Applications can be one of the least exciting parts of your process, but this is definitely a place where you can differentiate yourself from the competition and excel with your customer service. Dialing in this process builds amazing amounts of credibility, comfort, and trust with your client, but it will also lead to incredible referral rates. In this episode, we’re going to share some of our lessons learned, some best practices, mistakes to avoid, and tips to help you build solid relationships. This is simple, but not always easy. We try to be the guide for our clients, making this process as efficient and enjoyable as possible. And in the last few years, technology makes this more possible than ever. Meeting via Zoom instead of in person, electronic applications, a step-by-step process, humor, and showing progress along the way are some ways we make this experience memorable, and enjoyable. And when clients enjoy the process and experience, they are going to tell friends and family, guaranteed. Listen in as we explain how to navigate the application process and do right by the client in the best way and give them the best experience. These are our best takeaways to help make it as seamless as possible and fit it to the client. Crafting a system like this will allow you to differentiate yourself from your competition and boost your referrals. Thanks again for listening, try to pick the strategies and styles that fits you the best, and put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

We have found success in the insurance world through the art of comparison. Charlie's going to walk through some of his past and evolution of this process, but we are in a very unique industry. This is one of the few industries where you can be paid incredibly well, do amazing things for your clients and not charge them anything out of pocket. It's simply a comparison process that we have refined with Charlie's guidance. And I can't wait for you to hear about it. The art of comparison comes down to a prospect comes into our life, usually by finding the content that we create or through referrals from happy clients. They come into our life, and they say, here's what I have. And then we say, great, let us, let us do an analysis. Let us work through your financial picture and say apples to apples, here's where you are, here's where you could be. And we try to keep it budget neutral. So, listen in today as we cover the comparison strategy which breaks down complex concepts into bite-sized chunks that your prospects and customers can take away, while shining a light on their scenario and how it could be better.. Just know that all of these methods we are covering in this series work. Listen to this episode and learn more about marketing, try to pick the style that fits you the best, and put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

You may notice if you've typed in Charlie Jewett or Bobby Alford, you will see four or five, six pages worth of content, blog, posts, podcasts, all these things, resources, books Charlie's written, maybe some podcasts or posts Bobby has put up. A presence online. A lot of us are envious of that, and if we want to create our own, we have to set our own name out into the market. And this episode is more of a dialogue, nothing scripted or anything, but figuring out best practices for building your own brand. We think, and I think every agent should have their own brand. You don't need to be relying on Bobby and Charlie to produce content, to bring you clients, all those things. You should have your own brand. Even if you are working at a large financial brokerage, in today's market, we try to set ourselves apart online because that's usually the first place people find us. If you're focusing on online marketing like Charlie and I, that's really the first place prospects find us because we don't leave our Zoom rooms. So listen in today as we talk about branding and how to make yourself more visible online. Just know that all of these methods we are covering in this series work. Listen to this episode and learn more about marketing, try to pick the style that fits you the best, and put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement  and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

A marketing drip campaign does not have to be expensive at all. Despite the numerous tools out there that can help you create and manage these campaigns, it does not have to be complicated to be effective. These marketing campaigns are something everyone can do because in essence they require time, not money. The simplest form of your drip campaign starts with you studying and listening to the top educators and thought leaders in the industry. You should be pursuing accurate advice, be the truth hunter. This will help you stay educated and excited for the industry. Then you’re going to take this inflow of knowledge, add your unique spin or perspective to it, and overflow it to prospective clients that could use the information. How do you get this valuable information out there? Recording videos on Zoom, cleaning them up with Loom, and posting to YouTube is a quick and easy way that has worked well for us. Then connect and engage with your email list. Video is a powerful way to get your information out there, or if you are a good writer, you can craft blog posts… or you can do both! In today’s digital environment, it’s easier than ever to leverage the power of free software and online tools to help you show your expertise and get more prospects into your funnel, which leads to more deals at the other end. Check this episode out and we’ll explain what a drip campaign is, and give you some ideas on how to set up one that works for you. Just know that all of these methods we are covering in this series work. Listen to this episode and learn more about marketing, try to pick the style that fits you the best, and put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com Resources Discussed/Links Zoom: https://zoom.us/Loom: https://www.loom.com/

We’ve been talking about how to generate leads, and today we are talking about funnels. A marketing or sales funnel is simply a process to guide your prospects from where they are, maybe unaware of your solution and dealing with a problem, to becoming a customer so you can help solve their problem. And in this episode we’re going to unpack the concept of online marketing funnels. There are a variety of ways to get people into the top of your funnel. Examples might be a podcast, or a book, or a PDF report, or a webinar. The goal is to provide value again and again until someone either says, “I don’t want the value anymore,” or they get into a conversation with you and become a customer. In today’s digital environment, it’s easier than ever to leverage the power of software and online tools to help you get more prospects into your funnel, which leads to more deals at the other end. Check this episode out and we’ll walk you through what a funnel is, and give you some ideas on how to set up one that works for you. Just know that all of these methods we are covering in this series work. Listen to this episode and learn more about marketing, try to pick the style that fits you the best, and put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

Today we're going to go through the marketing avenue of acquiring leads by just straight up buying them. As we talked about in the last episode and every episode leading up to this, everything works if it's right for you, and if you're a good closer, and you are an ethical person, we want to make sure you know how to do these things.  What about warm markets and referrals? Those can certainly work, but in some ways, Charlie feels like relying on referrals isn’t even marketing in some industries. Some businesses, when the open, they just talk about it, maybe have a “Grand Opening.” They tell their friends, family, and network. It’s just natural to tell people what you’re doing. Buying Leads and Traffic There are services, or marketers, who specialize in providing you ideal leads. And maybe this is where you shine, and that’s great, because there are folks who are better at setting appointments. And then there are those who would prefer to take those appointments and close the deals. It’s tough to do all of those yourself, so if you can spend up front for the leads through a service or ads, maybe split the commissions with your appointment setter, you’ll end up closing more deals and making more money in the long run. Cutting Your Teeth We do joint cases of people to help them train. I'll give them leads, they'll book on my calendar. Maybe they’re just cutting their teeth. They're just booking appointments and helping the customer, taking care of the perception management, helping the customer go through the process, and they do split cases with us. They still do well. We pay for the marketing, we get them booked on our calendar, but we aren't chasing. And it helps new agents kind of cut their teeth, see what we do. And they could even be nurturing “leftovers” from seminars. People that attended and didn't turn into an immediate appointment. They still need to be checked.  What works for you? Just know that all of these methods we are covering in this series work. Listen to this episode and learn more about marketing, try to pick the style that fits you the best, and put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement  and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

Today’s episode is all about lead generation through event marketing, or as we sometimes say, getting butts in seats so they listen to you. A captive audience can provide a tremendous ROI in many cases.  Showing Better Options If you’re a speaker or teacher, then presenting at a dinner or workshop can match your style and energy, bringing you closer to your prospects and engaging with them on a personal level. It gives you the opportunity to show your prospects that there may be better options for them, and you can answer their questions then and there. You Can Help More People Now, don’t worry about getting those butts in the seats, you can outsource that piece, there are plenty of companies who specialize in filling your workshop with highly qualified prospects. Or you can partner with someone who loves to market, enjoys getting those people to the event, and then you take care of the presentation. Or vice versa, maybe you would prefer to do the marketing bit and have someone else come in to present. Either way, you are able to get in front of more people, get them excited, and help them. Charlie’s Favorite During the pandemic, event marketing took a little bit of a hiatus, but it’s coming back. Webinars have become a little more prevalent, but they don’t have the same power or energy that you experience when you are in the room with your prospects, looking them in the eye, and truly connecting. Event marketing is Charlie’s favorite. It works very well. It's not super leveraged. You can't sit on your butt at home and do webinars, but it works incredibly well. Listen to this episode and learn more about event marketing and how you can put it to work in your business! About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

Servicing starts when a lead signs the policy of whatever it is you are offering and moves forward to do the underwriting. In short, this is when they become a real client. In the financial industry, the first commitment that you get from somebody is by signing something. This is also when you, as an agent, or your team, starts the service. Why is customer service so critical? Giving pleasant customer service is crucial to growing your business because if the experience is not good, your clients will not refer your service to other people. As with sales and marketing, you can always hire other people to do this for you if you think this is not your strength. If you want to thrive in this business, you have to find a way to supplement skill sets. Consider hiring a virtual assistant that can keep all your clients on the radar. Create and operate a system that your virtual assistant can follow so you can reach that goal of making clients happy and getting more referrals in the process. Make magic happen while waiting After the signing of the contract, the underwriting process begins. It is a process that takes time and is out of your hands. So how can you make yourself stand out during the waiting process that usually lasts for weeks? You have to create a perception management system to make sure that nothing falls out of the cracks while the client is waiting. Giving weekly updates is one thing to assure the client that you are doing something. The ‘no news is good news’ principle does not apply in this industry. You can also stand out by creating positive surprises to make the waiting period pleasurable. There is enough money going around in this industry to do impressive things for your clients like sending them gifts and the like. The real goal is building a referrable process. The experience the clients had is what they will be referring to or associating with you. The underwriting process is the calm period when clients are reflecting on their experience the most. This is an opportunity for you to fill the space with pleasant surprises and referrable activities. After this process, make sure to stay on top of your clients’ dealings so that you will not miss out on opportunities for repeat business. A well-run system will be proactively reaching out to clients to make sure everything is good. Make sure to have periodic touch points and get updates on your clients’ lives. The hardest year in this business is the first year, but if done right and if you get the referrals you should get, you will be in a good place. A low-lying fruit in the customer service stage is to make the clients happy and have them send people your way. To sum up the three general categories that we have talked about: marketing is about educating the prospective clients with no cost; sales is comparing what they have and what they could have; and service is getting the job done and creating a sensation in order to get referrals and make this perpetual. The next episodes will tackle specifics on these categories as well as actionable tactics to implement in order to further grow your business.  About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement  and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

Once you’ve mastered marketing and got better at making a possible client start a conversation with you about your product, then it’s time to turn that into paperwork, and ultimately a paycheck. From marketing where someone made the decision to get more information from you, sales is then turning that into a decision to purchase or commit to something. More importantly, sales is also about helping your client to know what is the best product that will work best for their needs and goals. Every person in the world needs an ethical salesperson that can help persuade them to do what is best for them.  The ‘divorce business’ Change in general is hard. It’s easier for people to continue what they are currently doing especially if it gives them immediate gratification. Selling financial products is like working out a ‘divorce business.’ Somewhere along the way, your leads are more likely to be working with an advisor that they already have a relationship with. Keep in mind that this is not about the person they work with but the plan they end up with. Because financial advisors and agents are in the business of professionally breaking up a relationship that could feel personal to clients, you need to make yourself different and better without actually saying that the current agent is not doing a great job.  If breaking up a relationship is not a good move, then find a way to work alongside the current team. As the saying goes, riches are in the niches. You can find an expertise that you can go deep in and offer a different service to complement what the current team has. At the end of the day, the goal is still to give the clients what’s best for them. Going against the grain Another challenging aspect of sales is when you offer something great but goes against tradition. The non-traditional strategies that we offer can be a double-edged sword: some people may want it right away or you will get immediate no’s because they are not popular. The use of proper language is critical. You have to be able to ask the question: Do you want what’s best for you or what feels good? You cannot have both.  But are you willing to go against the grain? Every time that you are able to make the client think about your proposals or products is a small win. Every little ‘yes’ is a building block to getting a sale close. But whatever you do, keep in mind that using the proper skills to do right by clients is infinitely powerful. You may have ideas or products that are untraditional, but if it turns out to be working for the clients, business will come in automatically. You can be the social proof of these new ideas that are different from what people are used to. The golden rule This podcast is for you if you think you do not have the sales skills yet or if you want to improve and level up your business. But if your goal is hiding things from clients just so your employer can get more money, and if your starting point is that you are here to only sell the product, then this is not for you. You don’t force customers into getting inferior products just because you want your company to get the money. A big part of selling is helping people. In the financial world, there are so many ways that we can modify our products in a way that will make the most sense to every client. By doing that, you are already setting yourself apart from others. Your business will grow just by simply giving your clients what they're asking for and educating them along the way.  About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement  and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

In the financial industry, if you want to make more target premium by growing your practice, marketing is where the work starts. What are the strategies that work? What are the pros and cons of each? Can you really do the marketing yourself or will you be better off handing that to somebody else? Marketing insurance products Marketing is getting potential clients to look, respond, react, or even start a conversation with you about your product. It is somebody giving you permission to sell to them, to send them marketing products and to talk to them. From newspaper advertisements, dinner seminars, radio and TV shows, and podcasts, to cold calling and knocking on doors, there are a plethora of options on how you can get a crack in the door and get somebody to listen to you. The good news is that everything works. On the flip side, there are so many more players in the market, combined with the internet’s infinite possibilities, making it difficult for you to stand out. Everything works The marketing strategies remain the same, all with their own pros and cons. Any strategy will work but only if you work it. Back in the days, cold calling and door knocking were the ways to go. These can still work right now for some people who are really good at it. A dinner seminar can work if you can make your presentation and message so powerful. Ultimately, you have to double down on where you’re good at. Learn more about the different marketing strategies from Charlie and Bobby, lessons they’ve learned, the pros and cons of each and know how the landscape is evolving and what that means to help you reach your target. Do you have what it takes to become a marketer? As mentioned earlier, every one of the marketing strategies will work if you work it. But many people in the industry discover early on that they are not good in sales and marketing and decide to move to another part of the business. This is completely fine and does not mean failure. A key to scaling your business rapidly is finding that area where you are better suited at and then growing around it. You can run your business on your own, but the reality is that there's no way you are as good as in all areas. Something will suffer and the client will not get all that they deserve. Hiring people with different skill sets or outsourcing your marketing will be the better move. The financial industry has a 90% failure rate because it is hard. Anyone can learn to do it but not everybody can do it. But Charlie believes that you have all that you need to do it. Marketing is not always about resources but resourcefulness. Ultimately, you have to get out there and do it. As Bobby puts it, sales is a contact sport, you have to get out there to learn and be constantly improving.  Timing is everything. It is important to embrace change in the industry. Every human you deal with will be in a different situation in the future. The people who don't need or want what you have right now might need or want that in the future and you better be there when that happens. In future episodes, Charlie and Bobby will unpack and give you tactical things that you can equip yourselves with so you can be all set to earning your target premium and more.  About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement  and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com

Charlie Jewett and Bobby Alford kick off a new podcast called “Target Practice” for insurance agents who want to earn more target premiums by increasing their practice. How do you build the practice of your dream? Whether you want to work fewer hours or more hours; or perhaps sell your practice and plan out exit strategies, we can give you some tips and tricks on how to do either one of those things. Learn from Charlie Jewett who has been an independent insurance agent and financial advisor for 17 years and counting and Bobby Alford, a newbie agent that made a whopping six-figure income in his first year as an insurance agent. Every episode of this series will fall into one of the three categories: marketing, sales and customer service. Marketing - anything that gets a person to raise their hand and say tell me more. Charlie and Bobby will tell you different strategies on how you can get a client to listen to what you have to say.Sales - helping people to know what they should do or want to do and getting them to do what they should do or want to do. Sales can be looked at into two broad categories: getting a client get the divorce (your client will be leaving something behind - either the strategies they're used to, their inferior insurance policies or their current financial advisor) and getting the client marry you, or basically go with you and agree to get help and advice from you. Everyone needs a salesperson who can communicate and persuade them to do the right thing, but that person must be ethical and cannot be looking out for themselves but the client and using their persuasion for the client’s end goal. What do you need to stand out and be able to market yourself as an agent that’s different and unique from others? Customer service – This stage begins not when you have finalized a policy but at the start of the application. It could be a lot of paperwork and a nuisance, but referrals are not going to happen instantly even when you deliver a satisfactory product or result. This has a lot to do with perception management - whatever the client perceives or feels, is what happened. Whether you said or did the correct thing, whatever they think happened is what happened and that it's all that matters. This aspect is crucial because every client you have now has the potential to bring in more business just from referrals and word of mouth. There’s a whole world of future business for every client if you don't offend them and do right by them. In the next episodes, Charlie and Bobby will unpack different strategies that can make you money. Learn about different strategies and ways to make it work. Ultimately, find one that fits you, know the pros and cons, and double down on it.  About Charlie Jewett Charlie Jewett is an author, speaker, recruiter, trainer, consumer advocate and investment advisor from San Diego, CA. As the “Financial Services Whistleblower” Charlie has been trying to change the way that industry professionals and consumers think about retirement since 2005. With considerable years of experience and an array of professional certifications, Charlie focuses on stock market alternatives combined with tax-free retirement income and provides educational materials that help people to create their ideal retirement plan. He is the host of two podcasts, Renovating Retirement  and Target Practice for Advisors, as well as the author of “Renovating Retirement” and “Two Ways to Be Debt Free”, both available on Amazon Kindle. About Bobby Alford Bobby Alford has walked an unconventional path to becoming the CEO of Renovating Retirement. He spent 10 years in the US Submarine force, both as an officer and enlisted person, earning a degree in nuclear engineering along the way. Bobby then joined corporate America and worked for a Fortune 50 company in operations, finance, and sales management roles. After getting his MBA, he began working with military veterans to improve their retirement options. At that point he found Charlie Jewett and learned how to truly impact a person's financial life using the MERIT model of planning. Bobby joined Charlie and now uses his skills to grow their company toward achieving the goal of creating $1 billion dollars of annual tax-Free money for their clients. Web/Social Links Website: https://targetpracticepodcast.com Resources Discussed/Links www.RenovatingRetirement.com