By Maggie Leyes
Imagine going from making a paltry $11,000 a year—and living in your brother’s basement—to making over $100,000 the following year. Impossible? Not for Brad Burton, LUTCF. After spending his first year drifting in the business, fate brought him to the offices of New York Life in Vienna, Va. The manager he met with when he stopped by the office to drop off his resume promised him success if he would, in essence, do as he was told until he “made the numbers.”
Burton was not a stranger to the insurance business. He watched his father manage a multiline agency when he was growing up. So what this New York Life manager said resonated with him, and he signed on. Part of the new regime for Burton was discipline, complete with a firm 9 a.m. start time and the directive to write 10 policies a month. The strict routine paid off for Burton, a member of NAIFA-Northern Virginia, as he watched his business grow and strengthen. He also learned another important lesson from his New York Life mentor: You just don’t walk up to people and have them hand over their money. It’s a process. You need to get to know them and understand their needs.
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“If you have your schedule booked for 20 meetings a week, you’re guaranteed to make money—there’s no way you can’t.” —Brad Burton, LUTCF |
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Twenty a week
Now this MDRT Top of the Table member, who’s been in business since 2001, is in a position to offer advice to others who are starting out in the industry. He readily admits that much of his success comes not from working with high-end clients (although he does have those, too) but with consistently meeting with three to four people a day. “There are going to be cancellations and no shows and whatever else pops up out there, but if you have your schedule booked for 20 meetings a week, you’re guaranteed to make money—there’s no way you can’t,” he says.
Uncomfortable is OK
His business is now 100 percent referral-based, and he uses a very direct approach with his clients. He tells them, “If you feel like I did a good job for you—that I brought value to you—you can think of at least five people that I will be able to help and show the same ideas that I showed you. Do you think I did a good job?” The clients, he says, invariably say yes.
Burton admits to being “a little aggressive” in getting referrals. “I make people uncomfortable with it,” he says, “but I tell them, if it takes me making you a little uncomfortable to help one more person, that’s something I’m willing to do.” He is confident about putting himself out there so boldly because he knows that “if someone works with me, they are never going to be mad about the fact that they’ve got more money saved than they did before.”
Tips to the top
He also has some pragmatic tips to pass on to YAT members—tips that help him stay at the top of his game:
- Continuing education is key. He’s currently studying for his CFP, and uses his morning treadmill time at the gym to keep up with a dozen or so financial and industry periodicals.
- Dress is important. You’ll always find Burton in a clean, well-pressed suit with a shirt and tie and new shoes because “we are our product,” he says.
- There is no substitute for seeing people. “Always stay in front of people, and don’t stop setting appointments, no matter how busy you are,” he stresses.
- Hire help. As soon as you can, pay someone else to do the busywork or paperwork for you.
- Don’t take the nos personally. Remember, a no is not about you—they are not turning you down personally, Burton says.
April 2008
Overcoming DI Roadblocks: Two Case Studies
Interviewing Referral Partners
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