Using the Right Words to Sell an "Alternative Strategy"

Speaker 1 (00:08): Hi, and welcome to your Thriving Practice. I'm your host, Dan Corcoran.

Speaker 1 (00:13): If you've listened to our previous episodes, which took a look at the 60 40 portfolio mix and its future, you heard that financial professionals are looking for new, more innovative and diversified approaches when advising clients on their portfolio allocation, discussing a new strategy or changes to an existing approach to retirement savings with an investor who happens to be a client. It's not always easy. That's why I'm pleased to introduce Jeanie Underwood, a senior Vice president and head of Global Atlantic Consulting, a team that helps the financial professional community rise and thrive every day in their business. That is a great mission statement, by the way, Jeanie, thank you for coming onto Your Thriving Practice.

Speaker 2 (00:55): Dan, it's my pleasure to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:57): H we're happy to have you here because you're gonna be sharing some actionable advice and insights into some proven words and phrases to help financial professionals introduce annuities into the conversation. And you're gonna show us the right way to help yield results by framing those messages using the four Ps, which are, you say, positive, plausible, plain, and peers. And we're gonna talk about that in just a moment. But first, let's start with what tips you can share for financial professionals to broach the topic of annuities, either to answer their questions or to introduce a new option into the discussion. For investors who might have felt a little woozy about losing money last year and are not sure what the future holds, what do you say to that?

Speaker 2 (01:39): There's a lot going on in the markets today, and last year was much different than a lot of people were experiencing in the 10 plus years prior to last year. You know, they're riding the bull market and last year we had a little bump in the road and, and typically in our industry there, there's this kind of 60 40 idea strategy that's a pretty well-known strategy. It's a diverse strategy, it's a balanced strategy. And last year it, it didn't necessarily perform the way that it should have because both stocks and bonds were declining in tandem. And that's not normally the case. And so we're always looking for entry points for financial professionals so that they can enter a conversation about, you know, maybe adding something that'll enhance something like that. And so when we think about that, you know, what can we do to help advisors talk about these alternatives or enhancements to their client's overall portfolios? We don't think about the actual strategy of what they should be talking about, but more or less how to communicate that strategy. I mean, they're the experts.

Speaker 1 (02:35): And this is where the four Ps comes in, right? It

Speaker 2 (02:38): Is, it is. So, and what we tell financial professionals that first of all we have to remind them, or maybe this is a new revolution for them, is that we're not in the business of selling product in the industry. And I know it comes across that way, but we're in the business of people. We're in the business of communication. And communication first and foremost is going to drive your success. And so in all the years of studying communication and studying words that work, we really have these four principles that financial professionals should think about every time they're about to have a conversation with their clients or their prospects. The first P would be positive, keep the conversation positive. And the environment that we are in today, it's very easy to go into this like negative kind of scare tactic, fear-based approach. Like, look, this market is crumbling and this is what we need to do today.

Speaker 2 (03:24): Fear does not work today with people. In fact, it angers them. And so what we've learned through all of our studies is that we never wanna go back to a period where people have been scared. So in this environment, it would be very easy to go back to 2008, remember what happened to 2008. We do not want that to happen again to your portfolio. And that doesn't work. It turns them off. They said, look, I remember oh eight, I lost money. I made it back and I don't wanna talk about it. I don't wanna use that as a basis for my decisions going forward. And so what we have to remind financial professionals is lead with a positive conversation. Look, today we have to talk. The markets aren't cooperating with our portfolios. And so what we wanna do today is talk about your long-term goals and is there anything that we can do or add or enhance to the portfolio as it stands today to make sure that we can continue to align with your long-term goals.

Speaker 2 (04:10): Sometimes we're wired right to kind of go down this negative because we think that, okay, if they're scared, we have to take this more dramatic approach. So one way to remember to not go down the negative valley, I'll call it the negative valley, is to always go back to the goals and say, okay, look, today we wanna talk because the market's not cooperating and we need to review the goals and make sure that everything that we have in place today is aligned with your long-term goals. And that enters the conversation nice. And in a positive way,

Speaker 1 (04:36): It's so easy to fall into that negativity trap. So staying positive certainly is a key initiative. So that's P number one. Let's talk about the second P.

Speaker 2 (04:46): P number two is making sure that anything that you talk about is believable, it's credible. And that second P is plausible. Don't ever make anything too good to be true. So if you are going to suggest that they make a change to their overall portfolio and you make it too good to be true, like we need to add this today because this is going to save you. It's too dramatic, it's not plausible, it's not believable. So we wanna make sure that we keep the message very even keel. Believable, plausible.

Speaker 1 (05:11): That's all comes down to trust, right? You're trying to build a relationship with this person, with this client. It comes down to them trusting you. Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 (05:17): Absolutely. Which really leads us to the third P, which is just used very plain. Mm-hmm and simple language. We work in an industry that what we do is complicated. And the products that we do sell, they are complicated. And so sometimes we go down this road of communication, we're using all these big words and sometimes we use 'em because we think like, oh, we sound really smart, we sound very sophisticated. It doesn't resonate with people. In fact, it turns them off because now they're not focused on you. They keep thinking of themselves like, you're using all these words, I don't understand. So going forward, just keep the message very plain and very simple. And it takes practice. Again, going back to, we do work in a very complicated industry. So this is one that takes practice for us. We just have to keep the message very simple.

Speaker 1 (05:58): It's so important because if you're prompting these people to act or make a decision about something pretty important, you want them to comprehend it and understand it before they make those decisions. Lastly, on your list of four Ps is consider their peers. Talk about that one.

Speaker 2 (06:13): So, this is always nice to kinda round out any conversation is, is talk about, you know, I have other clients in your particular situation that their long-term goals really line up with your long-term goals. And here are some of the conversations we've had with them and some of the ideas that that they're really leaning into. And that's what I wanna share with you today. We know this, people that are saving for their retirement and even taking income in retirement, they always wanna know what their peers are doing. They love to learn from their peers, they love to hear from their peers. And if you as a financial professional can be a voice for your clients that come across as peers to your clients sitting across the table from you, they're leaning into that and they wanna hear more.

Speaker 1 (06:51): That makes a lot of sense to me. And I'm sure it makes sense to our listeners as well. But how should financial professionals begin this conversation with their clients? What is a script in this respect that they can actually use to explain what an annuity can provide? Let's roleplay a bit with this and how that situation might unfold.

Speaker 2 (07:10): What I feel, and this has been studied, what works is you just don't launch into kind of a dissertation about any products. The conversation starts by, by you as a financial professional, asking really good open-ended questions and figuring out what those questions are for that particular situation. And knowing at the end that you kind of wanna lead into this cuz you've already identified, right? Financial professionals already identified that something like an annuity or something that will protect someone's growth or income really should be a part of the conversation going forward. But to jump right into that, I don't think that that's going to allow people to lean in cuz they're gonna caught up on, you know, the word annuity or you know, the product name or something like that. So one of the things that we have studied is that we know by asking really good open-ended questions, not about just what they have but who they are, it's a goldmine exercise cuz that's where you get where their value system is.

Speaker 2 (08:03): That's where you get to like what they really want out of life and what they really want their money to do for them. When you get to those questions and at that point then you can kind of back into, so here's what I think you're saying is this. And so then you can kind of back into it and you still don't go and and say the a word or now I think we should talk about this annuity is, is you, you talk about what annuities do. It's, it's not what it is, but it's what they do. And typically when you lead with that is really the benefit, not the benefit of the product, but the benefit to them. And so like today for instance, you know we've talked about the concerns in the market, you know, we're just not sure where this, where this market is heading.

Speaker 2 (08:40): And so today I wanna talk to you about a strategy that will help protect your existing assets but at the same time give you some growth potential when the market does come back a little bit. So we're protecting while at the same time we're able to grow with this, this particular strategy that I'm gonna share with you. But then there's also a lot of key words in there that work in that sort of conversation. So you see you're kind of like molding this mm-hmm. and building this mm-hmm . So it's not just like, let's just go and talk about annuities. Let's ask really good open-ended questions. Let's figure out what's driving them. Let's figure out, you know, maybe some of their fears. Let's figure out maybe some of that value system and now let's have that conversation. But leading with what something does. And when you can do that, it allows people to lean into that.

Speaker 2 (09:23): Like, okay, that sounds exactly like what I need. And then build in certain words that work in that conversation. Like for instance, you would also add into this. So I wanna talk to you today about repositioning some of your portfolio, just a portion of your portfolio into something that will offer more protection during this unknown market period. But at the same time giving you the opportunity to grow your money as well. And so that word portion, we always say this, the word portion, it's like a green light word. And what that means, the psychology behind the word portion, first of all, it's one of the most powerful words that you can use in any conversation is it allows people to say, okay, now I'm, I'm leaning into this cuz before, unless I hear the word portion, I think you're implying all mm-hmm and I shut down.

Speaker 1 (10:07): It's amazing how just the, the simple change of a certain word, like portion use that instead can convey a totally different feeling to the person you're speaking to.

Speaker 2 (10:15): Exactly. And that's what we learned in the psychology of it. They said, they literally said, unless I hear the word portion, I think you're implying all and I shut down and you might have a really, really good message. So you go through this whole process, right? You're asking good open questions, you're having a really nice conversation. And then if they don't hear the word portion, they start to shut down. And so that's why we call it a green light words using the word portion in between those, you know, kind of what you're saying will keep people open to, again, leading to the the conversation. Okay, so we told you about what it is for a portion and now here's what it is. And they don't get caught up on what it is because what it does aligns with their goals.

Speaker 1 (10:52): So in terms of timing here, when should financial professionals bring up annuities in this conversation?

Speaker 2 (10:58): It really all depends on the conversation. Mm-hmm. , I think, I don't think financial professionals, when the client's coming into the office or prospect that they have on the agenda today, I'm gonna talk about annuities cuz you don't know. I, I really do. I'm a big believer in that process. You ask the really good open-ended questions, you understand their value system, you understand what they want and then you go into the next part of the conversation about what they do and then you go into what an annuity is. I think for financial professionals today, they need to have more of a proactive process for the conversation. And I think that's what really the conversation looks like is kind of that three-pronged approach.

Speaker 1 (11:34): Because a client isn't always gonna come to you wanting to talk about this, but it is something that they should be considering. Right? And so that's up to the financial professional to step in and, and be proactive as you say another P word.

Speaker 2 (11:45): They always want what annuities do, they just don't know that, that it's an annuity.

Speaker 1 (11:49): So you're right. Let's talk about annuities because some clients will likely have some misconceptions around them. So why is that and how can financial planners anticipate and respond to them?

Speaker 2 (11:59): You're right, annuities is the “A” word in the industry. And it's interesting today when we do these focus groups and, and we listen to people that, you know, have very strong opinions about annuities. In most cases they think about annuities as being like something their grandparents owned. You know, my grandpa had an annuity. I mean certainly there's something better than that these days. So, you know, again it's, it's a longer conversation to get to that point. There also is a lot of miss out there by some pretty big influencers, kind of news media influencers that don't like annuities. They talk about you're locked up in these things and they're super expensive and it's, you know, fee this, fee that. And you know, they cost a lot of money and so you do have to overcome those objections. But what we know from certain studies, and this is to add a little bit of confidence, I think we still have to instill confidence in the financial professional community when it comes to annuities.

Speaker 2 (12:50): Cuz a lot of times financial professionals like, you know, look, they don't wanna hear about 'em. So we now have to instill confidence in the financial professional community. And so we're always citing research. And so one piece of research that I always go back to is the Greenwald study where they did a study on guaranteed lifetime income and how do people perceive it and how much do they value it? And one thing that we learned in the study is that over 70% said, look, if there's some sort of strategy out there that's gonna provide me guaranteed lifetime income, like no matter what happens, no matter what the market does, when inflation does, how much of money I spend, this strategy's gonna provide me income for the rest of my life. I am very interested in that. And in fact they said I highly value a strategy that would offer that.

Speaker 2 (13:33): So we know over 70% responded that way. So that's what an annuity does, right? See that number? How mm-hmm high, the response rate was there. And then what the study says is, look how many financial professionals, they went back to the financial professional community and they said, you know, how many of you are talking about annuities? How many of you are talking about strategies that will provide protection for their income going forward? And only 42% responded, I am proactively having those conversations. So we look at like a data point like that and we say, okay, so we have a lot of work to do to instill this confidence. And so we're out there educating advisors on really, it's not just about selling annuities, but how do you enter that conversation in a productive way that's gonna lead to success.

Speaker 1 (14:13): And that's what we were talking about when you discuss being proactive. I mean making sure these conversations at least get started to see what they lead. But it, it is interesting when you hear people talk about, I guess your grandfather's annuity, when you think about that time it was mostly variable annuities with few protections. And that's certainly different today. Is there still a perception that annuities are risky and that they're just too expensive? What do you see?

Speaker 2 (14:39): Yeah, there is, and even I think in the financial professional community, some of them think they're expensive. Yeah. And you know, just fee ridden. And so that was another study that we had access to. Is that from an investor or a client or prospect point of view? As they say, look, we're gonna talk about how expensive things are, this is really how you should talk to me about it. They said, just tell me what it's gonna cost me. We're consumers, everything costs something, so just tell us what it's going to cost us. But using that word, that's the key word, cost. They said, cuz here's the deal. When you tell me what the fee is and you talk about fees, they said, I think I'm being double charged. It's just the psychology of the word.

Speaker 1 (15:23): They just assume that they are being double charged.

Speaker 2 (15:25): They think they're getting nickled and dimed. If they use, if you say, well the fee of this is, you know, this, this is the number here, this is…

Speaker 1 (15:31): And people just do not like fees in general. Right. So when they think they're being exposed to additional fees when they shouldn't be, that could be frustrating.

Speaker 2 (15:39): Oh, it so is. And it's not just our industry. People hate fees. Have you ever taken a look at your cable bill? There's three pages of fees. Right? Everything has a fee attached to it. So it is like a double charge. Your cell phone bills, the airline industry before covid generated an additional 1 billion in baggage fees, fees, fees.

Speaker 1 (16:00): What are those fees?

Speaker 2 (16:01): People hate fees. You just have to talk about what things are gonna cost. So, so when people say like, I don't like annuities because they're expensive and they're, you know, full of fees, they say, well let, let me back out of that. But then you don't go into the cost. One of the things we also learned, it's the sequence of the conversation. People like these are so expensive. Say, well, you know, first let me acknowledge the fact that we are very conscious of what all of our clients pay. And let me talk about kind of the value of what these strategies actually do. So you go through something and then you understand what they're getting from it. And then you say, and this is what it's going to cost you

Speaker 1 (16:33): To set the stage. You educate them about what these annuities do and then you back into it with the entire price tag. Because that's essentially what they're looking for anyway. They want that piece of information. So important.

Speaker 2 (16:46): Yeah. In fact, this woman up in Wisconsin, this financial professional c she's, I've seen you present before and I know how important these words are. And I will say that the, the fee, I have a really hard time not saying fee cuz that's just been so embedded in us in this industry. And so I finally figured out a way to not say that word. So here's what I do every time before I am going to enter a room to start a meeting, I just have a very mindful moment with myself and I, I look up to this guy and I say to myself, just don't say the F word in this meeting . And that's how she remembers. She said, I do, I do. I don't say the F word in this meeting, use the word cost. And she's like, but it has made such a huge difference in that conversation.

Speaker 2 (17:28): People don't lean back and cross their arms cuz they know, okay, this is what it's going to cost me. Like anything, go buy a tv. You wanna know what's gonna cost you another financial professional in Kansas City. She, I've seen you present before. And so here's how I use the word cost very strategically. If I have a client sitting across the table from me that I know I don't have all their assets or prospect, I go through everything, uh, everything that we discussed, the the plan, here's the plan, here's this, here's that. And at the end I say, now this is what this is going to cost you. And she lays everything out and then she pauses and she says, now would you mind sharing with me what Frank Smith is charging you in fees over there, ? So we know the word fee doesn't work. And so what she, how she uses that strategically is that hers, her, whatever she offers, it's always a cost and the competition is always a fee. Ooh. Okay. And that's how she closes some deals. Just with that one word.

Speaker 1 (18:26): Wording. Yes. So important.

Speaker 2 (18:28): What I love is I'm a researcher, so, you know, and, and I feel very fortunate that I was a part of this word study for many, many years. And so that was the revelation. Anytime you're in a focus group and you see like a certain word is working, you really lean into that and you're just, okay, now let's use that. And our presentations are, let's use this as an education mechanism. And so when you go out and you talk with financial professionals and you really consult with them and coach them on these words and then they come back to you and say, oh my gosh, that worked. You know the word, I mean just cost, I mean I've been doing in this business for 25 years. And that one little word completely changed the trajectory of the success of that conversation by that one word.

Speaker 1 (19:08): So you talked about the word portion and the effect that that can have. Mm-hmm. , let's talk about some other words that, that may be good and helpful in this process, but also some phrases and wording that may not be so good. Discuss that.

Speaker 2 (19:20): A lot of the strategies that we talk about, we talk about them in a sense that they might be a replacement for something else or an alternative. And so we decided to study, you know, if we're gonna talk about a product being a replacement, like a, let's just talk about, you know, bonds and perform well last night, so this is with this would be a bond replacement idea. They don't like replacement. People don't like replacement. They said, well, I don't know, that sounds so permanent and it worked before. Why isn't gonna work again? Or they say this, they said, oh, so you got it wrong. How many times are you gonna get it wrong before you get it right? Hmm. So they did not like replacement, but they love the word alternative. Okay. Instead. Okay, so this would be a bond alternative strategy because you can always go back to the old strategy, but right now, this is what works.

Speaker 2 (20:09): It's the alternative and they're okay with that. So it's what we found is these simple little words. It's the littlest things that can have the biggest impact. Not only in that connection in the conversation, but then the momentum and trajectory of success and getting them to the buying zone. It's the little words that will get them to the buying zone One. Another one that we found was, we're here, we wanna provide you a retirement paycheck once you start taking income and retirement this retirement paycheck. They hate that word really? They hate it. They says it's, oh, it's not a paycheck, it's, I'm not working, I'm done working and this is not a paycheck. This is, I already earned this. This is my income. And one thing they also said, they said, paycheck to me is very stagnant. It's very flat, it stays the same, but income, retirement income can go up. Hopefully it can go down, but hopefully it goes up. And so that's much more of a positive vision for their income for the future. Another

Speaker 1 (21:02): Word that you note here as to being a key word, an important one is the word monitoring. Can you talk about that and and why that should be used? In which context? Well,

Speaker 2 (21:12): It's, it's a very proactive word and especially in, in the markets that we experienced last year and even some volatility this year. When financial professionals are reaching out to their clients and even to prospects, that's a key word to help them understand, look, we're monitoring the situation, we're monitoring the markets, we're monitoring the economy and we're monitoring your accounts every day. And so when we see something that maybe we need to make an adjustment or provide some sort of alternative to enhance the overall portfolio, to stay aligned with your goals, to keep you on track, that's when we're gonna be calling you. But we are constantly monitoring all situations. That's a key word. People really love that word.

Speaker 1 (21:51): And that's what you're doing. You are monitoring those situations. Mm-hmm. , so many of the words that you are describing is helpful in these conversations are simple words. Words that we use every single day. Is it tough for financial professionals to kind of wrap their heads around using words that they might consider too simple for these conversations?

Speaker 2 (22:09): Yes. Mm-hmm. ? Yes. It takes a lot of practice. I mean, they've grown up in this business and they've said things a certain way and there's certain words you can't get away from it, right? Cuz it is what it is, right? But it's the peripheral of those core words, the jargon in our business, those sophisticated words. Sometimes you can't get away from 'em, but if you can create a simple peripheral around them, it's a much easier digestion point that people can digest that sort of messaging so much easier than having a totally complicated language all around it. So it does take practice, but I also think that this industry has not done a very good job of creating kind of an awareness for this. Like we just need to take it a couple steps down. We don't need to use these big words because they do not resonate. And if we can just use our everyday language in the conversation, the financial professional will have so much more success. It's been studied, it's been proven. Alls they have to do is practice it. Mm-hmm. , and I always say this, you know, I learned this from a mentor in business a long time ago. The strength is always in the struggle. They'll struggle through it, but once they get to the other side of it, they'll notice a big difference and impact, a positive impact in their conversations.

Speaker 1 (23:13): Jeanie, thank you so much for sharing such insightful tips. And if a financial professional would like to learn more about Global Atlantic Consulting and their workshops, you can visit your thriving practice.com. I'm Dan Corcoran. Thanks so much for listening to listen to additional podcast episodes. You can find us on Apple, Spotify, and Google Podcasts and@yourthrivingpractice.com.

Speaker 3 (23:43): The opinions,

Speaker 4 (23:44): Beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the guests on this podcast do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of Global Atlantic Financial Group. Global Atlantic Financial Group, global Atlantic is the marketing name for the Global Atlantic Financial Group L c and its subsidiaries including for forethought, life insurance company and Accordia Life and Annuity Company. Each subsidiary is responsible for its own financial and contractual obligations. These subsidiaries are not authorized to do business in New York.