 There's one thing that all great salespeople truly understand, and that is that facts tell stories sell. Did you know that if someone isn't engaged, if they're not attentive, if you're losing them just for a second, the best way to get them back focused on you and attention and looking at you and eyeballs and everything else is to jump and tell a story. I watch speakers a lot. I'm wanting to be known as one of the best speakers in the world one day. So I watch a lot of speakers, a lot of keynotes. I'm picking stuff up. And I was with Coach Michael Burt who's speaking at 8% Nation 2020. I was with him and he was speaking at an insurance office. I was coming up after him to do some training, get some speaking as well, and he was speaking. And he started to lose part of the audience for a second and he noticed it and he instantly pivoted into telling this story of how when he was 14, 15 years old, he got elbowed in the face when he was playing defense on a guy and he hit the ground and he didn't know how he was going to respond and he remembers just instantly getting up and just knocking the dude out, punching a dude right in the face. And everyone not only sort of paying attention wondering, okay, what is he going to say next? What did he do in that scenario? But he also got everyone laughing. And I noticed that day and many other days since how important stories can be. So I just recently spoke at Sparta High School right down the road and I focused on telling stories. And I'm going to share a few stories that you guys may or may not have heard. And then I'm also going to share how stories can affect and help when you're selling insurance. Alright, so I remember as a kid, I don't know if I ever said this too many times before. I was 16 years old. I was working at Little Apple Market in Rogerville, Missouri. My shift was supposed to start at 4 o'clock. It was part time, 4 to 10 p.m. It was 3.30. I didn't feel well. I was throwing up. I didn't feel like going to work. I didn't know what I was going to do in that moment. So I went to my dad. I'm like, hey, I'm throwing up. I don't feel well. I really don't want to go to work. And he said something that day. And this is a story. Can you tell? You probably started paying a little better attention when I started telling a story. Weathering, I mean, and it needs to be real because they could, people can tell when it's fake, typically, alright? Now I think I can tell stories that are fake and still keep your attention. However, it's, you can tell when something's real, you know? So I went to my dad. Hey, I'm puking. I'm throwing up. I don't feel like going to work. He said, he said something that day that I remembered ever since today. And I think it's a lesson that insurance agents can relate to. And he said to me, Cody, you do whatever you want to do, but you know what I would do. And I'm like, dang, that woke me up. I've never seen him as a day of work his whole life, right? My father owns Secure Insurance Group. And he's the hardest working dude I know. That story, when I tell that story to an audience of insurance agents, when I'm training everything else, they relate to that. It's a story that people get. It's this story that gets your attention and it's a story that's applicable that everyone can learn from because in life, there's moments where you're going to have to show up, no matter what. I remember another quick story when I was 20 years old and I was about to be a full-time insurance agent. I was an intern. I was in an office, sales meeting with a manager. He had 10 of us stand up. There was 10 of us in the room. He had 10 of us stand up. And you probably know she started paying even better attention. I started telling the story once again. It's funny how that works. He had 10 of us stand up and he said, Cody, look around. He said, name people by names. He said, everybody look around. Look at the 10 people. Look at the nine people around you. He said, now nine of you sit down. He said, one of you is left standing. Maybe one of you of the 10 will actually make it selling insurance. And I'm like, dang, dude, that's a real positive way to start this whole deal. He was letting me know that day how tough and difficult it was to sell insurance. 92% of insurance agents failed. That's what we have at a conference with 2,000 people in Vegas called 8% nation. The integers lie. But there's more millionaires in the financial services and insurance industry than any other industry on planet Earth. Shortly after that, I was let the manager let me know that, hey, you're probably going to fail. Deep down, something clicked with me. I'm a very, very competitive individual. So something clicked with me and I thought, man, this dude don't know me. Deep down, I wanted to be the one. Obviously, I was, clearly, as I'm still sitting here and shooting a video today talking about insurance. And most people in that room fell, almost all of them. And shortly after that, I went and wrote down a goal. I said, I will earn. Not that I want to. It's one thing to say I want to do something. It's another thing to say I'm going to do something. I will earn $100,000 my first year as an insurance agent. I dated it. I signed it. And I put up in the wall of my cubicle. And every day, I went out to make that a reality. These are some small stories that many of you have never heard before. There's another one of when I went and my second month in the business, after having a really good, successful first month, I went and went to a car dealership. And I looked at this Dodge Challenger SRT8. Like 450 horsepower. It was unbelievable. Decked out. Loved it. I'm a big car fan. I don't know about you guys. And I looked at this car and I told the guy, I said, I want to buy that car. Made him an offer. I said, I want to buy that car. Like, dude, you're 20. Like, can you afford it? And I'm like, dude, I made some, I made good money. He said, well, how much? I said, well, I made $9,000 last month. And you can tell how stories they work, man. I'm telling you. And I said, dude, I made $9,000 last month. He said, you show me a pay step for $9,000, kind of like the Wolf of Wall Street movie. You show me a pay step for $9,000, and I'll sell you the car. Different Wolf of Wall Street, he says, if you can show me a pay step for $72,000, I'll come and work for you. Well, I didn't recruit the guy, but I went and he sold me the car. I said, let me see a computer, print it off a pay step. Here you go, $9,000 last month. And they sold me the car. Well, I'm telling you that because my parents got upset that I bought a car when I was 20 years old and they were out of town on a company trip. And someone else told them, hey, Cody bought this $42,000 car. And they're like, no, he wouldn't do that without me. He wouldn't do that unless he told us. And they were surprised. So they came back, they were upset. Try to get me to take it back. I'm like, I'm not taking it back, right? I made a decision, I'm gonna see it through. And I said, but here's what I will do, I'll make you a deal. If, and most of you have never heard most of these stories, right? If you have, put them in comments below. I'd love to know if you've heard some of these. And I said, if I can't pay this off in the next six months, I'll get rid of it. And they're like, okay, you know, it was a challenge. Competitive Cody came out again. So I remember over those six months, busting my butt to make that a reality. I had more reasons stacked against me to succeed my first year than most people ever have. And I remember taking a $35, $36,000 check up to Great Southern Bank in Springfield, Missouri. And I paid the car off that August, six months later, after I said I would do that in February. And I tell you that to say that it's a phenomenal story. But when life, your back's against the wall, how are you gonna respond? And for me, I've got these stories time and time again of how I made a decision and something clicked with me to be the best version of me that I could be. That's what I know. And that's why I know that facts tell, stories sell. Great salespeople use stories. Great speakers use stories. Great trainers use stories. I am getting better at storytelling. I've never been that good at storytelling. Now, every time I train, every time I speak, every time I do a breakout, every time I do a success society coaching program, live call with the group, I'd integrate a story. And I'm remembering a lot of stories from childhood and my first three years of selling insurance that I didn't know. I had a great first eight months selling insurance, cold calling, cold door knocking, most of you know 117K, et cetera, right? I had a lot of things to accept up against me. I didn't even realize how valuable storytelling was back then. I probably missed out on some sales by not telling stories. Here's how you can incorporate stories into sales right now. Number one, if you're losing someone's attention, it's a great way to get it back, right? If I'm losing you right now, I could go to a story and you would pay attention, okay? You just would. It's instinctual. We don't realize it. It'll happen with our team. We do team meetings every day at 8.30. If I'm speaking and I'm losing the team, I'll go to a story because I saw someone else do it and I know it worked when they did it. Maybe it'll work when I do it, right? Maybe it'll work when you do it. Second reason why you should incorporate stories into sales is because it creates an emotional connection. People relate to real life stuff. People relate to stories. Everybody says, hey, share your story of why you got in the business and maybe you got in the business because something happened in someone else's life and then you chose to get in it, right? Stories help because you can get someone's attention in the blink of an eye when you don't have it. You can create an emotional bond and you need to realize that facts tell stories tell. Anybody that does, like there's people that sell professional speaker coaching and what they say when you speak, start with a story, incorporate your message, give details, throw in the occasional story and end with a story. Bookend, story, content, story, all right? I've given you stories. I've given you some content. Now, I'm gonna finish with one more story, okay? I remember my first year when I did not know what to do because I didn't have a lot of, I did a lot of cold calling back then. I had a little time on a Friday. I left school on 11.30 on a Friday, drove 90 minutes to Willow Springs, Missouri, got there at 12.31 o'clock and I went and door knocked till almost 10 p.m. I set a goal when I started. I wanna sell six life insurance policies from cold door knocking today, knocked on about 175 doors, sold six policies. The last person I knocked on the door, not only do they buy, but they're like, you need to stop knocking people's door, dude. It's 10 o'clock, you know? And I stopped. But I tell you that story because I remember that I had an okay week. I could have went home, made a sell or two, but I hadn't reached my goal. There's gonna be times in life where you don't feel like reaching your goal. You need to knock on another door anyway. You need to pick up the phone again anyway. You need to do whatever it takes to hit your goal. When you set a goal and you don't hit it, you're lying to yourself and you're actually telling yourself you probably can't do it in the future. All right, so this is why facts tell story sell. Hey, if you love this video, man, I got a video for you. I interviewed my good buddy, Nate Offert, zero to $50,000 his first month. Unbelievable. Check it out. Click on it. I'll see you over there. Why people fail in the insurance business is the same reason why people fail in network marketing. It's the same reason they fail in any type of sale. It's...