 Who's ready for some phone tips? Assume the right person answered the phone. What do I mean? Which sounds better? Hello, I'm looking for Betty. Hello, Betty. Which is more confident. But we're trained, and it's human nature to say I'm looking for so-and-so. Is this so-and-so? Are you so-and-so? You have the lead. You know it's them. Betty, right? And you're going to get lied to less. Who's ever got a call, and you said you have the wrong number when they didn't? Me too. When they do it, you blame the lead vendor. Maybe they lied. So let's be a little more confident in our approach. I only use my first name. I don't use last name. Nobody cares. And they're going to forget. I want to give them just information for them to remember. I don't use last name. I also don't use company name. Because when I use company name, they end up jumping in. They interject. Well, who is that insurance office? So instead, I'm in control. Who's in control? You are when you're on the phone. They're not in control. I don't ask how are you. I don't ask questions that I don't know the answer I'm going to get. So I don't ask it because I don't know them yet, so I don't really care. Remember, we don't yet. And I'm doing awful. Why are you calling me? That doesn't help, does it? Also, don't pause. This is the death of the call. Pausing. Let me give you an example. If I grabbed not in this room, because Houston agents are amazing. But if I was in Dallas, and I grabbed 10 agents, and I gave them leads, eight or nine of them, 80 or 90%, would say this. Here's the example of the wrong call. Example of the wrong call. Hello, I'm looking for Betty. Betty, hey, this is Cody Askins with the Houston Insurance Office. How are you doing today? Great. You recently fell out of form online saying you wanted to quote to buy life insurance. And then we pause. And when you pause without a question, and most people do it, we've all been guilty of it. What you're saying is, I don't know what to say. I have no confidence. I've lost control of the call. You should interject, say something stupid that you don't mean, give me an objection, or hang up. Right now. But we don't know that. So we haven't been trained that way. That's why I don't pause. I'm in control. If I pause, they're in control. I finish with a question, I'm in control. If I don't, they're in control. You get it? Also, sell a drop-off time. Which is better? Hey, I would like to send an appointment for Monday at 9. Or can I drop it off in the morning or in the afternoon? Which has more likelihood of getting what you want? Because with leads, every lead has some level of interest. Some is low. Some is high. A lead vendor can only control two things. Agents blame lead vendors all the time. It's easy. It's easy way out. Agents blame it. And a vendor can control two things. Who sees the ad? Like, which demographic sees the ad? And what they see on the ad? They can't say, well, you fit the demographic. And I showed you the ad, but you can't fill out the form. And you can, and you can, and you can, right? We can't control if they say I'm not interested when they did it, right? We can't control if they say, hey, I'm busy. And you don't know what to say, right? A vendor can't control, hey, I'm broke. That may be a smokescreen. That may be wealthy. Who knows, right? Or I already have life insurance. I prefer that they already own life insurance. I just do, right? So we don't know those things. So here's an example of the right call. Who wants the right call? Say yes if you want the right call. Here's the right call. Betty. This is Cody. Easy so far. I'm getting back to you. I love that phrase. I'm getting back to you about your requests for the new final expense information. It was on Facebook, and you put your favorite color was red. I'm assuming you remember doing that, right? You can see it's a habit for me now, too, right? The head shake. And I'm on the phone, and I'll still do it, right? I'm assuming you remember doing that, right? Good. I'm the local filled underwriter. I'll be out in your area on Friday. So should I drop it off? What do you think, in the morning or in the afternoon? That's the right call. It actually eliminates some objections. You stay in control of the call. You set more appointments. And vendors can't help it that some agents are a lot better than others, right? OK? So who thinks they're a phone phenom now? Who's going to use that? Who's going to use some of that? I like it.