“The 98% Solution – How NOT to be an MDRT Qualifier”

Only 2% of all financial advisers in the world qualify for the Million Dollar Round Table – the premier associations of financial professionals in the world. But there is another way.  You don’t have to be a part of that hotshot outfit.  It’s only 2% and obviously they aren’t like most people anyway. If you don’t want to join this sliver of humanity that produces at the top levels of the business, you don’t have to.  If you don’t want any part of them and their fancy meetings, you’re in luck.  Here is how you can avoid them altogether and stay out of their “fancy badges club”…

First of all, make sure that you wait until you know absolutely everything about the business before you go out and talk to anyone. Knowing definitely precedes doing.  This applies whether you are new to the business or established.  No sense chancing someone asking you a question you have to research before you can respond. People expect perfect answers from you all the time. Don’t strain your ego by taking unnecessary chances talking to strangers and building relationships.

Second, be sure to run a one-stop shop for financial products.  You must be sure to sell every product you can by virtue of your licenses.  That’s why all those products are attached to them in the first place right?  If you weren’t supposed to sell them, they wouldn’t be available to you on that license.  That just makes sense.  If you don’t sell everything you can, then of course you are letting people down.  You are doing less than you could and that even sounds bad. I don’t care how heavy that tool kit gets, keep adding tools. Even if you can’t tote it around anymore, that’s the price of staying out of MDRT.  Be a jack-of-all-trades. Don’t leave any change on the table (or behind the seat cushions either). 

Third, don’t waste any time with anyone other than the best possible potential clients, ever. Make it “High net worth” or nothing.  Unless they are wealthy and interested, stay away. Have strict standards for clients and never waver.  Only bet on sure things.  That’s how you make the big money, right?  Make sure it’s only “big fish” for you.

Next, be sure to use the same complicated language you learned in your licensing exams and in the technical manuals.  That way your prospects and clients will be sure to know that you read all that stuff.  Plus, big words prove you have a big vocabulary and that really matters to the average consumer.  When you can mesmerize your clients with fancy language they are more likely to buy what you are selling.  Throw in a lot of statistics too.  They always help.

Then, always go for quality not quantity when making sales.  Why help a couple hundred average people who need your help each year when you can help just a couple dozen bigger clients and make the same money? The big cases are always so much more fun anyway.  Don’t wear yourself out with all that extra prospecting and meetings big numbers take. That’s a sucker’s game.  See number three above.

Finally, remember, when you have the credentials and the education, consumers will seek you out.  Marketing, prospecting and promotion are an unnecessary expense when you know what you are doing.  When you get the right education, people just know it and they come to you.  “If you build it they will come”… that came from a movie didn’t it?  Movies never lie.  The key is to fill up your noggin with knowledge and then wait.  It’s like fishing that way.  You go out in the boat.  Find the right spot and then wait for the fish to jump into the boat.  I say that on TV once too. Just wait.  They will come. Remember the movie.

Follow these rules and I guarantee you’ll never have to wear one of those goofy badges at an Annual Meeting.  You’ll never have to clutter up your business cards with a membership shield.  You’ll never have to worry about paying your membership dues. You’ll never have to hang around with that 2% and catch whatever they’ve got.  Never.  I promise.

I’m Jim Ruta, and that’s just the way it is.  Keep smiling…

July 20, 2010