Follow the direction in MENTORING

Follow the Directions
Mentoring isn’t something you put in place and assume it will work. We learned that the hard way.
We’ve been using the MDRT/GAMA International Joint Mentoring Program for six years now. We’ve had successes and failures. We learned some important lessons from our failures.
First, and probably most important, we discovered that if we were going to use the program, we had to use the whole thing — follow it exactly.
At first, we used the model, but didn’t have written agreements between mentor and aspirant. That was a big mistake. Without those written agreements, when the mentoring relationship ends there can be acrimonious arguments about which client “belongs” to which advisor. Now we use the program exclusively and we make sure everything is in writing.
Second, we’ve had more success with green peas — college graduates and career changers. Experienced advisors, as expected, reached MDRT in one year. Then their egos got so big they thought they could do everything themselves. That doesn’t fit with a joint-work culture. They don’t last long here.
Third, we learned that we had to pay close attention to who was going to mentor whom. We match strength with weaknesses, not like with like. If one advisor is an aggressive salesperson who’s a good closer, we might match her with an advisor who is more analytical and detail oriented. Experience and production levels themselves aren’t good predictors of mentoring ability; it’s a matter of personality. In fact, we have one new mentor, a career changer, who has been in the business for less than two years.
The Wayne Cotton sales system complements our mentoring very well. We approach businesses about holding financial-planning workshops for their employees. We essentially become part of their human resources department. Both mentor and aspirant conduct the workshops. It’s an educational process; we don’t sell products. The workshops are low-stress for everyone.
There are usually 20 people in a workshop and we’ll get ten to 12 good leads from each one. The system begins with a questionnaire that helps us identify likely clients. The mentor and aspirant evaluate each potential customer and the mentor assigns responsibility for follow-up case work to the aspirant. All their sales calls are joint.
We’ve been very successful with this process. It keeps both mentor and aspirant productive. It gets people over the “two people in a room is a crowd” attitude. We don’t have to make cold calls. The employers we work with love it because we’re providing valuable education for their employees, and that leads to quality referrals to other businesses. The clients we acquire from this process love it, too, because they know up-front that if one advisor isn’t available, they can talk to someone they’ve seen before.

Bryan Behrens, CSA IAR
President
Behrens Agency
Kansas City Life Insurance Company
Omaha, NE

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In some of our Markets, most MDRT are leaders and they will make excellent mentors. Select leaders that have willingness and capability, and educate them on the rules of engagement in Mentoring.
Give focused attention in targeting “seminar sell” – college graduates and career changers

“Leadership by the Compass not the Clock” – Dr. Covey

Sincere Appreciation,
Richaard Wong, Assistant Vice President
Best Practices, Training & Development