Agent Link - November 2019

Agent Link - November 2019

AGENT LINK To empower those who change lives for the better

NOV 2019

INSIDE 1. Powering Up Distribution

ALL ABOUT ADVISOR RECRUITING

2. Execution Is Greater Than Strategy

3. 4 Ways to Improve Your Email Deliverability Now

Anticipating these factors and communicating a fitting value proposition is crucial. In addition, each firm will find that narrowing their target to the type of advisors more likely to find them appealing will bring about cost-effective targeting and positive gains. Similarly, on the insurance side, IMOs may have found a niche — via financial planners, retirement planners, or other advisors — in assisting certain markets.The importance of gaining a deep understanding of the advisor mindset cannot be overemphasized. Simply “getting in front” of new advisors as a potential source of product doesn’t do the trick when it comes to client acquisition. Our team of producer liaisons at Agent Link has had conversations with close to 200,000 producers over the last few years, many of whom operate both in financial services and insurance channels.Through their stories, we’ve become acquainted with key factors that really matter to advisors and big producers. In this month’s newsletter, we break down what we’ve learned into digestible information that can help you with producer acquisition.

business in their practice. And that’s in addition to carriers growing their BD and RIA channels on a larger scale. Because of the type of clients and cases security professionals deal with, these organizations can provide value beyond simply being a source for different products they tend to write, like cash-accumulation life insurance, annuities, LTC, and DI. The Advisor Mindset From the perspective of the advisor, making a firm transition is a big deal. Circumstances in the market or their practice could certainly keep advisors open to new opportunities, providing the switch to a new firm has a major impact on their career or practice. The perceived outcome could outweigh the perceived pain of the transition. For that reason, firms and organizations targeting reps and advisors must understand just what pains tend to trigger an interest in greener pastures on the part of advisors.

Agent Link helps clients in the insurance and financial service industries, and many of them operate where both industries intersect. In this issue, we want to provide insight for those who operate in or target these channels in particular. Advisor recruiting takes on quite a different meaning depending on the type of organization you are. An independent brokerage may be searching for experienced FINRA-registered reps looking to make a transition from a career BD, whether that’s a regional firm, wirehouse, or bank BD. However, dually registered firms and RIAs may target advisors doing “transactional business” who are looking at migrating to a hybrid model or a strictly fee- based model doing “advisory business.” On the insurance side, advisor recruiting takes on a completely different meaning, as we assist IMOs or BGAs with growing distribution along independent channels that target planners or advisors who write insurance

1 +800 535 4545 -Stu Gramajo

3 Tips for Every Business Leader Execute Strategy and Kill Stagnancy

“To me, ideas are worth nothing unless executed ... Execution is worth millions.” –Steve Jobs Anyone can take this advice to heart, whether you’re a stay-at-home parent or the CEO of a Fortune 500 company. Ideas are easy, but no one becomes successful because they had a great idea. Success comes from putting that idea into action. Being able to execute a plan is a skill every business leader needs. Here are three steps to help you improve your execution. 1. Ditch Perfection Have you ever watched a behind-the-scenes featurette of your favorite movie? Some of the most successful films were all but unrecognizable in their early phases. In fact, a lot of early concepts are terrible. Look up the original designs for Woody in “Toy Story” to see for yourself. Fortunately, rather than wait for the perfect script, creators executed their visions and make changes as needed. Putting off action in favor of creating the perfect plan or strategy leads to stagnant business. Successful people know that plans take many shapes before they reach their final form. Don’t jump into something without a clear plan, but don’t be afraid to define your strategy as you go.There’s a reason audiences won’t be flocking to theaters to watch the latest galactic adventures of Luke Starkiller this December. 2. Be Methodical While you shouldn’t wait for the perfect plan, you shouldn’t be flying in blind, either. You can be too energetic about execution. Make sure everyone involved in a plan knows their responsibilities. Confusion will torpedo any strategy faster than you can say, “Who was in charge of this?”The Harvard Business Review states, “Having the discipline to organize people, assemble resources, and then generate a plan that others can commit to will collectively improve execution.” 3. Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate We’re not saying you should micromanage your team, but you do need to be checking in on a regular basis to evaluate progress on your plan. Schedule monthly or quarterly meetings to go over the strategy.This is where you look for any changes that need to be made and refine the strategy. A smart strategy feels reassuring, but learning to execute a plan is the only way to make progress.The best business plan in the world is worthless if you never follow through.

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HAVE 5 MINUTES? Improve Your Email Deliverability With These Steps

2. Remove inactive recipients from your list. Filter out users who have not clicked or opened your emails in a few months and remove these inactive recipients. Having inactive users can increase your bounce rate and reduce your credibility. 3. Set up a double opt-in for your emails. While single opt-ins are common, a double opt-in may prevent your emails from getting tagged as spam, which can lead ISPs to block your emails. A double opt-in will have the producer first confirm that they want to receive your emails.Then, a separate email will ask them to confirm their email address. 4. Set your IP up for success. Think of this as a conversation between your IP address and the ISP. You want to build trust with the ISP, which filters out spam. Begin by sending small batches of emails to the addresses you know are engaged. As your emails are successfully sent and opened, your IP will begin to gain credibility with the ISP. Validating your emails, regularly cleaning up your email list by removing undeliverable and no-longer-in-use emails, and isolating issues with ISPs (if you have those capabilities) can all increase your rate of email deliverability and up your chances of advisor recruitment success.

We’ve talked a lot about the importance of good copy when it comes to attracting the right producers for your organization. But let’s take a step back: If you’ve done all the work to hire a professional copywriter and they’ve put together irresistible email content, you better make sure you’re putting the same amount of effort into ensuring those emails get to your ideal producers. Improving email deliverability doesn’t need to be time-consuming, but it does need to happen. Start by cleaning up and validating the addresses you have before moving on to opt-in. Here are four easy ways to get started. Each action takes five minutes or less, so there’s no excuses! 1. Hold your producer list to the fire. If you obtained a producer list from a vendor or >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6

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