Behind the Mike

For years, I’ve been using hundreds of visuals in every presentation from keynotes to training seminars. I believe we have to deliver information with CNN timing and MTV pizzazz. Television images change every seven seconds. People are used to digesting lots of data in short periods of time.

Years ago, we used flipcharts, transparencies and 35 mm slides, investing thousands of dollars in production of artwork. With today’s technology, the cost of a new slide went from $75-$100 per visual to almost nothing. That’s the good news. The bad news… just because it’s inexpensive doesn’t mean you necessarily should add another visual. Overuse and misuse of visuals has given PowerPoint a bad name.

The popular misconception today is that PowerPoint is sinful. Nothing could be further from the truth. “Pitiful PowerPoint” however, is a mortal sin. Every study done over the years suggests that retention is enhanced with the use of visuals, not hampered. Why then is PowerPoint getting such a bad rap? Perhaps the answer lay in the tool itself.

Any strength, overused, can become a weakness. The big complaint by meeting planners today is:

• Too many visuals;
• They all look alike;
• Speakers stand there and speak to the screen and not the audience.

“If I want a script, I’ll buy the book,” said one planner to me recently. “We want the speaker AND we want the enhancements that visuals can bring to their presentation.” The two can be compatible.

Here are 10 tips:

1. Dump the traditional PowerPoint backdrops immediately. They all look alike and people fall asleep on the second visual. Become a “Goggle Gooney.” If you want a backdrop to emphasize a point, go to Goggle, click on the second tab “web images,” and type in the word you wish to emphasize. Let’s say you are speaking on time management. All you need to do is type the word “time” into the search engine and thousands of images relative to time will appear. Import a backdrop into your presentation. Now you have a colorful backdrop to further emphasize your point. What you put on the screen however, should be your point. The backdrop should only enhance your point, not replace it.
2. Use the Word Art tool to make your idea larger and easier to read.
3. Only use the top 2/3’s of the screen. It’s hard for people in the cheap seats to see the bottom of the screen. So trash the bottom third or you can utilize it for logos and other subliminal copy that is secondary to your main point.
4. Keep your words to a minimum. You’re making a presentation, not writing a book.
5. Use as many visuals as necessary and limit your ideas to one per visual.
6. Use a different backdrop for every visual, unless you’re doing a buildon visual that carries forward a theme.
7. Go to your client’s website and get permission to download some of their own logos, graphics, pictures and other items so that they can be used as backdrops in your presentation. It “customerizes” (a word I invented) the presentation.
8. Use contrast. If you have a backdrop that has a dark image, use white copy in your Word Art. If it’s light, use dark letters. Use your color buttons to vary the color of the letters. Or, simply consider dropping in a text box if you’re having trouble reading the visual.
9. To make sure the visual is easy to read, build your slide and walk away 15 feet from the computer screen and see if you can read it comfortably. If you can’t read it, fix it.
10. You can vary the complexion of your backdrop by clicking on the image and then click on the color button. This will give you four options:
    • Automatic (the image you imported)
    • Grayscale (contrasting black on white)
    • Black and white (another version of grayscale).
    • Washout (a washed out version of the original visual)

In the late 1970’s I took my kids to Disney and as we were going through, I noticed they were videotaping our images and using them as we went through the ride. I thought, “what a neat idea!” I wonder if I could do the same thing. So I researched it and found out about 35 mm Polaroid Slide film. I could take pictures of my audience members during say a cocktail hour, develop them instantly into slides and then use the slides in my presentation. I used them in several ways:

a- Visual Extravaganza – a collage of pictures at the end of the presentation, featuring the attendees in a smiling-faces, warm-fuzzy closing put to music which I own.

b- Visual Roast- where I had some fun roasting the subject of the picture.

c- Visual Newspaper- where I did a summary of the previous day’s activities (ala professional summarizer Dale Irvin) but only with pictures instead of words.

With everyone and their brother owning a digital camera today (cell phones), anybody can do this stuff, so I quit doing it because my colleagues basically “borrowed” my concept.

I still use visuals, but I use them differently. I’ll hang with the group, take their pictures and use those pictures as my backdrops in my presentation. This “customerizes” it even further and you can bet that they’re paying attention, because their mug is on the screen.

I also love to quote the previous speaker, who was on just ahead of me and especially if he or she is the guy in charge of the meeting. I use two systems:

1. I take their picture with my digital camera, using the picture as the backdrop. I then quote them, using Word Art to drop in the quote (at an appropriate time in the presentation, of course).
2. Or, I use a video camera and collect the clip and simply drop in the entire video clip at the appropriate point.

The impact of this immediate “customerization” of my presentation takes it to a higher level, giving me an unfair advantage. And, as I’m fond of saying, “all I want out of life is an unfair advantage.”

There is wide variety of reasons why customers crown you king or queen of their domain, not the vendor/seller. From the vendor’s standpoint, you need to quickly identify those reasons and go “Minnesota Fats” as quickly as possible.

Minnesota Fats was a famous pool shark and he never broke the rack without knowing where all of his next shots would be. “Fats” was a lot like the late Dale Earnhardt, a seven time NASCAR champion who was posthumously inducted into their Hall of Fame. Legend has it that
Earnhardt could see the wind at places like Talladega and Daytona. “Fats” could also see what did not exist just yet, his last shot for the game win.

For most of us in the business world, we don’t have to possess that kind of acumen. Here’s a simple thought. Find out what the customer wants and give it to them. Duh! A major part of the problem is that most companies simply want to dump what they have on their shelves rather than asking the customers about their needs before even building the widget.

I spoke to a group of colleges and universities that are part of a consortium that develop and share software that help them to navigate through the maze of new problems and issues they now face ranging from HIPPA regulations to processing credit and debit cards to taking on the role of student loan administrators. New requirements fall to them daily, which mean new headaches accompany those challenges.

The biggest challenges that all universities face today are the bulging enrollments that are impregnated by record unemployment and layoffs in the corporate world. People are using this down time to reload their guns and acquire skills that will make them more marketable in the ever-changing workplace.

That’s the good news for all these schools, particularly community based commuter colleges. The huge influx of people is those folks living at home and driving down to the local campus to pick up valuable courses.

The bad news is that these schools have to go virtual class rooms yesterday. They simply don’t have the brick and mortar to accommodate enrollments that have skyrocketed to 125% of capacity in some cases. Moreover, they don’t have the funding and staffing to deal with the overwhelming enrollments.

For instance, demand is higher than ever for the sciences and while virtual classrooms are part of the solution, the fact of the matter is they simply need more lab space for people to pursue these disciplines. That takes time and money. “Minnesota Fats” would have seen this coming.

Had these institutions anticipated this demand, they might be better prepared to have made this transition. The problem is they were so busy filling the space they had that they failed to go “Minnesota Fats” and anticipate where they needed to be. They couldn’t “see the wind” like Earnhardt, who went from 17th place in a Talladega race to victory in the closing laps.

Find Out What the Customer Needs and Then Give It to Them

The customer crowns you king or queen. Find out what they need and give it to them. Who is the real customer in this university scenario? If you’re thinking it’s the student, you’re wrong. It’s the employer who is going to hire these wayward students. That’s the real customer. They’re the ones who will crown you.

Forward thinking businesses anticipate the needs well in advance of the problem and position themselves to solve it. In the software world, for example, you must be anticipating the customer needs to be there well in advance. You can’t toss an egg in the barnyard and have it clucking tomorrow morning.

One of the challenges that the consortium of universities have is many of their members already have the answers to these challenges but they are buried deep within their own “silos.” These were their words to describe their challenges, not mine. If university “A” could share how it solved its HIPPA and credit card/debit card compliance issue with university “B” it could save them a tremendous amount of time, talent and treasure.

Working with an existing network of people with the same problems is what associations and consortiums of this nature are all about. Optimizing it into the marketplace is tougher to do. These third party solutions and applications can trim the learning curve significantly and save money. They operate in a mutual environment with mutual problems. There may be deployment issues that range from institution “A” to institution “B” but that stuff is about the process and can easily be addressed.

If the end game here is to get these new college entrants trained to get back into the workplace better equipped intellectually then every step of that process from getting them into the right curriculum to paying for it should be addressed. This is how you protect your existing investment and innovate for the future. You must be thinking like “Minnesota Fats.”

Why insure everything you own for what it’s worth EXCEPT your life— your most valuable and important asset??? Each of us is an income machine and should be insured for our lifetime income potential. Do you know anyone who has a lease on life? It isn’t a question of “if we die” but “when we die.” Will your family be ready?

No one ever died with too much money. Would you be interested in arranging some tax-free income for your family when you die? In almost every case, life insurance proceeds go to family members income-tax free. When your income disappears at death, this is critical to your loved ones.

If God spoke to you this morning and said ”you’re going to die in the next five years,” we’d suggest you purchase inexpensive term insurance to cover you for that period.

If God spoke to you this morning and said, ”you’re going to live to age 100,” we’d suggest you purchase a tax-deferred annuity that would allow you to build money on a tax-deferred basis.

What if God didn’t speak to you this morning? What would you buy then? Prudence suggest that you purchase insurance that will cover you for your WHOLE LIFE, regardless of when you die.

If you were killed in an accident, how much would you sue for? How much insurance do you own? Is it the same amount that you would sue for? Do you value your life lower? Not only is there an economic loss when we die but there is also a sentimental loss. Don’t let your family’s world fall apart because you can no longer be here to provide for them.

I am a piece of paper, a drop of ink and a few pennies of premium.

I am a promise to pay.

I help people see visions, dream dreams and achieve economic immortality.

I am education for the children.

I am savings.

I am property that increases in value from year to year.

I lend money when you need it most, with no questions asked.

I pay off mortgages so that the family can remain together in their own homes.

I ensure people the daring to live and the moral right to die.

I create money where none existed before.

I am the great emancipator from want.

I guarantee the continuity of business.

I conserve the employer’s investment.

I am tangible evidence that a man is a good husband and father, and that a woman is a good wife and mother.

I am a declaration of financial independence and economic freedom.

I am the difference between an old man or woman and an elderly gentleman or lady.

I provide cash if illness, injury, old age or death cuts off the breadwinner’s income.

I am the only thing that you can buy on the installment plan that your family doesn’t have to finish paying for.

I am protected by laws that prevent creditors from assessing the money I give to your loved ones.

I bring dignity, peace of mind and security to your family.

I supply investment capital that makes the wheels turn and the motors hum.

I guarantee the financial ability to have happy holidays and the laughter of children-even though father or mother is not there.

I am the guardian angel of the home.

I am life insurance!

If the replacement bugs stings you, do you sit and mope? That’s what I used to do before I realized that the key to dealing with the replacements of life insurance-specifically, replacements caused by insurance agents who specialize in churning business-is to tackle the situation immediately.

Back in the eighties, I was getting hammered so much by a popular replacement organization, which was headed up by a former high school football coach turned insurance guru. It got so bad that I let “the Coach” and his organization try to recruit me into their fold.

I figured I needed to scout “the Coach” and his team to find out how they were training their “termites” to eat away at my so-called “trash-value” life insurance policies. I actually went to one of their rallies in Atlanta, Georgia just to hear firsthand the propaganda they were spewing.

I came away from the experience stunned at both the absence of ethics and the abundance of shortcuts being suggested by “the Coach” and his “termites.” I took meticulous notes and studied their process thoroughly. I figured if they had created this ethical epidemic, I needed to reverse the process to find a cure.

Interestingly, I wrote an article that appeared in the A.M. Best Magazine about my experience with “the Coach” and his “termites.” The next week several of his team members dropped by my office in Lexington, SC for a copy of the article. I suggested that they actually subscribe to A.M. Best Magazine. Needless to say, they didn’t bother.

TIMING AND TRUST ARE THE KEYS

The problem with most replacements is one of timing. Your competition doesn’t necessarily have a better product than you do. The one thing the replacement artist will attempt to do every time is to undermine you. Trust is essential in the agent/client relationship, and once that is violated, the relationship quickly deteriorates.

Suddenly, you are no longer the decent fellow who sold the client a product he or she wanted. Instead, you are perceived as a thief who ripped them off. What’s worse, you seldom can defend yourself because the client doesn’t want you back in their home or office. That is the image an aggressive replacement agent will paint of you and your company.

Naturally, this is a frightening experience for an agent, particularly when he or she has done their best to provide for the client’s needs. But as my grandfather told me years ago, “fear is nothing but the absence of knowledge, a lack of information.” If we confront some of the facts about the replacement, we can come to understand it and take action to prevent it from happening.

YOU’RE ALREADY TOO LATE

The first fact to recognize is that when a replacement notice hits your desk, you’re already too late. Generally, the replacement agent will have preceded you by several days or, in some cases, by several weeks. When your business goes down, rarely does the client call you. Instead, they send their surrender request to the home office, that great bureaucratic institution in another state that manages to play “paper volleyball” with it for several days or weeks before forwarding it to you two weeks later.

DOUBTS CONFIRMED

The notice sits on your desk for another two weeks until you finally decided to call the client. By then, the client’s doubts about your service are confirmed because it took you a whole month to get back to them.

Worse yet, suppose the client gave the replacement some thought before surrendering the policy. Add that period of time to the other delays and you’re looking at a delay of almost two months. Now they’re really angry! What do you do?

RULE NUMBER ONE- CALL IMMEDIATELY

Obviously, you cannot control what happens in the home office, the US Mail or the amount of lead-time the policyholder gives you before he or she drops the axe. You can, however, control the amount of time it takes you to call the client to conserve the policy. So rule number one is to call the client immediately. Drop whatever you’re doing and make the contact.

The replacement agent is betting that you won’t call the policyholder at all, or that if you do, you won’t be able to get an appointment to see them. You should insist on such an appointment immediately-with or without the replacement agent present. Delay only allows the problem to compound further.

THE SIX P FORMULA

Remember, the replacement agent probably has used the old smokescreen tactics, comparing eggs to apples in order to confuse the client. So another rule is to find out everything you can about the replacement before the appointment. Remember the Six P Formula: Proper Preparation Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance.

Let’s assume that the client does grant you the interview, if for no other reason than to complete the paperwork necessary to facilitate the policy surrender. There are several things you must do in every replacement interview:

1. Insist that the other agent be present during the interview process so that you can confront them face-to-face with any allegations they have made about you and your products.

2. Take a tape recorder to the interview with the client and invite the replacing agent. Get a good unit that will pick up the entire conversation. This way, if something is said that’s not entirely correct, you’ll have it on tape. It’s a lot easier to disprove misinformation if it has been recorded on tape.

3. Take charge of the interview process by asking questions that have been carefully written out in a logical progression. Always remember, the person who is asking the questions in the interview process is in control of the interview.

4. Never ask a question for which you do not already know the answer. Every question should have a purpose.

5. Never raise your voice or lose your temper during the interview. Remember, part of the damage the replacement agent has done is to make you look unprofessional. They have undermined your trust with the client, and it’s up to you to regain that trust. Keep your head and don’t get drawn into a fight.

6. Establish some ground rules for your “discussion.” You might suggest to your client that each of you pose an opening argument after which questions can be asked by either side. Insist on fair play and no interruptions. Let the client referee the process and ask questions of his or her own.

7. Let the replacement agent go to bat first. Remember, the home team bats last. There’s another, more important reason for letting him or her take the lead. In most cases, he will spill his whole argument in the opening statement, allowing you to gain vital information on how he was able to sell your client in the first place.

8. Take meticulous notes as the replacement agent speaks. By having your notes in front of you, you can rebut much of his argument point-by-point.

9. Always show up early for the interview, 45 minutes to one hour in advance. The replacement agent has been taught to get there early to do a little “agent bashing” before you get there. They will look for subtle ways to show you that they are in control of the situation. In one of my first replacement interviews, the agent kept referring to my client by a nickname, implying a more intimate relationship. In another interview, the agent proceeded to get up and go to the kitchen cabinet and help himself to a glass of water. Neither tactic worked. We conserved both cases.

ASK OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

The questioning process is very delicate, and it’s important to ask open-ended questions that start with the words who, what, when, where, why, and how. You must avoid asking close-ended questions that begin with words like did, do, can, will, are, won’t, can’t, could, may, and so forth. These questions elicit a “yes-no” response. They require you to immediately pose a follow-up question, and, if this is unfamiliar ground for you, you could get into trouble.

The open-ended question demands a substantive response and either leaves the respondent blurting out the answer or something like “I don’t know.” More important, it puts the replacement agent on the defensive for perhaps the first time since he approached your client. Now the ball is in his court. Let’s see how well he responds on his feet.

It’s almost like a courtroom drama with you playing the part of Perry Mason. Knowingly or not, you take the role of the prosecutor when you ask the questions. Usually the first few questions I ask are an adequate nail for the coffin. Here are just a few that I pose:

• For my benefit and for the cassette tape, would you please tell us how long have you been in the life insurance business? The replacement agent usually will blurt out something like “I just entered the field.” Most agents affiliated with twisting organizations come and go in three months.
• Surely, then, you must come out of the insurance or financial services field? Would you please tell us about your background? Again, the replacement agent usually will embarrass himself by saying that he works as a mechanic or a clerk or a government worker, or whatever. There’s no disgrace to any of these fields of endeavor, except that they have little to do with the life insurance industry. Another nail in the coffin.

All through this process, I describe what my own background is. I point out that I’ve been in the insurance business since 1974 all with the same company, the Knights of Columbus. I mention my own professional designations and educational background-never bragging, only stating it into the microphone for the record.

• Tell us; are you a member of the National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors or other professional societies like the National Association of Fraternal Insurance Counselors? If not, why not? The replacement agent is beginning to get a little riled up now. He knows that life underwriter associations stand for everything he is against.

I politely point out that the medical profession has the American Medical Association and the legal profession has the American Bar Association. Why, then, should it be unusual for a professional life insurance agent to belong to his or her professional association? Logic suggests that if one is a professional, he or she should belong. Another nail.

I continue this relentless process of questioning until I feel the replacement agent is sufficiently self-indicted. Who are you? What is your background? When did you get into business? Where did you work before you became an insurance agent? Why did you suggest this particular plan for my client? How do you expect to provide for my client if you are not a professional in this field? What professional courses have you taken to insure my client that you are giving them correct advice? Another nail-bang, bang, bang.

I follow the same line of questioning concerning the product itself, but frankly, we rarely get that far. If the agent cannot answer questions about himself, he usually will feel even less knowledgeable about a product on which he is poorly versed at best.

During this entire question process, the client is witness to the incriminating facts as they unfold. Most reasonable people will begin to see the light. Doubts will be raised in their minds about who is fooling whom. Bang, bang. Another nail.

IT’S ABOUT TRUST

The goal of the professional life underwriter caught in a replacement situation should be a simple one: you must undo the mistrust between you and your client. Nothing more and nothing less will do. This battle is not about types of plans. It’s not about return on investment. It’s not about cost per thousand or about “buy term and invest the rest.” It’s all about trust. And trust, once violated, negates a relationship. It takes a mighty loving person to forgive you if you violate his trust.

I’m no expert on replacement, and I won’t pretend that I save every case that comes across my desk. Some business will be lost, regardless of what you do. Today, I’m more concerned about the unethical life underwriter than I am about the agent who makes a career out of twisting business. There will always be misguided people who think they can become wealthy by climbing aboard another pyramid, but they will find that there’s precious little room at the top of a pyramid.

If someone says to you “give me an apple seed and I’ll give you an orchard” chances are it’s too good to be true.

In fact, in one sense the existence of aggressive replacement organizations may have even been good for the life of the insurance industry. It has forced us to go back and cultivate strong relationships. It has forced us to eliminate the words “orphan policyholder” from our vocabulary and to become more professional. For that, all of us-and especially our clients-should be grateful.