How To Survive And Prosper...during This Worsening Economy!

By Author: Lewis Nason
Total Articles: 136
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America's finances are in turmoil. The personal economies of many individual Americans' and their families are on the precipice of a disastrous failure. Few families have a personal plan to help them meet these financial challenges, and they need your help! Opportunities abound for insurance agents, financial advisors and financial planners who understand their problems and hold the solutions in their minds and hearts. You can draw these Americans back from the brink of financial failure!

But, how are you going to attract these people to you?

Don't Believe All Of The Doom and Gloom!

Twenty-six years ago, when I first got started in this business, the United States was in the midst of a severe economic recession, much worse than it currently is today. In December of 1982, the U.S. unemployment rate had reached 10.8%, higher than at any time in the post-war era. Job cutbacks were particularly severe in housing, steel and automobiles. Twelve million people were unemployed, an increase of 4.2 million people, since July 1981.

By mid-1982, the number of bank failures was rising steadily. ...
... Bank failures reached a post-depression high of 42 as the recession and high interest rates took their toll. In 1983, another 49 banks failed, easily beating the Great Depression record of 43 failures set in 1940. And, the FDIC listed another 540 banks as "problem banks" on the verge of failure. In 1984, the Continental Illinois National Bank and Trust Company, the nation's seventh-largest bank (with $45 billion in assets), failed.

Between 1980 and 1983, 118 S&Ls with $43 billion in assets failed. The FSLIC, the federal agency which insured the deposits of S&Ls, spent $3.5 billion to make depositors whole again. The FSLIC pushed mergers as a way to avoid insolvency. From 1980 to 1982, there were 493 voluntary mergers and 259 forced mergers of savings and loans overseen by the agency. Despite these failures and mergers, there were still 415 S&Ls at the end of 1982 that were insolvent.

During the 1982 recession, unemployment reached twelve million, the highest rate since the Depression; 17,000 businesses failed, the second highest number since 1933; farmers lost their land; and many sick, elderly, and poor became homeless.

Economic recessions in the U.S., and throughout the world, aren't something new. They are a fact of life. We've experienced many recessions through the years in the U.S., the last being in 1990. As a country we've survived each time, and we'll survive this one. The question isn't whether you'll survive; it's whether or not you'll prosper in your business?

Revealed... The Secret To Your Prosperity In Today's Economy!

Fortunately for me, in 1982, in spite of being in the worst recession since the ‘Great Depression' of 1929, I was able to lead my office in sales, even though I was brand new to the insurance business. What I learned back then that made me successful in personal sales, and has kept me prosperous throughout the years, is that most people (average Middle American families) are struggling financially, and they need and want our help. And, when times are tough financially, these people need and want our help more than ever. I learned that to succeed in this business, during the good and bad times, it's not about products, investment returns or a revolutionary sales idea. It's about helping average people to become more secure financially, in their lives.

Understanding What's Missing In The New Sales Systems!

Many of the ‘supposed' revolutionary new ideas behind LEAP, Missed Fortune, Infinite Banking, Circle of Wealth, Equity Management and College Funding programs are not revolutionary or even new. They are actually the proven, sound financial principles that the best producers have been using for decades to help people to properly position and use their money, with safety and guarantees, to achieve financial security.

Unfortunately, agents and marketing organizations have bastardized many of these new sales systems and are focusing primarily on selling products and investment returns! These sales systems have been promoted, seen and used by many agents as a way to make quick, large sales. Many times the sale is made, whether it's in the best interest of the prospect or not! The majority of the people using these systems have lost their focus on how to actually help people to identify, understand and solve their financial problems.

The extremely unfortunate part, for agents, is that some of these systems were developed when the economy was good; so there is very little, if any, sound marketing practices in them. These systems have very little, if any, real marketing to help you get your message out to people about how you can help them to solve their financial problems. They may be great sales ideas or systems, but they have no real marketing to help you attract enough of the right people to you, during the tough economic times.

Consider, when times are good financially, like in the 1990's when the stock market was soaring and unemployment was low, there will be some people who are ready, willing and able to take chances with their money. These are the people who have the ‘get rich quick' and/or ‘live for today' mentality! So, it is easy to attract and set appointments with them, if you have something new and exciting to show them.

However, during the tough economic times, much of the marketing in these systems just stops working, because there are very few people who are ready, willing and able to take chances.

You can survive and prosper during this worsening recession! But, only if you learn how to consistently attract the right people to you! It's about you learning how to actually help people to identify, understand and solve their financial problems, instead of just trying to make a quick, large sale with your hot, new, revolutionary products or ideas.

Lew and Jeremy Nason
Marketing and Sales Coach
'The 9 Out Of 10 Guys'
Claim your free Report "How to Attract & Sell Your Perfect Prospects" at
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Where you'll learn how to make 6-figures a year in insurance.