Be Mindful of Sleep and Exercise Habits Because They Affect Your Sales Performance
Annuity sellers are like everybody else. We have to use our common sense when it comes to eating better, sleeping right, and exercising. Any change in our lifestyle (good or bad) can affect our work. When we suspect that something might be wrong with our bodies, we tend to consult a medical provider. At the medical appointment, we expect immediate results, and we desire to return to normal with as expenditure of effort as possible. What our bodies tell us is crucial, but we cannot expect to stay healthy over the long term without changing daily habits. The Prevalence of Sleep Apnea One of the things we’ve read much about in recent years is when people have trouble sleeping. It interrupts everything they do. Many adults suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome, but they don’t know it. This could explain why you often fall asleep at your desk. People with OSA may have symptoms such as loud snoring, daytime sleepiness, and daytime fatigue. They may stop breathing while asleep and/or make jerking motions. After they resume breathing again, they may experience another fit. People with multiple episodes like these could have mild, moderate, or severe OSA, which calls for medical treatment. The Background on Sleep Apnea According to a study published by the American Thoracic Society, there are estimates that 3 percent to 7 percent of the general population has a form of OSA. “Increasingly, obstructive sleep apnea is also being recognized as an independent risk factor for several clinical consequences, including systemic hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and abnormal glucose metabolism.” What’s more, people with certain risk factors have a higher chance of developing this syndrome (i.e. age, being of the male sex, obesity, family history, menopause, craniofacial abnormalities, and using alcohol or tobacco). If you know someone with loud snoring or trouble breathing during sleep, you could suggest seeing a medical provider. A medical physician determines if a patient should be evaluated through polysomnography, also called a sleep study. Exercise Can Help As we get older, it’s important to use exercise as a way to keep our bodies strong and to prevent disease. One meta-analysis study published in Lung found “a statistically significant effect of exercise in reducing the severity of sleep apnea in patients with OSA with minimal changes in body weight.” This study also found that the important effects of exercise on cardiorespiratory fitness, daytime sleepiness, and sleep efficiency suggest the potential benefit of exercise in treating OSA. If you are feeling sluggish, you want to get to the root cause. If you aren’t sleeping right, you might see your sales go down, but you can also develop other health problems. Get Ready and Feel Positive The best thing that people with a suspected medical condition like sleep apnea can do is to seek early intervention. As an annuity seller, I would like to think that I could choose the eating, sleeping, and exercise habits that will help me to live a long and fulfilling life. However, I know that my sales job makes it important to find a balance. Of course, I will do my best to follow my physician’s advice. When I take care of “me,” whether that is getting some extra sleep each night before work or hitting the gym four days a week, I should be ready to sell more policies. My brain will be more alert, and I will have more energy to give to my clients. How else will I help them choose the best annuity product for their specific situation? If they talk to me now, their needs might be different from when they called me a year ago and decided to wait. I want to be ready!
Reaching Annuity Clients Without Jargon
Annuity Seller Tips! Are you reaching for annuity clients with the industry jargon? The concept of an annuity is based on very human values like planning for retirement and passive income you can rely on, but all too often when it comes to financial matters, people have a terrible time seeing through the jargon and details. Insurance and tax policies tend to come with a lot of unfamiliar multi-syllable words that are downright intimidating. Especially to someone who is thinking about how to plan a reliable grocery and recreation budget for their retirement years. It is important for your clients to understand the kind of financial decisions they are making. So, you want to explain as much as possible in relatable terms rather than technical details. For annuities, cover the central human concepts, and skip the financial terms until the second half of the conversation. Annuity Clients Think About Personal Retirement Everyone wants to retire well, but retirement isn’t what it used to be. Social security only covers so much and company retirement policies often have contingencies. Introduce the idea that a personally controlled retirement plan can’t be revoked, drained, or have the terms changed without their knowledge. They get to know exactly how much to pay in and how much they will get out of it. Lay out the options, but leave the technical stuff to the side or keep it as final points. They will want to know the difference between the variable, fixed, and income annuities. Let them sink their teeth into the human-relatable benefits first. Annuity Clients Thinks About Passive Income Even if a client is not looking for a specific retirement plan, you can sell them on the idea of non-retirement passive income. Most people work for a lifetime contributing to a retirement plan to gain some passive income. Why wait? Explain that some annuity plans allow them to put in either large sums or regular payments into the annuity. The funds will transfer it into a reliable passive income whenever they want it to start dispensing. This is great for people who have a large saving that they don’t want to overspend. Also, people that get paid irregularly that would like to live on a regular supply of money. By highlighting the human flexibility of the plan types, you can help clients understand annuities. That they can be used for almost anything that could benefit from a steady monthly fund. Annuity Client Think About Funding for Loved Ones It is easy to get into a one-beneficiary mindset, but annuities don’t have to benefit your client alone. Most people have at least one person they care for that they would like to see taken care of. Older couples might want to set up an extra income for their surviving spouse. Grandparents can use annuities to make sure there is college money available for their grandchildren. One under-recognized group is the adult children of aging seniors. Think of adults with parents in a retirement home. These adults are often busy with their own children and are worried about being able to care for their aging parents. An annuity in their parent(s) name could create a safety net. This would ensure that their elderly parents will be well taken care of if they can’t handle it in the future. Clients need to understand what each plan has to offer them in terms of life quality, timing, and financial peace of mind. Once have an idea of what they want from an annuity, then they will be ready to talk about taxes, payments, and financial policies. Start with the concepts they know like retirement plans and assured income before you jump into unfamiliar financial jargon. We would love to help you with your annuity sales product needs. Contact Us!