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Watch for these RED FLAGS while Recruiting! (Ep. 216)
Who should you work with? What qualities separate top performers from those who won’t make it? How do you take your team to the next level? Building a strong sales team isn’t just about finding people—it’s about finding the right people. In this powerful episode, FFL CEO Shawn Meaike joins top producers Vanessa Powell and Madison Montgomery to break down the biggest red flags to watch for when recruiting and growing a team.
These industry leaders share hard-earned insights, sales strategies, and leadership tips that can help you scale your business the right way. Whether you’re just starting or already building a team, this episode is packed with must-know advice for anyone in insurance and sales. Watch now and start growing the right way!
Hello everybody, thank you for joining us Today. We got Sean Mike with us, president of Family First Life. What's?
Speaker 2:up Drew.
Speaker 1:What's up, man? We got Vanessa Powell and we have Madison Montgomery. So, guys, thank you for coming in. The topic today is common objections of new recruits. So like, what are they going through and how can we help them? So real quick, vanessa, if you could just kind of tell your backstory how you got into life insurance and what's crazy is like, was it four years ago? You were here, brand new in the industry.
Speaker 3:Yeah, about three and a half years ago.
Speaker 1:Three and a half years ago. So time flies. Yes, it does. Yeah, can you just give us a little bit about your background?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so before I joined insurance I was working in real estate, bartending and serving, just graduated from Arizona State University and just kind of fell into insurance. And yeah, I gave up my apartment, started working in homes and was on the road for like nine months and then we went telesales.
Speaker 1:How do you like telesales?
Speaker 3:I love it Never going back to in homes.
Speaker 1:How much? Nobody is. Why would you? What about you, Madison?
Speaker 4:So I've been in insurance a year and a half now. I got started down in Phoenix Arizona For about two years. I was selling power tools for a big name brand power tool company, working with contractors, construction workers. A good friend of mine was selling insurance with FFL so I saw the kind of money she was making. I saw her schedule and I was like if she can do this, I can definitely do this. So I told her connect me with whoever I need to talk to to get my license, got my license and sold insurance part time for about three months and then left that company and have been doing this full-time ever since.
Speaker 1:How much do you issue a month?
Speaker 4:Anywhere from $20 to $30. I've had some big outlier months, but usually $20 to $30.
Speaker 1:Now we talked about this a little earlier. They have like a big group of women that are doing really well and working together and I was telling them how cool that is.
Speaker 2:Super cool and working together. And I was telling him how cool that is Super cool. You know it's funny. The reason I got into sales is my mother, when I was probably 10, she had a real estate license and my mother worked three jobs she was a bartender, she was cleaning houses, she worked at a hospital plant but never made any real money. And she had a real estate license. And we had this neighbor I don't even know if she's alive, so I'm not going to disrespect her but she was mean as shit.
Speaker 2:Mean, just mean lady, mean everything. Everything sucked, life sucked. She would try to beat me and my brother with a belt. I'm like, bro, you're not my mom, you know like. She was mean and my mother was getting her insurance license I mean her real estate license, sorry and she kept going.
Speaker 2:You know what, carrie, it's not easy. You know what, carrie, it's not? If it was so easy, everybody would do it. And she just kept dogging my mom. And my mom is not like me, cause if Andrew was like it's not easy, I'd be like I didn't ask you, mother, I don't care. Why are you telling my mom I'm super nice, she got a real estate license. She was all excited. She got like some new clothes and I would like sit in the and I didn't even know what was going on. But I knew she was excited and after like a month she quit and I'm like that was the first license I ever got to sell and it was real estate and I only got it because my mom had it, you know. So I watched my mom and you know, as a single mom, and I just wish she had. I mean, you know she's good now, but I just wish she would have struggled a lot less, had she gotten into something made what if she had this?
Speaker 2:though, dude, yeah, I, I don't know, I wouldn't be able to. Somebody else would have to work with her. I'm just saying that would not work. But but yes, if she had somebody else to mentor her, not me, but like think about pete.
Speaker 1:Yes, the opportunity we have now, yes, doing 100. Yeah, doing virtual for moms or anybody, anybody, anybody, yeah, yeah, that's cool. Okay, so what are some how can I put this? So like what are some red flags of people that you interview where you just wouldn't want to waste your time working with them?
Speaker 2:You're asking me.
Speaker 2:Yeah working with them. You're asking me yeah, so what I've learned over the course of time, early on, is to figure out how accountable people are, because being an independent contractor is crazy. Accountability like crazy. Like you succeed because you do, you fail because you don't like it and sometimes you just like the business of the business, so you get knocked down.
Speaker 2:I'm a huge accountability person. When I get to meet somebody, I want to know what they've done and I want to know why they want to switch or why they want to add and I'm not looking for any perfection. But what makes me nervous when they're like I was doing this, but you know how that industry goes. Like you didn't say I was selling power tools. Power tools is the worst thing ever and it sucks to buy you and it sucks about you're. Like I was selling power tools and I was looking for something else. And if I was like do people make money selling power tools? You'd be like yeah, some people make good money. Like some people have been doing it for a while, they make good money.
Speaker 2:I'm a big accountability person. Red flags, lack of accountability, you know. And also I like to try to challenge people. I'm a big perspective person too. So I'd be like walk me through the worst day you've had over the last year or so, and if it's like something really stupid, I'm sorry. I'm like, wow, that's the worst day you've had, like holy. So I really try to. I like to take five or seven minutes to figure out who they are, because people are going to tell you whatever they want to tell you. But if you can ask them questions they're not used to answering, it's harder for them to lie, to be like why do you want insurance? I always wanted to help people.
Speaker 2:But if you go like, explain to me the worst day you've had, the best day you've had, you know, and just why are you leaving there? Like what it did not do, did you do well there? Were there people that did well, like in 08, I got my insurance license and I'll never forget the guy that hired me. While he didn't work hard, I said why did you hire me? Because I'm very curious, like that. And he goes because I asked you if you were getting out of real estate in 08 because the market crashed and you said, no, people are still making money.
Speaker 2:I just wasn't. I didn't have my stuff set up right and the market crashed and I need to do something different. So, dude, because I'm not going to chase people around, either I'm not and around, either I'm not, and if you're not accountable, there's nothing I can do. I have no chance because you are your boss. So, like you're, you're the agent and you're your boss, and then you want me to work with you and you're not good at either one of them.
Speaker 2:So, and outside of that, andrew, I don't have a lot of red flags and people have all these things they don't like and I'm like, dude, I I don't know, I like people, that people were all screwed up, we've all made mistakes. I don't care what you've done. I don't care if you sold. You haven't sold. I don't care if you get excited, don't get excited. I don't care if your demeanor is withdrawn. I don't care if you're an extrovert, introvert, if you're accountable and your work ethic. But it's hard to gauge your work ethic until they do it, yeah. So, and then the last question I ask people is you know if you really want to do this or anything're not willing to do to make money for your family, and just kind of get you to tell me that? So red flags usually pop up once we get going.
Speaker 1:Early. Yeah, vanessa, what about you? Is there any red flags when you're talking to someone?
Speaker 3:and have you ignored them and kind of it's backfired on you. I think that if someone is willing to pass their insurance license, I'm willing to attempt to coach them. I think you can tell a lot about someone in their first 60 to 90 days working with you. I do think that people's perspective of the business can change over time, just like working with you and being in a certain environment. I mean, I truly believe what we do is like not hard. People go overseas every single day like fighting for their lives and we just sell insurance over the phone. So, um, but when I first started, you know to me it was hard, but I think over time it gets easier. But go ahead.
Speaker 3:I was just going to say. I mean certain, like red flags, are people who complain, people who don't show up, people who are late who complain, people who don't show up, people who are late, people who don't do the things that they say they're going to do, and I give them one opportunity to fix it and if they don't, then I don't plan to work with them going forward.
Speaker 1:But you like coaching people.
Speaker 3:I do. Yeah, I like to see the development of people, especially getting into this business so young at 21. When I first started, I was a completely different person, so the development from 21 to 25 is insane.
Speaker 1:Like what.
Speaker 3:Just perspective, mindset, accountability. My frontal lobe is developed now. So, yeah, I don't know. You just change a lot as a person and being in this business, you grow up a lot learning how to manage different personalities, hire staff, learn patience, gratitude, just everything.
Speaker 1:Do you do anything like to help you with that like weekly?
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I have certain daily things that I do right Go to the gym, I work out, I spend time with my dog, I read I journal, I try to eat healthy. I like to do things that make me feel good, because if you look good, you feel good, in my opinion.
Speaker 1:What about you, Madison? What about?
Speaker 4:you Madison.
Speaker 1:Red flags, yeah.
Speaker 4:Same as Vanessa. I don't think I really spot the red flags in the beginning. It's more so in the first 30 to 90 days. But I like to lead from example. So I'm on Zoom at 7 am my time. If an agent is on 30 minutes an hour late, that's not my job. To tell them you're late, that you're going to fail, you suck.
Speaker 4:If an agent calls me after they've been late two, three weeks and they're like this isn't working, I don't know what's going on, I'm like well, let's look at your habits, let's let the activity do the talking, let's let's let the numbers do the talking. So I think the red flags really start to pop up after someone has been working with you and working in the industry a couple of months. And I see a lot of agents come in and they hit the ground running. And then the red flags start to pop up after they've sold, you know, 10, 20K sometimes because they get comfortable in the process. So they start to lift their foot off the gas. I don't necessarily. I would never judge someone based off a couple of phone calls whether this is going to work for them or not in the beginning True.
Speaker 2:That's so true. Well, you know, and and here's the thing for me, first of all, I don't think we should judge anybody ever. So, uh, you know, for me, I think you're trying to discern what you're willing to do and not willing to do. Also, I have a lot of people I've known over 30 years in business that have made a lot of mistakes, but you know what, when they eventually just evolve, they're really good. So the question, I think, for me is not it's where I spend my time.
Speaker 2:Because, if I hire 100 people a day, when you're in class getting your license, there's nothing for me to talk to you about anyway, because you don't have a license. So I don't even begin. When you're like what do you think I'm like? You don't have a license. Hey, Andrew, you don't have your license, Stop it. But when I get my license, you don't have one, Stop calling me. I'm not Get your license because there's nothing to talk to them about.
Speaker 2:Right, and the reason we see it in 36 days is everybody's fine until it's adversity. There's no red flags ever. Until how would there be a red flag when there's no adversity? There wouldn't be. You don't even have the opportunity to see a red flag until somebody and adversity can be what you talked about. I'm actually making money right now. I never made any money. I don't know how to deal with that, so I'm going to do stupid stuff, not work hard. And then in insurance it's just an unsecured loan. So now all of a sudden you get, and then, oh my God, I owe three grand, and the person's a completely different person. Somebody said to me that they said they're on Adderall and I'm like what? Well, one day they're this way and one day as I was saying it, and it was a guy that I know really well, and everybody always uses Adderall for everything, no matter what everybody's going like.
Speaker 4:it's Adderall and I'm like he didn't know what it was.
Speaker 2:He's like you know what that thing is and I'm like I don't know. He's like Adderall. But what he was saying is he's saying this guy is two different people. And I said, no, he's good or bad. I'm just telling you like that dude is who he is, but there was no time to see it until something happened, and then you learn a lot about them.
Speaker 2:So, because you're a hundred percent right, all I'm trying to do on the phone is figure out what I want to spend my time, because where's my time going to go? Because that's all that's the magic of recruiting and building a business is. You only have so much time. And a lot of people spend the time talking to people. Like I tell people they're like I like to work with people. I like I'm like okay, I don't.
Speaker 2:There's a lot of productive people I work with that I do not like would never hang out with and I mean ever Like you'd be, like want to hang out with them. I'm like what other choices do I got? Like incarceration for the weekend or hanging out with them. Where am I going? Like what prison is it Like? I'm not trying to be funny, but I'm just, and they probably feel the same about me. They're like dude, we don't have anything in common, like there's nothing for us to talk about, and but they do really well. And I think that part of that is learning that dude. That dude, they're independent. And the minute we start treating them like they're dependent, then that whole thing flies out the window. Now I think you're right with the whole. When somebody comes and goes I'm not doing well, it's like oh yeah, no shit, look what you've been doing over the last couple weeks. Of course you're not. But I think the magic in this whole deal, bro, is like really, andrew is figuring out where to put my time Because it Andrew is figuring out where to put my time because it does feel great to coach people when they're responsive, but then it's really frustrating to chase people. You're not coaching them when you're chasing them. They're running from you and they're running from you. They might not be saying it, but they're not working hard, they're not doing anything, leave them alone. And that's hard for people sometimes, where they're like what do I do?
Speaker 2:I had a guy call me this morning and he was like text me. He's like hey, are you available? I'm like who is this? So he tells me. So then I look up his volume and I call him. I'm like, what's up, dude? He's like I have some questions. I'm like, okay, what's up? And I talked to him for like seven minutes. Then I'm like, dude, I hear you, I'll called you back. And he's like cause, I took the initiative? I'm like, no, anybody can take initiative because you're selling as much as you're selling, dude, Like how would I not do that? So I think you should trust only action.
Speaker 2:I think a lot of us trust this and not action. I'm going to do better next week. I know that I'm not doing it that way, no-transcript. And I'm like, no, you trusted this, I trust the action. What do your numbers say? What are your results? Oh then I trust that. I don't. Hell, I don't even know, and you know you asked about. You know I'll tell my mom didn't know. People like that Don't know. Cause we don't recruit. We have the most amazing opportunity in the world and we recruit when we feel like it. We do it. We recruit when we feel like it. That's the one thing. I stuck at a lot of things, but I recruit seven days a week. You walk by me. I will recruit you People. I people call me, remember me. I'm like, how do I remember you? Sometimes I put their phone in tom valet, california. I'm like, what's up, dude, took you a whole year, holy crap. But I'm recruiting everybody always because I want people to have a better life so, dude, these girls are pretty impressive.
Speaker 1:Like they're selling, they're focused. Yeah, it's legit, but how do we help them get to the next level?
Speaker 2:they have to start telling people what they're doing. They have to stop worrying about telling what are people going to think if I tell them? They have to start? Here's the problem. Marketing it takes a while, just like your red flags take a while.
Speaker 2:I have to see you performing at an elite level every day for quite a long time because I'm watching. If I'm watching from afar and I know you from, whatever I was I was one of the contractors and I see you post. I'm like like wonder what she's doing. After the dude first time, second time, I'm still like, but maybe three months later I'm like what the hell is she doing? I wonder what she's doing. Like I wonder what that even is. Like what's going on? You have to understand that if you're good at something and you're having good results and you're killing it, why don't you talk about it? And why don't you say you know what? Come work with me, because I'm killing it and I can help you do the same thing Instead of everybody wants to be like I'm doing well, but I don't want to talk about what I'm doing. You're the best kept secret in your business. Like that's weird to me.
Speaker 2:When we, when I got my insurance license and I started killing it. I was like you should come work with me. I don't sell everybody. No, I did. It wasn't FFL, so we didn't have as many people, you don't have to do as much.
Speaker 2:I still say I always joke around like I wish I could just go sell life insurance like somebody else around the company and I could just do that every day. I'd be happier doing that. But at the end of the day I was not afraid to talk about what I was doing and part of that is humility. Part of it is what is that person going to think? Part of it is I don't care. I only want to work with certain people. I will tell you this All the really good people I ever like, really good, the best people, I didn't recruit them. I recruited somebody that recruited them. That's why I don't write people off, because I'm like I don't know who he knows. I'm just telling you, if you lay out the entire, I don't care. Real estate, waste management. I built a waste management company with a dude who was a savage. You know how I found him. You know how I found that dude.
Speaker 1:A bar fight.
Speaker 2:We definitely got in some bar fights. Yes, my brother, who I would never hire and he wouldn't work with me. We would never, ever begin to even think about working together ever like in any capacity. But this guy and I'm like, how does he know you, like you guys are really he's one of the hardest working guys I have. This guy's super smart, diligent, easy to teach. So you just don't know and and that's my biological brother, so a lot of us just you know, we, we, we judge, we are like that person. That person's a door to whoever else they know and I hope they do really well.
Speaker 2:But when you look at the people we got a lot of times hey, the guy that hired me quit two weeks after he hired me in insurance. I didn't hear from that guy until we I left that company, launched my first life. He called me hey, it looks like you're doing really well. I'm like I'm killing it, bro, you shouldn't have quit. But he quit. But they didn't find me. This dude found me. I was buying a house. He asked me a question.
Speaker 2:So, andrew, I think we just were so. And then we get so caught up on what they're doing or not doing Once they're not working with me. If Andrew's like what happened to that guy? I'm like who he's like. You know Chris, I'm like Chris, who he's like Chris, I go. I don't know Chris Dude, he's gone. I don't even know who Chris is anymore. Can't pick him out of the lineup, so you got to start. But you have to be so overboard. But not about how awesome the result has been for you, how you know anybody can have the results you're having, because that's what people don't do. If you get on there and just keep talking about what result you can provide to other people, that's what I think they should do. I just think we have so many people that are not bold enough in their recruiting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, remember when we had all these issues when the company opened up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, 1,000, 1,246,000.
Speaker 1:Yeah but then there was a rule that was made and it was go write 10 policies for the week and then all the issues that you still have. Call me and let me know.
Speaker 2:And when I was talking about us writing 10 policies a week, or 10 grand a week, what did everybody say?
Speaker 1:Well, you guys want to know something funny. So he was telling everyone On the calls Early on If you don't write 10 policies a week, you need to quit and go he was being crazy. You need to quit and go work at McDonald's.
Speaker 2:I like McDonald's. I don't want to go to McDonald's and have no employees there. I can't eat.
Speaker 1:Two of the dudes that I had recruited Were like I can't eat. Okay. Two of the dudes that I had recruited were like we can't work with this dude because you can't sell 10 policies in a week. And then I was mad at him because I was like dude, you're driving my people away, you're making people quit. And then I started doing 10 policies a week and it was like so normal dude.
Speaker 2:Well, that's the thing you guys have to normalize behavior for people that they think they can't even fathom. It Like how long have you been in insurance for?
Speaker 3:Three and a half years. What's the?
Speaker 2:most you've made in a year $400,000. That's a lot of money. Yeah, $200,000 on my own pen, okay. So if it was three years ago or four years ago and I was like, hey, you only make $400,000 a year, would you have thought you were going to make $400,000 a year? You might have, yeah, honestly, okay, good, you believed in you. Most people don't. How long have you been in insurance for? A year and a half, Okay how much did you make in your first year? The most you've made in your life?
Speaker 4:100% 100%.
Speaker 2:Did you think like, if you go out next year and make 500 grand, will that be like really surreal for you, be like yeah. Yeah, but we can normalize that. But you already believe. That's the other thing too. You have to figure out who the people are. I was sitting there. Somebody asked me the other day.
Speaker 3:I think it changes over time. I think it definitely does your perception of money also changes? What's expensive and what's not changes over time.
Speaker 2:And the thing for me which always made me dangerous and if you know me, the money doesn't. I promise you it won't solve anything. Now being broke is awful, so I will never be there. But I'm saying, whether you make a million a year or two, you have to be happy with you and live your life Like you're still going to have. But imagine if you could take people. How many times have you posted about how much you made and said I made this much my first year?
Speaker 4:Probably once or twice I post more about what my agents have made.
Speaker 2:Okay, and listen, I hear you and that's fine, I cool. But what does that mean to me? If I'm watching, you're not telling I get what you're doing. You're like, look what they did, cool, okay, awesome. But then spell it out for me. Hey guys, I do my leaderboard. You can jump on there every other day. I do my leaderboard. I want you make selling power tools.
Speaker 2:Three grand a month three grand a month, $36,000 a year, and now I'm making a couple hundred grand a year. Do you want to know how to do that? Are you tired of watching what I'm doing Trying to figure it out? Call me man. You have to be bold. You have, because here's the problem, and I was saying this on a podcast earlier most people, what stops them? Fear. Fear, like what's anxiety? The fear usually is something that's not going to happen, but it's your fear.
Speaker 2:Now, I can't tell you not to be afraid. If you're like well, I'm afraid, I'm afraid of spiders, I'm afraid of small spaces, I'm afraid of heights. I can't go. Don't be afraid. Like, that's just stupid. What I can do, though, is I can do those things and show you it's going to be okay. So, when my kids were young and my daughter's like dad, that's way up there, I'm afraid of heights. Well, I can go up there, and then I can go. All right, I want her to go down the water slide. I can jump down it. Like I'm like like, all I can do is show her it's going to be okay. That's what you're trying to do.
Speaker 2:Dissipate people's fears. You're trying to evaporate their fears. How do you evaporate? By being bold. What do they want from you? They want you to be fearless. Why do they want that? Because they're afraid. So they need you to lead them. When everybody's like I lead from the front, okay, you sell a lot and that's good, but you also have to help them understand that they have to proceed.
Speaker 2:We used to talk about this all the time. Andrew's like do you know what people are saying? I'm like I don't give a shit what they're saying, but maybe you should care. I don't care at all. I'm like hold on a minute. They're saying that about me mostly. Why do you care more than me? I don't give a flying fuck. Like why does it matter? And I do that? Number one, because I feel that way. But number two, I want other people to be inspired to go. Well, hey, guess what? What is there to be afraid of people? I say this all the time. It's funny.
Speaker 2:You said that people are leaving their homes, going to a different country, fighting for people they've never met and their worst day they could die. Like there's a very every time you are in the, you're in the military legitimately and you're fighting somewhere. I was talking to a guy the other day and he's like selling life insurance. I'm palestinian, like bro. I'll wake up wanting to know if we were going to get blown up in a day, like like. That's a different perspective. You have to understand that and continue to hammer it home, because people start to have their own pity party. But you got your leaderboards. What does that mean to me? If I'm a recruit or potential recruit, it doesn't mean anything. I don't even know what it means. How about you? Do you by how much you've made?
Speaker 3:Not in. Like the grand scheme of things, why not? I think I talk more like a daily.
Speaker 2:Why not? Hey, here's my name. Here's what I made last year 400 netted three. There's what I kept. It's unbelievable. I paid taxes on that. I actually always bleed to myself, but I think insurance is the easiest and quickest way to get there.
Speaker 2:I don't know what y'all think me. If you think you can't do it, here's the thing. What do you have to lose? That should be your marketing pitch. What do you have to lose? You get your damn insurance license. You have absolutely any investment you look into.
Speaker 2:Your biggest concern is what's the worst thing that can happen? What is the worst thing that can happen if a guy gets licensed or a girl gets licensed? Nothing. They don't sell anything. So what? That's the worst thing you've done to them. Does that make sense? You guys have to scream about what you're doing and what you're making Money talks, checks, what did you make?
Speaker 2:Where's your bank statement? Are you getting paid? Jim got dude hired me, showed me a bank statement that he actually made up Because I was like he's killing it. I didn't know. Jim makes 400 grand a year. They're like dude. Jim doesn't make any money and I'm like. He showed me a bank statement. They're like dude, it's not his.
Speaker 2:I went back I was like he's like, well, they told me I got to be positive about what I'm doing. I go, dude, you lied to me. It's not your money, he's like I know, but it got you in the insurance business and that's how lazy he was and he should have just the ability to build whatever you want. I kind of want to interview this guy, dude, if we can find him. You want to talk about bad times? Oh God, he was awful. He acted like he was my boss. He would call me and he would go like, because back then it was paper apps, in-home fax machine. I know that freaks y'all out, because it was a long time we had fax machines at our houses. I know y'all way too young to.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that long ago, though.
Speaker 2:Dude. I was like wah, You'd put it in and it would get halfway through a 17-page app and it would go out and you'd lose your mind. And he calls me and he's like I'm going to have to review your app before you send it to the carrier. Now here's what's funny 161 East Center Street, manchester, connecticut, was his address Still remember to this day. And I said Jim, if you call me one more time, tell me what to do with the apps. I'm going to drive to 161 East Center Street, manchester and I'm going to knock the shit out of you. I'm working hard, I'm doing the best I can Stop talking shit to me. Don't ever call me again. And that was the last time we ever spoke until he called me after we launched FFL. Never spoke ever again. Then he just quit. That was it.
Speaker 2:So I'm just telling you that there's amazing people out there that don't know they'd be great at this. You didn't know about life insurance. You're doing selling power tools. You didn't know when you're bartending. You just didn't know. You believe you're going to make money? Do you always believe you're going to make a lot?
Speaker 4:of money, okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, there's a lot of people that don't. So you know what your job is to help breathe life into them. Because when you believe in somebody that everybody's given up on holy and they achieve, they're a dangerous person, because they didn't believe. What causes low self-image? Lack of unconditional love. Somebody growing up mom, dad, grandma, grandpa, whomever unconditionally loved you, so your self-image is good. But you notice people that never had that. The people only loved them because they were doing stuff for them. There are parents that really only really loved on their kids when they were getting what they wanted. There are people that were raised by their grandparents. There are people that had siblings that were like that to them. They never had unconditional love.
Speaker 3:I've never thought about that. I've always wondered, like how people gain confidence.
Speaker 2:That's how you got it.
Speaker 3:Self-image and I've always like wondered, when I become a mom, how I can raise my kids to have that same dream.
Speaker 2:I'm going to tell you something. My mother is jacked up, as our whole world was. There was not one day that she didn't tell me she loved me. Thank you, no matter what happened. I could get arrested. She'd be like why did you do that? I'm like he started fighting me and I hit him and I shouldn't have done all that and I broke the windows and she'd be like I love you. You do some stupid shit, she said, but I love you. She always told me she loved me. So I'm telling you you, start talking to people and unpeeling that onion and figure out who they are and then, if you can show them how much you believe in them, if nobody else has, sky's the limit. So but I gotta roll man.
Speaker 4:Okay, thank you, I'm gonna keep asking you keep going bro, I'm out, appreciate y'all, so I gotta go. Thanks sean, thanks sean all right guys.
Speaker 1:So, um, I wanted to ask madison so do you have kids, dogs? What's your motivation?
Speaker 4:I have a cat you have a cat. I've got a mancoon cat. His name's Buzz.
Speaker 1:What's a mancoon cat?
Speaker 3:Can I show you a picture?
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 3:They're like the massive cats. Right, he's a huge cat.
Speaker 4:Probably 20 pounds, 20 pounds.
Speaker 1:So it's like a bobcat.
Speaker 4:In a way.
Speaker 1:My four-year-old's favorite animal is a bobcat and. I'm trying to get him into basketball, so I'm the coach me and Steven, you're the coaches and his daughter's on the team. So we named the team the bobcats and we tell him to act like a bobcat on defense. Whoa, that's crazy yeah. I'd get one of those if I wasn't allergic to cats.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they're awesome cats, they're awesome. But I have a cat. No dogs, no kids yet, just my cat.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and what's your motivation to do all this Well?
Speaker 4:to be honest with you, when I first got started in the insurance industry, I was really attracted to the money I could make, and that was a big motivating factor for me. I don't think that I actually found my why in this industry until I was doing it for almost a year. Um, I grew up in a military family and so I've always had a lot of support and seen a lot of different things. But I had a very close friend of mine, about a year into this business suddenly pass away.
Speaker 1:Oh sorry.
Speaker 4:Thank you At 24. And seeing the aftermath of his family, who I still am very close with, the aftermath that that left behind, that was it completely changed it from the money to just the purpose behind it, the actual purpose behind what we do in life insurance, and a step further with my team. So that became my why, that became my reason. But my team is what continues to push me every day and motivate me every day.
Speaker 1:To lead them and help them.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. What about you?
Speaker 3:My family, yeah, I mean, I just I I've never been into like the tangible things, like I don't buy cars, I don't buy designer things. It's really just to provide my siblings, my family, a better life and, when I become a mom one day, have the availability to be present and just be a good mom, be a good supporter for my kids.
Speaker 1:That's cool. I like how you said you were thinking about your kids, how to raise them, and then, now that I have kids, I'm like dude. There's no manual for this.
Speaker 3:It's crazy, it's wild. And they're such different personalities too yeah, each kid you have.
Speaker 1:Yeah for sure, okay, so. So red flags and the reason we went over this? Because, one, it's kind of nice to weed out when it's not going to work for somebody. So what? What should people know up front if they're going to work with you? Like, how much do they got to spend in leads? How much time do they have to invest? What's realistic? That way we don't even start. I don't like the videos where they're like well, it's so easy, and because it's not, anybody can do it, they can't. Um, what like? What do you think someone should expect?
Speaker 4:I want to hear from both you guys I am a big boundary setter and so from the the second that I get on the phone with somebody, um, I'm setting those expectations off the bat. Lead spend is relative for me with my team. I don't have a set number that I expect anybody on my team to spend. I've got people who spend $500 a week and are submitting $20K. I've got people that spend $1,000 and are submitting $10K. So it's really relative. I have a lot of time expectations and consistency expectations. I think you can come into this part-time, you can come into this full-time, but if you don't have a time-blocked schedule as much as you can make it time-blocked and you're dead set, focused on dialing and what you're doing and you're consistent in that week after week, it's going to be really tough to get started. So it's really just the consistency in the beginning. That's the expectation.
Speaker 1:So part-time, full-time, but not spare time.
Speaker 4:Exactly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and just have a schedule.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:What about you?
Speaker 3:I like to ask a lot of questions about what they're looking for, what they want to get out of this business and kind of go from there with recruits. I don't have a certain amount of lead spend. I do tell people agents spend anywhere from $500 to $1,000 a week on leads, just because that's kind of what we do in the agency. And I talk about chargebacks. I talk about what to expect on like a day-to-day basis. You know you're expected to dial the phone, you're going to get hung up on, you're going to get told to F off and you're also going to help a lot of people. So I talk about the good, the bad, the ugly, just so that way when they start with me there's no surprises and I think as long as people have the expectations, then they're able to manage their emotions better when they start. So I talk a lot about, like I said, the good, the bad, the ugly, chargebacks, all of it.
Speaker 1:That's legit. And then let's get into some sales tips from you guys. What kind of leads do you work and what are some tips you can give some people?
Speaker 4:I work only veterans. I just work with veterans. That's the lead type I've been running for the last year. There's nothing to say, that's on Facebook right. Yeah, Facebook.
Speaker 1:It's made on Facebook. You could get it a bunch of places. You can create it yourself.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You create it yourself.
Speaker 4:I do. At first I was purchasing my leads, outsourcing from a lead vendor. Over the last year I self-generate Now on Facebook, instagram, youtube. It is becoming really big with self-generation as well.
Speaker 1:A lot of people can't figure that out, though, so where's the fine line of just focus on selling, because some people spend all their time trying to do that?
Speaker 4:You've got to focus on the sales first. So it took me it was a lot of trial and error to figure out self-generating your own leads and there's really until I got it down I couldn't tell you the math behind it, how to do it. There's a lot of trial and error figuring out what works, what doesn't work. Over that period of time you have to put a lot of time, energy towards that but still prioritize your own personal sales. So while I was figuring out self-generation, I was also purchasing leads. So there's a lot of time and investment that goes into figuring that out. Once you have it figured out, I mean it changes your business once you can figure out how to self-generate leads that work for you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's cool. And then, what do you use for leads?
Speaker 3:I work aged mortgage, so I mean I've done everything. Iuls final expense.
Speaker 1:But you like aged mortgage.
Speaker 3:I do. I feel like you have a higher AP and you can get a lot of his and hers and your persistency is great with mortgage.
Speaker 1:That's cool. So you actually prefer age leads.
Speaker 3:I love age leads because I mean a lot of people. I would rather spend $6 on a lead than spend $40 to talk to the same person.
Speaker 3:That is true and I just have to work a little bit harder on the phone, which is fine by me, because at the same time I'm teaching my agents how to sell over the phone, because most of the time when people start they're also going to be working age to lead. So I think the most important thing in this business is having a system that's duplicatable for every single person that comes on with you. And so if you're just working fresh leads all the time, or you know really expensive leads, live transfers or whatever it is, that's going to be hard to translate with your agent sometimes.
Speaker 1:What's a sales tip you would give?
Speaker 4:Key phrase. I say on every single one of my calls First minute that I'm on the phone with someone. My job's different than a typical sales rep that would be giving you a call. I use it as a rebuttal to any objection. I say it to almost everyone I get on the phone with, especially with veterans. They're talking to a lot of sales agents. They're filling out a lot of forms on Facebook, so if you're not the first person to call them, they've already talked to a lot of different people selling them a lot of different things. So differentiating yourself right off the bat, it helps a lot.
Speaker 1:And so what about you?
Speaker 3:Kind of piggybacking off of like the intro and just setting up the call. Some of the power questions I ask is have you been trying to get this set up for a while now or am I the first person you've been able to talk to? Do you currently have any active mortgage protection? Have you ever had it in the past? Now are you going to be making the final decision on your insurance, or is there someone else that helps you with that? Those are my setup questions and I feel like if you set those expectations up front, it eliminates a lot of the objections later down the road.
Speaker 1:That's cool, that's legit. And then you guys want to give your phone numbers if anyone wants to work with you.
Speaker 3:Sure yeah, mine is 760-617-8812.
Speaker 4:So you guys can find me on Instagram as well, madisonmontgomery.
Speaker 1:My phone number is 907-654-7036 and, if you're watching, if you want to get licensed, reach out to these girls. I think you guys are doing some amazing things. It's cool seeing what you're doing. I like seeing all the other women you're helping and like on your team. It's pretty awesome. Um, but you can help someone from scratch. Right, they could just get their license, they could be licensed, they can hit you up and you guys can get on zoom with them, you can train them.
Speaker 3:You can do all that stuff yep, we take people from the ground up.
Speaker 1:Love it well, thank you guys for coming in, thank you guys for joining us thank you.