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| Selfie with Mr. MDRT Builder himself, Mr. Tinton Deveza. During the second day of training, he gave me a warm welcome inside the class and told me how my blogging gave him the adrenaline rush that he needed for the day when he was feeling ill the past few days. A little kindness goes a long way! Pay it forward. Please share this blog to your friends and teammates! |
happened to me yesterday. Yesterday, my life as a salesman and as a Man from the Pru totally changed. It was my first day of training with Mr. Tinton Deveza, a well-respected man in the financial services industry with more than 30 years of experience. I was enrolled to his MDRT Builder Training, a highly recommended course for financial consultants who would like to achieve MDRT status – as soon as possible. If there is one word to describe my experience with Sir Tinton yesterday, the word will be “revolutionary”. His ideas totally debunked all the myths that I used to believe in about selling. What I like about Sir Tinton is that, despite being more than 30 years in the industry, he still remains open to changes and is constantly on a lookout for new ideas as well as improvements of the old ones. He knows that changing times require different methods. He is not limited to thinking that everything that worked 30 years ago will still work today. I believe this is what made him different from among the many speakers I have listened to – he is humble, teachable and relevant.
Allow me to share with you some of the things that I’ve learned from Sir Tinton. If you are a financial consultant, it is needless to say that you should enroll to his class as soon as possible.
1. The Lost Art of Giving.
As salesmen, sometimes, we get too preoccupied with how we will be able to achieve – how to achieve higher sales, how to achieve this month’s promos, how to achieve this quarter’s bonus, how to achieve this year’s incentive trip and so on and so forth. We are too preoccupied with achieving – with receiving. Sir Tinton totally blew my mind when he said, “While the rest are focused on receiving, focus on giving. Then you shall receive.” Boom!
Like a farmer, we can only reap what we sow. How can we receive if we don’t know how to give? It’s the law of nature. If you are a salesman and your mindset whenever you approach someone is “How can I close a sale with this person?”, it’s time to change. Instead, think about “How can I be a person of value to this person?”. That mindset first, then the sale will follow.
2. Sell yourself first.
Mr. Tinton put it bluntly, “If the person doesn’t like you, he will not buy anything from you.”
As salesmen, again, sometimes we get too preoccupied with how good our products are. This is not bad. But most of the time, our clients don’t care – not yet. On their minds, “Why will I buy from this person?” Instead of becoming too preoccupied with what you are selling, think about how you will establish trust with your client first. They have to know you, like you and trust you.
Relationship first. Then, sell your products and services.
3. If you’re on time, you’re late. Be early instead.
Be 30 minutes earlier than your agreed meeting time. Upon arriving at the venue, retouch and do some warm-up exercises. Think about how the meeting with your client will go while considering the 2 items I enumerated above. Finally, visualize closing the sale.
4. The “I am the greatest salesman in the world!” mantra is dead.
This is the end of the “I am (insert anything positive here).” self-talk as we know it. Mr. Tinton said that according to studies, this doesn’t work anymore. The new way of doing this is by asking ourselves the question, “How can I move this person?”
There’s a pattern that I recognized in his talk immediately. What works is that we should actually stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on our clients. Instead of me, me and me, think about them, them and them.
3. If you’re on time, you’re late. Be early instead.
Be 30 minutes earlier than your agreed meeting time. Upon arriving at the venue, retouch and do some warm-up exercises. Think about how the meeting with your client will go while considering the 2 items I enumerated above. Finally, visualize closing the sale. 4. The “I am the greatest salesman in the world!” mantra is dead.
This is the end of the “I am (insert anything positive here).” self-talk as we know it. Mr. Tinton said that according to studies, this doesn’t work anymore. The new way of doing this is by asking ourselves the question, “How can I move this person?”
There’s a pattern that I recognized in his talk immediately. What works is that we should actually stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on our clients. Instead of me, me and me, think about them, them and them.
We should be more customer-centric than self-centric. After all, without our clients we are nothing.
5. Fact: You cannot sell to people without money.
At the start of the discussion, Mr. Tinton asked me how I do my prospecting. I answered, “Sir, being only 3 months in the industry, I still randomly select my prospects. But slowly I am recognizing a pattern that good prospects come from 2 industries – my 2 biggest clients come from there. I want to do it this way because I’d like to proactively pursue people in industries who have the ability to pay. That’s because the products that we sell require shelling out money for long-term.”
I was actually blown away when Mr. Tinton told me that what took others years to understand took me only 3 months. I am saying this not to give praise to myself but to thank Mr. Tinton for affirming my most recent realization.
When I was still starting, I used to believe that I should sell variable unit linked insurance policies to practically anyone. I believe everybody needs it. I mean, come on! Who doesn’t need life insurance policies? Americans have an average of 10 policies per person, while Singaporeans have 4 per person! Why does it have to be so tough to sell even 1 policy to a Filipino who has none?
But reality hit me when after meeting so many working professionals during my first 3 months, I am still not able to close my target sales of at least 10 policies. Now I get it. While everyone likes the products that I offer, not everyone has the capacity of buying it. It can be for a variety of reasons but still the bottom line is, personally, I believe that we should pursue clients who really have the capacity to avail of this kind of investment. And those people are the ones who readily have the money. When I say “readily have the money”, they are not the ones who still have to make adjustments in their finances or think about the offer for weeks or months before getting back to you. There are actually people who readily have the money and are currently on a lookout for ways to invest it. My suggestion is, actively pursue them.
All these things, only from Day 1 of my MDRT Builder Training with Mr. Tinton Deveza. Still more to come. Thanks, Sir Tinton!
*Please feel free to share this blog post to your friends and teammates.
5. Fact: You cannot sell to people without money.
At the start of the discussion, Mr. Tinton asked me how I do my prospecting. I answered, “Sir, being only 3 months in the industry, I still randomly select my prospects. But slowly I am recognizing a pattern that good prospects come from 2 industries – my 2 biggest clients come from there. I want to do it this way because I’d like to proactively pursue people in industries who have the ability to pay. That’s because the products that we sell require shelling out money for long-term.”
I was actually blown away when Mr. Tinton told me that what took others years to understand took me only 3 months. I am saying this not to give praise to myself but to thank Mr. Tinton for affirming my most recent realization.
When I was still starting, I used to believe that I should sell variable unit linked insurance policies to practically anyone. I believe everybody needs it. I mean, come on! Who doesn’t need life insurance policies? Americans have an average of 10 policies per person, while Singaporeans have 4 per person! Why does it have to be so tough to sell even 1 policy to a Filipino who has none?
But reality hit me when after meeting so many working professionals during my first 3 months, I am still not able to close my target sales of at least 10 policies. Now I get it. While everyone likes the products that I offer, not everyone has the capacity of buying it. It can be for a variety of reasons but still the bottom line is, personally, I believe that we should pursue clients who really have the capacity to avail of this kind of investment. And those people are the ones who readily have the money. When I say “readily have the money”, they are not the ones who still have to make adjustments in their finances or think about the offer for weeks or months before getting back to you. There are actually people who readily have the money and are currently on a lookout for ways to invest it. My suggestion is, actively pursue them.
All these things, only from Day 1 of my MDRT Builder Training with Mr. Tinton Deveza. Still more to come. Thanks, Sir Tinton!
*Please feel free to share this blog post to your friends and teammates.
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