Believe it or not, I’m actually getting into the virtual world. Yup, you heard that right. The same guy who fought against virtual meetings is now selling annuities virtually. And let me tell you, it’s been a wild ride so far.
I’ve been resisting this shift to virtual selling, dragging my fingernails across the floor, metaphorically speaking. Yet, as I was just telling an agent today, there’s a noticeable trend. I firmly believe that virtual is going to start taking over. While nothing can replace the caliber or quality of an in-person meeting, the virtual world is catching up fast.
For instance, I’ve received an influx of virtual leads recently, which is a promising sign. Just last week, despite ending with zero new clients—a rare occurrence unless I’m on vacation—I still see great potential in virtual appointments. I think the numbers will only get better the more we embrace this new medium.
Believe it or not, I’m actually getting into the virtual world. I’ve been actually selling some virtually now, and I know I’ve fought this literally dragging my fingernails, like a chalkboard on the floor, trying to not get into this arena, but as just actually talking to an agent today and. I was saying they were talking about how they were doing seminars. And I was saying, you know, I actually think the virtual is going to start to overtake everything. I don’t think anything will ever replace the caliber or quality or for the lack of a better word, a visual. I just don’t, I think people always want something that is going to be more personable, but man, the virtual starting to take off and I’m getting a whole bunch of leads right now that are a lot of virtual type scenarios. So we’ll see. I mean, last week, not last week ended up with a zero, which just, you know, you want to. because it’s just, I don’t have zero weeks unless I’m on vacation. I don’t have zero weeks. And last week was one that was not for the lack of effort, but I’ll tell you what I think the virtual thing’s going to grab on, I really do. It’s a small sample size so far, but you do you have returned some pretty good numbers doing it So you’ve so far this year because we’re actually tracking for you specifically We’re tracking all the virtual as well as the face to face, but we’re looking at them individually So we can actually see what are those drop off points for chad in the virtual process versus the face to face process and try and shore Those up but the numbers you’ve reported so far granted extremely small sample size and we’ll get more You better data as the year goes on, but so far 5 appointments with 5 sits, which is great to have a 100 percent sit rate on virtual at so far again. That’s very good. And then you’ve closed 2 out of the 5 for. In the 2nd appointment for an average case size of, you know, quarter 1, 000, 250, 000, so slightly lower average case size than your norm in the face to face model. You know, at 40%, you’re pretty much right there. You’re a hair shy of what you typically close percentage wise in the face to face model. But again, I think our data will get better over time. But that’s to say you have reported some pretty good numbers so far nothing drastically low if you had booked five appointments virtually and you turned, you know Two two out of those into actual sits and didn’t close anything and be like, well, wait a second this is pretty starkly different. But given that even the small sample size There’s nothing right now indicating that it’s not something that’s got the potential to be viable So keep working at it keep going and I think there are going to be more opportunities for you With still some texas clients but from colorado I think honestly, when you start to think about the generation we’re moving out of and into, the younger generation will be more familiar and more apt to, to adopt the virtual. I mean, if you think about it, 15 years ago, somebody trying to set up an online banking account. That was not a thing. And nowadays to get the highest interest rates in the bank, you have to set it up online and people are, well, it even goes back to just technology in general. I never have clients texting me 10, 15 years ago. Now it’s very common that I get them actually texting me versus an actual call or an email, which actually makes me kind of Curious what’s going to happen to email in the future as well. You know, does everything just come to your phone in the form of a text now? Who knows? But yeah, I do see that. I’m slowly warming to the virtual thing. I mean, but you remember what was it four or five years ago? I still wrote all my calendar, all my appointments down on an actual, you know, like the teacher planner things. And, you know, now I live by my Google calendar. And I’m actually slowly phasing out word docs and moving everything to just one platform. What do you guys, you young guys all smirking that you get in the old time when you’re switching things. I was like, I remember a story about when income writers first came out and you were very slow to move. On the income riders. And now that’s about 85 percent of what you’re selling. It is. It took me about a year to adopt it because you know, the biggest problem I had back in those days and still for quite a while was the income value was very high, but the actual. account by yourself or contract value was always very low. Now though, interacting with all my clients that bought those income writers, I’m telling you, I can’t recall anybody who was upset with those income writers because they’re going, well, my account value is not real high, but man, my income value and the amount of money I’m getting on that. And I don’t need to worry about income ever again. It’s so successful. And people are so happy with that. It’s, It was a good move. It was a good move. And nowadays you actually have income writers that will have a decent account by you as well. So it is important to embrace this virtual thing. I kind of came, but it was like getting bitter, you know, as I’m saying it, but it is important to embrace it because it is something that if you want to be successful, you have to adapt to modern times. I’m still, of course, running my face to face appointments, but I’m trying to fill my Mondays and. Fridays with some virtual appointments. That way I’m not giving up my Tuesday through Thursday face to face. But yeah, we’ll see. I mean, I have a gut feeling six months from now, my virtual sales will probably overtake my face to face. Yeah. It depends because it takes one. The one thing I still see as a massive thing we have to overcome is the case size. It’s much easier for me to get someone moving a million plus in a face to face than it would be virtually. Right. So we’ll see how that goes. And actually for our agents that are contracted with us, we actually now have a place to park your AUM. Pretty good deal. Crazy times, man. What is going on here? What’s going on? Yeah. We started a company called Retirement Realized Capital, and we have a gentleman named Jesse Black that will run that side of it. And I still am not variable licensed. I have no plan whatsoever to get that. But yeah, I mean, if we’re talking virtual, we might as well talk about every little crazy thing that’s going on right now. Yeah. I tell agents, I think that demographically. Your teetering point in the current retiree demographic is around the mid sixties. When you get a client that’s mid sixties and up, you’re probably still demographically better off doing things more face to face. If you get somebody in their early sixties and fifties, then you’ve got somebody that’s probably a little bit more apt to doing the things virtually. And if you’ve got somebody in their fifties Almost a shoe in that they’re capable and willing to do the virtual. And I tell agents too, when it comes to the large case size chat, I tell them, Hey, if you’re working a major case. You know, for a lot of people, 500, 000 is a big deal. So whatever that kind of threshold is, that premium threshold of, and this feels like a really big case, I want to get this case, then buy a plane ticket for a few hundred dollars and fly out to them and meet them face to face. If they’re in another state, take the time. It’s more than worth it. If it ends up helping you close that deal. And so for you, you know, you could still be running leads in Texas. You’re in Colorado. You could do the things virtually. And if you turned up a. Two, 3 million opportunity in Texas. You could fly down here for a few hundred bucks, meet the guy face to face, meet the gal face to face, and probably have a better opportunity at closing that deal. Not lately, man, it’s been five to 700 bucks. This last one cost me 700 bucks round trip. Yeah. I don’t know if you’d want to spend that much on a 2 million deal. I’m making a point that airfares are getting too high. They are getting much higher. I’m going to just buy a jet. Yeah. We’ll see how that goes. I think there’s a few things to look for though, in the virtual world. I think number one. If you’ve got somebody that’s a repeat client that should that could be, should be a pretty easy virtual. Virtual, again, assuming the age is not just, you know, yeah. Egregious. Stay high. Yeah. That is true. That is true. You should already have a lot of rapport. Once you have rapport. Yeah. Yeah. Once you have that rapport, it is actually very common. I’ve actually interacted with quite a few people virtually, and I’m even doing virtual policy deliveries now for someone who’s I’ve already interacted with. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s a good, that’s a good point. And I think too where the leads are coming from is an important thing to consider in kind of the sales medium Right. So if you’re face to face versus virtual if you’re generating leads through digital methods You probably got a better opportunity there for a virtual type of sales process if you’re running seminars Okay. And they’re actually showing up in person to your seminars. You probably want to maintain that same style of face to face throughout the sales process with those people. I would not encourage somebody to shift a seminar lead that showed up to a physical face to face seminar into a virtual sales process, but somebody that generates a lead through a webinar. You know, online seminar. Well, that’s another that’s a whole nother deal. They’ve already proven and shown that they’re capable of getting on to a digital or virtual. I guess better word for it virtual type of meeting because they were on the webinar. Thinking about where your leads are coming from, and the methods that being used to generate them. And then letting that kind of help indicate whether or not this is a viable option mixed with the age of the lead, whether or not this is a viable option to try something virtually or not. And Chad, I want to just shout out your process for how you describe what you do. So you don’t ask people. So can I come out there and meet with you? Or can I get on a zoom with you and have an, you tell them exactly what your process is. So you’re telling them, you say, so what I do is I actually come out there. I meet with you. I bring my kit, my book, and a customized illustration for your situation. I explain how everything works and I leave it all with you for you to do your own research and due diligence. I’m available on Tuesday at 3 p. m. I’ve heard it too many times. You’ve heard that being in the office right next to me. That’s ingrained in your brain. It’s burned in there, branded, scarred forever. But you tell them and I tell agents all the time. I’m like, Hey, if you’re going to do things virtually, just tell them. That’s what you do. So what I do is, and you send them an email. It’s got the zoom link. I meet you on the zoom, bring a customized illustrator. You know, you’re telling them exactly what you do. So it doesn’t feel like there’s an option for the process. Now, some people still, but the reality is people want clarity. That’s really what it comes down to. They just want honest clarity. This is what happens when you tell someone what to expect. There’s no surprises. Therefore that guard gets let down. I mean, I assure you, even when you tell people, Hey, you know what? I’m not a salesperson, which I’m not. I basically explain how things work. They decide they do what they want to do. I mean, I just told someone today. It affects your retirement way more than it affects mine. You’ve heard me say it a thousand times. And you know, I honestly believe that and feel that because I don’t get emotionally attached to that deal and whether they do it or not, someone else will, you know, I mean, that’s the reality. If you have the right system, the right process, you have right clarity with people, there will be people that will end up doing it. Want to work with you and that’s what I base everything off of is Let me clarify everything with you. So I think honestly even with a virtual appointment It’s even more important to be direct and clear of the process lay it out This is expectation and as long as you do that and you stick with it, you won’t have an issue I agree. I agree. Tell them what you’re gonna do look for those clients that are in that age range where they’re likely to be a little bit more tech savvy consider where those leads are coming from. Originally. How were they generated? What were the means and the methods to get them there? And then if they’re. Those things are checking out as, you know, a real viable potential then, you know, don’t necessarily be scared to get on the virtual, but recognize the limitations that it has with those larger cases. And again, statistically, we do tend to see a slightly lower, it’s the close rate, right? It’s the actual number of people that convert to sales. And I think part of that is it’s a whole lot easier for people to shop you when it’s virtual and there is no physical connection and then they can go find somebody locally. But the way I tell agents, you’ve got to address that is you’ve got to make yourself virtually look and be because you actually are so much better than any option they have locally. That’s why I think it’s so important that you have an established website. You have a really good brand. You’re known because you know, people look at me as an author, as a radio host, as a podcaster, as someone who’s an expert in the industry. So if they’re actually getting me on the. Even on a zoom, they’re like, wow. Okay. He’s actually taking the time. If you’re someone who’s brand new or someone who has been doing this for 30 years, but you have no web presence, they’re not going to have any sort of quote unquote celebrity status. And you don’t want to, that’s not what I’m saying. You don’t want to work off of that. But what I’m, what I am saying though is being an expert in the industry, having a good presence. It doesn’t matter if it’s face to face or virtual, if they feel that they actually get your time and it’s very valuable, which everybody knows my time is incredibly valuable. I mean, if you saw my calendar this week, I’m just sitting there going, I mean, how long have you known me? I was like, Oh, this is the busiest week ever. Yeah. I say that pretty much every week. And you know, finally I have my office pretty much unpacked and now I can kind of rest for this, but then I got to do the. Then I got to do the garage and they got to do, you know, there’s always something. But on top of that, this schedule with my, like actual people booking last week was not a great week for the market. There were some pretty sketchy days and it looks like this week is actually kind of doing something similar. By the way, if you hear that little kind of humming noise in the back I’m kind of old enough to where I have to have a heater by me, it’s just a little cold circulation ain’t what it once was. Oh, you know what, before you know it, you’re going to start wearing those knee high compression socks. No. Yeah. So I mean, even today, you know, it’s, yeah. Nasdaq is down almost 1 percent and almost everything’s red. I mean, you have meta dropping 2. 2%. You have, I mean, you have some pretty big things going on right now that I think that’s also what’s been a little bit of challenging for our leads. And I know this is off the topic of virtual, but I think. You know, when you have the market continually going up, which it has pretty much for 2022, or excuse me, 2023, and then you have the high interest rates, you’re not going to have people clicking on links as much. And therefore we’re not going to get as many leads. So just be patient, you know, get this virtual thing down, you know, get the process. We have a full blown layout. And honestly, you know, this, my virtual appointment is almost identical to my face to right. You know, I do the same thing. I do the, say the same thing, do the same thing. I present the same thing. You know, it’s no different there. So yeah. Anything else you want to add to that? Oh, I had something about two minutes ago and then I forgot what it was. So I think about it. There’s, are you literally out of words? You know, what’s funny though, with the mic right here, you know what this microphone right here reminds me of? How you take pictures when you hunt. You know, look at the size of that deer, 15 feet behind that deer, which makes it look huge. This microphone is really not that big, but you know, neither are any of the pictures Caleb takes when he shoots something. Well, I’ll tell you what, I kill a white tail deer down here in Texas and it’ll look like it’s a, like a moose from Alaska. I know. And really they’re no bigger than a lab dog. They’re not even that big. Okay, man. Well, I hope this helps you guys. You have a great day and of course, happy selling.
Tracking the Virtual Metrics
We’re actually tracking our progress meticulously, comparing virtual appointments with face-to-face interactions. So far, it’s been a small sample size, but out of five virtual appointments, all led to actual sits, and I managed to close two of them within the second appointment. That’s a good start—especially given that my face-to-face close rate is just slightly higher.
As the year progresses, I expect the data to be even more telling. For now, though, I’m quite pleased with where we stand. And I’m starting to believe that this could be a very viable approach in the long run.
A Generational Shift is Coming
When I consider the demographic shifts we’re witnessing, the younger generation is clearly more open to virtual interactions. Just think about how online banking has evolved; 15 years ago, setting up an account online was unheard of, and now it’s the norm for high-interest rates.
This same technology wave is influencing how clients prefer to communicate. I never used to get texts from clients as much as I do now, which begs the question: will email become obsolete too? Who knows, but adapting to these changes is essential.
It’s amusing to recall that four or five years ago, I used to schedule all my appointments in a physical planner. Now, I live by my Google Calendar. Similarly, I’m shifting from Word docs to more integrated platforms for my work documents.
I remember a time when I was slow to adopt income riders, but now they comprise 85% of my sales. My clients are thrilled with their income stability, which speaks volumes about adapting to changes for better outcomes. Adopting virtual selling might feel like getting bitter medicine down, but it’s equally crucial if we want to thrive in the modern era.
The Balance: Virtual vs Face-to-Face
While I’m still committed to face-to-face interactions, I’m making room for virtual appointments on Mondays and Fridays. My gut feeling is that in six months, my virtual sales might overtake face-to-face ones. However, it’s clear that larger case sizes are easier to handle in person.
For our agents, we’ve even set up a system to manage your Assets Under Management (AUM) virtually. The market’s dynamic changes, like the high interest rates and fluctuating indexes, make it clear that staying adaptable is key.
For those wondering how to approach this, especially with larger cases, my advice is simple:
**If you’re working a significant deal, it’s worth flying out to meet the client face-to-face. **
However, leveraging virtual meetings for initial interactions can save time and help build that initial rapport.
**It’s also crucial to be precise and clear about your process when dealing virtually. **Tell clients exactly what to expect, whether it’s an in-person meeting or a Zoom call. People appreciate clarity, and it helps build trust faster.
Building Your Virtual Presence
Finally, having a robust online presence is indispensable. It’s not about being a “celebrity,” but positioning yourself as an industry expert. A solid website and strong brand identity can give you an edge, even in the virtual realm.
Consistency is key. **My virtual appointments mirror my face-to-face interactions in structure and content. **This familiarity helps maintain a natural flow and makes the transition smoother for clients.
Virtual selling isn’t just a temporary trend; it’s the future.
While there are challenges, especially with larger deals, blending traditional and virtual methods could be the sweet spot. As the market evolves, so should we.
So, dive into the virtual world, keep refining your process, and never stop adapting. And remember, whether face-to-face or virtual, clarity, expertise, and genuine interaction are what ultimately seal the deal.
Happy selling!
Chad Owen
