Everyone is A Prospect
Author: Peter F. Baigent CFP, CLU, CHFC, RFP.
An article about finding prospects for financial services.
My first year in the life insurance business was hell! I had come into the industry from the general insurance field. I worked for an insurance company, but quickly figured out that the money was in sales, or the agency end of the business. I later learned that the real money was in the life insurance sales end of the business. I realized that I would have to find clients, but figured this would be a no-brainer as my Dad could steer me in the right direction and supply me with lots of leads. He was the Superintendent of Agencies for a large insurance company. So in 1965, I passed my life license exam, surrendered my general insurance license and moved to a career life insurance company. I then waited for the phone to ring with Dad's leads to get me started.
Well Dad did call, but it was to see how I was managing and to give me a pep talk. He would call every day and end every conversation with "Remember everyone is a prospect". The leads never came! Not a single one! The longer this went on the more upset I got as I floundered in my life insurance career. I wished I had stayed in the general insurance agency where I did quite well working with their existing clientele. No prospecting was required of me there! With a young family of four children, I was getting worried and I began to think I had made a wrong turn in my career path.
I remember often, driving in my car to an appointment to see some useless orphan policyholder and thinking about my poor misfortune. But at least my manager was holding on and throwing me a few crumbs to get me started. I would beat up the steering wheel. I was so mad at my father for letting me down. "Everyone is a prospect." What a great deal of help that was! Where were the leads? When he called every evening it was all I could do to not lash out at him for not supporting me with prospects. Preferably prospects that were ready to buy now.
This went on for quite awhile and I was surprised that my manager did not get upset with me. I was making sales, but just getting by. One day, I don't remember why, or what triggered it, but I was thinking about how useless my old man was in my career when the light went on in my brain and I began to realize that indeed "Everyone is a prospect." If it wasn't for life insurance perhaps it was for a retirement plan, education savings, estate planning, or any of the many other products we handled.
I had been too wrapped up in my own beefs about my Dad that I was not looking correctly at the person I was talking to. In fact, they were all very good prospects. I just had to work at making them see their need. Even if they did not need anything now they could steer me to others who may have a current need for my services. The problem was not the prospects, or the lack of them. Everyone is a prospect; they just don't know it yet.
When I started to look at everyone as a prospect, things really started to click. By 1968, I qualified for membership in the Million Dollar Round Table. My new attitude gave me the confidence to be more assertive in my presentation and to make it clear to the prospect that I depended on their referrals to grow my business. I soon had to bring in others to assist with the work load as I had too many clients.
Over the years, I have moved across the country and retired twice, then went back into the business. As a result, I have built a client base from scratch six times. Fortunately, it has never been difficult for me to attract new clients. I believe this is because I am honest with the client and can demonstrate empathy for their situation. But most of all it is because I learned to look at everyone as a good prospect for what I was selling. It was like the old saying: Give a man a fish, or teach him how to fish. My Dad had shown me that; "everyone is a prospect" and with that frame of mind is how you survive in the business.
If my son were starting in the business today, I would just tell him to: "Remember that everyone is a prospect. "
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Peter F. Baigent CFP, CLU, CHFC, RFP. is a Past President of the Canadian Association of Financial Planners for British Columbia, a former Director of the Canadian Association of Financial Planners. He has spoken across Canada on financial planning matters and has taught courses for the Chartered Financial Consultants & Certified Financial Planners degrees. He is the founder of Money Minders Software which produces financial planning software.
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