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RECRUITING & RETAINING

GENERATION PRODUCERS

E R I K V O S

Fixing the 9 holes

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RECRUITING AND RETAINING PRODUCTIVE NEW

GENERATION Y ADVISORS

For 25 years Erik Vos (1955, Amsterdam Holland) has been working with sales managers to meet the plans

on recruitment and retention. He has worked for AIG, Aegon, Allianz, AXA, Generali, ING, Old Mutual,

Manulife, Prudential and 112 regional companies. 265.000 managers and advisors have attended the

keynotes and programs in 83 countries.

He wrote: Referrals for your practice (1982). Return on investment marketing (1994). Sell it today (1998).

Referrals (2003), Taking your business to the next level (2005) and Copy and Paste. (2010).

Since 2003 he has been the Worlds bestselling author in life insurance. The eld books are now translated in

18 languages.

Internationally he delivers keynotes and programs in:

English.

Dutch in Holland and Belgium.

French in Switzerland and Mauritius.

German in Austria and Germany.

Spanish in Spain and South America.

Poor Hungarian in Hungary and Western Romania.

Poor Afrikaans in South Africa and Namibia.

In other countries the programs are done with an interpreter.

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Some of the information in this eld book might be outdated by the time you read this. For updated info go

to erikvosinternational.com. Or mail robert@erikvosinternational.comto get the newsletter with the latest

trends surveys and updates.

Unfortunately this eldbook somewhat stereotypes GenY and Generation X. We all know that there are

sometimes bigger differences within a generation than between generations. The purpose of this book is to

help the manager to increase protability by being right like 80% of the time.

If you have any ideas on how to make this eld book more useful to increase productivity for the managers

please mail me at erik@erikvosinternational.com.

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CHAPTER 1

HOW SOME COMPANIES ARE HURT BY THE 9 HOLES

AND OTHERS ARE DOING BETTER THAN EVER.

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THE 9 HOLES IN THE AGENCY BUCKET.

Everybody in the business knows that getting and keeping good

advisors (retention) has been given managers a headache since

anyone can remember. But now on top of the usual problems of

recruitment and retention, a new generation, GenY, is joining the

agency force. GenY are people born after 1980. Their managers are

usually Generation X.Generation X are people born between 1965

and 1980. The top managers of the company are usually Baby Boomers born between 1945 to 1965. The

Silent Generation, 1925 to 1945 has practically disappeared.

The Silent Generation, the Baby Boomers and Generation X got along quite well. Nobody remembers

conicts between generations even being a topic, leave alone a problem. Until now.

Managers around the World are complaining that some attitudes of GenY are causing holes in the agency

bucket:

Hole no.1.

The I am so important but I still want to do things in a collective way hole.

GenY is often called Generation Me. The most self-absorbed

generation in history*. (Pew Research).On tests 82% of GenY

answered yes to the question:

Do you consider yourself an important person? Only 12% of

advisors from generation X said the same when they took the same

test at the same age.*(Twenge) Other than this there were no major

differences in the answers to the tests. GenY has about the same

qualities as GenerationX. GenY just feels much better about who they are.

They are overcondent underachievers. Said Vladimir an agency manager from Moscow.

I need to tell them 3 times a day how great they are. said Emil from Bucharest.

They are just hopeless. They just want endless meetings with people like them. said Letitia from

Botswana.

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They think that they have all these great ideas on how to run the agency

after 1 month on the job and making 1 sale. They all come up with the

same brilliant idea: Lets put the agency on Facebook, improve our

webpage, have less face to face meetings and more texting. Then they get

upset with me that I am not interested in their brilliant ideas. said Bashar

from Cairo.

Hole no.2.

The old hole

GenY is often called Generation Next or Generation Now.

*(Wikipedia).They dont trust old things and old systems.

50% says they do not think so much of the abilities of older people.

*(Pew research)

75% expect that during their career they will have to go back to school

again because their skills are outdated.*(Robert Half -Hotjobs survey)

They look down on the older advisors in my agency. They think there is little they can learn from them that

ts todays circumstances said Pavel from Prague.

Hole no. 3.

The cannot communicate hole.

They love to think they can solve all the problems in this work with

technology because they cannot communicate so well.

But a new study by Limra shows that 94% of GenY clients get their

nancial advisor through referrals.*

Most of the new advisors have been texting their whole life and they

are self-conscious when talking to people, so they do not know what to

do to get referrals. said Hans from Berlin

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Hole no. 4.

The work - life balance hole.

Even in China 37% of Chinese GenY agreed with: I dont think about

the money and I just live a life that suits my tastes. * (Gallup)

They just came from university. Now they want to have fun, trips and

not work so many hours. All of this when starting a career.

And on top of that in a career in nancial services where more than

80% of the people do not make it into their 5thyear. said John from

Seattle.

Hole no.5

The entitlement hole.

A Limra- McKinsey study in 2010 found that people who feel entitled have a

terrible success rate in the business.

They feel they deserve lots of cash and stuff right now. Before they even sold

anything. Just for showing up. Their parents and teachers kept telling them:

You are great. Just get your diploma and everything will be ne.

So now they have the diploma and say: OK, so wheres my IPhone, my IPad,

my company car, my retirement fund, and how much paid vacation did you

say I get? said Jan from Amsterdam.

Selling nancial services is a long-term business and the rst year is rarely good. This I want it all and I

want it now thinking is really hurting our recruitment and especially retention results here in Singapore

said Li Chin.

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Hole no.6.

You are not my boss. I believe in peer-to-peer networks hole.

When I interview someone for the job many times he turns it around and

starts interviewing me said Tang from Singapore.

They do not see me as their boss anymore and they do not listen to me. So

how can I help them become successful? said Ivan from Moscow.

When I tell a GenY advisor to do something they usually ask: Why? said

Susan from Sydney.

Hole no.7.

The constant feedback hole.

In a survey by 50% of GenY said they want daily meetings with their

manager. Only10% said once a week was enough.*(Yahoo/Hotjobs)

When I got started my manager said: Here is your rate book. Go out and

sell some policies. See you in a week. Now I have to text each advisortwice a day. If I dont, they leave me because they think I do not care about

them. said Abdul from Dubai.

Hole no. 8.

The loyalty hole.

A recent study showed that GenY has 40% less empathy than Gen

X.*(Twenge).The dictionary denes empathy as in that you care about the

feelings and ideas of other people instead of only your own feelings.

They are only loyal to the idea of proving how great they are. They are

already looking at their next job after the job at my agency. The moment

they feel they are not advancing they start planning their next move. said

Rajeev from Mumbai

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Hole no.9.

They cannot handle anything not precise hole.

If I tell them something and ask them do you understand they always say

yes. And nothing happens. I have to explain it step by step and then ask.

So how do you see yourself actually doing this? And I cannot be critical.

They take criticism very badly. But of course they can be critical of me and

the agency. If I do not tell them precisely and exactly what they have to do

nothing happens. said Jane from Johannesburg.

Action step: Which of these 9 holes is the biggest drain for retention in your agency?

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So how did the managers of the Famous 5 companies react to these problems

and boost protability?

Every year the business magazine Fortune surveys hundreds of leaders of the Worlds 15 biggest life

insurance companies: How do you rate the Worlds 14 biggest life insurance companies on quality of

management and innovation? (Of course they do not let you score your own company, only the competition.)

The overall top 5 winners are often called the Famous 5*. (Fortune magazine 2011).

Some companies like ING and Allianz, and a few others are not on this list because they are not just pure life

insurance companies but also have other lines of business.

In 2010 all the Famous 5 companies decided to update the way their managers recruited and retained

advisors. Then they went on an aggressive recruitment campaign for GenY. Even the Wall Street Journal

reported: One of the most traditional of professions is becoming cool again?*(Wall street Journal 2010)

The sales managers of the famous 5 said:

New York Life: Our managers recruited 3618 young advisors in 2009. More than we ever did in our history.

Then in 2010 with our new advisors we increased turnover by 47% over 2009. And 2009 already was a

record year. In 2010 our managers are on track to hire and retain even more advisors than in 2009.And 2009

was already the best ever. said Mark Pfaff vice president for sales with a big smile on his face.

Northwestern Mutual said: We recruited 2,340 nancial advisors in 2009. This was the most we ever

recruited. Retention of the new generation of advisors was the best in 25 years. 2010 is trending even higher

than 2009 so farsaid John Greene. *

Mass Mutual: We recruited more than 2000 new agents. We have not seen anything like this in 20 years.

Prudential Financial: We increased our sales force like never before. Since the nancial crisis we have built

up reserves of $2.1 billion. This then gave us the cash to buy AIGs Japanese business.

MetLife said: Business with our new advisors is so good that we were able to buy the Alico part of AIG for

$16.1 billion.

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Each one of the Famous 5 also managed to push their 4 year retention rate for GenY advisors to over

25%*, about 30% better than the industry average with the trend even much higher for the recently recruited

advisors.

Exercise: Why do you think the Famous 5 lately recruited and retained more Gen Y advisors?

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So how did the Famous 5 managers deal with the 9 holes?

The Famous 5 managers gured they could not give up on GenY and still stay in business. So they gured

out the operating system of GenY and updated their methods. They updated the way they did things to try to

turn those 9 holes into 9 faucets (or at least stop the leaking).

1. The important hole.

I want you to reject anyone that ever made you feel you are not good enough, not

smart enough, like you do not t in. You are a superstar. shouted Lady Gaga on a

December 2010 concert in Italy. 50.000 people went wild.

Fight back strategy: The Famous 5 managers are constantly talking and showing all the great things the

company is achieving. They help the GenY advisors feel more important since they work for such an

important company. (Chapter 4)

Fight back strategy .By having more special meetings for GenY advisors

than a couple of years ago the GenY advisors feel more important since they

are getting more attention from the manager and also from the colleagues.

(Chapter 5)

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2. The old hole.

Limra did a study on the image of life insurance advisors.* Results:

75% said: You cannot trust someone who is trying to sell you life insurance.

75% said: They are more interested in their commission than getting the right

policy for me.

84% said no! When asked: Would you talk with a life insurance advisor about

nancial decisions?

68% thought life insurance advisors cannot explain the products well.

The image of the old life insurance is pretty awful.

We feel uncomfortable to trust our future to people and things that look too much like the past. We do not

feel comfortable with all those old people you have in your agency. All this 20th century stuff going on in

your company and your agency scares me and makes me feel uncertain about my future with you. Lee an

advisor from Singapore said.

We all know technology is changing everything. But my manager

has no clue. Would you believe the guy who calls himself my

manager does not even have a Facebook account, sends e-mails

instead of texting and wants me to wear a wrist watch? The agency

does not even have a webpage. How can people nd it? said

Kung (Hong Kong)

I do not care so much about all those dinosaurs in the agency. I have nothing against them but sometimes

I wonder what I can learn from them. Most are uneducated, pompous, and dress awful. Besides they

are insincere and pushy. I wanted to say slimy and creepy. If I would talk to my friends the way they do

everyone would laugh at me. said Attila (Budapest, Hungary)

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Fight back strategy: Try to look more up to date and cool yourself so you

look like the new life insurance not the old one. (Chapter 4)

Fight back strategy: Show them that through your continuous training

programs they stay updated and can stay Generation Now and do not have

to move to another career. (Chapter 5)

Fight back strategy: Update the agency or company webpage. Include a

special section on careers in your company for GenY. (Chapter 5)

Fight back strategy: Update your sales training to make it t more to todays circumstances.(Chapter 5)

Fight back strategy: Hire more young advisors in a group at once. Do not hire and lose them one by one.

(Chapter 2)

3. The poor communication hole.

We want to try to solve everything with technology because that is what we know. But

we expect and appreciate your help to develop our communication skills. said Heinz

from Vienna.Of course we know we are poor communicators. We do not have so much

experience in life yet. Thats where you as a manager can help us develop skills we

know we do not have. If you do this you are adding value to us. If you try to play little

king or queen we see right away that this does not help us to get to where we want to

go. said Chenghis from Almaty.

The sales training I got in the agency is totally outdated. They try to teach me to be slimy. My manager

always tells me: You have to convince people! She tries to teach me these stupid pushy objection handling

techniques. Just like she learned when she was an agent. She does not understand that the world does not

work that way anymore. You get business through referrals not through cold calls. said Betty from London.

They think we like to read these boring books. They do not understand that we like hands-on learning,

together with other young people that we feel comfortable with. said Jan from Warsaw.

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Fight back strategy: With your next group of new GenY advisors

try to establish a learning culture. In other words try to get them

used to learning more about the business, about sales, products

and getting referrals to people outside their circle.(Chapter 5)

4. The work-life balance hole.

GenY in the Western world is more family oriented than anything seen in the

last 50 years. The GenY fathers spend over an hour per day more with their

children than their fathers did with them. *(Pew research)

Our managers just dont get it: We do not want to be like them. They live to

work. We young people work to live. They think they are someone because of

the job they do. We do not dene ourselves by the work we do. said Rollie

from Manila.I think I am someone because of all the cool things I do outside of work. I

also need my friends. My manager does not seem to understand that I have other things to do than just work

said Joe a GenY advisor from Sydney.

Fight back strategy: Managers ask questions in the selection that lter out people right away who are not

serious enough about making money. (Chapter 5)

Fight back strategy: They hire similar people of similar ages and background so

they can hang out with friends and talk about business and their careers. (Chapters

2 and 3)

Fight back strategy: The managers or the Home Ofce try to organize a good

amount of stuff outside of work for GenY advisors. Much more than 3 years ago.

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5. I am entitled to make a lot of money because of who I am.

A lot has changed since September 2008 but this is still a problem.

I have a university diploma with a degree in economics. It took me four years to get it. I need to cash in on

it right away. I need money now, now, now. said Abdul from Dubai.

Fight back strategy: Since there is still so much entitlement thinking, Famous 5 managers use questions

that lter out people who have an entitlement mentality and are therefore guaranteed to have a high risk of

failure as advisors. (Chapter 4)

Fight back strategy: They show the GenY advisors exactly what they have to do to get referrals. They have

twice as many role-plays in the unit with GenY advisors than 5 years ago. (Chapter 5)

6. The you are not my boss hole.

We do not understand authority and position very well. We grew up

with computers. In computers there is no head computer. It is just one

computer connected with another. Peer to peer. said Pierre a French

advisor.

My manager wants me to respect him. But why should I respect him

when he has not earned my respect? The way we see it is that respect is

earned because of the stuff you can do not because of your place in some hierarchy said Tang a Malaysian

advisor.

I am starting my new career. My manager thinks he is my boss. But he is just playing important.

He does not understand that we live in the 21stcentury. He should just do his job and transfer whatever up to

date knowledge he has to us said Diana from Athens.

One of the most popular websites at the moment is ratemyteacher.com *. Millions of students who will

be tomorrows advisors from all over the world are now busy rating their teachers instead of doing their

homework. The students rate the teachers on:

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1. How helpful they are.

2. How easy they are to understand.

Reading the ratings it is impressing how fair and objective the ratings were coming from teenagers. Teachers

who are helpful and easy to understand get excellent ratings. Surprisingly GenY cooperates better than

Generation X at the same age with anybody who acts like a teacher or coach and not like a boss. GenY is

closer to their teachers than any other previous generation. * (Pew research).

Fight back strategy: The managers of the Famous 5 have changed their management style. They now act like

coaches and less bossy. GenY responds to this by being more motivated and productive.

7. The constant feedback hole

We will leave you when we feel you stop adding value to us said

Jake a young advisor from Atlanta.Fight back strategy: After themanager hired the right people(Chapter 2) they made sure the new

advisors were getting constant feedback from them and also in the

group meetings. So they rst get the most talented people. After

they got the most talented people they do high maintenance on them

especially in the rst 6 months.

8. Loyalty hole

In 2010 I did a survey in 19 countries on the different continents amongst 800 top 20% GenY advisors who

had been with the company between 1 and 4 years. Who is the main person you talk with about whats going

on in your business? The new advisors(less than 1 year) said:

1. My manager. 55%.

2. My colleagues. 35%.

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3. A friend: 5%

4. My partner 5%.

GenY advisors who had been with the agency over 4 years said:

1. My colleagues: 84%:

2. My partner: 7% (3 times more men than women discuss their business with their partner)

3. A friend: 5%

4. The manager: 4%

So they will listen and be somewhat loyal to you for about 6 months

(or maximum a year). After that they listen to their colleagues.

Therefore your job in the rst 6 months is to get them to form a group

or rather a tribe as fast as possible. Since they apparently will not be

loyal to you, you need to create something they will be loyal to: a tribe.

Their friends, colleagues who they can discuss what is going on in the

business with. (Chapter 5)

Fight back strategy: Managers who are successful with GenY advisors have 3 meetings with the group

of new GenY advisors per week. In the meetings there are lots of role-plays and everyone gets feedback.

(Chapter 5)

Fight back strategy: Special events for GenY advisors are successful to improve retention.

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9. The imprecise hole.

My manager has a very precise operating system:

Step 1. He puts on his Old Spice after shave.

Step 2. He makes sure his hair is in order.

Step 3. He checks to see that his shoes are as shiny as a mirror.

Step 4. He puts a smile on his face.

Step 5. He storms into the meeting room and shouts: Be passionate! Be passionate! Be passionate! Then he

disappears.

The next week he repeats the same routine.

In 2011 I feel we young advisors deserve a little bit better than that said Pavel from Prague.

She says these vague things like: There are great opportunities here! But then she is imprecise and evasive

about exactly what I need to do to get the advantages. I do not have forever to build up my career and yes,

we young people do not have patience. an advisor in Mumbai said.

Fight back strategy: Show them precisely how much money is being made by people a couple of years

older than they are. Show them precisely what they have to do to get what they want. Mentor them and give

constant precise feedback and have role-plays where everything is demonstrated. Just make sure that the

person, you are doing all this time-consuming work with, has the potential to be a top producer by selecting

well in the recruitment phase.

Fight back strategy: Show them through many group discussions and role-plays exactly how they are

supposed to sell and prospect and get referrals. Do not depend on GenYs creativity, initiative and logic.

Fight back strategy: Get them to see the business as a numbers game. GenY respects numbers and program

steps much better than generation X. Show them the business is a science not an art. (Chapter 4)

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CHAPTER 2.

HOW MANAGERS CAN PREDICT BETTER HOW

SUCCESSFUL THE APPLICANT WILL BE IN THE FUTURE

BY CHECKING OUT HIS PAST.

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People with a college or university degree.

A 2009 Limra-Mc Kinsey* study showed people who have advanced education have a 40% higher income

in nancial services than those who do not. Very useful information for the industry. Then the second

question is: Are some degrees better than others for the agency?

In 2010 I asked 1850 high producing (top 20%) GenY advisors in 19 countries: What did you study? In

country after county close to70 to 80% of the top 20% GenY producers had a nancial or a technical

background.

People with a nancial background. Desirability: 10.

A nancial background could be anything from having studied things like

economy, business administration, actuarial sciences or accounting. (But notmarketing)

It does not require a lot of imagination to predict that people with a nancial

background do well in nancial services. What is amazing is the imagination

of average and below average managers who believe that people from other

backgrounds will do well. The development over the last 5 years is that

people with a nancial background have taken over our industry. At least

with the Famous 5 companies and in other fast growing companies in the

world from Poland to Malaysia. Even in Zambia (no kidding). It makes sense if you look at it. Out of all the

things someone could study they chose to study nances.

When nancial people talk about money they sound right. They sound like eh, a nancial professional.

Because they know what they are talking about they can handle rejection better since they do not take

rejection as personal. Since they know what they can do for people they also manage to get more referrals.

They get seen as the nancial advisor in a certain circle because they look like a nancial advisor, sound like

one, and act like one. They are not surprisingly very good and fast with numbers and they can think with

numbers. And they get to do what they studied for: Deal with nances.

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Pros 1: They are comfortable discussing nances.

Pros 2.They are easy to train in new products.

Pros 3: They are worth investing in because their chance of being successful is much higher

Pros 4: They do get referrals.

Cons1: Not many but they are harder to recruit and retain if you have an agency full of older non-educated

people

People with a technical background. Desirability: 9.9.

A technical background could be anything from computer science,

physics, statistics, mathematics and any type of engineering. In

my surveys with agency managers I could not nd any technical

background that did better than another technical backgrounds. For the

agency it does not seem to matter. A computer programmer according to

the managers will not give better or worse results than a mathematician.

It seems easier to teach a technical person the numbers and logic behind our business than it is to teach a

salesperson to think logically and to listen to the needs of the clients. Internationally people with a technical

background comprise about 4% of the GenY recruits. They make up about 15% of the top 20% producers.

The percentage of recruits with a technical background in our industry varies enormously from country to

country from less than 1% in Kenya to 60% in Croatia.

Pros.1: Many make it in the top 20%.

Pros. 2: After they get it they just run it as a program. You do not have to teach them the same thing again

next week.

Pros. 3: Relatively low maintenance.

Pros. 4: Since they are good at looking and asking questions and nding real needs they tend to have much

higher persistence rates on their policies.

Pros. 5: They get referrals.

Cons 1: In many markets there is strong competition for these people from other companies.

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Other backgrounds.

Marketing. Desirability: Women 9.0.Men 3.0.

Usually what the person studied before is a better predictor for success than whether

the person is a man or a woman. The ndings are surprising since the percentage of

women recruited in the agencies has been going down slowly since 2005 after rising

for 15 years straight. (Limra)

The men who studied marketing are about 2% of recruits. But less than 0.5% of top

20% producers.

Women are about 3% of recruits. But about 7% of top 20% advisors.

The men are always thinking. How can I package my message so people will bite? Have you noticed that

the women who studied marketing are nearly always the best packaged in the agency said Vladimir from

Moscow.

Pros. 1: The women are often in the top 20%.

Pros. 2: Easier to get than technical people in most markets.

Cons 1: The men in are big trouble for the agency and leave fast.

People who worked at banks. Desirability: 8.0

About 95% are women. Ask them: Why would you like to join our team?

If they answer: I want to make more money and not be stuck in the bank all

day you should probably hire them. They comprise about 2% of the network

and are 3% of the top 20%. Retention is somewhere around 40%, much

higher than average.

Maybe they tend to stick around with you much longer since they usually end

up making about twice as much as they were making at the bank. They also

tend to add stability and friendliness to your team.

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Pros. 1: They are not surprisingly, very comfortable talking about money. When an ex-salesperson talks

about money they invariably gets dollar signs in their eyes and their voice goes higher. Of course clients

notice this.When ex-bank people talk about money they do it in a relaxed way. They sound right. Easy for

them to do. Whenever they talked with clients in the past about money it was always the banks money not

their own commission. People seem to instantly recognize this too.

Pros. 2: Since they come from the nancial world they tend to understand the need to dress like a nancial

professional.

Cons. 1: They usually do not have the educational background to understand more complex nancial

products. In more advanced markets the business is moving towards nancial planning and they do not do so

well.

Nurses. Desirability: 7.0

Nurses do surprisingly well. They comprise about 1.5% of GenY recruits and

about 1.5% of top 20%.

Pros. 1: They tend to be good at asking questions. They also tend to have good

empathy. They do well at selling simple protection products to middle class

people. They have a positive effect on the group dynamic.

Most of them are good closers. Maybe that is because they do not seem to mind

that the payments are going to hurt a little.

Cons 1: Rarely effective in selling more complex nancial products to richer clients.

Cons 2: In many parts of the world salaries for nurses are going up and they are not as easy to recruit as 3

years ago.

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Lawyers: Desirability 6.5.

Pros: Intelligent, understand complex products. In most companies about 3%

of GenY advisors have gone to law school and they are 2% of the top 20%

producers.

Cons: Difcult to manage, tend to say yes but a lot. Below average retention. If

you insist on having lawyers in your agency then try to have not more than one or

two maximum.

Psychologist: Desirability 6.0

Underperform. Internationally I estimate the percentage of GenY psychologist

working in nancial services is about 2%. They comprise about 1% of the top

20%.

Pros: Emphatic, easy to recruit .Rarely troublemakers (unlike the lawyers.)Cons 1: They tend to Think too much especially about obvious things.

Usually poor closers since often their clients also have to think about it.

Cons 2:Usually difcult for the manager to get them to dress and look like a real nancial professional.

Teachers: Desirability 5.5.

Underperform. Usually struggling to get average results. In most countries they

comprise about 15% of the sales force and about 2% of the top 20%.

Note: ex-mathematics and science teachers and to a certain extent biology

teachers do not count as teachers but as technical people. They seem to get

nearly similar results to other people with a precision background.

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Ex-teachers used to be a reasonable choice in most markets 15 years ago. Then people listened better

and respected authority. Most teachers quickly became unit managers (rarely agency managers) of very

lively small units with medium to low productivity. They often recruit poorly qualied people with lots of

problems. They are usually convinced that their leadership will help the advisors overcome a lack of talent

and aptitude. This of course rarely happens. But they rarely give up and are nice people.

Pros 1: Most of them talk too much. On my programs about 50% of teachers agreed with I talk too much

and listen too little. Therefore they can handle rejection well. Their earnings in life insurance are better than

teachers pay in many countries. So even if they are rarely in the top 20% they usually make more than when

they were teachers.

Cons 1: They talk too much. Almost impossible to teach them to ask questions instead of teaching. (Not true

for teachers of exact sciences)

Cons 2: Difcult to get them to dress like an elegant nancial professional. The opposite of the marketing

people.

Backgrounds from hell.

These backgrounds are not included because any serious manager would hire people like this. Sometimes it

helps to get what you are looking for by seeing the opposite.

Ex-government people: Desirability 1.0

Pros: I cannot think of any pros. Except if they know a lot of

government people they could sell to. Current or Ex-government

people are probably less than 1% of full time advisors in the world.

Except in Vietnam, India, Thailand and Indonesia where they sell

insurance part time instead of doing their government job.

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Cons: Work ethic, tend to be on the slow side. Non-existent in the top 20%. Not 1 manager in the in my

2010 19 country survey said that one of the top 20% advisors he or she hired in the last 2 years was ex-

government.

Ex-police ofcers. 2.0

Pros 1: Sometimes in rural areas they know a lot of people.

Cons1: Giant underperformers. Sometimes they do sell but they tend to have high

lapse rates. Maybe their previous job taught them that the customer is always

wrong.

Cons 2: They tend to integrate poorly with people from a nancial background.

They are useless if you are selling to higher income and higher education.

People sent from the unemployment ofce. 1.5

Pros: Possibly if you instruct the unemployment ofce you want to talk with

people with a technical and nancial university education this could work.

(Untested, no data)

Cons: Many go on the interview because if not they could lose benets. Not

one manager in 19 countries reported hiring a top 20% advisor from the

unemployment ofce.

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Ex-electronics and car salespeople. 2.0

A 2009 study showed that to their surprise people who came from the

sales world had a 40% lower retention rate than the average*(Limra-

McKinsey 2009). The situation since the Limra study has probably

only gotten worse. A July 8 2010 study from Prudential showed that

60% of GenY clients want to purchase life insurance in the next 3

years. 80% of GenY clients also say how much they hate being sold*.

(newsprudential.com)

As early as 2003 there are reports that about 10% of nancial services rms forbade hiring ex-salespeople.

*(Limra) In my survey less than 1% of people in the top 20% had a sales background.

Pros: Can you think of any?

Cons: Salespeople usually feel they can talk well. They are interesting extroverts. Technical people like

engineers and computer nerds are interested introverts. They see the business as a system and understand

the value of asking questions.

I know of no training that cured them of sounding like a salesperson.

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CHAPTER 3

FROM WHICH SOURCES ARE THE FAMOUS FIVE

MANAGERS FILLING THEIR AGENCY BUCKETS NOW?

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The 10 sources.

Some sources have stayed the same in recruitment. Some have changed. The managers are now getting top

producing GenY advisors from:

1. You got them.

25% of advisors who were recruited were contacts of the manager. This percentage has held steady for the

last 15 years*(Limra)

Pros: They chose you. Therefore their loyalty and persistence is above average.

Cons: Managers who have been on the job for a while report it is harder for them to meet new people to

recruit.

2. Your advisors referred them.

Limra research since 1995 keeps showing that the existing advisors steadily keep on bringing in about 20%

of recruits.

When I asked managers in my recruitment and retention programs where the advisors had come from who

later become top20% advisors, an interesting picture emerged. Over 95% of recruits who became top 20%

advisors were referred by top 20% advisors.

Getting top advisors to refer the agency does not go automatically. You have to get them to feel part of the

agency and the company. The agency manager taking out the top 20%, say every month or two months,

is probably the investment with the best return on investment today in life insurance. After lunch (say at

dessert) you can bring up how they could maybe support the mood of the agency by getting some qualied

people in the door. You might want to talk a little bit about which age and educational background your

agency is looking for. To give top 20% advisors a commission after the applicant is still in the agency after 3

months is cost effective and workable.

Pros 1: A great source for recruits if you make them come from your top20% advisors.

Pros 2: Often the top advisors also do some mentoring which helps persistency and productivity of the

recruits.

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Cons 1: Sometimes your top people enjoy all the attention and respect they get in the agency. They are not

always on re to drag other people into the agency that could be as good as or better than they are.

Its like asking my wife to introduce me to a younger prettier woman said Nikos from Athens.

With GenY I noticed it seems easier to get referrals for your agency than GenerationX. Could this be

because they are not as sensitive to hierarchy in the agency as GenX advisors or maybe it is that GenY

expects to get everything they need through referrals?

Second generation from top 20% of advisors is also interesting.

Pros1: In my experience they often outperform their parents at a younger age. The retention rate on the

second generation seems over 50% and they tend to add a lot of stability to the team. Since their family

worked for your company logic dictates and experience shows that they are much more likely to remain

loyal than other GenY recruits. You rarely go wrong with second generation. Unfortunately less than 1% of

the GenY recruits are second generation and about 2% of top GenY advisors.

Pros 2: It makes your agency look awfully good if you can say to a GenY applicant that you have second

generation GenY advisors that are doing very well.

Cons 1: There do not seem to be enough of them.

3. Someone from outside referred your agency.

This could be one of your contacts, someone you know at the university, other employers you know or even

clients of the agency. Older surveys * put this percentage as high as 10% of applicants. In my surveys today

it does not score more than 5% or even less.

Pros: If the contacts are established and working and cost little to maintain, great!

Cons: Maybe the percentage of this source seems to be going down because people are spending more time

on the internet and less time face to face.

Quality of people they refer to you can be a problem. Although this source is about 5% of recruits I estimate

less than 1% of top 20% GenY came from this source.

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4. Job boards and newspaper ads.

Results from Newspaper ads are declining badly nearly everywhere. They are

useless or close to useless. Fewer and fewer GenY even have a newspaper

subscription. Quality of applicants is the lowest of all the sources*. No top

manager uses this as an important source of recruits and when they try it, it

does not work.

Job boards: The growth trend not surprisingly is very much tilted to online

in nearly all markets. Applicants from job boards are rising sharply all over

the world. Even if the method seems the same as newspaper ads the boards

often produce results where the newspaper ads do not. There is a big variation per market but in developed

countries 20% of people who get appointed come from this source. This does not mean that they also

comprise 20% of top GenY advisors. I do not have hard gures on this but retention seems much lower than

average. A guess would be 30% lower than other sources. The reason for this seems pretty obvious. They

saw an ad, they came, they joined, then they saw another ad and left.

Managers mention the effectiveness of job boards goes up by like 500% or more if you back it up with an

effective up to date agency or company website that appeals to educated GenY advisors. If the ad on the

job board catches their interest they go to your website and check your agency out. If they like your site the

good ones will contact you.

Pros: Cheap.

Cons: Many unqualied people, if you do not put on the job board that you are looking for people with a

technical or nancial backgrounds.

6. The company and or agency website

The fastest growing source of recruits. *Over 50% of the candidates check out the company and agency

website. This one is not getting bigger by the year. It seems to get bigger by the month. From the point of

view of return on your investment, your agency website should be your biggest priority.

Pros: It is the thing that is pulling everywhere at the moment.

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Cons: It cost time and money to develop. But everybody I speak with in all developed markets (Dubai,

Singapore, the Netherlands) and also most developing markets (Russia, Vietnam) said it was worth it.

Recommendation: Get busy upgrading your agency website. Just do it.

7. Facebook and LinkedIn

Facebook is growing by the month everywhere in the world.

Pros: Cheap.

Cons: takes a good amount of time.

8. They just walked into the agency.

Surprisingly about 8% of candidates used to comes from people who just walked in.*Or called in or mailed

in without the manager doing anything.The quality of people who just come in instead of being dragged in is surprisingly good. *(Limra) Maybe

this is because in our line of work you have to have initiative. The client will never call you. You have to call

them.

Therefore successful managers have a rule: You can always make time to talk with a person that walked into

your agency or contacted you before you contacted them.

Pros: Quality of applicants is usually quite high. Good retention too. They volunteered, didnt they?

Cons: It is not easy to control the ow of people who just walk into your agency. A good webpage and

Facebook presence helps.

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9. They came (or you stole them) from another company.

This used to be as high as 28% of all people hired in 2005.* A recent study shows it has now dropped

to18%.*

Pros 1: The productivity of experienced advisors is higher because although they sell about 20% less policies

then new advisors their premiums are 30% higher.*

Pros 2: Their cancellation rates are lower.

Pros 3: In 2005 they used to be about as loyal as newly hired advisors. A dismal 12% was still there after 4

years. Now retention is close to 30% after 4 years.

Pros 4: It saves on training costs.

Cons 1: They can have a negative effect on your newly recruited GenY advisors. They usually say things

like: I work smart not hard like you. Their lack of enthusiasm is contagious and demoralizing if you are also

building up a predominantly GenY team.

All your new GenY advisors can do is work hard and be enthusiastic before they also learn to work smart.

Cons 2: Kristy from MetLife AIG Romania once put it this way: There are people from ING here in

Romania that I would love to talk to. But the people that I would love to talk to from ING do not want to

talk to me. And I do not want to talk to the ING advisors that want to talk to me.

The more companies the advisor has been with, the less you want them on your team.

Cons 3: The Famous 5 companies and market leaders anywhere in the world, never actively look for

advisors from other companies to recruit. There has to be a reason for that. It is always the companies that

have no culture, nothing to be proud of that a GenY advisor would want to join that try to compensate for all

of this by offering a bit more money than the company they were working for. In the last 25 years working

for the major insurance companies I have met 500 people who I knew before, from another company. In the

breaks I always ask them the same question: Why did you leave ABC insurance? If the advisor was in the

top 20% it was usually ego reasons. Medium and low advisors left for money.

Lesson learned: You always want to be nice to your top 20% and really nice to your top 5%. It is also very

foolish to spend too much on advisors who do not make good numbers.

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10. University students in their last year or before last year

This method is used a lot in the US especially by the Famous 5.

They hire students with a nancial and technical background

(80%)*. Sometimes from another background (20%). They offer

the students a 1 to 3 month internship in the summer vacation.

They can make money and put the experience on their resume.

The students like the money they make and feel that 3 months

with a life insurance company during their economics study

makes their resume look better after they graduate. They feel it increases their chance of getting a better job.

About 50% of students who nish the 3 month summer internship at the Famous 5, got job offers. 2 out of

3 accept the offer.*

Pros 1: All Famous 5 have been active recruiting at universities

for over 30 years. All have expanded the program in 2010.*

Pros 2: 80% of the top producers and about 85% of the managers

at the Famous 5 came from this student intern program.Cons 1: You lose a lot, about 65%after the 3 month internship

Cons 2: It takes a lot of commitment, time and money. This does

not work as a little program that you do this year. You really have

to be a great company. The students are not fooled easily.

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CHAPTER 4

HOW FAMOUS 5 MANAGERS STRUCTURE THEIR

RECRUITMENT INTERVIEW.

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Structured interviews are a better way to predict how successful someone will be than unstructured ones. It

is natural to want to see good things in the person across the table, especially if you need more productive

people because you are behind your plan.

Many managers still do not use structured interviews because they say: I know how to do this. I have been

in the business for 10 years. Unfortunately their self-condence does not seem be backed up with higher

than average production and retention rates.

So the trend is structured interviews.

Trust GenY to nd a way around this: They posted the questions the recruiters from the nancial service

companies are asking on the internet. This way they could help each other give the right answers to your

questions. Just like in school to get good grades with the teacher.

You can nd the questions the Famous 5 are asking and GenY are sharing on a website called glassdoor.

com. On glassdoor.com thousands of applicants from all over the world uploaded the questions the managers

are asking.

This is what the Famous 5 are asking. I have also included questions that would conform to the recent

research ndings on retention.

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1. Entitlement hole lters.

Retention of people in the industry who felt entitled was horrible said the Limra-Mc Kinsey study*. As

you of course know from bitter experience, if you let a person who has a the world owes me a living

mentality into your team, both you and they will end up unhappy and frustrated after they leave you with no

production.So a question to lter for entitlement could be:

What do you feel you deserve?

Hopeful answer: As much as I produce and that will be a lot.

Scary answer: The Company should provide me with this and that

What do you want to get out of a company like Northwestern Mutual? (NW mutual)

This is one of your questions to nd out about their entitlement thinking.

Hopeful: I want to make a lot and this seems to be a good place.

Scary: Well lets talk about my needs. I really need this and that

On what factors does your success depend?

A 2010 survey of top advisors found* (Limra 2008):

80%: I became successful because of my drive.

15%: You have to have the right products and technical support.

5%: I am successful because of the support of my manager.

Hopeful: I have a big drive for success. I need good products and good information technology backup.

Scary: I need to be provided with the right salary, tools, training, mentoring and you need to set up all my

appointments and preferably sit in on most of them.

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2. A pessimist lter.

MetLife asked a famous professor, professor Seligman: Can you nd the

one thing we can ask in the interview section of a candidate that can help

us predict if the person will stay and be successful?The professor looked

over all the psychological tests that people had taken and how successful

they then became in the business.

Then the professor boiled it down to just one thing: People who described

themselves as optimists had a 40% better chance to be successful.

The professor did not say this, but if you use logic then candidates who

are pessimists would probably produce like 40% less. Then your job is to

nd out if the person across from you is:

1. An optimist. +40% production.

2. Normal.0% average production.

3. A pessimist. -40% production.

The only experience GenY applicants have lots of, is in giving the right answers to teachers. Are you

optimistic? They would all say: Oh yes, of course, I am very optimistic. Very few people who are

pessimistic would say: Absolutely. I see a problem in every solution.

So you have to use trick questions to get the real answers. Therefore you, based on your observations and

listening to the answers that they give to your trick questions, have to determine how much of an optimist

they are on a 1 to 10 scale.

Do you sometimes get accused of staying too optimistic too long?

Hopeful answer: If they are really optimistic they will say: Yes unfortunately I have a tendency to stay too

optimistic too long. You hear: This must really be an optimistic person. Per professor Seligman you should

now be more optimistic yourself about their chances.Scary: If they say: Oh no, nobody would accuse me of

such a thing, you become suspicious.

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How would you see the long term chances in nancial services for young people?

Hopeful: They say: If you want to learn what needs to be learned and work

hard you will get ahead. You hear: I will work hard, learn my job, give good

service and make money.

Scary: They say: There are not so much opportunities for us. You hear: I do

not have drive. I will give up fast and leave.

What adjectives would your friends use to describe you?

Hopeful: They say: Ambitious, hard worker, goal oriented, optimistic. You hear: I see the opportunities

and I will soon be in the top 20% making a great income.

Scary: They say: Easy going, cooperative, fun to be around.You hear: I have so many things going on that

I will get distracted and give up.

Do you have a Facebook account?

(Better yet check it out before the interview) Try to answer the question: is this an optimist? Do his friends

seem optimistic? Does he seem to have goals, does he and his friends seem to be ambitious? Do they

sometimes talk about achieving something or is it all about being entertained.

What you want to see is how many friends they have. If they have many friends this is a very good sign.

A December 2010 study showed that the brains of people who have big Facebook accounts are wired

differently than those that do not. Common sense would tell you that a candidate with a big Facebook or

better LinkedIn account probably would do better in selling nancial services than someone who does not.

Hopefully Limra will study this to get hard facts.

Exercise: On a 1 to 10 scale how much of an optimist is the applicant.

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3. How desirable is the applicants background on a 1 to 10 scale?

Do you have a university education?

If no, big trouble. Remember this is -40%*. The answers to the other questions better be very convincing for

you to guarantee a good chance of persistency with this person.

What did you major in?

If they have a technical and nancial background you should probably hire this person if the other questions

are kind of ok too. If they only started with a nancial or technical subject but did not nish, you are still

interested. You are probably not competing with big companies offering big salaries. Besides your agency

is usually better off with a person who studied computer science for 2 years and then quit than a person who

nished literature.

Were you a salesperson?

If someone sold cars or electronics before and has no university education in nances or exact science your

chances for a successful advisor seem close to 0 anywhere in the world. Try to nish the interview as fast as

possible, while of course staying polite.

If you were to be ill or so how long could you survive nancially 1 week, 1 month, 1 year? (New York

Life.)

They want to nd out if the recruit has big debts that he has to pay. If they have too many debts, the probably

low income will force them in trouble. It is probably ok to hire an engineer or computer technician even if

they have a lot of debt.

Action step: On a 1 to 10 scale how desirable is the persons background?

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4. Work life balance hole lter.

What is something that would come between you and your success in your career? (New York Life)

Hopeful: Nothing. They say this right away and did not have to think about it.

Scary: A pause, they have to think about it. You think: If they have to think about it so much, this might be a

sign that they are trying to give the right answer instead of the true answer.

How many hours per week do you feel comfortable working?

Hopeful: I have a lot of nancial goals and obligations that I need to meet. I am a hard worker, I have

responsibilities and I need the money. I want to be successful. I am a single parent and I need to pay the

bills. I want to give the best education for my children and that takes money. I promised my wife that we

would get our own home.

Scary: Well, I have a lot of things in my life that are important to me. I guess 35 hours would be ne. If

they start talking about work life balance this is a red ag. Unfortunately this will happen a lot.

What does work-life balance mean to you?

Hopeful: If you hear something like nancial goals to get something, this is good. I want the best education

for my kids.

Scary: I want to fully develop myself in life in as many elds as possible.

How do you think success in this business looks like? (MetLife)

On a scale from 1 to 10, how hard is this person willing to work to be successful in your agency?

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5. Does the applicant really want to be nancially successful?

Are you a competitive type of person or are you more like a team player?

Promising: I guess I am competitive. If he is competitive, he will ght to get the client to get what is the

right product for his circumstances and not be so afraid of rejection.

Scary: I am team player. You hear: I am dedicated to and will agree with all the clients objections. To be

liked is more important for me than to be effective. I will make sure not to ask the client any uncomfortable

questions and therefore make few sales.

Which abilities do you feel would help you in this position? (Northwestern Mutual)

Hopeful: My drive, ambition, I am hard worker, success is important for me.

Scary: My ability to get along with people.

Which adversities did you have to overcome? (Northwestern Mutual)

In many countries the best advisors in the whole network are immigrants who arrived broke. The bigger

adversities they had to overcome, the more likely they are to overcome the adversities that a career in

nancial services offers.

What motivates you?(MetLife)

I found that top producers are not surprisingly motivated by money and success. They want to use the money

to have a standard of living that proves that they are the best. Childish? Maybe, but it works. *Limra survey.

What does success mean to you?

If they say something like I need a ton of money and I will sweat for it), great. If they say something like

I want to be a balanced person, you know that their bank balance from working for your company will be

close to 0.

Are you willing to make a lower income for 1 to 2 years so you too, can be part of the 55% of advisors

who makes over $75.000*per year? (Or whatever the percentage is in your country)

Action step: Based on the answers, how success oriented is the applicant on a scale from 1 to 10?

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6. How comfortable is the applicant discussing peoples nancial situation?

How easy is it to talk about peoples nances?

Most people get nervous or embarrassed asking question about peoples

nances. The reason people who worked at banks, and people with a

nancial background do so well in nancial services is because they do

not get nervous. Money is just money. Like air. If you have no air and no

food, you get in trouble. Technical people make so much money because

they are not nervous discussing peoples nances.

Promising answer: To talk with people about their future nances is a very important thing to do.

Scary answer: Well I am a little uncomfortable but I guess I could get used to it.

Before we hire you, you have to do 10 surveys of peoples nancial situation.Is that a problem?

(Northwestern Mutual)

GenY applicants complain about this point because they say it is a trick to get them to sell to their friends.

They are probably right but if a person does not want to talk about peoples nancial condition what are his

chances for becoming a successful advisor?

What do you know about selling nancial services?

What do you know about ABC nancial?

Exercise: Should you revise the questions you ask in your structured interview?

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CHAPTER 5

WHAT FAMOUS FIVE MANAGERS ARE SAYING AFTER

IT SEEMS THEY ARE TALKING TO THE RIGHT PERSON.

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Do you describe the career in a Generation X or a GenY way?

GenY hates salespeople and anything that sounds like a salesperson.* (Limra

research) A salesperson has only pros for his product or service. Some

Generation X managers say: This is a great career and you can make a lot of

money. Our products are the best in the industry. Just be passionate and you can

do it.

If you go on and on about the pros and never give any cons GenY applicants

will get suspicious. They will suspect you of trying to sell them. The feedback

forums on glassdoor.com are full of complaints of GenY applicants who

complain that the Generation X manager only said positives things. They felt he was trying to sell them on

the career instead of giving them fair and objective information. The moment they realized this, many on the

forum commented that they stopped listening and just tried to nish the interview as fast as possible so they

could get out of the room.*

On any forum where GenY discusses products or services like new smartphones, IPad apps, or the benets

of working for Prudential, it is expected that any reviewer includes pros and cons.

So what do GenY recruit themselves see as the pros and cons of a career in nancial services?

I went through 200 pros and cons on glassdoor.com and compiled the stats. Sometimes people gave more

than 1 pro and con so the total is above 100%.

Pros: 1.No limits on your earnings. 58 %. (They mean: I really am

entitled. I need a lot of money hole.)

2. Flexibility. 45%. (They mean: my work life balance.)

3. Great to work for a company with a brand name, company has

been in business 100 years. 25%. (I am important because I work

for an important company.)

4. Great team. 10% (They are collectivist: I want to be part of a team.)

5. Great training is provided. Great further training is also provided. 7 %.(They mean: I will be also be

Generation Now 10 years from now.)

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The ndings are about the same as a 2007 Limra study which said: Income exibility and independence of

the position is appreciated*

Cons: 1. Commissions only. 60%. (They mean: I am very important. I think you should just pay me for

being important.)

2. No leads are provided by the company: 40%. (They mean: Wait a moment, I am great at giving the right

answers to the professor, not in actually getting something done.)

3. Rejection. 25%. (They mean: I am the greatest but I do not want to test it.)

Therefore a manager could be more effective if he says:

There are pros and cons to this job. The pros are that your earnings are unlimited. Half the people here

with a technical background like you, are making over $xxx per year after 4 years.

You have a lot of exibility with your time. You will represent a company which has been around for over

100 years and which is a brand name.

ABC nancial provides you with sales and product training at no cost to you. You will be trained on

the most up to date products and most up to date ways to sell them. You will be mentored on the job by

experienced advisors. Then after you have learned, your income should be just as high as that of the otherengineers.

The Cons: You get paid what you are worth. In the rst 2 years most advisors struggle to get established. In

four years after they are established, 50% of advisors have an income of over $xxx.

Since you are not micromanaged you have to be smart to manage your time. Your mentor will make a

marketing plan with you on how to build your business but you have to execute it.

ABC nancial does not give you leads. Of course your mentor will train you how to get referrals and after

you are established, your business will run by itself on referrals if you apply what you were taught in the

training.

Most people would rather spend all they have and then borrow as much as they can to buy stuff. So your

message of savings and responsibility for the future is not always welcome. Usually you will face serious

rejection for your message and solutions.

Of course it helps that you work for a serious company like ABC Financial. But there is still the rejection

and suspicion that you have to deal with every day. Most people cannot handle that.

Exercise: What pros and cons will you give in your next recruitment meeting?

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Are you lling the 9 holes when you present the career?

Every year Business Week magazine publishes a list of the 100 coolest companies for young people to start

a career with. The winners:

The big 4 accounting rms.

Deloitte (1) Pricewaterhouse (2) Ernst and Young (3) and KPMG (4).

The joke is that top 20% advisors make more money with us in

after a couple of years than they can at one of the major accounting

rms.* (BLS statistics) The big 4 accounting rms also ll the

precise hole To make the career sound more attractive managers

say:ABC is one of largest and strongest nancial institutions in

the world. You consult clients on taking a long term look at their

nancial situations because of the strength and expertise of ABC.

You can assure your clients that their nancial affairs are in the

hands of a strong organization. ABC has been there when it was needed for over 150 (that is how old most

insurance companies are) years.

Cool technology companies.

Of course the winners of the past years Apple, Google and

Microsoft are still hot. But surprisingly not as hot as the

accounting rms. Managers of the Famous 5 have made

themselves more attractive by stressing the progress they have

made in technology.

Managers say:At ABC nancial we employ cutting edge

technology. With your IPad you directly access our data bank to

search for optimum solutions for your clients. Our websites also helps you to keep your clients updated on

solutions to their problems. After you have made the sale, you show the clients how to access his information

online. Because of our highly automated systems you are able to offer the client cost effective solutions to

their problems while still making a nice reward for yourself every time the client accepts your solution.

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The Chinese secret service, CIA, FBI.(Precise hole)

In China, university graduates are queuing up to join the secret

service. The Chinese secret service can only hire 1 out of 69

university graduates who apply for the job. Who would have

predicted 15 years ago that the FBI and CIA would be real cool

places to work?

Steve Jobs generation had a fascination with creating beautiful

things. GenY seems to have a fascination with catching bad

things. We have raised a generation of detectives and money counters. Sighed Hendrik from Amsterdam

So you say: You go to many places where you investigate peoples real nancial condition. Many times

you discover that their real nancial condition and their imagined condition do not match. The company

will teach you precise questioning techniques at no cost to you. With your techniques you help your clients

uncover where problems could occur. After you have identied potential catastrophes, youll show the client

how they can easily prevent them. (You are important)You can do this because of the extensive training you

receive in investigatory nancial procedure.Then you nd the missing points. Your knowledge of nancewhich you have acquired with the training that ABC Financial provides you the tools, to make a plan for

your clients. You will provide peace of mind for families. And of course the more people you help the more

money you make.

United Nations Peace Corps, Teaching corps. (I am so great hole)

It is often said that GenY as a generation is more socially

conscious than Generation X. *(Twenge)

GenY loves to think that they are more socially conscious, but

research fails to nd this. Research shows there seems to be

no real difference in social consciousness between boomers,

Generation X, and GenY at the same age*. Generation X was

about as socially conscious as GenY but they were just not as loud about it. One GenY advisor said he

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could not come to the meeting because he was running a half marathon to alleviate hunger. Do you know

what causes hunger the agency manager asked? No, but I sure am doing my part to ght against it said

the GenY advisor. You could say: You help families in your community and older people. People like

your parents (they are closer to their parents than Generation X)improve their long-term nancial outlook

through your advice. You also ensure that the money for a good education will be there for the children.

Since you will be a trained nancial professional, the quality of your advice has great impact on people you

consult. Unfortunately sometimes people are a little bit closed minded. They believe that borrowing money

to satisfy some urge they have at the moment will bring them lasting happiness. You however come in and

through your probing questions get them to realize what is really important. Unfortunately some people

are a little bit confused and emotional about their desire to keep on spending more than they have. So your

efforts are not always appreciated. That is the bad part of the job. But the top people manage to get over the

bad parts and nd the strength to carry on.

BMW, Procter and Gamble, Nestle. (Important hole)

GenY feels that if they work for a big respected brand they are

more important. Generation X did not care as much about brands.

They cared more about how much they earned.

Give some statistics to show how important and well respected

your company is. This is a bit of a paradox. On one hand they

want to be Generation Now and hate old stuff but they love

historic stuff. They also love to be part of history.

You will represent a company that has been in business since 1848. ABC is one of the top 5 companies in this

country. Here on the wall you see a photo of the ABC headquarters.

Exercise: On your next recruitment presentation try make your opportunity sound as attractive as what the

big guys are offering.

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Are you ghting the I am important hole by always talking about them?

They have iPods, iPads, IPhones. GenMe only listen when you talk about them. I notice in many countries

that those managers who are getting good results from GenY use the word You about 10 times more than

managers who are getting poor results.One webpage to recruit GenY advisors from MetLife managed to use

the word You 15 times in just 10 lines:

Youalways control that you get paidyourworth. (Brilliant they are entitled and they are truly in control of

all the income they make.)

Youdevelopyour market and client base. (You are important)

Youprot from businessesyouhave written in the past. (Entitlement)

Asyouchange and grow,your career can also change withyou. (Education orientation)

MetLife providesyoua variety of career paths with training and support to helpyousucceed at each step.

(Each step means control and precision)

Whetheryouwant to be the best possible Financial Services Representative as a generalist, seek an area of

specialization, or decide to pursue a career in eld management or a corporate opportunity, MetLife will

helpyou every step of the way. (MetLife is helpful like their favorite teacher was)

Yourpotential for growth and income is inyourcontrol.

Exercise: Are you sure you talk enough about them?

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Are you compensating for terrible image of life insurance by looking cool and up

to date?

Obviously the industry is seen as so uncool. That is why successful

managers have to sweat so much to look cool and up to date. This way

they hope the GenY applicants will not associate them with the old life

insurance. This is unfortunate since according to a Jan 2011 worldwide

ING survey between 21 and 29% of people are looking for help on their

nances, but they do not know where to get itGenY have little experience

in anything. They do not know and understand so many things yet. So

they look and judge you by the things they do know and understand. Your

webpage, your smartphone, your laptop and your outt.

Life insurance has such a bad reputation. How could a GenY recruit believe you that there is a great future

for him in your company when you have a 3 year old low-end mobile phone.

Exercise: How will you overcome the old life insurance stereotype by looking up to date?

Are you doing enough to make sure they are successful so they stay?

The usual procedure has been forever to get your new recruit to make a

list of a 100 names that they can contact to discuss their possible nancial

needs. This is incredibly unpopular with GenY. Many people on glassdoor.

com complain about this. This has been called the natural market for as long

as anybody can remember. But anybodys natural market is just so big. Per

Limra, GenY even more than Generation X buys because of referrals. If you

want to teach your GenY advisors how to get referrals, you can download

the Referral course from erikvosinternational.com (free for managers). This

is a course of about 30 one hour GenY meetings that teaches them how to get referrals after they exhausted

their natural market.

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