The insurance distortion field - Steve Jobs style

I’ve been reading through Steve Job’s biography again. I can’t believe he died over a decade ago now.

And, the one thing I keep coming back to is his:

Reality Distortion Field.

No matter what was going on in the real world, it’s almost like Steve Jobs couldn’t accept reality.

He had his own reality and facts didn’t matter.

When Apple was nearly bankrupt, he cut everything and went 100% in with a revolutionary and untested concept, the iPod.

And, he figured if you connected that to the iTunes Store, it was a winner.

But had it failed. Apple was dead. They were 100% in on it or bust.

This feels like real entrepreneurship. Albeit, pretty risky.

And the reason it all worked is he got people excited – employees, board members, investors and customers about what he was building. In reality, it was all a big show.

But, convince enough people in a vision and it will come true.

Sell the sizzle and then figure out how to make the product.

This is what he believed. But more importantly, this is what he convinced people of. They believed it and so the cycle started. Enough people believe in an idea, then it magically becomes real.

This also meant that anyone who tried to bring him back to reality lost. He hated them. He’d scream at them. Fire them if he could. Nothing was going to knock Steve off this vision.

And, he created enemies, oh boy did he.

Accountants and number crunchers – didn’t dare make eye contact with him.

Oh boy, was he ready to cut and fire people he didn’t need.

Legacy didn’t matter.

The future is all that mattered.

There’s an awful lot to like about Steve Jobs.

Personally, I like the fact that he didn’t know tech. He didn’t know how to code. He didn’t know how to design.

But, he did know what he wanted. And, he sure as heck knew what he didn’t. And, he was ruthless.

I don’t think Advisors should emulate Steve. We’re in the sales business after all.

But, there is some key thinking in his whole approach that should be given more thought.

Steve had a vision. A belief that he would stand by no matter what.

I see this approach in financial planning:

People need to save, invest well, buy insurance, etc.

But what happens when people don’t do that.

They fail right?

Maybe not always, but consistently making money mistakes over your entire life is going to mean you might not live the life you want. You might not retire when you want or how you want or with who you want.

There’s a saying in politics:

Speaking truth to power.

It means having the unpopular, yet often correct opinion, in a room of people that don’t want to hear what you have to say.

If you combine all this with Steve’s vision and apply this to your clients. You’re setting yourself up for some uncomfortable conversations with them, but…

Ones they will later value for honesty, commitment, and tenacity.

Let’s use insurance as an example.

How many times have you identified a client who needs insurance (or would benefit from it) and yet they either say no or are non-committal?

It’s not any different than the guy who’s been dating his girlfriend for 10 years and won’t pop the question. Sometimes it takes a very direct person to say:

Marry me or I’m leaving.

It’s a risk. They could say leave. But, if that actually happened, they clearly weren’t the right one for you. Good riddance, right?

To me it’s the same with clients. There’s a point you get to, with enough relationship and credibility and just say:

“You’re buying this insurance policy and I don’t want to hear anything about it. You’ll thank me later.”

This takes guts to say. But, you’ve got to stand firm. And, you’ve got to know the client extremely well or it will come off very in-your-face.

Under the right circumstances when you have enough relationship, understand the client well, understand their goals and you’re now at the altar (so to speak) for insurance or whatever you’re doing.

You’ve got to say: this is what we’re doing. Or, here’s the door.

I should put some caveats here. You have to know this person extremely well. You’ve got to have a position of power and authority. Or it won’t work.

I had an Advisor a few years ago take this tact with Critical Illness Insurance.

He went to all his clients and said:

“Here’s the deal. You don’t own CI and you need to. I’m coming to take an application for at least $100,000 of coverage (or more if you want). This is not negotiable”.

Here’s the truth, that year he sold 45 CI policies. Some couldn’t get it because they weren’t healthy enough, etc.

But the point is you have to believe and stand up for your convictions.

It also means you need to drive value, know your clients and have guts to stand by your vision.

This is precisely what Steve Jobs did. He had a vision. He believed it. And, he convinced every person to buy into it or else.

This is what you need to be doing.

So, if you’re not doing enough insurance. Ask yourself:

What piece of this process am I missing? Do I have the ability to sit in front of my client and tell them they are buying what I’m selling? If I don’t, how do I get there?

These are all super important questions. Ones you need to be asking yourself now, if you haven’t already.

And maybe you just need the right insurance partner to help take you to the next level.

If that’s you, send me a messsge and we can chat.

Be like Steve. Have a vision. Believe in it. And have the conviction to take action.

Until next week,

Andrew