Are you struggling to convert leads into clients? The financial service industry’s top advisors all have one thing in common; the ability to build quality, long-lasting connections. In this episode of Money Script Monday, Dan presents how to successfully transition your clients from cold prospects to raving fans.

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Video transcription

Hello there and welcome back to another episode of Money Script Monday.

My name is Dan Tatulli. And today, we're going to be talking about the five stages of client relationships.

Now, I chose this topic because relationships are a very important part in this industry.

This is a relationship business.

This is not transactional. It's certainly not commodity because your clients can purchase life insurance and annuities basically from anywhere.

What makes you different compared to the agent down the street are the types of relationships that you build and the advice that you provide for your clients.

So, when looking at these relationships, they could last 10, 20, 30… I've seen even agents last generations from client to client.

These are very long lifespans of relationships that need to get built.

If you look, there are specific stages within these relationships that turn a cold prospect into a raving fan.

When we look to carve out those stages and identify them, we don't have to look any further than the relationships that we build through our significant others.

Today, I'd like to provide a personal story about my own relationship with my significant other and the stages that we took from cold to a warm raving fan and relate that back to our industry.

And then also provide you some examples of how LifePro can help you within each one of these five stages.

So, with that, let's get started.

The date was March 17th, St. Patrick's Day, just about 8 years ago. And I was downtown. It's called Shamrock. They kind of block off a big section of the road, and just everybody goes out there and parties for St. Patrick's Day.

I was with some friends of mine. They invited a few friends of theirs and we were all going down this elevator and we took this picture.

And this picture is very important. If you've seen it at the IUL Sales Academy, I certainly present on it.

But it was a very important picture because little did I know that the person standing next to me was ultimately going to become my wife.

I didn't know her at the time. She was a friend of a friend. But we kicked things off that night. What we did was we just met each other, exchanged some basic information, just a name and number, and then we had fun.

The next morning was the cup of coffee. I asked her out, to go out for just a quick cup of coffee, get to know each other a little bit more, and that was the first stage of our entire relationship.

From there, she lived in Iowa City, I was from San Diego, so she got up and left. That was her trip for the week. But we kept in touch.

One conversation led to two, three, and ultimately, we were talking every single day. And we started dating.

I flew over there, went on a few dates with her. She flew back here. We went on a few dates. And that was the second stage of we're just, again, trying to feel each other out.

The next step was exclusive. This is where she kinda said, after a few months, "Hey, what are we trying to do here? Are we trying to be serious? Is this a serious relationship?"

And we made the decision, "Yeah, let's go to that next stage." And from there, she lived in Iowa City, I won the battle of should we move to Iowa or San Diego.

So, she packed up her bags and she moved out here to San Diego. And that's where this, we kinda sat here for a few years. I think if you ask her, it might be a few years too long, but I certainly differ on that.

The next stage was obviously the marriage. When you're thinking about your significant other, going from exclusive to marriage, there's this really important transition that happens.

This is the proposal. Moving from exclusive to marriage. And I just want to take a step back here and ask everybody who's given a proposal out there.

Were you nervous that she was going to say "No" to the proposal, or were you more nervous about the moment of just, "Hey, do I have the ring? Is the photographer down the street there? Can she see him? I brought the bottle of champagne. It's not broken in my backpack."

All those things, right? You were more nervous about that. Keep that in mind.

I'm going to go back to it. So, we had the marriage. Great wedding. And the marriage, we've been going on now for a few years.

That leads up to the actual anniversary, right? So, every year, it comes that date that we celebrate that, and hopefully, you're doing more things just to nurture that relationship in the next few weeks, going out on dates, all that kind of stuff with your significant other.

The anniversary is so important to relate back to all those stages.

So, I wanted to bring up this because on March 17th, if I had…in that elevator, if I had gotten down on one knee and said, "Will you marry me?”

“Do you realize what your life's going to look like in 10 years after we wed? Do you know the benefits that I can give to you and how your life is going to be so perfect?”

No, right? She would've said "No" anyway, because that's weird.

She didn't even know me at the time. She didn't know my name, she didn't know who I was. All those things.

I want to relate that back to the financial service industry because you, as an agent, when you walk up to somebody, you're probably thinking about that fourth step, about that marriage, about how they can sign up to an IUL policy or an annuity policy.

You're not thinking about any of this stuff. What you're doing is you're jumping right to that fourth step and saying, "Hey, guess what? These benefits, you don't know what your life is going to be like in 10 years when you sign on to this policy."

They don't even know who you are. They don't know what you offer. They don't know the services that you provide.

It's really important to take a step back and understand that there's a few different stages that we need to take before asking them about that policy and what do they look like.

Stage 1: Coffee

This cup of coffee stage for financial service agents, it's typically just offering high value, but asking for just some basic information exchange, right?

The name and number and such. This typically looks like certain guides that you would give out.

Let's say, electronically, is it on your website? "Download this free e-book. All I need is your name and email address."

That's what this stage is all about. It's introducing that cold prospect to what you offer.

Stage 2: Dating

Let's say, we move on from that stage and go now to the dating stage. They've downloaded a book. Maybe they read a few pages and what not.

What does this next stage look like, the dating stage in the financial service industry?

This is going to look like maybe you're holding a local seminar, maybe you're doing a webinar, maybe there are some video trainings.

They're on your website now. They're clicking around. They're getting to know more about you.

This is the dating phase. So, after they attended, let's say, a seminar, for the past hour or two, they've been, understanding who you are and what you offer.

Stage 3: Exclusive

The next phase is that exclusive stage. This is asking them, "Hey, it's worked out up until this point. Do you want to move one on one? Let's get to know your unique situation and go through that appointment process."

What does that really look like?

It looks like the first appointment, the second appointment, the third appointment.

I put wealth reports here because these are reports that LifePro can generate for you within this unique stage.

Illustrations, obviously. You're going to be working on that, presenting to them.

Now, I want to come back to this proposal right here.

You, as a financial service agent, you should not be nervous about whether they're going to say "yes" or "no" to the policy that you're delivering.

You should be more nervous about the moment.

Is the proposal printed out? Do we have their name on the board when they come into the office? Did I wear my best suit today? Is my tie on straight?

All those different types of things. You should be more nervous about that than whether they're going to say "yes" or "no."

Why? Because you've moved them seamlessly throughout all of these stages that, of course they're going to say "yes."

They've read the book. They've attended the seminar. They've gone through the appointments.

Why wouldn't they say "yes" to that policy that you're offering them?

Stage 4: Marriage

The marriage. So, this is the obvious one.

This is the in-force policy. This is the applications, the medical exam.

I put a policy delivery packet here LifePro can provide you. We have some screenshots of what a policy delivery packet should look like when you're delivering it to your clients.

Stage 5: Anniversary

Lastly, the anniversary. You have to nurture that relationship much like, you know, your significant other.

This is an annual review appointment. Every year, you should be meeting with your clients.

We have a performance report. LifePro generates an annual review performance report for you that can identify the IUL and annuity about how it's performing and what it looks like.

New business. All of our top agents, a third of their business is generated from existing clients.

It's those anniversaries that they're having those discussions. Things are changing with their lives throughout that year.

Lastly, if you've moved them from a cold prospect to a raving fan, certainly, you're going to get those referrals, and that typically happens within that anniversary stage there.

Contact LifePro

I hope you enjoyed today's lesson on the five stages of client relationships and got to see how really looking at your personal relationship, that goes a whole lot more with your financial service relationship too with your client.

LifePro can definitely help you within each one of these stages, so please reach out to your FSR. The number here is 1-888-LIFEPRO, so that's 543-3776.

Thanks again, and take care.