June, 2002 Article Submission Journal Archives ABOUT FSO Financial Services Online (FSO) is the first and largest financial services publisher and portal on the Internet. Our publications include Financial E-News, Financial Services Journal Online and Messages From The Masters, which are available at no cost on our Portal http://www.fsonline.com ADDENDUM: This Newsletter is published by Financial Services Online, Inc. and distributed on a complimentary basis to members of NAIFA, subscribers of the Virtual Sales Assistant(TM) and selected other recipients. It is designed to provide financial service professionals an overview of the events and happenings that may affect their business. If you would like additional information on any items or the sources used, please e-mail us at e-news-list-admin@ e-news.fsonline.com Contact: Carolyn Hersman chersman@comcast.net Copyright © 2002 Financial Services Online. Reprints and/or permission to reproduce Financial Services Journal must be obtained in writing from the publisher, Financial Services Online. LEGAL NOTICE Please read these important legal notices concerning this publication About NAIFA Founded in 1890 as the National Association of Life Underwriters, NAIFA is comprised of 900 state and local associations and represents the interests of 90,000 life and health insurance agents and financial advisors nationwide. Many of NAIFA's members are NASD-licensed registered representatives or registered investment advisors. Benefits of membership include legislative and regulatory representation, education and training, and networking opportunities. The NAIFA umbrella includes the Division of Financial Advisors and three specialty organizations: the Association for Advanced Life Underwriting (AALU), the Association of Health Insurance Advisors (AHIA) and GAMA International.		Please note email change for the editor:chersman@comcast.net Against The Wall by Jim McCarty CLU, RHU, LUTCF, RFC Some say the cards falling from his grasp that hot summer afternoon were aces and eights; a full house. Two black aces, two black eights and the red eight of diamonds. Others say the last card wasn't the eight of diamonds at all, but rather the queen of that same suit. Most people just don't know for sure. What is known, however, is that before he slumped sideways and fell to the floor due to a fatal head wound, James Butler Hickok was seated in the wrong place. ADVISOR MARKETING The Peanut Butter and Jelly Sin by Martin R. Baird Orville and Wilbur Wright. Peanut butter and jelly. These are famous relationships. These relationships make each other better. They show that sometimes when you put two items together, they add up to more than the sum of the parts! THE MARKETING COACH Marketing-Visual Impact That Lasts by John H. Melchinger Tell me-I will forget. Show me-I will remember. Let me try-I will learn how. That's the crux of this article......using visual impact to help people remember what's important. People see you in their mind's eye. They remember you visually. Why not feed that to your best advantage? FINANCIAL ADVISOR You Need a Professional Brochure by Edwin P. Morrow, CLU, ChFC, CFP, RFC Would you buy a new car or a major appliance from a dealer that had no brochure? If you wanted to compare two products or models, would you really want to navigate through two or more websites to get that data? Would you be impressed with a single sheet of typed specifications? SELLING SKILLS Which Makes A Better Presentation - You or Technology? by Bill Brooks You are the salesperson. It is important for you to be proactive, make calls (don't expect prospects to call you back - you are the salesperson), download and print pages from your website and get them to the prospect to ensure that they are viewed. Don't make your prospect do the work! THE STRESS DOC Implementing High Tech and High Touch Teams: Pros and Cons of Virtual vs. Real Teaming by Mark Gorkin, LICSW What's your image of teamwork: University of Maryland basketball, the efficient cooks and servers at your favorite breakfast place, frequently communicating sales and marketing departments or a coordinated trade show/production outfit? SALES SUCCESS How To Sell More Insurance... By Saying Less! by Ken Varga The most important thing an agent can do during the first meeting with a prospect... is to find out what that prospect's needs or wants are, and then figure out a way to satisfy those needs or wants. BUILDING YOUR BUSINESS Building Your Business In The 21st - For Financial Advisors by Kirk Lowe Technology is used here as a means to an end, to provide efficient and effective marketing and communications strategies which will ultimately lead to stronger, more profitable relationships with your clients. PSYCHOLOGICAL MARKETING Sabotaging your success? by Michael Lovas This article addresses some of the different ways we unconsciously sabotage our success - and what we can do about it. FINANCIAL PLANNING Financial Planners Challenge Ray Chodos Many financial services providers are self labeled as "financial planners". This includes stock brokers, insurance salesmen, bank financial services, and a plethora of other sales and transactional product purveyors. Some are very useful in guiding families to informed choices and reasonable expectations. Others are salespeople seeking situations that suit the product they offer. ADVISOR TODAY The LTC Wake-Up Call (Health Insurance) by Stephen A. Moses The Everly Brothers tune "Wake Up, Little Susie" is not only a golden oldie jangling from our radios, it's a telling metaphor for the Baby Boomers' lack of financial preparedness, especially in the event of long-term care (LTC). If they don't prepare, they'll soon wake up to the retirement equivalent of "The movie's over, it's 4 o'clock and we're in trouble deep. THE DIFFERENCE IS YOU YOU HAVE TO BELIEVE! ! The power of being a different kind of financial advisor by Stan Hustad, Performance Coach When you know what you believe, you become passionate, compassionate, focused, effective, decisive, influential and attractive. You become the kind of person you would love to have for a client. HIGH PERFORMING ADVISORS When Advisors Lose their Mojo by Norm Trainor Over a year ago, a client came to me with a challenge - he'd lost his enjoyment of the business and he wanted me to help him find it again. He was fifty and had been an advisor for almost twenty years. He had been generating over $500,000 in revenue for a number of years, but by the time he came to see me he was expecting to fall short of that target for the current year. He was frightened by the downward slide and wasn't optimistic that he could reverse the trend.