Q: What was it that initially attracted you to become a financial representative?
A: The first thing that attracted me to become a Thrivent Representative verses other services, is that I was Lutheran at the time, still am. I saw a need in the area where there used to be four representatives and through avenues of cases beyond our control they were down to one representative and I reached out to that representative and he said he had been looking for the right person.
Q: You explained why you were attracted to Thrivent, what was it that attracted you to the business in general?
A: I had not been in sales, however, being a long term Thrivent member I knew about the generosity of the company which lead me into learning more about this career and ways that I could fit in and help people with their needs.
Q: Has anything surprised you as far as what your expectations were to be successful in the business with the reality of the experience since you have gotten into it?
A: Well, never being in sales before, I learned rather quickly that I’d have to make a lot of phone calls and that a lot of the people would not call back. It was surprising to me to realize that it takes a lot ofcontact with people, either over the phone or face-to-face, to get to know them, build the trust and create a client-to-representative relationship.
Q: You’ve been in the business now for 3 years?
A: Yes
Q: Are you finding that once you get a relationship with people that they are a lot more likely to call you back?
A: Yes, that is correct. I develop a great relationships with the people I do business with and you’re right they are more likely to either call me or return my calls and they even answer the call when I do call.
Q: Now that you have been with Thrivent for three years, can you tell us about your current situation, what the business is like for you now?
A: Well, I would never have dreamed going into this that I would have the client base I have now or developed the ability to service their finances and build trusting relationships. There are a lot of people out there that need our services.
Working for Thrivent, I feel with their generosity and faith based approach and knowing that we have the Christian bond it’s going to be more exciting in the future as we go out and go beyond the Lutheran Church.
Q: How do you feel about your productivity levels at this point in your career?
A: I’ve exceeded my production and financial expectations. Going into this my wife said that if I was happy and held a certain income she would be happy with that. In two of the three years I have been in business, I have obtained conference level.
Q: Well, great. How do you feel about making that level of production?
A: Well, I feel great about it and the rewards of getting to go to conference and hear great speakers, not necessary in the financial services, but just to hear about great life experiences. I feel very gratified that Thrivent rewards their producers.
Q: When you were invited to attend the CAPS™ workshop, tell me how you felt about it?
A: I felt privileged that my Partner and Managing Partner included me in the list of people that would be invited to the CAPS skill workshop.
Q: Once it got going, what was your impression of the course work itself?
A: Well, I enjoyed all the learning during the two day period. It was a lot of information in two days, it could have even been three or four days long. But just the steps that your company has developed to help Representative move from one transition to another, whether it be to Probe or to Overcome Objections. It is great information to look back at. The binder is a great resource for a refresher when I may not be having success in one case or another.
Q: When you left the workshop, do you remember if you had any concerns?
A: No, I wouldn’t say concerns. I would say it was more of the case of needing to refresh the information more often to sharpen my skills. I remember meeting with a gentleman that I do some joint field work with last fall and talking about some cases and he gave a suggestion of Life Insurance to fund an avenue that I had not thought of. Though his suggestions and your workshop material, I was able to procure two of those cases, one an elderly client that wanted to give their legacy to their family or a charity.
Q: How easy or difficult did you find it to take what you learned in the workshop and start applying it on a day to day basis?
A: Well, there are excellent avenues, everything from transitions and overcoming objections which is a big part of our business, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t, but using these skills has been very beneficial to me. But as you know there is only a certain level of success that each advisor has as far as closing cases. It’s somewhat troublesome to me that maybe I am not closing as many cases as I should be.
DAVE: So you still see room for improvement to close more cases then you do now?
A: Right. I will give you an example, I met with some people earlier this week and they have a life insurance contract with another company written but he hasn’t taken the physical yet. I should have probed more and pushed for writing a case that night verses just accepting that he is taking a physical for this other company. I should have used some of these skills to either say, “Can we write the policy tonight and see how the underwriting goes?” Or, “next time we get together, let’s concentrate on getting these life insurance policies written.” – I do have a follow up appointment with them next week.
Q: When you think about this upcoming appointment with them, what CAPS™ skills do you see yourself using to reach your objective?
A: Well, I think that using skills I have already used including the probing and proving skills, but I think something I didn’t do in the last appointment was to transition to the benefits of having a term policy with Thrivent that maybe other companies don’t offer.
Q: So, overall, what is your opinion of CAPS™ and what would you say if somebody asked you about the workshop and the follow up coaching that we provide?
A: I would advocate that the CAPS™ workshop was very well put together. It’s a program that brings light to Representatives of ways to communicate with people and to be able to meet with people and use the probing skill in a fashion of not being too pushy. As far as the follow up emails and coaching I think it is very valuable. If somebody asked me about it, I would go over some highlights of it and let them know it is a very worthwhile endeavor to undertake.
Q: When you look back, what do you consider the most important outcome or result that you have experiences as a result of attending the workshop?
A: The different skills I obtained and the ability to transition from one area to another.
Q: What are your goals and aspirations, business wise, for this year?
A: Well, one of my goals is to further my current business to include more people with higher net worth then I have right now. If you look at my book of business there are more so called bronze clients then silver and gold, so I would like to rework that a little bit. Then as far as monetarily, I am just a few thousand dollars short of my goal. I am seeing a need out there with young people that are either under insured or have no life insurance. I feel it is very important to continue to impress upon those people the protection they need for their family.
Q: When you think about the career, sharing the Thrivent story with people and helping them meet their needs, at the end of the day, what does it mean to be able to do that?
A: Well, in my days and evenings with clients and being able to share the Thrivent story and building trusting relationship it’s very gratifying to me to know that, whether I closed a sale or somebody doesn’t want to do business, is knowing I am out there trying to do the best job I can to help those clients or prospects.
Q: If someone was considering a career as a financial representative with Thrivent, what would you say to them?
A: That is an interesting question because three weeks ago I was selected by my RFO to have a telephone interview with a young man that was looking to become a Thrivent agent. So I spent 20 minutes on a Saturday afternoon speaking to him, letting him know about the impact that Thrivent has had on Christians. I let him know is not a real easy road but there is gratification in it if you do everything right. Make those phone calls, build those trusting relationships and follow up with your clients you will be successful in this business.
