Baker’s
DOZEN
Thirteen Insights from Highly
Successful Financial Advisors
C. ERNIE NIVENS
Baker’s Dozen
Thirteen Insights from Highly Successful Financial Advisors
Copyright © 2009 by C. Ernie Nivens
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,
including photocopying, recording or by any information
storage and retrieval system without written permission from the
publisher, except for the inclusion of quotations in a review.
Published by:
Evangel Publisher, LLC
Gastonia, NC 28054
www.EvangelPublisher.com
Cover design and interior layout: www.TheBookProducer.com
Printed in the United States of America
ISBN: 978-0-9819419-1-2
Dedication:
I honor my wife, Rosemarie, and our three daughters,
Cathy, Noelle, and Emily.
Without their love and commitment I probably
would not be here to publish this book.
I also in memoriam salute my father and mother:
Cecil J. and Vivian M. Nivens.
My brother, Jimmy, who taught me to putt my focus.
Also my beloved brother, Dennis E. “Sandy” Nivens.
As a young man, they taught me to have faith,
how to love, and to dream boldly!
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ………………………………... . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1. Sell Insurance in Batches . . . . . . . . . . ………………………………. . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. Be a Professional People Reader . . …………………………………... . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Delegate “White Time” Stuff . . . . . . . . . . . ……………………………….. . . . . . 17
4. Invest in a Sure Thing: You . . . . . . . . . . . ……………………………… . . . . . . . 19
5. The More You Know the More You Make . …………………………….. . . . . . . 22
6. Greatest Secret of Successful Selling: Listen . . ……………………………... . . . 24
7. Sales Have to Be Closed, Not Decided . . . . ………………………………. . . . . . 25
8. Excitement Is the Key . . . . . . . . . . . . . ……………………………….. . . . . . . . . 29
9. The Key to Survival: Activity . . . . . . …………………………….. . . . . . . . . . . . 30
10. Start as High as You Can . . . . . . . . ……………………………. . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
11. Shoot for the Moon: Think Big – Dream Big – Work Big ….…. . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
12. Circumstances Are Never Important . ……………………………... . . . . . . . . . 42
13. Success Is Internal; Not External . . . . …………………………….. . . . . . . . . . 47
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …………………………... . . . . 54
Ernie’s “Baker’s Dozen”
Introduction
Life is like the military description of “OJT – On the Job
Training.” You learn things as you go – look back – wish
you had done things differently – then make adjustments for
the future.
I think one of the greatest things that’s missing from most
sales practices today is the passion for what we do, the passion
for who we are.
We all have passion within us. We tend to hide it. We
know it’s there. We bring it out at certain times of our
lives. But when it comes to the essence of what we do as
financial people, helping people plan their finances, we
have to reach down deep inside and pull out that passion
quality, that helps us get excited about what we do. Then
we are to pass on that passion and excitement to others to
help them realize what their dreams are, what their wishes
are. Now what we do is not about investments or life insurance,
it’s about dreams. Helping people establish and
fund their dreams.
I’ve given a lot of thought to passion in terms of living.
And I guess because of the impact of 9/11 on all of our
lives, it has caused us to review our vocation in life, our
purpose in life, how we spend our time, how we evaluate
Baker’s Dozen – Introduction (cont.)
and look to our relationships that we have with friends and
family, et cetera. And it occurs to me since 2001, that passion
comes from a sense of stewardship, from a sense of
responsibility, that we realize ever fresh that our time in
this world is very short. It’s like a spark.
I heard someone say recently a little story about a grandfather
took his granddaughter to the grave of the little girl’s
grandmother, his wife. And she looked at the grave marker
and saw the year she was born and the year she died. And
she asked her GranDaddy, she said, “Papa, what’s the dash
stand for?” Passion helps us answer that question. What
does the dash stand for? It stands for the fact that we are
called to give our best effort every day.
A few years ago, I served on an Agents’ Advisory Council
with a major financial institution. We were meeting with the
CEO, Sy Sternberg. Sy, in talking about our industry and what
we do, used the word “Evangel.” Evangel is my language,
given my theological background. I enjoyed his reference to
it. Evangel in essence is a messenger of good news.
Historically, the word evangel comes from the history of
Israel. When the Israelites would go off in war, the people
at home, the women, children, and the old men would
watch the mountains for a runner. Of course, they did not
have pagers, cell phones, and television news back then.
If a runner came over the mountains carrying swords and
spears, they knew that they had lost and needed to prepare
for a long time of conflict. If the runner came over the
mountain carrying greenery, olive and palm branches, they
knew that there was a time of peace in the land because
they had won.
The Greeks called the runner the “euangelion” (pronounced
ewe ahn gel e ahn) which is English translation
for…Evangel.
It occurred to me, since hearing Sy use that word, that we
are the runners in our age, bringing the good news and hope
for the masses of the economic lost. We’re Evangels. That’s
where passion comes from. If we understand that we hold
something that people need very dearly, then we need to
summon up that passion to help as many people as we can,
with the sense of responsibility. 9/11 put the world in touch
with passion. In talking about passion, I know I’m triggering
a response in many people.
One of my favorite people in the world is a guy named Lou
Baker’s Dozen – Introduction (cont.)
Holtz, former coach of the University of South Carolina
Gamecocks. I have a little passion about them too. I heard
Lou say when he recruits someone, that the family of the
young athlete looks to him to answer three questions.
The first question is: Can I trust you?
The second question is: Are you committed to excellence?
And the third is: Will you continue to care about our son and
our family from this point going forward?
It occurs to me that is truer for what we do than it is for recruiting
collegiate athletes. When we sit with people across
a table, they’re asking us those three questions which we
have to answer at that moment.
Can I trust you?
Are you committed to excellence?
And will you continue to care about me and my family?
That’s where passion is of critical essence. It’s very important
that we communicate that passion to them. We must
assure them that we’re not out selling commodities of investments,
or commodities of life insurance. We’re there
and it’s all about care, it’s all about passion. It’s about them.
It’s about their dreams.
It’s about relationships.
Let me tell you a little bit about some of the agents/representatives
who have influenced me.
When I came to this industry 19 years ago after 20 years
in Parish Ministry, I was pretty stupid. Actually, I was a lot
stupid. I knew I had a lot to learn. I chose at that point to
begin my educational process by interviewing agents that
our managing partner would bring to Charlotte. These were
very successful agents and these fellows had demonstrated
that they knew what they were doing in their careers.
So I would ask for an hour to two hours with each of them.
We would talk about what they had done. So, I began a survey
of these people, and found several common traits among
them. As I began to pull those together, they emerged into
13 qualities that I discovered in top producers. I have verified
those qualities with producers of other companies. One
that really had an impact on me is Tom Flournoy. He graciously
gave me almost two and a half hours one afternoon
and let me just grill him to a fare you well. I made a pad of
notes. I look back on those notes today and am amazed how
Baker’s Dozen – Introduction (cont.)
much of what he shared with me I’ve employed in my practice.
[Other ones are Lloyd Wilson and Rick Paulson and the
list goes on.]
I had an intern my first year, Wayne Helms, who helped me
learn how to sell. I kind of like took parts of their lives and
made little post-it notes, put them on my life. Some parts I
kept, and the parts that didn’t fit, I just kind of discarded. But
I am, in part, a product of studying many of our top agents
in the company. What follows are the “Baker’s Dozen” of
ideas I have gleaned.
Ernie’ism
No amount of travel on the wrong road
will get you to the right destination.
Ernie’ism
1
Sell Insurance in Batches
I’ve learned from top insurance agents & producers that
they sell corporate insurance to multiple executives. It’s
just as easy as a single sale, but the results are multiplied.
You know, one thing that’s really on our side now is the
skilled area for COLIs (Corporate Owned Life Insurance)
and BOLIs (Bank Owned Life Insurance).
And as a result you may sell six, 12, 20 different contracts
within one arrangement and one check or wired funds. It
takes just the same amount of time to sell an owner of one
business, so why not multiply our time and sell it in batches.
Ernie’ism
My Daddy taught me how to work.
If you work,
it’s hard to fail.
Ernie’ism
2
Be a Professional People Reader
The Golden Rule says, “Do unto others as you would
have them do unto you.” The Platinum Rule says, “Do
unto other the way they want to be done unto.” The more we
know about their “who-ness,” the better we can understand
their “what-ness.”
Learn to trust people. People will step on your heart on a
regular basis. I have learned it is better to trust and be hurt
than distrust and grow cynical. Just try to keep the same
person from stepping on your heart twice.
We’re in the people business. People reading is a skill that
anyone can develop. If I hadn’t come to this industry, I was
prepared to be a corporate consultant doing personality style
testing on individuals to put them together in terms of teams
toward total quality management.
Some of those personality traits and studies of those
continue on today. And they’re very helpful in the sales
environment. When you go in to meet someone, you can
pretty much sum them up in two or three minutes as to what
their personality style is. How they like to think and act,
how they like to decide. Then I can communicate based on
their who-ness. It doesn’t matter what my what-ness is, or
what I have to sell or talk about, unless I understand their
who-ness. And sometimes I can kind of sense that I don’t
want to be there.
I think about one case in particular. I was mentoring an
agent. During his first year, we visited an office in South
Carolina. As we approached the office, it was like going into
the Dead Zone. This guy had dead things all over his office
walls, everything from antelopes and snakes to opossums.
Everything he’d ever seen, I think he’d shot and mounted on
Baker’s Dozen – Be a Professional People Reader
his wall. He even had a fox on the coffee table. Its hind legs
were on the floor and the front legs were on the coffee table
so that his eyes were looking at you. It caused you to pause
as you went in the door, to wonder if that thing was alive or
not. And next to it was a big rattlesnake that was coiled up,
ready to strike.
Well, I almost left then, and I thought, “No, let’s go on in.”
We sat, chatted with this fellow a little bit then made our
presentation and pitch to him.
Then he said very calmly and nicely, “I appreciate you fellas
coming, but I don’t think I’m interested.”
So I looked at my fellow agent, Thomas, and I said, “Thomas,
we appreciate his time. Let’s go.”
Once we were outside, Thomas said to me, “Ernie, I thought
we were trained that when someone says no, to find out
what they’re objecting to, overcome the objection, then get
past the ‘no.’”
And I said, “Thomas, you’re exactly right. There’s only one
exception to that rule – when a man is sitting in a room full of
dead things, don’t push him. I’m sure he had a double gauge
shot gun in the kneehole of his desk. And there might have
been a plaque on the wall that said insurance agent he hadn’t
filled yet. So, I thought it would be better to get out of there.”
So, you get a sense that this guy was a high driver. He wanted
to get to the bottom line very quickly. He pulled the trigger
on us, so we needed to open the door and leave.
One day I went into an office of a paint contractor. Here’s
a guy who has maybe 12 people working for him, painting
various places around Charlotte, North Carolina. I go into
his office, and I don’t know what you’d expect to see in a
paint contractor’s office, but it wasn’t that.
He had two large TVs turned to two different financial channels.
He was watching the stock market. He was watching
the tickers checking on the Dow, NASDAQ and the S & P.
I found out that he made so much money as a paint contractor;
he was now managing his own money, full-time. I knew
not to talk about paint. We had to get down and talk about
money right away.
Baker’s Dozen – Be a Professional People Reader
Reading people is very subtle. Reading a person as expressive,
then we know they make quick decisions and impulsive
decisions. They can change their mind later and say no very
quickly. With amiables, we’ll find their offices are primarily
blues and greens, lots of family pictures. They don’t want
to rock the boat. They want everything to stay even…even
keel. So if we know about a person, then we can communicate
so they can best hear what it is we have to say. But we
have to let them talk. They will tell us how to sell them if
we’ll just listen to them.