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Building your LTC Planning Practice

Betty Doll, MBA, CLTC, CSALong Term Care Insurance Services

Asheville, NCwww.LTCFinder.com

Betty@LTCFinder.com

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Don’t go OUT of business because no one knew you

were IN business!

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• You may be very good at what you do.

• You need to be equally good at marketing what you do.

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Self-Assessment

• Where are you stuck?– Filling the pipeline?– Following up with leads and prospects?– Getting appointments?– Making the sale?

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The Power of Networking

• Networking WILL get you more leads and prospects but you still need to follow-up, make the appointment, make the sale.

• Are you following up on the leads and prospects that you have?

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YOU HAVE TO BE OUT THERE--consistently!

• It’s not about who you know, but about who knows YOU

• Setting networking goals is as important as setting sales and revenue goals

• Networking is a process—it is not an event!

• 7-9 “touches”

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Sample networking goals

• A mailing to at least 4 Centers of Influence each week

• Lunch with one COI each week• Call two prospects each week who have dropped

from the pipeline• Contact one association about speaking each week• Show up at a high visibility event 1/wk.• Give a referral 2x/month

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Measure and Record your Efforts

• Document your contacts—did you meet your marketing goals?

• Record one thing learned every day

• Activity breeds activity—inactivity breeds inactivity

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Who can I meet today who will make a difference in my success?

Who do I want to meet? How can I progress toward that goal?

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Who do I want to meet?

o Perfect Client • Perfect Referral Source

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Perfect Client Descriptors

• Individuals• Couples• Women• Business Owners• Age range• Income• Asset base• Educational level• Geographic region• Occupation• Retirees• Gay/lesbian market

• Interests and activities

• Have experienced an LTC situation

• Satisfying to work with

• People you already have natural contacts with

• Willing to pay premiums

• Low maintenance

• ????

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Where are your perfect clients?Who else is seeing them?

• Attorneys

• CPA’s

• Financial Advisors

• Health Insurance Agents– MedSupp and Medicare D

• Life Insurance Agents

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Getting in front of the Professionals:

• Ask each client who they work with as a financial advisor, tax advisor, attorney

• Ask permission to call them and to send LTC recommendations or policy info

• “We have a mutual client” will get you in the door!

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Networking with Professionals

• Be professional! Let them know that you are an LTC planner—not just pushing a product

• Don’t always be looking to make the sale• What can you offer them? How can you serve

their clients?• Don’t promise reciprocal relationships if you can’t

follow through• Show an interest in their business and business

concerns

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Professional Organizations

• Don’t just join—show up! • Attend their meetings• Arrive early, stay late• Have a goal—e.g. “meet five new people”.

Follow up with them within four days• Volunteer at functions—especially at registration• Read their journals—send copies of relevant

articles to them

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Make it easy to refer to you

• Set up a referral process• Keep them supplied with business cards• Keep your name in front of them• Try to keep the ball in your court-get permission to

call the client rather than waiting for the client to call you

• Ask them to call to set appt. while client is in their office

• You must earn their trust—invite them to sit in on appointment

• Keep them informed

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Professional Organizations:

• NAIFA—National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors

• NAHU—National Association of Health Underwriters

• Referral sources vs. Competitors

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• National Association of Professional Financial Advisors (fee-only planners)– www.napfa.org

• Local CPA groups

SHOW UP, BE A MEMBER, BE INVOLVED

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Offer Continuing Education classes!

Sets you apart as being a knowledgeable resource.

CLTC’s have access to resources for classes

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Community Involvement

• Be of service

• Meet potential clients and potential referral sources

• Make it something you can truly support

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Community Organizations

• Alzheimer’s Association

• Parkinson Association

• MS, ALS, etc. all have associations

• Council on Aging, Literacy Council, Boy Scouts, etc.

• They all need Board Members, volunteers, fundraisers—you’ll meet other professionals this way

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Let people know what you do--

• Elevator speech• Don’t be pushy• Planting a seed—needs nurturing—too

much fertilizer kills it!• You are offering a solution that is needed

by 30-50% of the general population!• Be proud of what you do and how you help

others

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What are you passionate about? How can you use it to network?

• Sporting events– Invite 2 ideal clients to bring two of their friends

• Shopping– Have information on LTC planning at Senior Day at the

mall

• Golf– Participate in charitable tournaments

– Sponsor a hole—take photos to give to participants. Fun!

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Continue Networking with (and through) Your Clients

• Lunches• Teas• LTC Q & A over coffee or drinks• Customer Appreciation Events

– City Tour– Theatre Evening– Wine tasting– Open House

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Teaching Classes

• Continuing Education for professionals• Community Ed classes through community

college• Seminars for clients of financial advisors• Co-sponsor/co-present• Must be planning oriented—not sales

oriented!

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Building Credibility and Visibility

• Public Speaking– Planning oriented—use 3 Step Process– Impact of caregiving on family

• Writing articles– Local newspaper– Special publications

These activities may not generate immediate referrals but they’ll eventually trickle in if you keep yourself visible.

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Promotional Events and Advertising

• Most expensive and least effective

• Do give more visibility

• Indirectly may give more credibility

• Must be very targeted to have any effect

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Why don’t people use networking to promote themselves?

• Hate rejection

• Feel they’ll be intrusive

• Are turned off by ego-driven self-promoters

Remember that no one else will ever be as passionate about your business as you are therefore YOU must promote it.

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Position yourself as a problem-solver, NOT a salesperson

• Communicate the value you bring to your clients

• Communicate the value you bring to other professionals– Helping them meet the needs of their clients

• If you’re passionate and believe in what you do, it will be easier to self-promote

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Effective Self-Promotion

• Think of service to others first

• It’s your duty to get people planning for LTC—missed planning opportunities for others has far more impact on them that on you

• Stay in touch on a regular basis

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Build on Your Successes

• Have a goal of generating two additional marketing activities from each activity completed:– E.g. If you present at Rotary, offer to speak at

other clubs– Use copies of any articles published to mail to

COI’s– Press releases about you (e.g. completing your

CLTC) should be sent to COI’s, prospects

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Have a Referral Mindset

• Use the word “referral” rather than “client” or “prospect”

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Remember

• Effective networking is a process, not an event• Read your local newspaper—know what’s

happening in your community and be a part of it• Politicians still “press the flesh”, you must too• It’s not “all about you”• Don’t be a “drive-by networker”• Let them know you’re still in business

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Attitude and Activity go hand in hand. . .with high activity,

you never need to worry about your attitude.

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Betty Doll, MBA, CLTC, CSA

Long Term Care Insurance Services

One Oak Plaza, Suite 305

Asheville, NC 28801

www.LTCFinder.com

Betty@LTCFinder.com

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