Increasing Activity

For insurance and investment planning firms, the biggest business headache is probably customer acquisition. For Northwestern Mutual, an army of financial representatives act as a sales force for the firm’s planning services. These representatives penetrate the marketplace of successful individuals who need help navigating personal finance. Each representative is tasked with creating long term client relationships out of thin air. The first step of this process is to find a way to emphasize familiarity and credibility with a prospect. Financial planning is a product that is personalized and unique to an individual, so its impossible to “sell” the product. Insurance and retirement planning cannot be explained quickly, so people only listen to someone they trust. Any sort of commonality such as a mutual friend or shared experience can be used to set up meetings. Setting meetings and being active is ultimately what drives business, so it is crucial to constantly be finding people who have common connections.

This has been my biggest struggle so far, because I never know how to ask someone to give someone else’s contact information. In a casual setting, asking for prospects seems imposing and rude. In business settings, it feels invasive. When I ask for prospects, I do so in one of two ways. I either ask as a favor to me, or as a favor to the prospect. If I feel that an agent of influence sees the benefit and need of financial planning, it would follow that their friends would benefit and they are just being good friends by making a recommendation. When I ask as a favor to me, it’s much less successful. Unfortunately, its very difficult to show someone the need of planning, especially if they aren’t a client of Northwestern Mutual.

While I do have a few friends and family that are considering becoming clients, I need to expand my network and show more people how much Northwestern Mutual can help their future.  To do this, I have to get creative. I’ll use LinkedIn and other websites to the best of my ability, and continue to text and call my natural market for more meetings. Hopefully, I can increase my activity and expand into a real and valuable market of young professionals.