 You've got the toilet paper to show for it. That's right is someone who has made an incredible incredible business in your industry Ramiz Ramiz, sorry Ramiz Ramiz Hakeem as with North Star insurance He's been in business for 12 years and really they took a family-owned insurance shop and made that into an insurance empire that produces over 25 million dollars in premium 100% of that over the phone I'm gonna repeat that 100% of that over the phone they do it in a hundred thousand square foot call center facility They were here sitting in the front row for their first 8% nation He's presenting on stage at the second 8% nation. Let's welcome managing partner North Star insurance Ramiz Hakeem We are North Star, together on a journey we will ride girl, in the right direction we will guide you We are North Star, we make it happen, no excuses, just cool it, take action 8% how you doing? Thank You Jan for the nice intro. Okay, there it goes. Okay. All right All right, hope you all are doing well. It's good to see you first I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for getting me on the stage Okay, I am blessed beyond measure and how I got here really I can't even explain it So I'm I really want to start With something a little uncomfortable Okay, do I have your permission to make you a little uncomfortable? Okay, now that's dangerous Okay All right, here's what we're gonna do. This is kind of this is kind of weird But you'll get to know me and then you'll it'll make sense here in a second I'm looking for Wait a second actually How about how about some money to make it even easier to be a little uncomfortable? Okay? I'm looking for the person that can make me Matter of fact everybody stand up for me Everybody stand up and I'm looking for the person that can make me the freaking goofiest possible face for a hundred dollars That's your voice not your face. Okay Some of y'all I can't touch you acting goofy or just your face I Don't see any goofy. Okay. Remind me your name. I like you Rebecca come up here Rebecca give it up for Rebecca with her goofy face Her goofy face have a seat for me, please. Thank you. Was that kind of weird Rebecca? Have you ever been given a hundred dollars to? Make a goofy face before You plead the fifth. Well, I didn't want to know that story. Here you go. You can you want to come up here girl There you go. Congratulations. No charge backs on that either. It's in your pocket. Okay. Good deal Thank you that's all I needed oh Do you want to show everybody your goofy face go ahead? Okay, she has a seven-year-old. All right. Well, he's probably hiding under his bed tonight. Okay now I Really want to talk to you about something uncomfortable What I'm going to be discussing with you is Not only uncomfortable for you But it's really uncomfortable for me As many of you know, I'm not supposed to be the person on the stage today Okay, I had a wonderful business partner that spoke last year at a percent nation He did a phenomenal job he was my business partner for almost 10 years and Last year at a percent nation. He had a clean bill of health and he was told he was cancer-free and then a number of months later He passed away from cancer. His name was Vince Spamponato and this is Uncomfortable for me Because I believe that this is the presentation that Vince would have wanted to give to you now He is on bigger and better stages He is on bigger and better stages and I am grateful to have known him He was extremely passionate About helping agents like you To the point where myself and the other partners would try to hold him back Okay, we'd say Vince. You can't be given away all of our secret recipes Okay, like Vince they ain't gonna pay us if we give it to him for free You know Vince tone it down on Facebook Vince but he was relentless in Giving away Everything he possibly could to every single person he possibly could because he truly believed that this industry Could make anybody achieve anything they wanted to would you do me a favor? Could you give Vince Spamponato a hand for me, please? Thank you Thank you. Thank you Thank you I'm I've been fortunate enough and blessed enough to really be Put into a position where myself and my partners are managing the largest Independent agency selling final expense completely over the telephone. Okay, and I'm gonna give you The secret recipe and This is very uncomfortable for me because I think you should pay me if I give it to you but not today, okay? But you Nate I'm gonna charge double. Okay now I Started in the industry Just like each and every one of you those of you that were at the VIP lunch today How awesome was that that Cody and Lauren put that on I gave that a little bit of that snippet today But I'm gonna give it again because I think it resonates with just about everybody in this room. Okay. I was broke. I Was in a hard place. I Wasn't qualified for a job So I did what what really a lot of us do we go to a place that'll hire us first and by golly had so many insurance offers I was like geez. I'm really a valuable person. They just hire just about anybody, right? So I didn't know that the time but now I'm looking back like okay. That was kind of cool So I got a job in the insurance field and they told me I was a financial advisor Okay, I'm like dang That's awesome, and then I took this these exam that this is these classes and I took this exam And I passed my test with a 70% Okay Okay, thank you And then and then I had to borrow money from my grandma to get appointed with the state to get my license actually activated and then I started working and then I got these leads and I would show up to these houses and I have to sit in like Really gross places And I'd have to like convince people that Yes, this is your signature you mail this in Okay, and we've got that problem where they think you're like a forgery artist And you shut up at the door and they're like that ain't me. I'm like, well, I didn't even know like this is you lady, okay You know what I mean? and then I like I'd have to Pretend like I was interested in what they had to say You're laughing because it's true Okay Okay And then they were always broke and I had to like help them cancel their cable like the broke people got better stuff than me sometimes Okay And then I'd get sell the policy and then I had to show back up the next week to deliver the policy And then like a week after that their kids would always call me So upset that we canceled mom's cable and that we can't watch the Sopranos anymore And you took her checkbook and you got her this policy and we don't need this stuff from you Does this resonate with anybody? Okay, that was the only one y'all being quiet like okay. Is he really saying that on stage? Is this is this Are we okay to talk about this? I think we are I think we are I was burnt out I was tired I was weary I was crabby I was unhappy I did not want to do this crap anymore So I did what every responsible insurance agent does in that situation I started recruiting agents Come on now Don't be lying Don't be lying Okay Because I wasn't I was not going to do that anymore One time I'm getting way too honest right now cody. You might have to bleep this out of the recording One time I went into a woman's home and I sat down on her cushion And I could feel the cat pee coming up in my pants And then I looked around and she didn't have any cats And every final expense agent in this room has a story just like that Okay, thank you. Hello. All right. We're on the same page We're on the same page. Yeah, these two guys over here like, yeah They're from the same town. They got the same client. Okay It's probably nsf in both of you right now matter of fact So I started recruiting agents. I thought man like there is money. I was making good money like Good money is only good to an extent, but I did not enjoy what I was doing So as I recruited these agents and man, I was a good recruiter I was selling them the dream And then they'd come in I'd start selling them leads Okay And then they'd call me and they'd say We're miss I went to this lady's home And I sat on her couch And I felt this cat pee come up to me And she ain't got no cats Or they'd complain Because their daughter would call them and try to convince them not to get the insurance or they weren't making any money Because they couldn't get their leads on the phone and it was Over like now I didn't have a me problem. I had 20 people's problems All on my shoulder any upline know what I'm talking about right now Okay, whoo. Thank you. Ain't just me give your uplines a round of applause Okay, that's good. We've got some good IMOs in here if we can get that many agents climbing further up lines That's good. Okay. That's real good I was done like This this this is not me This is not Who I am I needed help I needed to get out of what I was doing And the problem was is that everybody in the insurance industry was telling me room as you're doing a good job You're hitting big numbers You've got big volume You're recruiting a lot of agents You're buying a lot of leads and I'm like dude I just had someone call me and tell me they sat they sat in cat pee yesterday Like that is not that is not what I thought I was getting myself into I needed to begin changing my mindset from a salesman to a businessman You see what happened to me It's probably exactly where you are right now Your business is owned Operated and functioning solely on your efforts and if something were to happen to you You're gone And your business is gone Is that why we got into this business? So that we could build something for ourselves and then have it just Wash away when we're not there anymore Now lucky for me when I first got in the business just like most final expense agents. I was living in my mother's basement Isn't it funny that when when you start off as a final expense agent You really started as a final expense client trying to sell final expense Okay, let that sink in So And I didn't have any money. I was broke, you know, Nate like the normal final expense agent. Okay getting started I needed to begin Siphoning off some of these responsibilities so that I could work In the area That I love to do that filled me up that allowed for me to really showcase My unique abilities And see the reason why you got in the business was for the same reason You enjoy making sales You enjoy talking to prospects You enjoy making money But see most of your time is not spent doing that Most of your time is spent calling on leads Calling them back leaving a message Driving to the appointment being no showed Put who uses those dorky delivery stickers. Don't raise your hand. Oh a lot of you a lot of dorks. That's all right Hey, you got to do what you got to do. All right, I give it to you. You got to do what you got to do I used I was trained you talk about being a dork I was trained when I got out of the door I had to start waving while I come through the door. Okay I'm like and my manager was with me Okay, I'm like, well, I got a wave. I felt like a complete idiot and he was so excited. He'd be like Like I'm not at that level dude And then as soon as the door like the door hinge started to like even inch a little bit He said now you got to wipe your feet before you walk in the door because they don't know you're going in the door I'm like, man, you are a dork. Okay, and I got nothing in common with you And you probably just got this job because you saw one policy and I'm under you and you're under him And you're under him. You're under him. Who knows what I'm talking about. Okay Now you know what I'm talking about So I had to start Siphoning off these responsibilities I lived with my mother on the oldest of four And so I'm like mom You want going business with me? And she's like dude You're living in my basement, you know I'm like, yeah, but mom all final expense agents start living in their in their mom's basement So she started setting appointments for me You see I started investing money in my business So that I could be thrusted into an area that allowed me to showcase what I was good at Although I hated driving and getting into those poems and closing those deals It's not where I envisioned that it would take me I made good money at that. I just hated everything else that led to that Then I hired my brother Tony And I said Tony listen, man, I'm rocking this out like I'm making good money I have to buy new clothes every week, but it's okay. We're making good money and After I got married my wife made me take off my clothes before I got in the house. Okay If you want some good clients, you do whatever it takes to get them good clients At least at final expense. This may not ring true for everybody. I'm a final expense agent Okay And uh, I said Tony listen, man, if we can just if you could just service these people for me Like when they call in and complain just like smooth them up and Tony always just get all the girls in high school He'd be like, yeah, miss mary. It listen. It's okay She's like, I hate your brother. I don't want to buy for it mary. It's it's gonna be all right, honey He just sued them over so I don't have to answer those calls My mom was setting my appointments for me and I was just driving and driving and driving and just bam Just busting out sale after sale after sale. We didn't have a choice. We needed to make money And then we got this wild idea We said dude If we can sell this over the telephone And not have to not have to drive Not waste any time doing anything Like we would kill it doing this we would kill it doing this So what we started to do is I started finding people that I knew liked and trusted And said come on. Let's do this. Let's work together like this. So my brother Tony My good friend Vince Spamponato who was a field agent at the time one of the ones I recruited that used to complain to me all the time Okay I pulled him in Aaron eidzen Who was already selling final expense at a small scale over the phone. We partnered together And I said boys There's nobody doing this right now But we got to figure this out the industry needs this And what we found was is as we started building our business We naturally began to gravitate Into areas of the business that we felt like we could excel at For example, Vince Was an excellent trainer Excellent trainer. I mean so much so he'd give it away for free which drove me nuts But he loved it. It was what filled him up When he trained all day, he'd go home and be a better dad a better better spouse A better partner, but when he got pulled away and did like clerical work Man, he was a jerk Because that's not what he liked doing Tony was great at operations He would run the day-to-day operations and if you know Tony, he's behind there recording right now, but he's He's like the opposite of me shorter and more muscular less hairy. Okay And he would run that place and I'm like do and people would come to him and say stuff and he just loved it Would fill him up Aaron was a great facilitator He would facilitate the business we'd work on we'd work on contracts and projects and we'd get stuff done And then I really liked recruiting people Okay, I loved recruiting people And so we naturally went into our area of expertise And what we found is that One plus one Doesn't have to equal to When you are working in your area of strength It gives you energy. It doesn't siphon it off from you and if you're a final expense agent or a life agent or a A guy that just came in for the free food It doesn't matter If you're tired of the business It's because you're doing things that you don't like to do And you need to begin Outsourcing those things to a staff so you can build a business that outlasts you and that you can provide for your family Even while you're long gone You see Vince Spamponato owned 25 of Nordstar insurance advisors For 18 months before he passed away He was totally out of the picture But the business continued to grow thrive Do very very well and even after he's gone his kids are still provided for Handsomely if you want to build a business like that go ahead and clap your hands for me Okay, I'm going to give you the recipe right now And I'll just pass the offering plate around when I'm done. Okay Some of you already doing this by accident But we're going to take it to the next level We've come up with this concept that Nordstar insurance advisors called Responsibility rationing write that down. That's what you need to do. You need to ration off Responsibilities that do not generate new income for your business You get paid to do one thing and one thing only What's that? Make a freaking sale That's it You do not get paid to set appointments. You do not get paid to drive to appointments You do not get paid to service your customers I mean it all leads to more money But those are low value activities and quite honestly if you're the typical sales guy or saleswoman That's really not like your big Strong talent that you should be showcasing Those should be rationed off to somebody else. So by accident some of you are already using this method who here buys leads Okay, good Buying leads what that means is is that somebody else Is better at me doing direct mail or doing facebook or doing telemarketing So therefore i'm going to siphon off This responsibility to somebody else so that I don't get stuck wasting my time Doing that Does that make sense? I mean like how hard is it to get some Cardstock paper cut it in thirds type up a little deal on a printer print it out pay for the postage and put it out there I mean you could do that, right? Who does that? Please don't raise your hand even if it's true. Just leave your hand down Because I will not be able to hold back on that one honey, okay All right I saw she go, okay. I want okay. All right. All right You need to have somebody Who qualifies and sets your appointments for you Now i'm gonna i'm gonna run some math with you if I have time at the end But you need to find somebody who can set your appointments and qualify your leads for you that way you're not stuck Selling to duds You ever get so desperate for a sale That like you get that lady on the phone and you know This ain't going nowhere, but you still try to set the appointment Oh, that's the worst feeling in the world Though you ever have such a bad day that you hope your last appointment was a no show Hello I used to pray to god lord. Jesus. Please let this be a no show Because I cannot handle no more of this BS today Okay I was outside of my unique ability Once you get your appointment setter To get really controversial. I believe you should be doing this over the telephone And if you're not you're going to be extinct in the next decade You're dying a slow death The key indicator for where sales are trending at least for us is watching What other industries are doing Listen if you're buying a mortgage Can you imagine if you call a mortgage company and the man said I'm going to show up to your house and we're going to fill out This paperwork and we're going to go ahead and do and he shows up with the like one in black Like suitcase things that my dad used to have all the time, you know with the little key keys on the side Like one they're all one one one one three times, you know, and then you open it up like that's not how mortgages are sold now I bought my mortgage without even talking to a human being completely online Through email faxing over stuff That's a key indicator where we're going folks But that's a little controversial. So I'll just let you know between us girls If you want to sell face to face you still got time to figure out the rest, okay After the sale is made you need to learn To train somebody How to service your book of business So they're not calling you How many times do you spend like the whole day fixing one problem with one client? You must sell for trans america, okay now all right, so They're gonna beep that out for real on the on the recorded version Do you know how much money that cost you? thousands of dollars Over some little chick That I didn't do on his piece of paper Okay, you need to find somebody to do that for you Because in my opinion just about every insurance company Is a necessary evil in the insurance industry to be frank with you They're not helping you run your business. They don't care 10 people selling 10 policies or 100 people selling one policy who cares You know who cares the people in this room care We need to quit Drinking the Kool-Aid and doing it the way that it's always been done because it ain't working. That's why Only 8% of us make it I have to look somewhere for it. Okay. We got we got a branding issue. Cody. All right That's why 8% of us make it It shouldn't be that hard folks Can you imagine if you worked at a hospital when 92% of the doctors quit after three years I'm going to a voodoo doctor before I go there It's ridiculous And then after you found someone who's going to service your book of business You need to find someone who's just going to call your clients just because soft touches is what I call that Who calls their clients on their birthday? Okay, you don't have enough leads Uh Sorry Pete you fell right forth Pete put up two hands. He was like, yeah, baby. He facebook live did and everything. Okay But seriously if you're calling your clients on the birthday, you need more leads. However, it's still important It's still important But you should be too busy to do that you should be making sales You don't make sales by calling your clients on their birthday or on their anniversary Or on veterans day like that stuff is super important But I can hire someone for 10 bucks an hour to do that for me. I think I'm worth more than 10 bucks an hour Are you worth more than 10 bucks an hour? Then quit doing 10 buck an hour stuff Create a business That's why we got in this industry When you stay in your unique ability folks and you ration off those responsibilities you actually run a business That you can take time away from and it still runs without you You see right now most of us in this room We wake up every morning unemployed That's a sucky feeling We got to grind every day I got to get that direct mail card and convince mary that this is actually your signature Is that what you signed up for You signed up because the insurance industry produces More millionaires than any other industry in the history of mankind Yet here we are talking about showing up to a house with a direct mail lead That's absurd That's absurd Build a business the people who are making the money have a business They are not salespeople. They are business people Listen if I had time I would run some numbers with you Okay, and that's why this whiteboarder is here And cody's glad that I'm not working that whiteboard because I would show him up so good my handwriting's way better than his But here's how much I believe in responsibility rationing We found That we were really good at facebook leads I was generating our facebook budget per month I won't tell you the budget because then I might get jumped in the parking lot, but um, we get a lot of leads And I was getting them for less than three dollars a lead And then cody hired landon And I said landon what's what's going on here? And he told me he pitched me Soft clothes he could work on overcoming objections, but he did okay. He didn't try five times at all But you know what he did for me Landon generates leads for me at a dollar seventy six a lead now If you're not using landon to do your facebook ads you need to start that today today I found that we were really good at training But that we could not do it all the time. It was exhausting and we wanted to grow So what do we do? I called up my good friend charlie china I said charlie I got a problem, man I'm burnt out training all these people like I need some a system He pitched me on light he pitched my partner vince spompano on light speed vt We brought that into our business. See I rationed off that responsibility. I found a partner who's better at that than me. That's okay And by the way, if you have not bought charlie's deal, it is a steal. Ooh, that's a good tagline. You should use that, okay Because he charged me more for it, you know, and then I saw how cheap it was. I was like, I'll just pay him for that too Okay, whatever We found that after we trained people how to use the tool when we looked away They stopped using the tool correctly. You know what I did I hired my good friend Coach michael burt to come into my business And what he's charging you for that for monster academy Literally is less than what he charged me for 400 seats per seat Okay, in my opinion in the insurance industry. That is the definition of a charge back Okay We're gonna talk about that after this coach. Okay But what i'm saying is is that we live This every single day at north store insurance advisors our agents do nothing but make sales No driving no qualifying no servicing no upselling We got people in a customer service department that upsell our own people and we get commissions And we didn't know it was keeping coming Because i'm good At talking to somebody Transferring my conviction into them and convincing them to do business with me That's how you need to run your business john pets. I know i'm over. Where you at john Okay, jane come here This is how we used to even run our own Convention and we were the mcs and then last year at 8 percent nation I saw this man in action. I'm like i'm gonna ration off this responsibility. He does my conventions now I do and he's amazing isn't he Thank you. Thank you. Welcome. Okay, and that Is all I have for you today. Thank you. All right. Listen. I'm not selling anything Other than the recipe I've had to build a business but what I do think you need to buy Is some of the stuff that's sold here today because they are freaking amazing And they've helped our business grow where this year will write more than 25 million dollars of business Selling one carrier one product one way Which is the opposite of what the industry teaches you. Thank you very much. Yes