 Welcome to the insurance agent podcast. I'm Cody Askins with SecureAge of Mentor. We've started this new podcast to provide you everything you need to become a successful insurance agent. This new podcast is brought to you by SecureAge of Mentor and when you think about leads, training, and insurance sales success, I want you to thank SecureAge of Mentor and SecureAge of Mentor.com. Thanks and enjoy. What's up, guys? Hey, welcome to the podcast, our new video podcast series. I'm Cody with SecureAge of Mentor. I have Mr. Joe DeVault. Joe, thanks for being on, buddy. You bet. Cody, thanks for having me. Dude, Joe and I have known each other for quite a while. Joe is out of Jackson, Missouri. What's funny is I'm on the southwest Missouri side. Joe is on the southeast Missouri side down in the boot hill. He's a part of Legacy Life Insurance Brokers, formerly known as, Joe's been the business five years. He's a family organization for over 52 years, formerly known as DeVault Insurance Group. All they do is final expense. They're down in southeast Missouri. They do an incredible job. Joe's been the business five years and I'm telling you what, as far as grinding and focusing on seeing people, there's very few people that I respect in this business like Mr. Joe. Thanks, Cody. Yeah, I appreciate you being on, buddy. All right, so what's been your, you've been the business five years. What's been that success, but it hasn't been easy, I guarantee it. What's been, what made you unique and allowed you to be successful in this business? It's all about seeing the end result and what this business has to offer and bring to all the folks, not only just the clients, but the agents as well. And having a family organization of 50 years and seeing what that result is, seeing the tip of the iceberg, you know, that's the success picture. Nobody sees all the hard work in the grind that's under the water. Everybody focuses on the little piece that sticks above and it's all about not quitting and not giving up because the system works. Agents are trying the system. The system isn't trying agents. So it, it's all about just continuing to work, to work the leads, seeing the folks and showing your plan, no matter what it takes. Well, from talking to you, I know you're a numbers guy and you're used to giving, giving your team numbers and setting goals and having expectations. What's kind of something that you try to either do for you or some of your agents that's like, here's what happens. Here's what happens when you do this, this and this and kind of break down the numbers of what a typically a good week looks like for you guys. Well, so basically, yeah, it's, it's all about, you got to have a goal. You have to have a why to make your drive in this business. And it's all about being able to reverse engineer a plan off of the leads to show your agent what is, what is there and what's available. Something that's going to pushing to work hard all the way through the week. Not when he gets his first selling quits. So, you know, if you're going to take, if you're going to take your 20 to 30 leads a week, depending on how hard you're wanting to hit it that week, you take your 30 leads and, you know, some guys use the phone and set appointments to try to be more efficient or to get some set activity. I'm, I'm all about having some good solid set activity. But at the end of the day, if you can't reach them on the phone, you know that you got to go do or knock those leads. You got to work on it. So you take your leads, the ultimate goal at the end of the week is to get in front of as many people as possible and show your plan to as many people as possible. Each guy does, does it their own way a little bit different, but take those 20 to 30 leads and go out there and, and find the people that are interested, you know, everybody gets hung up on negative leads, negative leads. But a lead is a lead. It's a name on a piece of paper at the end of the day. The product still has to be sold and you still have to get out there and get in front of the folks. Exactly. It's, it's all about, it's all about the attitude and the outlook of the agent. There's no good lead and there's no bad lead. And you just got to get out there and process them and, and get through them. Find the folks. There's people out there that want to talk to you. I know that's why they fit out. They had something in mind. So take, take those leads, take your 20 leads and go out there and sit down with your eight to 10 people out of those 20 leads that are interested, want to talk to you and write your four to five applications with the folks that you're going to sit down and talk to. Don't get hung up on the folks that want to give you all the negative feedback because they're nervous to actually sit down and talk to you, but they know they have a need for the product that you have, or they would have never filled the card out and send it in. Exactly. That's awesome. Thank you, buddy. I appreciate that. So, so tell me this real quick. What's something that you've learned over the last five years, what's something that you know today that you do well today that you wish you would have known five years ago when you first started, or something that you wish you would have done five years ago that is truly impacting your business today that may help other new agents watching this? Consistent flow of leads week in, week out. You have to be consistent with this business. There is no lukewarm. You're either on fire and killing it or you're over by the wayside. Don't be a 92% or as that's Cody's phrase right there, don't be a 92% or because you're trying to try the system. The system works, put some faith in it, believe in it, get excited and go out there and tell somebody about the product that you have. I love it. I love it. You know, everybody has cold feet when they're coming in. Oh my goodness. How am I going to pay for leads? And how do I afford to go to a commission based job versus I know I'm going to get paid every week and they're skeptical and people read that in the agents. I mean, they're reading you from the time you pull up in the driveway or the first time they initiate the phone call with you. They're reading, they're reading you and who you are. And you know, have faith in the system, either believe in it and get behind it and do it a hundred percent or do something else. You know, I mean, I love it. Job isn't the easiest job out there. If it was easy, everybody would be doing it. You know, you gotta have a tough mindset. Hundred percent. It's certainly not even, yeah, you mentioned you mentioned something. I say a lot. I'm going to mention something that I used on a video that I actually first heard from Mr. Joe DeVault talking to you on the phone. You said without leads, you are unemployed. And it was that wasn't a cut. People may think that was a Cody Askins phrase. I promise right. And on the Bible, it wasn't. It was Mr. Joe, what brought you to that point to start saying that? That's, I mean, that's what we've driven our agency off of for 52 years. That's what that's what makes us a little bit different than some of the other financial markets is, you know, and nothing wrong with war marketing. But you have to have somebody to show your plan to, you know, you get you only have so many family members and friends that you can reach out to you somewhere that is going to dry up and you're, you're not going to have anybody to talk to, but if we can consistently provide you with folks that are interested in the products that you have to offer, it's, it's money in the bag. Exactly. Exactly. What else, what else is something that you, you would say that you maybe let me ask you this, what's something that you do or that you have your team do that maybe is a little creative, maybe is a little unique, maybe is a little rare, or maybe it's something you learn from someone else? I would say probably the biggest thing is referrals, something that's talked about a lot in our market. Everybody says, oh, get referrals, get referrals. But as what I see personally myself that I struggle with as well as my agents is you get so caught up in the moment while you're in there writing the application and making the sale that you don't want to screw up, you're afraid you'll mess up the sale. You did if you asked them to help, help you. But referrals is a game changer in this business. You've already built your report with the folks that you're helping and they want to help you as bad as you want to help them. Let them help you get referrals. It will help balance and make your numbers work with your leads and everything else because there's highs and lows in this business. You know, and it helps level that graph across the board and they're free. You're not going to get any referrals that you don't ask. What's it hurt to ask? You know, it's just I feel like probably one of the biggest keys that so many agents are missing out on. They can be a whole lot more efficient and get a lot more out of their hard earned money that they're putting into leads if they will simply ask and work for referrals. What's your pitch? What's your pitch on getting the referral from the client? Yeah, my pitch is, you know, Miss Jones, I appreciate you taking time out of your day and sitting down with me. Let me help you take care of this need. I know you have other family members, folks you go to church with, neighbors that you're associated with every day, folks you're drinking coffee with that need help with the same exact need that we've taken care of for you. And I know that you believe and trust in me and you put your faith and trust in me to help you take care of this need. I would appreciate it if you would pass my name and number along to them as well. That's good. I like the way you worded that. Yeah, I love the way you worded that because you got me and I don't know if you were finished, but you got me thinking about opportunities where I could find people to refer you. You're mentioning things in their life. They're going to get them thinking about those specific instances where they may have an opportunity. And a lot of times the way you ask it, I've had a lot of times someone is popping in your hand. Absolutely, that's where I was going next. They'll say, well, my uncle or my cousin and you go straight from that and be like, Miss Jones, if you don't mind, I've got a little bit of time here. Would you mind to give them a quick call? Tell them I'm in the area. I could be there in 10, 15 minutes to help our ways from here. I'd be more than happy to sit down and do them the very best service that I have just like I've done for you. And if you get them to make that phone call. Yeah, the return on investment on that referral is off the charts. How much better of a referral is it when they call versus maybe you just call? Oh, it's it's that contact ratio and that they've already they trust their family and friends versus a random agent. Not saying it doesn't work that way too, but absolutely. If they're talking, if I'm talking to Cody Askins and I refer somebody that he's looking for a service for and I refer it to you. I mean, that report and trust, you know, it's good. You know, it's going to be the best there is. And they don't second guess it or question it at all, you know, so that's good. That's that's the whole thing. And we can't be narrow minded in the final expense market. It's an ever changing market that's growing and leaps and bounds, but we can't be complacent. We've got to stay active and stay after because if you don't write it, somebody's going to come along behind you and write it because hundred percent because everybody's going to have a funeral to pay for one day. It's just how they want to pay for it. Exactly. Dude, you mentioned some phenomenal nuggets for these ages that are wanting to learn. Last question. What is something that you've got a chance to? This is going to be on our all of our social media channels or YouTube. Hopefully it will probably get thousands of views. What is you've got a new insurance agent looking you in the camera right now? You've got a struggling agent. You've got someone that needs inspiration. They need motivation. They need help. What's something that you've got a chance to speak to those individuals? What would you say? Do something different. Quit doing the same thing and expecting different results. And go to let's look at the numbers. Let's see where where the struggle is at. Let's go through your presentation. Let's do some mock interviews. What's the rebuttals that you're getting? What are you where are you struggling to close the sale? Because there's a sale made in every house, every door you knock on. Let's work through this and let's strengthen your weakness. The chain is only as strong as the weakest link. And let's make that weakest link stronger so we can prepare. Dude, wow. That was that was that was strong. Thank you very much, buddy. Dude, I'm from from helping agents from getting to provide value. And you're good, bro. He's in the middle of working, man. He's a working dude. I love it. Thank you for literally and people know you're a real guy. You're in an insurance office. You're working, man. Don't don't don't worry about it. Thank you for number one being on this. Huge thank you to that big hand for Joe. Thank you, buddy. Also, Cody, there was some nuggets and some things that agents can learn from that you brought to the table. If they want to follow Joe Devault, you have a Facebook social media. We're on Facebook. Check us out. Legacy life insurance brokers, legacy life insurance brokers. Mr. Joey D. Thanks for being on, buddy. Incredible job. Awesome. Thanks, Cody. Thanks for all your help, dude, brother. You got it. Excellent, excellent job.