, my competitive edge is not what I say, it is what I do. As we have talked about before. People do not trust words. They do trust your positive behaviors, actions, gestures and what they can actually see. Are you truly listening to them? They can tell, just like your spouse or child can tell if you are listening by watching your behaviours. Remember to show them and me the money. Don’t promise, don’t say I will try, don’t say I hope, Just do it! As the Nike ads say, just do it!

Soon you will see a video from me. It is a very basic one but hopefully you will get and understand the message loud and clear. Your success, happiness and future is entirely in your hands.

By the way December is a wonderful time to sell insurance. In my next note I will talk about it.

All the best,
Jim