by Mike “Cy” Cajthaml, CFP® Senior Vice President, Creative Life

The fourth quarter of business has begun, and the year is quickly coming to a close. As you look back on all that you’ve accomplished thus far, are you happy with the progress you’ve made this year? Do you stand to reach or even exceed the goals you had set for 2011? Or could you use a boost from year-end sales?

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it couldn’t hurt to close a few extra clients and boost your bottom line. For those of you currently doing life business or considering adding it to your practice, I’ve got a great suggestion for you to consider. In my opinion, you’ve already got gold in your file cabinets. Consider going back to your existing clients to uncover easy, straightforward sales you may have overlooked using the NexPhase approach. After all, we know that existing clients are five to seven times more likely to do repeat business with you¹, so why not put the power of positioning to work today?!

Four simple scenarios

By reaching out to your current client base with this strategy, you can take advantage of the opportunity to help your clients buy what they need and want. Remember, these people already trust and like you. Let them know that you’d like to introduce them to the next phase in the planning process, and offer to schedule an appointment to get together and discuss next steps. For some of your clients, you may be approaching regularly scheduled annual reviews, which inherently lend themselves to bringing up this concept. Once you’ve secured an appointment, be on the lookout for the following situations that allow you to reposition a portion of assets to secure a life sale.

1. RMDs

   
   

   As the year-end approaches, some of your clients may need to fill out corresponding paperwork to begin taking their required minimum distributions (RMDs) in 2011. Ask these clients what they plan to do with the RMD money. Do they need these funds to pay for living expenses, or are they earmarked to be left for beneficiaries after death?

   
   

   Without a recommendation from you on how to better repurpose those funds, many clients will simply take their RMDs and put them into a CD or money market account. Keep in mind they will pay taxes on the RMDs, and then pay annual taxes on any interest earned from these accounts! By suggesting they use this money instead to fund a life insurance policy, clients can turn their unneeded RMDs into an income tax-free, probate-free legacy for beneficiaries.




2. Annuities

   
   

   Many of your clients may have annuities that have been growing tax-deferred for some time, hence creating a taxable event at the time of distribution or death. In these cases, you have the opportunity to help clients turn one good financial decision into another. Let them know that they have the option of either annuitizing or utilizing their 10% free withdrawals to shift a portion of these funds into life insurance. Again, by implementing this strategy, clients can feel good about leaving a tax-free, probate-free legacy for their heirs.




3. Brokerage Accounts

   
   

   You may have a number of clients with brokerage accounts that have suffered in recent years due to market downturns. In the event that these accounts were earmarked for heirs, why not ask your clients if they’d like to reposition a portion of those funds into a life insurance policy to enact a brokerage account rescue plan?

   
   

   With life insurance, they won’t have to worry about the market’s downside risk and will know that the legacy they intend to leave will be intact even if economic circumstances change. Plus, life insurance can not only potentially replace the original account value but more than likely exceed the original amount they started with.




4. The Double Sale

   
   

   Let’s say you discover a financial asset that is out of surrender and is non-performing. Repositioning these funds earmarked for the benefit of the heirs into a new fixed indexed annuity in combination with a state-of-the-art income rider could be just the ticket. Turn on the income rider immediately and use those monies to fund the life insurance sale(s).

Sealing the deal

If you’ve done your due diligence and are familiar with your clients’ financial assets, you will be one step ahead in the sales process. After all, the key to selling life insurance is funding. The goal of your Creative Life team is to make it easy to infuse life into your practice without spending a great deal of time, money or resources to do so. Once you identify the funding method that works best for a particular client, call your Life Sales Consultant for help pinpointing the premium amount needed for the life policy that would work best. Your Consultant has access to a calculator that takes the premium available through RMDs, annuitization, free withdrawals or other funding and translates it into exactly how much life insurance that will buy. With this kind of support readily available, both you and your clients can feel confident about the decisions you’ve worked together to make.

With the NexPhase approach, you can enjoy a high return on investment by avoiding the cost of advertising, prospecting, seminars or additional marketing efforts. If you have a good portion of older clients in your book of business, talk to them about the next phase in planning and increase your sales volume. You’ll be bulletproofing your role as a financial services provider and going from a product peddler to a true advisor and counselor. At the same time, you can feel good knowing you’re doing the right thing for your clients in every instance, and will enjoy the referrals that keep coming in. Visit www.creativemarketing.net/nexphase or call your Sales Consultant for your NexPhase Sales Support Kit, and finish the year stronger than ever!

¹ Roberts-Phelps, Graham. Companies don’t succeed – people do! Thorogood Publishing Limited: London, 2001.