 
By
Lucretia DiSanto Jones
When 38-year-old Olan "Bubba" Lloyd Alsup contacted Advisor Today about a story we were working on about young advisors, he caught our attention with one line: "You don't go through life too seriously when your name is Bubba!" We couldn't resist talking to him about his move from Houston, Tex., how he is building his practice, and why staff is so important.
Love to sell
A transplant to Missoula, Mont., Bubba, president-elect of NAIFA Western Montana and an advisor with Landa-Harbaugh & Associates, made the move with his wife to raise their children, now a nine-year-old girl and two boys, ages 11 and 13. They envisioned a better life for their children and a more manageable lifestyle. They bought a pet store, which Bubba's wife still runs. But Bubba, who developed an allergy to the pets after two years, left the store to sell recreational vehicles. While he loved the sales job, his busiest times coincided with the times his kids were out of school, so he saw very little of them—exactly what he and his wanted to get away from when they left Texas.
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"Definitely put your money back into people and back into the offic."
—Olan “Bubba” Alsup
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“That's not me!”
Then, a family friend turned him on to life insurance sales. “At first I said, ‘No way, that's not me!' But the more I learned about it, the more I learned what a creative business it is, especially with the health care.” Bubba, who especially enjoys selling the life, annuity and disability side of the business, describes the Landa-Harbaugh practice as “split.” “We sell life products, but we also sell health-care insurance,” he says.
Bubba knows that building success in this business is all about getting in front of people. Landa-Harbaugh's health-insurance practice is, in many ways, the firm's best prospecting technique. “There are very few people out there today that are in business who you can call and say, ‘Hey, how do you like your health insurance?' and they say, ‘We love it, we're happy with what we've got, thanks for calling.' Most of the time, small-business owners will say they're not real happy” with their plans, explains Bubba. That's an advisor's invitation to set up an appointment.
Once you've got the business' health insurance on your book, you can offer other products, Bubba says. “Those are the clients you want, those small businesses. They develop into everything,” he says.
Bubba uses personal contact to drum up business. “I know people through my own networks. Through Kiwanis, Boy Scouts, church, coaching YMCA, all the activities I do. I meet people all the time. But my best clients are parents of the friends of my kids. I believe networking is a huge thing. But you are not out there looking for leads; you're looking to build relationships. When you do that, the leads will come.”
A great business
Bubba is convinced that selling insurance and financial services is a great profession because there are not enough agents out there to see all the people who should be seen. “In Missoula,” he explains, “we have twice as many people as we did 20 years ago, but we have one-half the registered agents we had 20 years ago.
“The market is wide open for young people in all areas, I think, not just Missoula. That's why I think NAIFA and YAT are so important. We're in Montana, five years behind everybody else. These groups help us stay up on things. You hear an idea at a meeting and you think, ‘Yeah, that'll work in my practice.'”
A balanced life
Truth be told, however, work-life balance is what drew Bubba to this profession. “My aspiration is to have a lifestyle that lets me enjoy my family and take off as much time as I want,” he says. Being able to do this hinges on having a great team of people to help conduct your business. “Adding staff,” Bubba says, “is a way for a young advisor to invest in his business, so definitely put your money back into people and back into the office. If you take care of the people who are taking care of you, you can't help but have loyalty, and I think that's extremely important.”
June 2005
Service With Style
Keep It REAL
Setting Up Your Own Financial Services Practice
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