THE EMPATHETIC LEADER
Demonstrating empathy is a positive in the workplace, but new research reveals it is important for everything from innovation to retention. Great leadership needs a good mix of all skills to form the optimal environment for engagement, happiness, and high performance. Empathy leads the list of what leaders must apply in their everyday leadership.
• Engagement: Advisors are more likely to perform at their best with an engaged team.
• Stress in Personal Lives - Employees are affected when stress at work is brought home.
• Innovation: With an empathetic leader, advisors can think of ways to innovate their approach and skills.
Stress Affects Productivity
• Work Performance: Performance can decline if employees are experiencing a rude approach at work.
Empathetic Leadership
Empathetic Leadership
BY NANCY GO FREGIL
Empathy Contributes to Positive Initiatives
The pandemic turned our lives and our work upside down. Here are some of the effects of the pandemic on the workforce:
• Mental Health - More people are experiencing anxiety and depression after the pandemic.
Advisors experiencing tough times and rejections in their insurance careers can lead to burnout, unhappiness, and a decline in productivity. Empathy can be a powerful cure and contribute to positive experiences for advisors and teams.
• Work-Life Balance: When advisors feel their leaders are more empathetic, they can manage time for their family and be even more productive at work.
• Retention: When advisors feel valued, they will stay and thrive even through challenging times.
Leaders will be most successful not only when they personally consider others but also when they express their concerns, ask questions about the advisors’ challenges, and eagerly listen to their responses. Leaders do not need to be experts in mental health. It is enough to show genuine care and attention to their advisors. Resources for additional help can also be considered by the leader. At the end of the day, it is how the leader makes the advisor feel that the advisor will remember, which will drive productivity.
Empathy is a highly relevant skill for leaders, especially today. It means taking on a new level of meaning and priority within teams. Due to the pandemic and changes in the workplace, employees are experiencing higher levels of stress than before. An empathetic leader can drive significant growth in business because employees feel that they are heard, understood, appreciated, and valued.
SEPTEMBER 2022 1
Over the years, I have seen many people rotate through this career. Some may have had more commitment, enthusiasm, or talent than others, but they all abandoned this beautiful profession due to factors that could have been avoided.
That's why learning to handle objections, observe others, and give mutual feedback is important. These habits help drive each other into the most profitable and important activity in this race but can still be intimidating due to phone calls and scheduling appointments.
While we know that it is not necessary to invent processes, it is extremely important to provide agents with tools that generate habits. These habits are the keys to success and long-term permanence.
BY YOLÉN SADA
A team's culture is critical for everyone to move in the same direction and believe that collateral learning is more important than independent learning. All team members support each other and walk in the same direction. Through their purposes and objectives as a team, they create greater success among all participants in the same promotership.
How can you create the same culture? AURUM provides group and individual coaching sessions taught by a certified personal development coach. Sessions are based on a method of personal development where everyone shares their personal, professional, and mutual goals together and works towards those goals weekly as a group.
Creating Common Goals and Company Culture
One of the most important processes we have at AURUM is the creation of similar team culture and self-image. In other words, we all focus on creating the same mentality. This helps us see the opportunities and endless possibilities that exist around us instead of the limitations. We all walk together with the same goal of changing the financial culture of our country and insuring the largest number of people possible.
SEPTEMBER 2022 2
Two important habits for successful insurance agents are accompaniment and positive habits.
That led me to install very selective recruitment processes and find the ideal profile that we look for in promoters. When needs were developed in the correct way, there was a support network and a boot platform strong enough for careers to prosper.
Some Ways to Overcome the Prospecting Challenge
BY TOM HEGNA
For years, the entire financial services industry has struggled with the same big issue: prospecting! The new advisor is typically asked to write 100-200 names of people in their lives, including friends, relatives, school contacts, fraternity brothers, sorority sisters, etc. They are then expected to go out and try to sell life insurance, annuities, and investments to these folks. I believe it puts the new advisor in an awkward position. They are supposed to target the people closest to them, even though they really haven’t had adequate training on the various products and how they work.
The old “Write 100 policies, and you’ll get the hang of it” just doesn’t work for today’s generation. They want to know more before they go out and put themselves on the front lines. Much of today’s training is done by product wholesalers who certainly know about their products. However, due to increased compliance, much of the actual sales and presentation training is missing or watered down.
So many new advisors are sent into the field on their first day with not much more than a list of names and a folder full of diagrams. As Joe Jordan often says, “Whether you like it or not, you’re in the prospecting business.” When I started, I knew nothing about anything, but I knew there were three ways to increase my production: see the people, see the people, and see the people. Let’s look at some old ways and new ways to accomplish this. Remember, you must help your advisors find multiple ways to meet new prospects and clients.
Put your focus on prospects rather than products this year. I’m no longer in production, so I don’t sell any financial products. I train agents and advisors all over the world, and I help them become top producers by educating their prospects. I’ve done over 5,000 client seminars in all 50 states, and my webinars have helped thousands of agents see more people.
I recently teamed up with Jeremiah Desmarais of the Advisorist. We developed a system that runs webinars for advisors. It is called the “Webinar Method.” Advisors simply send their prospects a link to a registration page. I have loaded five of my most popular webinars into the system. There is also room to add 15 more; the advisor can record them, or a company officer can record them. These webinars are recorded but look and feel like they are presented live. There is a counter for how many attendees are on the call; participants can chat or even ask questions during the webinar. The webinar method automatically books appointments on the advisor’s calendar after prospects
SOME WAYS TO OVERCOME THE PROSPECTING CHALLENGE
Another strategy I used was outside the office. As a brand-new agent, I aligned myself with centers of influence. One of my biggest centers of influence was a new home sales rep for U.S. homes; he was one of those people who sat in a new model house. I bought a home from him. He not only gave me all the names and numbers of other home buyers but also introduced me to all of the other salespeople in his company. I did the same for him. He sent me more business my first year than anyone else.
As leaders, we must look for new, 21st-century solutions to the prospecting dilemma. You don’t want to stop doing what is working. At the same time, you must constantly be looking for new ways to help your advisors. I am convinced that by encouraging your advisors to build their online presence, increase their social media activity, and use some of these new techniques to increase the number of prospects, 2023 can be your best year ever!
One simple way I saw more people was a simple daily practice. I kept a paper cup on my desk at the office with 15 paper clips in it. Each morning, I would dump the paper clips onto my desk. Throughout the day, I would call prospects, and each time I asked someone for an appointment, I’d put one paperclip back in the cup. I would not leave the office until I put every paper clip back in the cup. This simple technique kept me focused on where I was in the prospecting process and helped keep me disciplined. Some advisors need more than 15 paper clips to reach their appointment numbers. My goal was to see 3–5 people face-to-face every single day.
Today, I’ve moved the majority of my business online. I have recorded daily webinars that bring in more leads than any other strategy I’ve used. This webinar method runs on autopilot while I’m on the golf course or handling appointments. Plus, advisors (who are also my prospects) can attend on their own time–when and where it’s convenient for them. Your prospects like to have control over their schedule too.
have been warmed up with one of my 50minute presentations. If that sounds like something that could increase your team’s production, I encourage you to watch a full demonstration here.
I have also teamed up with Doug Orchard. Doug is an awardwinning filmmaker. He filmed the Power of Zero with David McKnight. His latest creation is the Baby Boomer Dilemma. This movie is a full-fledged documentary with a full motion picture rating. It is NOT a sales presentation. However, the movie is loaded with top PhDs from around the world, including two Nobel Prize recipients. They lay out the case for the importance of having guaranteed lifetime income in retirement. Advisors around the country are filling up their calendars with qualified appointments, and all they had to do was invite their prospects to a movie! Doug even has streaming gift cards so people can watch at home. Watch the testimonials of these successful advisors here. There are even services that will fill the theater for you! What a great opportunity for managers to create a fun evening that will drive significant business for the office.
Can I trust you?
“Do you want to buy some insurance?"
Early in my career, that was the only question that mattered. Before I knew a person’s name, that question filled my mind and most of my thinking. Even as I pretended to listen to the person, my mind was focused on looking for an opening to ask the question. Qualify, present, close, and move on. We were taught not to waste time. Talking was time, and time was money. The prevailing logic was to get to the question that mattered as efficiently as possible. Fifty years and 15,000 clients later, I still believe in getting to the question that matters most. However, I am certain that “Do you want to buy some insurance?” is not that question.
Upon meeting someone, psychologists say it takes one-tenth of a second for a person to decide whether you are trustworthy or not. Before you say one word, smile one smile, ask one qualifying question, or shake one hand, they are already determining whether your words are true, your smile is genuine, your questions deserve answering, or your handshake is sincere.
The BeforeQuestiontheQuestion
Sales are a by-product of good service, and good service means letting your clients’ needs take the lead. Be the person who answers their question before you start asking your own.
BY SOLOMON HICKS
When you enter an encounter armed with questions, people assume a defensive posture, and selling becomes a fight until one of you gives up. You may win a sale, but your client will feel like a loser, thus making repeat or referral business far less likely. When you enter the situation openly, willing to wait, and ready to serve their desires—whatever those desires are—they know you are on their side and that you are both moving in the same direction. They will guide you.
I don’t remember the last time I asked someone if they’d like to buy insurance. If they want it—and if they have called me, they usually do — they will ask me for it. My questions for clients these days are some form of “What matters to you?” or “How can I help?” I have found that these are the only ones that matter.
Alternatively, what if my leader had asked me about the hundred calls I needed to make by that weekend? I likely would have given him an answer he wanted to hear, like, “I’m working on it” or “It’s coming along.” That would have been the end of it. I would not have made a call, let alone one hundred calls. That empathetic manager had me take a small bite out of what I actually needed to do and then discuss it with him. He had a choice; he took the more tedious route of going to my office and asking me about it. He could have chosen otherwise and gone about his day.
Remember the days of an advisor coming into your office to prep for the evening’s appointment? You would get them all excited with new concepts and a “can do” attitude, only to be met with a look of defeat the next morning. You may have followed the look with pursed lips, a simple nod, and a hand on their shoulder. Maybe you said, “You’ll get the next one,” in a flat tone. We may have referred to this as “the sales culture” while we were developing. That poor advisor may have felt bad about not making the sale and perhaps even worse about letting their sales leader down. I recall this awkward exchange on more than one occasion as a young leader trying to develop salespeople.
I can recall the leaders that made a difference for me. Walking by a leader’s office when I was a new advisor, and him simply saying, “Ted, please make one prospecting phone call when you get to your office. I’ll stop by in a few minutes and ask how it went.” This took me by surprise. I had not planned on doing that. I had planned on going to my office space and organizing my desk. I planned on procrastinating with no intention of making a prospecting call. I was tasked with one call, so I did it. He came by my office as promised, and we talked about it.
I am more seasoned now (with a few more grays on the top of my head), but I can honestly say that being an empathetic leader is a more encouraging way to lead financial advisors. I was not in tune with the compassion I needed to have. The advisors had lives, too. They had clothes to buy and mouths to feed. Wouldn’t it have been better to meet the advisor in the hallway, pull them into my office, and ask about their spouse and kids from the start, even before they got to the point of telling me about their non-closing appointment? Wouldn’t it have been nice to offer up lunch so we could go through some ways to improve next time and have a few laughs while we were at it? It likely would have merited better results than the termination letters slipped under my door during the evening hours just to avoid me.
SEPTEMBER 2022 7 SHOW EMPATHY
Empathy takes work. It is crucial work. It is getting up from the chair and meeting the advisor coming into your office halfway and speaking with them without distraction. It is going beyond what a coaching session looks like on paper and seeing the numbers from their vantage point. This is not always the same as what the office needs to reach its target. Would you ask someone to double their production to the end of the year if you knew that they had been planning their daughter’s wedding or that they had an elderly family member living with them that needed 24-hour care? Empathy requires asking these questions, and giving the advisors space to provide meaningful answers. Not just the answers they know you want to hear, but true and genuine answers. Can this advisor accomplish what they are telling you, or are they telling you just to get you off their case? Celebrating the numbers they told you about in August and achieved in December is a rewarding experience. It was much more rewarding than completely gassing the numbers in September and mailing them in until the end of the year because they were unattainable.
Another leader I recall asked me about a sales manager’s whereabouts. I explained that her dog had passed and that she was with family. My leader and I bought dinner from a local restaurant and delivered it early to our sales manager friend and her family with a note of condolences regarding their furry friend. It had nothing to do with business. This solidified this leader in my mind as “one of the best” because of his compassion and caring nature. When our sales manager colleague was ready to come back, she was energized and motivated because of the empathy displayed by her leader.
We are in trying times after a global pandemic. We see people at the end of their rope every day. People film it. People are struggling with life. Whether it is everyday people, friends, advisors, or colleagues, empathy is needed from leaders now more than ever.
"Empathy takes work. It is crucial work. It is getting up from the chair and meeting the advisor coming into your office halfway and speaking with them without distraction."
SEPTEMBER 2022 1https://gamaglobal.org/ THE EMPATHETIC LEADER