Tuesday, August 27, 2013

2013 August/September President's Message


Build Your Profession – Build Your Practice

 


I know for many of you a lot of time and energy has been spent on preparing for the Affordable Care Act and how it impacts your business as well as those you serve. I hope you know by now that your Association both at the state and national level have been actively involved and will continue to be.

We are in a most noble of profession! We provide financial security and guidance to widows and families. We are there with monthly checks to the disabled. We deliver money to pay for home care for dad so that mom doesn’t have to do the heavy lifting. We keep the family solvent when a serious illness or accident happens. We see to it that the golden years are truly golden. We help plan for college education. The list goes on and on. I challenge you to put serious thought into each of these problems/solutions and how you can better your service. Think of the last time you heard that a family member or friend or client for that matter passed away. Did you get that sinking feeling of “Wow, did they have enough life insurance?” Did you have and give them the opportunity to discuss the financial result of their death for the people left behind? 

September is Life Insurance Awareness Month. Americans are vastly uninsured and underinsured. Build Your Practice by seeing your existing clients and prospects with a special emphasis on “life insurance for the living.” Remember, “A wife does not know the value of life insurance, only a widow is qualified.” If your counseling skills are a bit rusty, go back to your company provided sales training or LUTC books or contact your local to hold a CE session at a regular meeting. Better yet, get other Reps together to hold LUTC classes. There is no better way to learn sales skills than LUTC. If you have trouble locating the right person, contact me. I’ll get you to them.

We as the premier Professional Association for Insurance and Financial Advisors are strong, solvent and viable. We do have room for improvement though in that we need to grow our numbers to have a bigger impact on legislators. The benefits we provide to the public are and will continue to be under watch and even attack for tax revenue. So please Build your Profession by asking other insurance agents and financial advisors to join you in paying dues for the benefits of membership they are currently enjoying. There are 300,000 Reps enjoying benefits of NAIFA but less than 50,000 are paying dues. Get them in and get them to local meetings and involved from the start. This improves the odds of them staying. Make sure they put your name down as sponsoring agent so you can get credit for them.

Coming soon are details of new member challenge and reward that you won’t want to miss.
 
Kevin Gleim, LUTCF, FICF
NAIFA-Washington President

 

 

Thursday, August 22, 2013

2013 August/September Immediate Past President




Congratulations NAIFA Washington!

We did it! As a result of this state operating as a T.E.A.M., we have earned the coveted national award, The Jack E. Bobo Award of Excellence at the GOLD level! I am super proud of everyone’s effort and perseverance through some difficult challenges! The level of our achievement may or may not register with every member, but this award is our measure of success as an association and can be earned at both the local and state levels! The reason it’s a “big deal” is if you are earning this award, you are succeeding as an association. It matters! If your local did not earn this award, you should be asking your leadership why not.

NAIFA will be recognizing our achievement in San Antonio at the NAIFA National Convention! I look forward to seeing all who are attending and again…GREAT JOB! Let’s do it again and again!

Jeff Kyle, LUTCF, LTCP

Tuesday, August 13, 2013

2013 August/September Professional Development




Now is the time to assess your commitment to providing a LUTC course to your membership. This is a great way to get membership engaged.  You only need 5 students to get a class going.  If you have members that have taken classes but still don’t have an LUTCF designation, now is the time to complete it. 

Word has it that NAIFA and The American College is going to be ending the designation.   Yes, I got this from the Professional Development at NAIFA National.   Soon a new designation will be introduced and new courses rolled out.   Be a lifelong learner, it's almost impossible to stay current in our industry without taking courses and advancing your marketability.   Good luck and have a great year.

Roger McDowell, LUTCF
State Professional Development Chairman

2013 August/September IFAPAC




Pay It Forward
 
Pay it forward is a term describing the beneficiary of a good deed repaying it to others instead of to the original benefactor. The concept is old, but the phrase may have been coined by Lily Hardy Hammond in her 1916 book In the Garden of Delight. She wrote, “You don’t pay love back; you pay it forward.”

The phrase is even older than that. Pay it forward was used as a key plot in the play by Menander, Dyskolos (a title which can be translated as “The Grouch”). Dyskolos was a prizewinning play in ancient Athens in 317 BC; however, the text of the play was lost and it was not re-published until 1957.  The concept was rediscovered and described by Benjamin Franklin in a letter to Benjamin Webb dated April 25, 1784: “I do not pretend to give such a deed; I only lend it to you. When you meet another honest Man in similar Distress, you must pay me by lending this Sum to him; enjoining him to discharge the Debt by a like operation, when he shall be able, and shall meet with another opportunity. I hope it may thus go thro’ many hands…This is a trick of mine for doing a deal of good with a little money.”



2013 August/September APIC




It is summer recess and most congressmen/women are currently in district.  If you are an APIC contact for your local association, or involved in a key position such as President or National Committee person, you have received two email reminders in the last few weeks from yours truly asking you to set up a face-to-face meeting with your representative or a staff member for the purposes of reinforcing NAIFA’s position on tax reform.  To date I have had two responses regarding meetings with legislators; NAIFA-Snohomish and NAIFA- Tri-Cities.
It is particularly important to contact and meet with legislators who sit on key committees. Four of our Congressmen/women serve on key committees; Cathy McMorris-Rodgers, 5th district, Energy & Commerce; Jim McDermott, 7th district, Ways & Means; Dave Reichert, 8th district, Ways & Means; and Denny Heck, 10th district, Financial Services. These committees and the decisions they make directly impact our industry, the clients we serve, and the legislator’s constituents.


2013 August/September Membership


Dog Days of Summer- Learn a new Trick or two- FREE!

Your continued support of NAFIA affords you many self-directed “Best Practices.” Here just are just few:

Take advantage of some of these following FREE services.

NAIFA Online Seminar Series The NAIFA Online Seminar Series features training and information programs on various topics important to running your business and enhancing your success, including practice management, sales, marketing, and prospecting, each with specific content for every career stage. These video based programs are further enhanced by downloadable print materials and resources.

NAIFA Virtual Library  Whether you are a new advisor or agent, or an experienced producer, the NAIFA Virtual Library is your key to a myriad of sales support tools and resources that will help you grow and succeed in your business.