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JUNE, 2003 Sales Training - A Short Course for Sales Managers Part I: A Look at the Job By William L. Willard, CLU, President, Pelican Island Publishing In many financial services organizations, sales managers and experienced producers have training responsibilities for which they are ill-prepared and barely qualified to carry out. If that's you, the following may just be a career-saver.

Get Good Leads or Die! by Forest Wallace Cato Everyone knows "qualified leads are your life blood" for staying in business and selling more of any financial product or service! I asked eight highly successful financial services professionals for a useful lead- generation tip you could use. Likeability The Key to Successful Recruiting & Retention by Jim McCarty CLU, RHU, LUTCF, RFC Recruiting and retention of high quality sales people in the financial services business are two major problems that have plagued general agents and managers in the past and remain prevalent today. Use Leadership Principles to Improve Closing Ratios and Drive up Policyholder Retention! by Michael Beck Whether you're a leader as an executive/manager of a group of agents and a staff, or you're a leader of your own agency of one, communicating effectively with those around you is critical to your success. When you become clear about why you do what you do (Part 5 of this series: Worthwhile Purpose) and you then communicate it effectively, you develop a certain attraction. Meetings Taken for Granted Leadership in a Rut by Steve Kaye, Ph.D. Out of the box thinking is a popular fad today. And yet, in order to leave a box, you have to realize that you are in one. You must know that a meeting should produce more than donut crumbs. The Changing Language of Long Term Care (The Fifth article in the series) by Laurel Stauffer-Daly, CLU, ChFC, LUTCF Previous articles in the series (access via the Archives or contact Laurel) have looked at terms commonly found in long term care coverage and/or used in the senior care field. We are moving through the alphabet and this article focuses on terminology starting with N through P. Growing Your Business Through Service Work by Norm Trainor The following is based on one of The Covenant Group's clients, Kelly Welles. All of the names and telling details have been changed to preserve client privacy. Lowell Gans figured the secret to growing his business lay in climbing out from under his massive pile of service work. Then, he'd have more time to sell. Unfortunately, he'd been buried under service work for years, and now believed he'd never see the light.

Create a Private Hedge Fund for Your High Net Worth Client by Scott Cavitt and Roccy DeFrancesco After a grueling three years of negative returns in the equities markets, clients have shifted their focus from "return on principal" to "return of principal". As a financial professional, you have no doubt stressed the importance of asset allocation, diversification, and the power of compound interest and dividends with your clients. Finding Your Deep Gladness Discover the passion that move you into your business. (Second in a series of Nine Articles) by Stan Hustad Building a business reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite writers, Frederich Buchener. He claims that one of our life projects is to turn our job into a vocation, indeed, a calling. He says a vocation is "where our deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." Where Were You on May 16? by Edwin P. Morrow, CLU, ChFC, CFP, RFC For some financial advisors, May 16 will be a date like December 7 or September 11. On May 16, 2003 their entire career outlook was challenged, re-organized, re-built and re-energized. They were in Cincinnati and acquired "The Abundance Dream," as a new paradigm for professional financial services. Why Is Your Prospect So Difficult? by Bill Brooks Have you ever encountered a prospect who seems to question everything you say, do or suggest? If you have, youíre not alone. In my 25-year sales career, I have encountered the same types of problematic prospects that you have. I have concluded that there are eight basic reasons that prospects build these walls of resistance against sales professionals í products and services. Commissions: Conflict of Interest? by Bill Bachrach Although I advocate a recurring revenue business model for financial advisors, I've never believed that earning commissions are inherently unethical. Yet some fee-only advisors and industry leaders argue that commissions create a conflict of interest and anyone who accepts them is suspect. Penicillin or Arsenic? by Martin R. Baird Depending on what day it is and what you're reading, the Internet could be portrayed as either of the above. On good days, people describe it as the business revolution of our time. On a bad day, it's worse than plague or famine.