Podcast appearances and mentions of Van Miller

In this episode, Rob & Dump Truck share their stories of how they became rabid Bills fans and how that fandom led to them becoming lifelong friends as football is offically back.Rob shares his earliest Bills memories of crying as a 5yr old at the end of SB25 to listening to Van Miller on the way home from church with his parents and then running into the house to catch the rest of the action on TV.DT's Bills roots can be traced back to his Grandpa who got him hooked at an early age. As he baptized DT into The Mafia, his obsession with the Bills quickly formed and it was apparent at an early age that the Bills and family went hand-in-hand. Then the fellas tell the unique story of how they met late one Saturday night on the corner of Delaware & Allen and how the Bills organically made them lifelong friends the next morning at The Ralph. Finally, Rob shares some BIG NEWS with The Crew as he is skipping his'24 season tickets for the perfect bundle of joy reason.THE NICKEL CITY CREW TAILGATE REPORT Presented By: Queen City VintageRob & DT will link up this weekend for the greatest day as a Bills fan, the home opener this Sunday in Orchard Park. What's on the menu? Who is coming? The weather is going to be a little cooler than normal this time of year but it doesn't change that the home opener is truly a special day and this year is no different!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nickel-city-crew-podcast--5347543/support.

In this episode, Rob & Dump Truck share their stories of how they became rabid Bills fans and how that fandom led to them becoming lifelong friends as football is offically back. Rob shares his earliest Bills memories of crying as a 5yr old at the end of SB25 to listening to Van Miller on the way home from church with his parents and then running into the house to catch the rest of the action on TV. DT's Bills roots can be traced back to his Grandpa who got him hooked at an early age. As he baptized DT into The Mafia, his obsession with the Bills quickly formed and it was apparent at an early age that the Bills and family went hand-in-hand. Then the fellas tell the unique story of how they met late one Saturday night on the corner of Delaware & Allen and how the Bills organically made them lifelong friends the next morning at The Ralph.  Finally, Rob shares some BIG NEWS with The Crew as he is skipping his'24 season tickets for the perfect bundle of joy reason. THE NICKEL CITY CREW TAILGATE REPORT Presented By: Queen City Vintage Rob & DT will link up this weekend for the greatest day as a Bills fan, the home opener this Sunday in Orchard Park. What's on the menu? Who is coming? The weather is going to be a little cooler than normal this time of year but it doesn't change that the home opener is truly a special day and this year is no different! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/buffalofambase/support

Can prioritizing genuine conversations over product knowledge revolutionize your sales approach?In this episode:The Power of Conversations in Business The Value of Thoughtful Conversations  Importance of Conversations in Sales Building Referrals Through Servant Leadership  Listen in as industry legends Van Miller and George Sigurdsson share priceless insights on transforming your interactions with clients, focusing on thought-provoking questions and simplifying complex topics. We emphasize the power of education in sales, particularly within the insurance industry, and explore strategic decision-making in estate planning, including a compelling discussion on choosing beneficiaries among family, the tax man, and charities.Discover how the power of conviction can elevate your sales success. This episode highlights the importance of enthusiasm, genuineness, and energy in client interactions and introduces the essential three C's: conviction, courage, and commitment. We also discuss mastering sales strategies through constant practice and training, ensuring you remain client-centered and clear in your communication. With passion and dedication, this episode aims to empower you to make meaningful connections and provide unparalleled financial security to your clients.RESOURCES + LINKSWatch the full episode on YouTube: HERE30 in 5 Life Insurance Challenge Waitlist - HERE 200M+ in Insurance Sales. Thousands of Success Stories. Your Turn.FREE 7-Day Demo TRY NOW NEW BOOK “Quote 3: How to Make Multiple 6 Figures in Any Sales Organization" Pre-Order HERE TEXT METext "BUZZ" to (816) 727-7610 to chat directly with MichaelFOLLOWWebsite: https://www.weaversa.comLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelweaverwsa/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/themichaelweaverInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_michaelweaver_/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@michaelweavertraining

Growing up in the heart of Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres country, Sal Capaccio '95 knew first-hand the significant role professional sports plays in the everyday lives of Western New Yorkers. One of Capaccio's earliest memories was watching the Sabres on television and proudly singing the popular fan song, “We're Gonna Win That Cup,” with his family in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Capaccio cheered on the Bills during their glory years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the team became the first to appear in four consecutive Super Bowls. While his childhood friends spent their days emulating the heroics of Bills legends like Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Sabres stars Dave Andreychuk and Domink Hasek, Capaccio dreamed of a future in sports broadcasting. He impersonated Sabres' broadcasters Rick Jeanneret and Ted Darling, as well as iconic Bills' play-by-play voice Van Miller. Capaccio doesn't have to pretend anymore — he covers the Bills for WGR 550 Sports Radio and serves as the sideline reporter for game broadcasts. Capaccio also hosts a radio and television show, writes stories for the station's website, and @SalSports is an entertaining and informative follow on Twitter. “Every single Sunday when I walk into an NFL stadium, I feel blessed to have this job. Whenever the national anthem is playing, I look around the entire stadium and find myself taking stock of my blessings,” says Capaccio, who even has his own theme song that precedes his WGR radio appearances. Capaccio's path to a career in sports broadcasting started as many do; he studied broadcast journalism in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He was active at campus radio station Z-89 WJPZ-FM, eventually serving as the station's sports director. #salcapaccio #wgr550 #buffalobillssidelinereporter #nationalfootballleague #radiopersonality #syracuseuniversity #livewithcdp #iheartradio #chrispomay #wqee #livestream #youtube #facebook #twitter #twitch #linkedin #audio #applepodcasts #youtubemusic #spotify #anchorfm #iheartradio #amazonmusic #stitcher #tunein #barrycullenchevrolet #sponsorship Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/54200596...

Van Miller - Process Of Rightly Dividing God's Will by Northwest Church of Christ

Van Miller - 1 Corinthians 7 - God's Perfect Plan Part 2 Context: 1.) Paul was probably answering questions that were asked by Corinthians. 2.) Paul spoke of the present distress that was to be considered also.

Van Miller - God's Perfact Plan

Van Miller - End Time Events

Van Miller - Antioch Our Example by Northwest Church of Christ

Van Miller - Already, Not Yet

Van Miller - Empty House by Northwest Church of Christ

Van Miller - Where Are You by Northwest Church Christ

Growing up in the heart of Buffalo Bills and Buffalo Sabres country, Sal Capaccio '95 knew first-hand the significant role professional sports plays in the everyday lives of Western New Yorkers. One of Capaccio's earliest memories was watching the Sabres on television and proudly singing the popular fan song, “We're Gonna Win That Cup,” with his family in Cheektowaga, N.Y. Capaccio cheered on the Bills during their glory years of the late 1980s and early 1990s, when the team became the first to appear in four consecutive Super Bowls. While his childhood friends spent their days emulating the heroics of Bills legends like Jim Kelly and Thurman Thomas and Sabres stars Dave Andreychuk and Domink Hasek, Capaccio dreamed of a future in sports broadcasting. He impersonated Sabres' broadcasters Rick Jeanneret and Ted Darling, as well as iconic Bills' play-by-play voice Van Miller. Capaccio doesn't have to pretend anymore — he covers the Bills for WGR 550 Sports Radio and serves as the sideline reporter for game broadcasts. Capaccio also hosts a radio and television show, writes stories for the station's website, and @SalSports is an entertaining and informative follow on Twitter. “Every single Sunday when I walk into an NFL stadium, I feel blessed to have this job. Whenever the national anthem is playing, I look around the entire stadium and find myself taking stock of my blessings,” says Capaccio, who even has his own theme song that precedes his WGR radio appearances. Capaccio's path to a career in sports broadcasting started as many do; he studied broadcast journalism in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. He was active at campus radio station Z-89 WJPZ-FM, eventually serving as the station's sports director. #salcapaccio #wgr550 #buffalobillssidelinereporter #nationalfootballleague #radiopersonality #syracuseuniversity #livewithcdp #sportstalk #podcast #chrispomay #host #livestream #youtube #facebook #twitter #twitch #linkedin #audio #applepodcasts #googlepodcast #spotify #anchorfm #iheartradio #amazonmusic #stitcher #tunein #radiopublic #barrycullenchevrolet #sponsorship

Van Miller - Works And Salvation by Northwest Church Christ

Van Miller - The Vision Of The Local Body by Northwest Church Christ

Van Miller - Drifting Away

Van Miller - How The New Testament Church Grows To Maturity by Northwest Church Christ

Rhonda speaks with her guest who shares information about their organization, Van Miller.

Wait until you hear this international case of family court shenanigans. Grab your best headphones and take listen.  Yeah, my name is Van Miller. I am by background. I'm a film and TV professional. I've produced television shows. And I also do investigative journalism on the side in order to expose the corruption of all kinds. Well, you know, the family courts, you know, I just don't mince words with family court too much anymore, because, in my opinion, it's a wholly unlawful criminal operation that destroys families. I don't think there's anything lawful about the way things are done in family court. And one of my agendas is to not only bring attention to what's going on, and also to reform the family courts, because right now, as it stands, Family Court is nothing but a completely destructive operation that traumatizes children separates families. And it has to totally be in my opinion, it has to be not not just reformed, I mean, it has to be rebuilt from scratch, because it is a completely destructive operation, in my opinion. Get ahold of Vem at   VemMiller@protonmail.com.

Van Miller - The Work Of The Holy Spirit In Our Time by Northwest Church Christ

Please join us for week 3 of our April 2022 series on Bridging Generational Gaps. This week, all 3 Brother Cousins interview a "mature" Christian, brother Van Miller. Van serves as an elder at the Northwest Church of Christ in Plainview, TX. In this episode, he shares insights on the following topics: How creating generational division goes against God's design for the church. The necessity of recognizing each age-group's value and necessity. Practical ways the elder groups can engage the younger ones (hint: it's not pizza and skits) The importance of humility. The benefits of "family integrated worship" (refer to the first bullet point) And more! Van sprinkles on lots of great Scripture references, so have your paper and pencil at the ready!

Please join us for week 3 of our April 2022 series on Bridging Generational Gaps. This week, all 3 Brother Cousins interview a "mature" Christian, brother Van Miller. Van serves as an elder at the Northwest Church of Christ in Plainview, TX. In this episode, he shares insights on the following topics: How creating generational division goes against God's design for the church. The necessity of recognizing each age-group's value and necessity. Practical ways the elder groups can engage the younger ones (hint: it's not pizza and skits) The importance of humility. The benefits of "family integrated worship" (refer to the first bullet point) And more! Van sprinkles on lots of great Scripture references, so have your paper and pencil at the ready!

Van Miller - Miracles by Northwest Church Christ

Van Miller - India Report - Infallible Truth

Van Miller - Who Are You Seeking? by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

UB kicks off their 2021 season tonight! Their play-by-play voice and long time WNY broadcaster Paul Peck joins this episode of Bull in the Basement. We chat UB football, his famous Syracuse U roomie, Bills football and in particular Van Miller, and even bowling! Please enjoy and share with UB, Bills, SU, and bowling peeps everywhere!

In this episode, Murph and I chat his journey from newsman to sportscaster, Van Miller, tools for calling the games (inside the booth), and his outlook for the 2021 Bills. Please enjoy and spread the word!

Van Miller - Christ's Message For The Church Today by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Please, join me as we get transparent with Vanessa Henderson - Designer of Van Miller International Sponsored by Caprimini Designs Transparency Talks Podcast discusses the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurs and entertainers. Transparency Talks Podcast hosted by International Recording Artist & Amazon Best Selling Author- Butta B-Rocka For ad placements, sponsorships or to be a guest on the show contact info@buttabrocka.com Subscribe to my NEW Transparency Talks Podcast Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiGORkaeH5W52-A25VRdIrg Follow me on IG/FB/Twitter @ Buttabrocka and under Transparency Talks Podcast www.buttabrocka.com #transparencytalkspodcast#buttabrocka #vanmillerinternational #vanessahenderson #capriminidesigns #FBLive #stitcher #tunein #anchor #liverecording #guestspeaker#transparency #transparencytalks #transparencytalkspodcast #inspiration #motivation #podcasters #podcast #entreprenuer #entrepreneurships #smallbusiness #applepodcast #googlepodcast #spotify #anchorfm #youtube #artist #author #soulcitythebeat #thehitnetwork #italy #UK #africa #usa #pandora #iheartradio #nabfeme #urbanfushionradio #glassfm #londonsenergyradio #blaze1radio #rokdanradio #qmixxradio #sqweekeyradio #nigeria #detroit #japan #southafrica --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/transparencytalkspodcast/support

Van Miller - Our Eternal Existence (Part 2) by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Our Eternal Existence (Part 1) by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Dr. Bessie Fletcher and Van Miller International stop by Skeem Beatz Radio Music Review to speak with Mr. Stout and Patricia M. Goins about the new mother & daughter network. www.mdbn.org www.vanmillerinternational.comTo reach Van Miller Call 404-290-2239 To reach Dr. Bessie Fletcher Call 954-665-4205www.atlantamuzicindustry.com

Van Miller - The Church Christ Built by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Who Do I Work For? by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

World famous international fashion designer Van Miller

Van Miller - Going The Second Mile by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

There are a lot of stigmas around retirement planning and David’s new book addresses two of the most difficult problems facing retirees right now, longevity risk and tax rate risk, and how to deal with them at the same time. Tax rate risk has always been a big problem for retirees, but it’s not their biggest concern. Most people worry more about running out of money before they run out of life. David has observed that financial advisors are stuck believing they can solve one risk or the other. 99.5% of advisors fall into this trap where they mitigate longevity risk within the tax-deferred bucket, and that unleashes a chain of unintended consequences that can bankrupt a stock market portfolio ten to twelve years faster than you thought possible. Daniel recommends to every financial professional he meets that they read the Power of Zero collection of books. You’re not relevant to the retirement space if you don’t have some part of your company’s philosophy centered in the Power of Zero message. David isn’t making big claims about a specific timeframe. His message is universal and experts have been saying we’ll need to deal with all this debt at some point in the future. It’s not a political issue, we all need to prepare for this. An object at rest stays at rest. People are averted to paying taxes to the IRS sooner than they need to, even if they believe that tax rates will be higher in the future. More people are coming over to the Power of Zero way of thinking. There is an incredible divide between the people who think that tax rates will never go up and those who think that the Power of Zero paradigm is the gospel of retirement planning. The biggest skeptics don’t believe that tax rates will rise in the future and the very thought threatens their way of living. David McKnight’s top three advisors to pay attention to include Ed Slott, Tom Hegna, and Van Miller. Each of them has something extremely valuable to add to the conversation. Many experts decry annuities unnecessarily and consumers need to be careful about overgeneralizing. Financial gurus on television and the internet have to paint with a very broad brush so that it applies to a large swath of people. Unfortunately, the people that need more customized strategies get sucked in by the one-size-fits-all idea. Would David ever consider hosting a moderated financial planning debate with the traditional gurus on one side and the Power of Zero paradigm on the one side? Just like in politics, there is an establishment in finance. David’s first book was the #2 bestselling business book in the world, but despite that, it didn’t make it onto any bestseller lists. David and Daniel are up against the invisible hand of the establishment to get the word out. What can we expect from the Joe Biden administration? Much of the answer depends on the Georgia runoffs and whether the Democrats gain control of the Senate. If that’s the case, Joe Biden will push through a number of changes that will affect millions of Americans no matter what tax bracket they are in. If you’re making more than $400,000 each year you better duck and cover. What should you do if you haven’t done anything yet? Start with educating yourself on where you think the fiscal condition of the country will be in the next decade or so. There are a number of experts predicting a perfect financial storm in 2030. If you believe tax rates will be lower in the future, keep putting money into your 401(k)s and IRAs, but if you think tax rates will be higher in the future then start moving money into your tax-free bucket. Be preemptive about your future retirement.

Van Miller - Present Kingdom Vs Future Kingdom by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Congregational Evangelism by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Please join me as we get transparent, with Vanessa Henderson- Van Miller International designer- Sponsored by Gifts of Grace. Transparency Talks Podcast discusses the trials and triumphs of entrepreneurs and entertainers. Transparency Talks Podcast hosted by Butta B-Rocka For ad placements, sponsorships or to be a guest on the show contact info@buttabrocka.com Follow me on IG/FB/Twitter @ Buttabrocka www.buttabrocka.com #transparencypodcast #FBLive #stitcher #tunein #anchor #liverecording #guestspeaker#transparency #transparencytalks #transparencytalkspodcast #buttabrocka #inspiration #motivation #podcasters #podcast #entreprenuer #entrepreneurships #smallbusiness #applepodcast #googlepodcast #spotify #anchorfm #youtube #artist #author #bet #modeling #capitalistsconversations #selfhelp #motivator #womenunited #vanessahenderson #internationalrecordingartist #songwriter #vanmillerinternational #giftsofgrace --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/transparencytalkspodcast/support

Van Miller - Pride by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Bill, Erik, Jeff, and Nick remember legendary Bills radio announcer Van Miller on the anniversary of his passing.

Van Miller - Unity by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Unity by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Responding To God's Blessings by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

We had an awesome time interviewing fashion designer Van Miller and Dr. Amarie Stormm. Check out the show as Patricia and Mr. Stout continue to celebrate their radio wedding and honeymoon... As always, On The Move is unscripted, uncut, and unfiltered. Basically, we give it to you raw.

Van Miller - Church Bible Classes Part 2 by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Church Bible Classes Part 1

Van Miller - Christ More Than Christmas by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - The Tears Of Paul by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Studio D was graced with the presence of the longest-tenured news anchor in Buffalo broadcast history when Jacquie Walker stopped by for an episode. She brought a ton of interesting sports stories that she's acquired over her 30+ year career in Buffalo including traveling to cover all 4 Bills Super Bowls. Jacquie brings up some things she learned from Muhammad Ali, talks about her experience working with Van Miller and even helps Maniac find a girlfriend! This Train Never Stops!

Van Miller - Worshipping God's Way by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller - Godly Families Make Godly Churches by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller

Some people don't read books. Creating a documentary is a way to reach those people. Plenty of people read the book but are still unconvinced that tax rates are going to be higher in the future than they are today. The documentary was a way of bringing together the most compelling experts in the country with something meaningful to say about debt and putting them on record. The tax train is coming. If you were sitting on a train track with a huge freight train bearing down on you what you do. For those of us who have accumulated the lion's share of our retirement in 401(k)'s and IRA's, we have a huge freight train bearing down on us and it's coming in the form of higher taxes. You have a couple of choices of what to do: you can pretend like the problem doesn't really exist and the math doesn't add up, or you can face it head-on. David Walker made an Oscar-nominated movie back in 2009 called IOUSA about the debt at the time where it sat at around $10 trillion. Nearly ten years later we're sitting on over $21 trillion in debt. The stated national debt is $21 trillion but if you count the unfunded liabilities that have been promised it totals up to over $200 trillion. Allen Arbuck makes a very compelling case that printing our way out of our problems is not a solution. Printing money isn't going to do the trick. The real issue that we're facing here that's going to squeeze everything out of the budget is Medicare. It's not five years from now or eight years from now, we're in a crisis right now. -George Schult. Tom McClintock is a congressman and on the Republican Budget Committee and he doesn't pull any punches. According to Tom, in eight years we will be where Venezuela is now. According to Gary Herbert, the Governor of Utah, we have the Democrats and Republicans sitting in the front seat of the car and we're heading towards a fiscal cliff. If no one relinquishes the steering wheel and compromises, the car goes over the cliff and we all go with it. There are lots of nations in the history of the world that have taken the same course, it's not like we are forging into new territory. 401(k)'s and IRA's are like the government saying “Hey look, I want to loan you some money. I don't need the money to be paid back right now. I'm not going to tell you what the interest rate is on the loan I'm going to give you but I will come back to you when I do need the money.” Would you ever cash that check? Van Miller speaks about the demographic issues facing the country that is only just beginning. Most of the Baby Boomers have yet to retire. The real heavy birth rates didn't happen until well into the fifties. Getting all these experts into the movie was very tricky. There were certainly some very harrowing weeks were no one had committed to be in the movie at all! But once we got David Walker to agree, we were able to use his name to convince others. One of the people we really liked in the movie was Armstrong Williams. He spoke very passionately and eloquently about the issues and says that now is the time to speak to your representatives. We are really getting to the point where, as Tom McClintock says, we could approach what is called a sovereign debt crisis. If you're a financial advisor, go to thetaxtrain.com to watch the movie and get DVD's to distribute to your clients. If you're a Baby Boomer that wants to know more, the movie will be available in April or you can ask your financial advisor.

Van Miller

Van Miller

Today we discussed which Bills defensive player could make the Pro Bowl in 2018. Author David Halberstam talked about his rankings of the top play-by-play pairs in the same market, including Van Miller and Rick Jeanneret (54:11). Sports business analyst Andrew Brandt shared his thoughts on the NFLPA filing a grievance over the leagues new anthem policy and the LeSean McCoy allegations (1:45:57).

Van Miller - The Storms Of Life by Northwest Church of Christ Sermons

Van Miller

Van Miller

Garry Kinder is back on the show to talk about the common denominator of success. He shares his key industry insights and talks about why you must set and measure goals. Learn more at MarkMiletello.com. Note: “Where The Insurance Pros Meet” is an audio podcast and is meant for the ear. A transcript of the audio is provided for referencing a particular section or for you to follow along. Listen to the episode to get the most out of our show. We use both speech recognition software and human transcribers to create the transcripts so they may contain errors. If you’re going to quote us in print, please be sure to check the corresponding audio. TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where The Insurance Pros Meet, episode eight. Mark Miletello: Goals are set to be met. Speaker 1: Where The Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where The Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome to the show. We're glad you joined us. I'm your host, Mark Miletello. Today we have a repeat guest on the show, one of the industry's greatest mentors, coaches, producers. I guess you've been in this industry for six decades now, five to six decades, but a true icon. Mark Miletello: How long has it been? Garry Kinder: Well, I came into this business in 1953 when I was a junior in college. I was at a university where you could get a degree in insurance, and I did that. My bother encouraged me to start selling life insurance when I a junior in college, so that's '53 to 2017. Mark Miletello: Well, that qualifies for six decades, 64 years. Congratulations and welcome back to the show, my mentor and one of my just ... personal friends Garry Kinder, welcome. Garry Kinder: Glad to be back. Mark Miletello: Well Garry, thanks for taking the time to join us. Last show, it was just one of the most exciting times for me to have someone that means so much to me... share. And really what I wanted to do on the last show was dive in and get to know you, and get to know you as a person. It was more about, I think, learning and walking through your life. But one thing that we did touch on a whole lot that I'm glad that you decided to come back, and I hoped that you would, is I really wanted to get in and talk about the things that you do so well, which is mentoring, coaching and teaching. And let's talk about the success and how to be successful of agents. Is that okay with you? Garry Kinder: Sure, sure. Mark Miletello: Garry Garry Kinder: You can ask the questions. Mark Miletello: Go ahead. Garry Kinder: No, you can ask the questions. Mark Miletello: Well, I think one of the first messages that I've read coming into this industry, and I believe maybe even you shared it with me. There's an old speech by Albert E. N. Gray, it's called, The Common Denominator or Success. I think anyone in this business should have, or maybe even knows about that, and really you can probably research it, find it. I think everyone should read it when they enter this business. But the crux of that speech he gave back, I guess ... I think it was, what, 50, 60, 70 years ago? It was a long time. Garry Kinder: Sure. Mark Miletello: The idea was that successful people form the habits of doing things that failures won't do, right? Garry Kinder: That's right. Successful people form the habits ... I'm giving you the exact words that he used. Successful people form the habits of doing the things that failing people don't like to do. This could've been given to students in college. It could've been given to athletes. For an example, students in college, what is a failing student in college, what is it they don't like to do? Mark Miletello: Study, go to class. Garry Kinder: They don't like to study. Go to class and study, that's right. And the ones that are going to class and studying, they don't like it either. But they do it because they have the discipline to do what they ought to do. Now you take athletes ... I've played athletics in high school and college and I've played with some pretty dad gone good people, but they never made it. They never got past the first practice because they were not willing to do the things that failing people don't like to do. And failing athletes don't like to practice. Who in the world would like to practice? They want to play. They just want to go play, but you got to practice. So, the common denominator of success is doing things that failing people don't like to do. Mark Miletello: Well, you've been in this- Garry Kinder: That's true in our business. Mark Miletello: Yeah. I mean you've been in this industry now for six decades, which congratulations. And can't tell you what you mean to this industry and you mean to us out here in the field. And obviously, you've been around a lot of people that have been both successes and failures. So, what is your interpretation of that? In your opinion, what are some of the things in our industry that successful people form the habits of doing? Garry Kinder: Okay, so in our industry the things that the people. First, most people do not like what I'm going to say, I mean that people do. Most people do not like to make phone calls after phone calls after phone calls to referred leads, to friends, to people they're associated with in religion or studying, or whatever. But they don't like to do the things that failing people don't like to do either, and that is they don't like to make phone calls. But the great ones discipline themselves to make calls every week, every day. Now some people turn it over to one or two days a week, and that okay, but the successful ones make the phone calls. They don't like it, but they do it. Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: Same thing to do with the loser. The loser doesn't like doing it, so it doesn't do it. Mark Miletello: Yeah, I'll tell you ... Well, number one is just making the calls because we know this is a numbers game. It always has been, and it always will be, getting in front of enough people. I think there's a lot of things that go into that but when you're coaching ... and I look back at the times where you've coached me. When you're coaching, what are some of the first things that you focus on in trying to launch an agent to have a successful career in the very beginning? Garry Kinder: Number one, you must memorize scripts, and there again, a lot of people don't want to memorize scripts. I've had people come to me, Mark, and I can' tell you the number of people that have come to me over the years and said, "I don't like ... the script doesn't sound like me." And I said to them, "Well, that's good." And they said, "What do you mean." I said, "What I mean is, if it sounded like you, it wouldn't work." You got to memorize these scripts. Then, the second thing in my opinion, most important ... these are the two most important things that people in our industry need to do, is have good scripts memorized. They sound like you. They're natural as can be, that's number one. Number two is keeping good records. And I'm telling you there's a lot of people in our industry that don't like to keep records. We're watching the World Series right now, do those people keep track of their batting average? Why they calculate it when they hit first ... If they get a single to the right field, when they hit first base, they recalculate what their batting average is up to. Mark Miletello: What their worth is? Garry Kinder: That's right. Mark Miletello: I mean the difference in the worth of a professional athlete can be one minor percentage of their ... Yeah, especially major league baseball, it's once a week the stats come out, all the stats. Yet we start a business and we don't even write down our simple goals, so I think you're right. I knew you were going to say that because that's one of the things you had me do when you mentored me back in the year 2000. You had me keep the stats and you said, "You can't monitor what you don't measure." And so, I started measuring and monitoring those numbers, and those numbers just kept increasing and increasing, and my stats grew better and better. Especially, in professional athletes, that's what they're paid for those stats, right? Garry Kinder: Sure. And that's what we must do. You've used our planning procedure, where you put down what you're going to do every year and then break it down into months and then break it down into weeks and then break it down into days. You want to keep good records. You want to have good scripts. You want to have good records. You want to study. A lot of things you must just discipline yourself to do that the unsuccessful people don't want to do. Mark Miletello: Well, I'll tell you, I'm coming from now, Garry, the management side of things. As you know, most of my career I was an agent. I find it hard when ... and you say when you're recruiting as a manager, you either hired them wrong or trained them wrong, it's all your fault. I agree with that, but sometimes it's hard. I find when it comes to measuring and monitoring, I there's a fine line between an agent wanting to do that for themselves, and a manager demanding those type of activities. Do you find that you being in a management position that ... Is it the agent's job, or is it the manager's job, is the question? Garry Kinder: Well, it's a little bit of both. But Mike, I've had people come to me ... I remember one when I was starting my management career in Bloomington, Illinois. I started in the business in '53, and I started in the management in '57, '58. And I'll never forget it, a young man in Bloomington, he came to me and said, "I don't like to keep records." This was in the recruiting process, "I don't like to keep records and I don't like to memorize scripts." I said, "Well then you don't need to join this organization." At the time I was representing Equitable, which is now a different company, but I still have a license with them. But this young man, he said, "Well, I went down, and interviewed Prudential and they said that I didn't have to do that." I said, "Well then, you need to go down there. If that's what you want, go ahead. Because here you are going to memorize the scripts. You are going to keep score." Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: But if the manager in the first place in the has to tell these people, "These are the things that you're going to need to do the first few years. You're just going to have to follow some of the things that I tell you to do. We'll write them out and we'll have to do because I cannot take any part of your success if you won't follow exactly what I'm telling you to do." So, I believe that it's more of the management than it is the agent. Because if you get the right agents and you don't train them right, you're still going to have a problem. Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: So, you got to recruit the right people, you know that, in the first place. But then once you recruit them you must keep ... have them memorize the scripts, keep the records, make the phone calls, get the referred leads. They got to do all that stuff and if they aren't willing, we need to part company. But hopefully, you part company in the interviewing process. But it's the manager, in my opinion, Mark, whether you [inaudible 00:13:13]. You hire some people, and you've heard me say this before, and that is that 10% of the people that you recruit, you really don't have to tell them a whole lot. Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: Because they follow everything you say, 10%. 30%, you picked the wrong person, you've got to get rid of them within 30 days, or hopefully in today's world, in pre-contract. You don't want them getting started with you just because you need an agent. So, 10%, they'll run away from you. But then you will make, we say, usually about 20% of the people you recruit over a 5, 10-year period, you're going to make a mistake. You just plain made a mistake, and you need to take care of that quickly. The ones that stick and stay ... So that's 10%, they'll run away from you. 20% 30%, you picked the wrong person, so the rest of those people you'd have to give them scripts. You'd have to meet with them regularly and go over their past seven days. And then, what do you got going for the next seven days? And I believe in people can work ... in the beginning, I don't want them working seven days a week, but I'd like to have them work six days a week. And I'm certainly going to have them work five days a week and put in a lot of hours. So, their leader's the key. Mark Miletello: Well, I think I agree, and I guess it did bring me back to the training that you gave that you'd said in the beginning, "It's really the manager that ... " And if look back over the agents who had success under me, those agents actually did do the things that I asked, and they did right away. And little by little they began to fly, so to speak. Then, I would say, three to four of my best agents are now mentors of mine. That's how it works, right? You become mentors to each other and that's the goal. But I think you're right that looking back, it was the agents that said, "Okay Mark, I'm going to trust you until I find a reason not to. I'm going to listen. I'm going to say the things that you say I'm going to do." In fact, the two of my best agents did that to a tee. They followed everything that I said until they slowly started finding their own voice and all that. Garry Kinder: Well, early in the ballgame in management I met a college graduate that was engaged to marry my youngest daughter, Carol, and his name is Kurt Ladd, and he wanted to come into this business. I said, "I'll bring you into this business if you will do everything I tell you for the first two years if you'll do everything I tell you." And brother, he did it. If I told him to memorize these scripts, he memorized them. If I told him to keep records, he kept the records. His early years, he moved to MDRT, he was a young kid, 23, 24 years old, and his qualifying for the million-dollar roundtable. He's a money motivated guy. He's really good, servicing clients. But he also, he keeps a lot of good business rolling and having good clients. He keeps his business rolling. He was in here early, in my office this morning, it was 11:00 in Dallas now, and he was here about 8:30, 9:00, he came in and asked me two or three questions. Here's a guy that's been in the business now getting close to 30 years. Mark Miletello: Right. I go back to that Albert E. N. Gray, The Common Denominator of Success, I mean a couple of things pop out to me in addition to memorizing scripts and keeping good records. But one is work ethic, and I think there's no substitution for that. Too many times in this business it'd be easy to say, "It's 3:00 or 4:00, I'm done. I'll just put it off." It's easy to put off tomorrow, what we can do today. So, I think that's one that I'll add to the number there is work ethic. I remember when I started was my goal is ... first, I didn't know a thing. I didn't know a thing. I was new to the industry, new to the business, and one thing that I could control, Garry, was my work ethic. That's the only thing that I could control. I said, "I'm going to beat my manager to the office every day. In fact, I'm going to be the first ... " I don't think I knew what that meant back then, so it was strange that I decided to do that. But later, looking back, I realized that, that put me in a position for things to happen when I ... First, a CPA that passed away, one of my favorite and best friends, and was CPA, he passed away. He said, "Mark, very few people do this. First, you've got to show up, number one, and then you got to do what you say you're going to do." That meant a lot to me because when you show up things happen, right? So, I think work ethic is the thing that failures don't like to do. Garry Kinder: That's right. There was a fellow that I spent a lot of time with. He was a doctorate in college, teaching in college with a doctorate degree and it was in Atlanta. He was on the insurance side of the college where he was teaching, and I got to know him very well. He always said what you just said. He said, "Show up. Show up on time. Show up ready to play. Show up. Show up on time. Shop up dressed, ready to play, and show up ready to go." He said, "And you'll beat 90% of the people if you show up. Show up on time. Show up dressed, ready to play." So that's what you said. That's pretty much what you- Mark Miletello: That's right. I think like you said, it goes both ways. It's the manager's job to set the path, to set the scripts, to set the training, so help keep a good record. And to some degree, you can hold them accountable. I mean most of this business, we're looking for entrepreneurs, right? We're looking for the contracted entrepreneurial-minded individuals. So, I think really, that goes back to us as agents, is we must show up. We must show up ready to play. And to me, like I said, is that I could control my work ethic ... You and I talked about it on the last show, activity. That's the only thing I felt that I could control, and that came from the work ethic, right? I mean the activity didn't come from the thin air, it came from the work ethic put behind that. I remember my manager, first, I beat him in the office at least for the first year, and then I probably got lazy after that, I'm sure of that. But also, I would turn in a weekly report and you had me do this. My manager said that I built my own weekly report and I turned it in every week. I told him what I did wrong that week. I told him what I did right that week. And I told him next week what I was going to accomplish, and he told me I didn't have to do that. I said, "Well, I need to be accountable to someone and I will let myself down, but if I say and tell you, Garry, I'll do something I'll do everything I can to make sure that happens. I don't want to let you down, right?" So that really helped me in my work ethic, is to be accountable to someone. Garry Kinder: That's true, it's true. My brother and I, we had the first person ever inducted into the Gamma Hall of Fame, was our manager. He was the first person inducted. His name was Fred Holderman. Jack was in Mount Vernon, Illinois. I was in Bloomington, Illinois. He had an actual page that we went sent him every week, and it better be there Monday morning on what we did last week and what we got going next week. We had to do that, and he was dead on it. I mean if you missed a week he would call you up and let you know, "If you're going to do that, get out of here." He was tough. Mark Miletello: Well, I think we need to get back to that in leadership roles. And as agents, we should want to do that. Out of all the agents that I've mentored and coached, there's one agent out of all of them that I told this story too. And I told him what I did, and I told him how it helped me. And how you mentored me to great success. Still to this day, Garry, and I don't require that. As after this call, I'll probably go back to requiring that, but I asked that if you want to achieve greatness, here's what you do. And I've only had one agent in the last nine years, for the first year of this career, send me a weekly report. And as you're a dynamic growing team it's easy for someone to fly under the radar. And most people want to fly under the radar, but he didn't. Garry Kinder: Sure. Mark Miletello: If I get a report every week that says, here's ... What I was able to do in that weekly report, Garry is I was able to ... He wasn't flying under the radar. I looked at just those comments that he made, and I said, "I can help this guy." And I'd pick up the phone and we would talk about those things. I remember one , he said, "A client said not because of this, this, and this." And I said, "Would you mind getting that client on the phone?" He goes, "Yeah, but he said no." It was literally over $7 a month, this client, and I don't remember the whole story. But at the end of the conversation, the clients go, "I didn't know all that. I didn't realize that. I'd love to do business with this particular agent." So those weekly reports, that's on the agent as well. I think the agent must want to, or need to, be accountable to someone. And you helped me do that more than anyone in my career. I guess I was so very fortunate early on to have someone like you coaching me to do those things. That now I realize are the principle of The Common Denominator of Success. Garry Kinder: That really is true. I sent you a copy of this, right? Mark Miletello: Yes sir. Garry Kinder: Common Denominator, and anybody that's listening to us, did you sent them a copy of this, or are you going to? Mark Miletello: Well, this show is going to be on MarkMiletello.com. It's going to be on the new Vanmark.life, Van Mueller, and myself partnership. Garry Kinder: Oh good. Mark Miletello: And it will be linking everyone back to Kinder Brothers website where they can follow you, purchase your books. I just did not know if this article that you sent me was copyrighted or not, or how it could be used. Garry Kinder: It can be used because nobody owns this anymore. The guy that wrote it, as you know was, Albert E. N. Gray, who was a Vice President of Prudential, but now it's available to anybody. The company that does a lot of training in our industry, they have- Mark Miletello: NAFA? Garry Kinder: Yeah, NAFA. They have this available. Of course, Kinder Brothers has it available, so it's lived out its time. Mark Miletello: Okay, good. Garry Kinder: Yeah, there's a word for it, I can't come up with it right now. But there is a word that's. Mark Miletello: Statute of limitations. Garry Kinder: Yeah, there you go. Mark Miletello: Something like that. But no, if I have you’re okay, then I'm sure that's good enough, and we will make it available. I've kept that in my file, probably one of the oldest and longest running articles, that no matter how many computers I've had over 20 years, I've kept this article, and I've gone back and read it from time to time. So, we will share that. Garry Kinder: That's good, because of people like you, and I have three or four or five others, that are throughout the industry and they read this every year. Every year they start the year by reading this Commons Denominators to Success. It won't go away. I won't change. It's just something that people ought to pay attention to, like some books that you want to read repeatedly. It only takes about 15, 20 minutes to read this. Mark Miletello: Well, you had mentioned making phone calls and memorizing scripts, keeping good records, of course. And I had mentioned work ethic. I think the last thing that pops out to me as one of the things that successful people do, no doubt, and I think now being on the management side of things I see it more than I did previously on the production side of the business, is continuing education, evolving our knowledge, acquiring designations. What do you say to those out there that have been in this business for 3, 5, 10 years, and how does it affect them not moving toward, let's say designations and things like that? And do you agree with me that, that is one of those things that successful people do? Garry Kinder: Oh yeah. Successful people, there you go again, do the things failing people don't like to do. And one of the things that successful people do in our industry is to read good materials. And to read things like The Common Denominators of Success. Reading a good book. At Kinder Brothers, we have 11 books and five or six of them are for management, and five or six of them are for agents. But everybody needs to read books. Everybody needs to study, and they need to read good books. Mark Miletello: Well, I think I would, over the last few years, I've been working on building a training platform at Vanmark.life. I've been working on building duplicated ... Say's, duplicatable systems of training video's, things like that. I myself have been so busy building that I have backed away from furthering my own education and growth. And since this podcast has started and I've been interviewing the greatest A-list talent that our industry has to offer, people like yourself, and Van Miller, and Tom Hegna, and on and on and on. I've kind of been forced to read their book before I have them on the show. And I've got a lot of great talent lined up that I'm in the process of reading four books at one time. I don't know, it's like re-energizing me, Garry. It's reshaping the way I think and feel. I don't know, I think sometimes we forget that we forget what you just said. Garry Kinder: Yeah. Well, it's an old cliché, but readers are leaders, and leaders are readers. There's no question about it. I have met very, very few people in my career that are outstanding that don't come back and say, "I read this book. Have you read this book? Have you read this book?" They're people that are reading books all the time. Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: And then there are books marked that should be read every year. And this little Common Denominator of Success should be read by everybody at least once a year. And when you do that, like I read this, this week ... When you read this you say to yourself, "You know what? I forgot that and I'm glad I'm reading that. I forgot that." So, there are certain things, like the book, Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, should be read every year, by everybody that's listening to us. Mark Miletello: Well, let's talk about your books, Garry. I mean you've written 11 books. Last show we talked about The Professional Sales Process. We talked about for managers, Building the Master Agency. I think you've probably written more books in this industry than anyone that I know of, and, the most popular and most read books. What do you suggest ... obviously Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, Albert E. N. Gray's, The Common Denominator to Success? What I've given our listeners on our website is, I list a, My Library, which is about 30 to 40 books. I think a lot of agents out there, Garry, especially agents that aren't plugged into maybe a company that promotes or they're not connected to an industry organization, there's a lot of those out there. So, I think sometimes they don't know where to go. They don't know where to start. They just read a book here and there because they come across it. One of my missions has been, Garry, is to provide a list of some of the greatest books. So, everyone that I have on this show, either on the air or off the air, I try to get a list of their three to five greatest books that they've read. And so, it's growing my library, but when Tom Hegna or Garry Kinder tells me that I should read this book, I think it's important that I should read it. So Think and Grow Rich, by Napoleon Hill, your books, The Professional Sales, are there any other designations, if you will, or books that we should definitely shoot to acquire? Garry Kinder: Well, let me be a little bit in giving you information about one of our last books that I wrote, and I dedicated it to my brother, Jack, when he had his stroke, but it's, 50 Lessons in 50 Years. I got people in there that I've known over the years, but it's 50 lessons and where did I get my lessons? Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: 50 Lessons in 50 Years. So that's a book that I would recommend to people. Now there are other books, like Hegna, I like his books. I like people that are making the million-dollar roundtable. Mark Miletello: Yeah. Garry Kinder: People that are producing at a high level and they've written some good books for us to read. Mark Miletello: Yeah, they're not just talking about it, they're doing it. Garry Kinder: That's right. That's right. Mark Miletello: Well Garry, thank you for the time on this show. We'll wrap up here. I want to ask you this, do you ever plan on retiring? Garry Kinder: No, I don't, if I'm healthy. It seems like I talk to somebody about that, what seems like every day, but I know it's not every day. But I've talked to two people about ... they've asked me if I want to retire? I'm like, "I'm not retiring." If I have good health and as long as I'm excited about what I'm doing I'm just going to keep on working. That's one of the great things about our business, and that is some people get out to 45, 50, 55, and retire, and that's okay. I'm okay with that. I say God bless them, they've had a good career. But then there are others that I ... and you named a couple of them here today, but there are some other people ... The great thing about our industry is you can continue to produce and continue to be part of the industry and never bother anybody in the industry. But work with clients that love to have you work with them. Mark Miletello: Well, I think whenever we go back to talking about The Common Denominator of Success, I think one thing that I've gained from associating with our industries greats, is that when you have a career that is rewarding as yours has been, I think it's no longer work. It's work for those that are struggling, that are not doing the things that successful people do, it's work. And you can't wait to retire. You can't wait for something bigger and better. But it seems to me, and I knew what your answer was before I ask, and I just wanted to hear it from you. You love this business, it shows. You love this career. And its just part of who you are, Garry, and we know that, the people that know you, and the people that have followed you. It's part of who you are, isn't it? Garry Kinder: Yeah, it really is. I would say one last thing in this regard because many times I've said to people ... As you know I'm a bible student, and I read the bible. I teach the bible. But I tell people, "I can't find any place in that bible that talks about retirement, not one place." It talks about doing this. It talks about doing that, talks about this. So, I'm for people that want to retire. Mark, a lot of people in our industry that retire, they go do something else. Charity, I could name you the name of the people that have retired and have taken on charity. Do work for a charity they can contribute to. Mark Miletello: It's just highly active people in this industry, right? It takes that ... maybe nervous energy in the beginning, but high energy throughout your career, right? Garry Kinder: Yeah, it's true. It's true. I hit my office virtually every day somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00. Mark Miletello: And that's after working out and running. So, Garry, you are amazing. If there's something, and I know because I know the fellow you are and the friendship that we have, that we're going to have you back on the show in the future as this show gets up and running and the following starts. But if in fact, this was your last interview with me, your last show with me, is there something that you would like to tell the agents out there, the agents that are listening to this? Garry Kinder: Well, I would say that no matter what your position is, whether it's management, whether it's an agent, whatever you're producing, you ought to have goals. And you need to have goals for the year, and then you have goals for the week. Now, you can do it your way, I'm talking to the people that are listening. But you can do it your way, but you ought to have a goal for the year, January through December, a goal. And then have a goal for every week. This is my goal for next week. This is what I got to get done. Then you measure that, and you keep track of that every week. But then you put it into some type of notebook so that at the end of the year you can look at it and see ... Now, let's see, here's what I did every week. Here's where I took a vacation. Here's where I didn't do very well. But here's what I did get done, and I did reach my annual goal. Goals are set to be met. Goals are set to be met. So, you want to have goals that can make you stretch but you can reach them. Mark Miletello: Right. Garry Kinder: Because you want to make them right. Mark Miletello: Well, once again, you've come back to accountability. So, I agree to the importance of accountability, whether it be goal setting, tracking, measuring, monitoring, I think that's the basis. That's the foundation of a successful agent. That's the foundation of everything that you've taught me. So, Garry, I want to tell you again, thank you for being a return guest on the show. Thank you for the information that you've shared and allowing us to get some insight from you. I would encourage everyone that's listening to this to go to the Kinder Brother ... you can Google Garry, G-A-R-R-Y Kinder. You can come to my site MarkMiletello.com or Vanmark.life, V-A-N-M-A-R-K.life. And of course, you will be able to find the link. You'll find out how to reach ... I will make it available how to access everything that Garry Kinder has out there. So, I just got to tell you how much you mean to me and my career. And it's an honor and a privilege to have you on the show yet again, Garry. Thank you. Garry Kinder: It's my pleasure, and trust this is helpful to the people. If they'll call me, write me, I'll tell them the kind of books they ought to get that is from Kinder Brothers and what other kinds we have that we recommend from other sources. Mark Miletello: You have a great organization there and I've spoken to many people in your organization. So, hey, if you like what you hear on this show, please go to iTunes and rate us. Rate and review, so that others can find it. Once again, thank you Garry, and thank you for the followers and listeners out there. Garry Kinder: Glad to do it.

Life Insurance expert Billy McDougall, takes us on a journey that can completely evolve your life insurance business. Learn why questions are the key to success. View more at MarkMiletello.com. Note: “Where The Insurance Pros Meet” is an audio podcast and is meant for the ear. A transcript of the audio is provided for referencing a particular section or for you to follow along. Listen to the episode to get the most out of our show. We use both speech recognition software and human transcribers to create the transcripts so they may contain errors. If you’re going to quote us in print, please be sure to check the corresponding audio. TRANSCRIPT   Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, Episode Four. Billy McDougall: He said, "Your credibility, your professionalism, all of that is going to be defined not by the things that you say, not by the things that you prove in terms of your product knowledge, but by the quality of your question." Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a Podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together. Managers, coaches, and producers. The very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now, here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome to the show. Thanks for joining us. Today is an exciting day. I think most of you are going to gravitate toward our guest that we have because he is an agent. He's an agent who started from scratch. One of my first hires as I went into management 10 years ago. He started really from the medical sales industry and transitioned into the insurance industry. To be able to watch him from day one of his career has been a real treat. He's led my agency. He's been a leader in the company. I believe you're going to love to hear from our guest, Billy McDougall. Billy McDougall: Hey, Mark. Thanks for having me. Mark Miletello: Well, I'm excited to be with you and a couple reasons why. One is you are an agent that I've watched come into this business from an outside industry. You've started from scratch. I've watched the progression of going and you learning different styles. You've learned from several people in the industry, and you've continued to evolve until now. You have one of the most dynamic and powerful life insurance discussions I believe I've ever seen. I'd like to think I played a part in helping you get there, but I'm excited to see the success you're having. You've won back to back Agent of the Years, as well as you are a fireman and you risk your life right now in the California wildfires to protect us, to thank you for your service and welcome to the show. Billy McDougall: Thanks, Mark. Appreciate it. Yeah, I do want to extend a thank you to you. You laid the groundwork for me in this industry. You helped me get my peanut or meet me and just figure out what it meant to have discussions, meaningful discussions with clients. You've also helped me to reach out within the industry and find the very best and brightest and to try and [inaudible 00:02:46] my discussion even more, so thank you for everything you've provided for myself and for my family. Mark Miletello: Well, thank you. Of course, you're my client, so thank you. Having you part of the test pilot group with this entirely new life discussion ... Tell us first before we get into what you're doing now, and using you as the Guinea pig and the test pilot of really transforming and evolving our life discussion. Now, what we're basically launched on VanMark.life. Tell us a little bit about when you got started. Some of the struggles you've had, some of the successes you've had in discussing life insurance. Billy McDougall: Honestly, when I started, I didn't really know much of anything about life insurance. I was joining what I thought was just a PNC company and then it was made very apparent that we were primarily a life insurance company, and that honestly kind of scared me a little bit because you must own car insurance by law. You must have home insurance to carry a mortgage, but you don't have to have life insurance, and I was fearful of how it would be received by clients. I did, I guess I grew in my knowledge of it. Really embraced and just fall in love with the product, and the need that we instill in families. I'd say that I started by just trying to establish a level of professional knowledge with my clients. I think if you go back and listen to the types of discussions that I had with clients when I first started, they were effective relative to product knowledge. Mark Miletello: Right. Billy McDougall: They weren't super effective relative to generating a discussion. They were still very much one-sided. I believe I probably did 90% of the talking and the client only did 10%, and hopefully, I was able to stay in their good graces long enough to let me finish through that discussion. Mark Miletello: Oh no, I agree. As a matter of fact, I think I still have that recording where you came into my office eight or nine years ago and delivered a mock, not presentation, of course. But at the time, I was your only liaison to the industry, so you were basically duplicating my process and maybe a couple others that I introduced you to. I think that's kind of the way we've all been taught, or maybe we feel like even, regardless of the way we've been taught or not, it's so much information we feel like we must get through within an hour, which ends up sometimes becoming two hours that we feel like we have to talk 90% of the time. Right? Billy McDougall: Correct. Yes. Honestly, part of that for me was when I first started, I thought that I had to legitimize myself in being a professional in the eyes of the client. I believe that that was done by showing them how extensive my product knowledge was. Mark Miletello: Right. Billy McDougall: That lends itself to a presentation-style discussion. Mark Miletello: Well, when you say "presentation-style discussion", expand on that and tell us what that means to you. Billy McDougall: Well, I think I was very effective in getting across points. Whether or not those were received is a completely different aspect, in whether they're received in the way that they want to be received. It's kind of like, what do they say? You throw a spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks. That's how those presentations were. Though they were effective, and I was able to sell life insurance with those, they were a lot of work. It was trying for myself to keep the clients engaged. I had to constantly battle and do work against their attention spans, relative to what I thought was hopefully important in their lives, instead of me really having a good discussion where they're doing 90% of the talking. They're engaging me, and we're addressing things that are relevant to the first and foremost, relative to these products. Mark Miletello: When you say "presenting", I think what I heard you say is you feel like when you call it a "presentation" or you're presenting to the client, you feel like 90% of the time you're talking because you're trying to express a level of professionalism through your product knowledge, through the extensive details of the bells and whistles of the product, right? Billy McDougall: Yeah. Mark Miletello: Great analogy. You're throwing spaghetti against the wall to see what sticks. What that means is you're spewing this product knowledge so much that every now and then, something sticks. But you know what? You did a pretty darn good job of it. You came right in, won trips, won Agent of the Year, led my agency for three or four years in a row. What was so bad about it if it works? Billy McDougall: It wasn't so bad. In fact, it was tremendously effective. But it made it very hard for me to consider a change. In fact, there are national speakers that I had heard multiple times, multiple years in a row before I made a commitment to do something different. I can't even honestly tell you what triggered that desire to make a change, but I finally did. I took a leap of faith and I completely rearranged my ... The presentation is gone. It's not a presentation at all. Everything now is a discussion with the client, where I'd say they're doing at least 50% of the talking. On a good day, much, much more. It's much more engaging for them. It's much more specific for what they care about, and it's much more effective in terms of making sure you have a good product then because ethically then for me, ultimately, I only want what's best for the client, and their opinion is the one that matters. If I'm giving them a presentation, how am I meeting their needs? I'll tell you, I've had just so much fun in changing this into a true discussion, helping them organize their thoughts around important concepts like life insurance, financial planning, based on helping them by leading them through a sequence of questions that are relevant to those things to understand what matters to them. Mark Miletello: Well, I heard you say something in there. A strange word to our industry in the form of meeting with a client, but you said you have fun with clients. I remember when you and I were on the cuff, and it's okay to say it. You and I were together, following Van Miller, and Van Miller and I, of course, have developed VanMark.life, which you were instrumental in helping us. At this point, I don't know who comes up with what. I'm sure it all stems back from Van, and Van says it stems even further back to the mentors in his. Yes, whether it's Gary Kinder, or Tom Hegna, or Brian McKnight, or Van Miller, or all those things, I do recall, and it's been about two years for myself, so I'm trying to put the timeline together. But you and I decided at some point that we had to start with the first step of calling our new, evolved presentation, if you will, a life insurance discussion. I think that was the first step of reminding us of, number one, not to talk so much. Right? Not to just continually beat them up with bells and whistles and product knowledge. At some point, we ... I still let it slip every now and then, but I've conditioned myself to even call the training platform and its own lifeinsurancediscussion.com, that that's the first step I think, Billy, that you and I walked through was to start reshaping how we talk to clients by even what we call what we're doing. Then you said, "having fun in a meeting". How do you have fun at a meeting? I mean, I think we all think it's a little bit fun what we do, especially when we win and we make sales and have success. But I think you're talking about a different kind of fun. Right? Billy McDougall: Always at some level in the meeting, you have the sensation that you're helping lead them down a road, and I think that the client has that same sensation. Van Miller is just fantastic and been listening to him speak over multiple years now, multiple occasions. One of the things that he said, and this goes back to where I was trying to establish, initially when I was new in the industry, my credibility, he said, "Your credibility, your professionalism, all of that is going to be defined not by the things that you say, not by the things that you prove in terms of your product knowledge, but by the quality of your questions." I just thought that was just the oddest thing to hear, and I wrote it down multiple times from multiple speeches that he's given on national podiums or regional podiums. Finally, I internalized that. It's been incredible, the things that he said. I literally just last week had someone who said, "You're the most knowledgeable insurance and financial advisor I have ever met with, and I'm 51 years old and I've been dealing with people my whole life. For the first time, I really have a sense of understanding and comfort in what I'm trying to accomplish." That's because I had him do all the talking. Everything was questioned. The thought process is we all want to be good at insurance and financial planning, as clients. As clients, we want to be good at that. We want to do it well. There's nothing in there that is exceptionally difficult. Everything is very much common sense, but people don't have organized thoughts around those considerations, so they can conclude, so the types of questions we ask help them organize their thoughts around insurance and financial planning. When you do that, it becomes a lot of fun because it's truly a fun, interesting conversation, give and take, instead of, "Let me control this time so I can have you here, understand, and value what I'm trying to share." It truly has just been interesting conversations, and you have to be willing to put yourself out for that. Once I finally did, I was just like kicking myself, going, "Oh my gosh. I should have done this years ago. I should have trusted Van in the very beginning because it has absolutely changed the way my clients view me. It has changed my level of enjoyment and excitement in terms of what I'm doing, and it absolutely changed consistency, and satisfaction, referrals." Across the board, it's just opened the floodgates in terms of changing my business. Mark Miletello: I talked to Van, and as of the recording of this show, as of today, I just launched the lifeinsurancediscussion.com training platform that allows the agent to walk through that same process that you and I have walked through in an organized fashion. It's just funny that you haven't even seen the finished product, but you know that what it took you and me... You're right. You and I heard Van say it. We went to four different speeches where we've heard him talk. We had the same set of notes. I even told Van this last week. I said, "Van, it's hard when something works for someone, and whether you're selling five life apps a year or a hundred, whether you're selling $5,000 in premium or $50,000 as a multiple-line agent, or $250,000 or more, you feel like you have a process that somehow works, that gets the job done." I remember you saying earlier, you had to decide to throw all that out of the window. It's not that we forget because we still have those things, those stories and those discussions that we can pull out, such as stories of the farmer and the seed and things like that. But I think what took you and me two years to get to was letting go of the way we do things and say, "Okay ... " The funny thing, Billy, you and I have challenged each other to have a complete interview discussion with a client, and try to ask questions the entire time. Now, I think it's virtually impossible if you were to record yourself to not have a statement in that entire 45-minute or hour-long meeting. You're going to have statements. Billy McDougall: Of course. Mark Miletello: But I think it's a fun challenge for each other to say, "Hey Billy, let's try to go through an entire life insurance discussion with just asking questions." I've tried to do that. It's impossible, but it's fun to try. Billy McDougall: Yeah, and Van has some interesting nuances that he uses in his discussion. When he needs to address a point to drive home a concept for them to consider and decide how they value that concept, he'll ask them. He'll say, "Do you mind if I share a story with you?" Now, you're engaging them instead of just launching into, "Well, I've got a story for you about this." Or, "Do you mind if I share with you this aspect or another?" Those little nuances help to keep that sensation, that feeling of it being very conversational, even in points where you need to get them a little bit of detail so that they can make a better determination of their opinion. Mark Miletello: Billy, you and I have kind of started this path together a few years ago, like I mentioned. At times, we've talked about it, we've shared notes. I put together a PowerPoint of my thoughts and even recorded voice-over over each slide. At the same time, I give you credit for doing the final piece of the puzzle that needed to be done for me as an agent. Not talking about management. I'm just saying as an agent in the business, as peers I guess I should say, what I credit you is getting it on one page. That's what I've always told every educational department I've worked with, and process that I've been. You must get it on one page for agents to wrap their brain. I'm giving you the credit on the show for being the guy who put the final pieces of the puzzle and got this life insurance discussion on one page. Can you tell us the importance of that, how you did it, and tell us about that one page? Billy McDougall: Absolutely. Well, first, none of that is original content. None of that is an original thought. All of that is stuff that I've garnered basically standing on the shoulders of giants. People like Van Miller, people like yourself, other people in the industry, Tom Hegna, using their concepts and their ideas. I said, "Okay, there's such a great amount of knowledge there, and I'm just not that smart of a guy. What I really need to do is I need to have a way, on a consistent basis, whether I'm on and having good discussions with clients, or whether I'm a little flat and I'm not good. On a consistent basis, something that can ground me and help me stay on track in terms of not a presentation, but in terms of appropriate ideas to bring up questions about, to discuss." What I did is I took basically some of the main components that I feel like I identify the most, taxes, volatility, fees, inflation, leverage, and I kind of built out, I don't know if you want to call it an outline or an agenda. It's just something that's good for me so that I can track along with the client and I know where I'm going next, and we address those things in that way. I'm able to be consistent in my discussions. The discussions go whichever way the client wants them to go. But I'm sure we've all been in meetings where a client brings up something, you're off on a tangent, and you never end up back to addressing some of these issues and concerns that really the client needs to consider for them to have organized thoughts and move forward in the insurance or the financial world. Mark Miletello: Yes, and having an agenda ... Really, I've gotten away later in my career from using or having an agenda. You've been one of the few agents that I've worked with that has always used an agenda, and you make no excuse. In fact, you make it a great thing. You tell the client, "I have an agenda, so we don't get off track. We're going to go through this, and I'm going to actually take notes and give you a copy of this." That's one thing that I've just been amazed at the way that you do is that the notes that you have from your meetings are by far the best that I've ever seen. It's better than my own. What I like about it, and back in the early days when you needed my help, and you would send me that, it would just blow me away. But what it does is it helps you keep a record of the client's goals, dreams, wishes, needs, and deliver that back to the client and present that back to the client by saying, "This is what you told me, and this is how we're going to fix it," which I think is a great idea that I've seen very few people, if any, do in a life insurance discussion or sale. But putting it on one page, then an agent can take all this world of information that we've been gathering for two years, and thinking that it's just so much. It's drinking from a fire hose, using a fireman aspect there. That's what I felt, and I've led this industry as a life insurance agent, and to me, it was like drinking from a fire hose. To me, having it on one page helps you wrap your brain around, "Hey, I can do this. I can learn this. Not only that, I can deliver this." You've told us a little bit about where you've come from. You've discussed what a presentation means to you, and you've really defined it since you've been talking. But point blank, Billy, now I'll ask you the question. What is a life insurance discussion, and how can an agent stop everything that they're doing? What were some of the recommendations you would make about having a discussion? Tell us what a discussion means to you. Billy McDougall: That's a tough question to answer, but I'll tell you how I formulated my process for asking good, relevant questions. First, I had to identify the areas that made sense to discuss, and we already kind of went into some of those things. There can be many more areas, and you can add that to your agenda. "What other items do you have on the table, Mr. Client or Mrs. Client, that you would like addressed here?" Mark Miletello: Right. Billy McDougall: Once I identified those, it was really a test. I sat down with multiple people, and I went through the process and they'd stop me. They say, "No, you're telling. You're not asking." I'd have to step back and think, "Okay, I don't want to lead a client in a direction. That's unethical. What I want to do is discuss a topic." You can drown them in some stuff briefly about it, but get their opinions on it. What that discussion looked like for me? Don't get me wrong, I think that Van does have the finest questions in the industry. His CDs are on repeat in my car. I've listened to them for hundreds of hours. I happen to have long commutes, so it allows me that time. That stuff just comes out in the discussion. But it was coming out just kind of randomly. I wasn't using it very effectively. The reason that I went to that one-page outline or agenda was to help make sure that I captured those specific things. Van impressed upon us a handful of things. He said, "You should be silent in the discussion. It really should be the client who does almost all the talking. Your discussions should be short. They should be 45 minutes or less." That is just scary and painful to hear. That includes taking applications. That's Van's recommendation. Mark Miletello: Yeah. Billy McDougall: That's hard for me. I'm a pretty analytical person, and that's been a real big thing for me to do. Van says, "If there's an analytical bone in your body, you need to get rid of it right now because you can't be that way." He speaks well. He has this concept of, "You know, it's your responsibility. You are the financial professional. It's your responsibility to know every little minute detail of how your product works, the implications to your clients. All that stuff is you. Now, your responsibility in helping a client understand what they need is not necessarily explaining to them every specific detail about how that product works, but instead, what that product does for them. That's dictated by the things they deem to be important." That was a shift for me, being an analytical person. Instead of digging so deeply into individual things, talking more about broader concepts. I find that 95% of my discussion with clients is broad, on large topics, broad in scope, and maybe 5% of the time we may look at an illustration. Mark Miletello: Yeah. Billy McDougall: It has probably flipped from what it was when I started in the industry. You're so focused on solutions, and you hear that in the industry. Right? "Don't be solution-focused. Work on the problem. What does the client want?" But I just didn't know how to bridge that gap, and Van's information, the way that he has interviews with clients has been super effective in helping me do that. I just had to organize a way for me to be able to have that discussion consistently with each client. Mark Miletello: Yeah, and that's why Van and I came together is that, again, two years of following him and listening to the CDs, hundreds of hours, trying to figure out a way to have a discussion and ask questions, versus ... That's a tough thing to do, and it's a hard process. It's tough to swallow, but it can be done. I think it's hard to continue on and giving the listener out there exactly how to do it, and that's why I told Van, I said, "We need to come together, form VanMark.life, and we need to show people a process where they can learn what took us two years to learn, they can learn in two weeks. They can learn in two months." Having it on a training platform so that they can walk through what you and I walked through every step of the way, but much faster, and get to that realization that how do you not talk about the product when that's what you're there to offer? The bottom line is, you're talking more, like you said, of big picture items. You're talking strategies and you're talking philosophies. Yeah, it's very effective. It's a dynamic. It is fun. You walk out of there feeling like you really are on the side of the client, instead of presenting a product. Billy, I appreciate your time. Looking back over your career and the successes you've had, can you pinpoint one area where you would tell a new agent, "Don't make this mistake." Did you have a fumble at some point along the way that you would guide a new agent or maybe a veteran agent not to make the same mistake? Billy McDougall: I think that we've all fumbled in our careers. I certainly have. I like to try and be very honest about those so that I have them as an opportunity to learn. Have a level of humility that allows you to be open to input from everyone. Someone who's a lesser agent with less experience can give you valuable input that you can implement to be successful. I'd say the biggest thing, the biggest mistake I have made is the unwillingness to change when I feel like, "Hey something's working. I've got a process. It's going to be hard for me to consider doing something else." But I certainly wasn't going to do any better, and I wasn't going to help my clients any better by continuing to do what I was doing. There is only so much time in a day. The top producers have better products, business. More commissions on the book, more premiums on the book, more people helped. They have the same amount of time in the day that we do, so listening to Van a hundred times say, "You need to stop doing what you're doing and try something different to make yourself better, and to be a better resource for your client." Stepping away and doing that is a big leap of faith, and I wish I had done it sooner because you're fearful of change. But that change makes my career so much more fun, so much more rewarding. Mark Miletello: Well, I love those late-night calls where you say, "Mark, I wrote a 2,000-a-month permanent life insurance plan." "I wrote a 300-a-month term life app, and the client begged me for it." You're having much more fun, and I think I get it, and I try to be that way. I try to take your advice. I want to always continue learning, but sometimes you think you know enough and you stop learning. I think that's your fumble is you need to be coachable, right? Even at our stage, whether you're a new agent or a veteran agent or in between, you need to be able to look around, evolve what you do. You must constantly evolve, for sure. Billy McDougall: Absolutely. Mark Miletello: Yeah, so let me ask you this. You've been in the industry for 10 years. You've seen a lot of change, and I'll put you on the spot. In this show, we like to get a professional prediction. What do you see 10 years down the road, and let's kind of keep the topic in life insurance? I know you're a multiple-line agent, and that makes you even more phenomenal for life premium that you collect. But looking down the road, what is your professional opinion and advice to the agent? What does the industry look like, and how do we fit in? Billy McDougall: I don't know the answer to that, of course. Nobody does, but my best guess would be, at a certain point, the government's going to take some of these tools away from us. These are tools that we want people to get an opportunity to have organized thought around those things, consider them, determine if they want them, and have access to them. There is some level of urgency, and it's not on the client. It's on us. It's on us as agents. We need to be as effective as we can in having quality discussions. Not pushing products, not selling products, but reaching out to as many people and giving them information so that they can make good decisions for their families. It's okay if they thoughtfully reject ideas, but it's not okay if they're never given the opportunity to do that. There are only a few times in a person's life where they're going to talk to a professional like you. Scarcity, there's going to be some of that moving forward in the next 10 years. Mark Miletello: Well said. Well said. You're right. It's a fun question. I like to hear what professionals in the industry think about our future. It's always optimistic that we're going to be needed. I love what you say, that we're going to be even more needed to have a better discussion and ... You're right. Giving the client just the opportunity to have the discussion is what most agents aren't giving their clients.I want to tell you to thank you for joining us on Where the Insurance Pros meet. You are a consummate pro. I like to think of you like my big brother, and of course, I'm older than you so I can't say that. But I like to think of you in the way that I think of him that every time I get around him, I learn something. Billy, if I can say one thing about you, that's what I would say is I learned something. Thanks for now becoming a mentor of mine. Billy McDougall: Hey, same with you, Mark. I appreciate you very much. Thank you, sir. Mark Miletello: Thank you.

Author, Morris Sims shares how to create understanding with clients. Learn the power of influence in sales. View more at MarkMiletello.com. Note: “Where The Insurance Pros Meet” is an audio podcast and is meant for the ear. A transcript of the audio is provided for referencing a particular section or for you to follow along. Listen to the episode to get the most out of our show. We use both speech recognition software and human transcribers to create the transcripts so they may contain errors. If you’re going to quote us in print, please be sure to check the corresponding audio. TRANSCRIPT Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet, Episode 6. Morris Sims: What we do, Mark, as insurance agents, we change people's lives. We change people's lives for the better every day. Speaker 1: Where the Insurance Pros Meet is a podcast that brings the greatest talent in the world together: managers, coaches, and producers, the very best experts the insurance and financial services industry has to offer. Get ready to change the way you do business to have your most successful year ever. Now here's Mark Miletello, a top 1% producer, manager, and your host of Where the Insurance Pros Meet. Mark Miletello: Welcome to Where the Insurance Pros Meet. I'm your host, Mark Miletello. Today we're going to discuss influence, understanding influence, increasing your influence, and principles of influence. Of course, in sales, we use our influence on either leading a team to increase production or as an individual just to increase sales. Influence is in everything we do. Our guest is an expert on the subject. He has trained over 80,000 agents and managers. He's written a book called Practical Influence. Highly sought-after leader and coach. I love welcoming Morris Sims to the show. Welcome, Morris. Morris Sims: Well, thanks, Mark. I really appreciate it. Mark Miletello: Glad having you and I'm excited to jump into this. You know, Morris, I kind of designed this show to run alongside a format of, and I gravitate toward, professional athletes. Many times, I was watching Major League Baseball this weekend and I was thinking the practice, from an early childhood they are practicing their skill. Even when they're late in their career, they still practice almost year around and honing their skills. They must have a coach. They have coaches throughout their entire career. I think there's a lot of similarities. What my goal in going into management was to bring that same understanding that we need, our clients really need us to be professionals out in the field. As we're recording this show, Major League Baseball is in the heat of the season. Teams are jockeying for the positions. But, Morris, professionals, they're in the spotlight, right? I would say they have a huge influence over others. Correct? Morris Sims: Oh, I think so, Mark. I think there are a lot of different principles of influence academically that are not necessarily the same principles that I have in the book, but rather maybe a little more academic principle that they've studied over the years in universities. The kind of influence that we're talking about there is the charisma and the collegial, if you will maybe, type of influence. It has to do with seeing someone and wanting to be like them. "I want to be as good as Dak Prescott. I want to be as good as," et cetera. Mark Miletello: Right. That's what drives me sometimes is watching others win awards. You know? Influence affects us. Aren't those major league athletes, aren't they influenced by others as well? Morris Sims: Oh, I think we all are. We all allow ourselves to be influenced by others around us all the time. I guess it's what you would call more of kind of influence: "I want to be like Mike. I want to be able to achieve the same things that Mark has achieved. I want to make MDRT." All those kinds of things are the kind of influence that comes along with other people. We're influenced by their lives, by what they've made of their lives, and we want to be able to be as good as they are. Mark Miletello: You hit it perfect. I want to be like Mike. That type of influence really still today, we know what that means, and they did a good job marketing that. Right off the bat, we're jumping into this, but, Morris, we're going to put you up to bat at first. We want you to step up there and hit us a home run on the first pitch and give us a professional tip right off the bat that can help us. Do you have a professional tip for us? Morris Sims: A professional tip. I'll come up with one for sure, Mark. You know, something I've been working on lately, let me just put it this way, folks. Social media is not dead. It's like what Mark Twain said, "The rumors of my death have been greatly exaggerated." Well, social media is far from dead. In fact, it is something that I believe we all should be very, very involved in because there are a lot of people out there and there are a lot of people going through that all the time.But here's the deal. You and I are experts in our own business in what we do. You all are experts in the insurance and financial services arena. You know more about insurance and financial services than a guy on the street knows, for sure. Now today, certainly with a Google search, you can learn a whole lot, but you still are much more expert in that than the average guy on the street. Work within your expertise, on your area of expertise, and hire a marketing professional to do your social media for you, or at least set you up to do your social media.The professional tip is one that I've worked on a lot, and I hope we get to talk about it some more, is focusing on what you do best and getting other people to do the things that are not in your area of expertise. You're an insurance expert and chances are you're not a marketing expert. Let's get a marketing expert involved. Mark Miletello: Perfectly said. We will have more time to talk about it. We're excited to dive more into it. Before we jump right into that, I want to know a little bit more about you, Morris. I've read up on you. I've read your book. I've found some articles. I see all the coaching that you've done and the great career that you've had, but I'm just having a hard time understanding how a chemical engineer with a master's degree in science, those aren't usually the prerequisites for having a successful 30-year career in this business. What were you going to be at first and how did you transition into this wonderful industry? Morris Sims: It's like I thought, "What were you thinking?" Yeah, I know. It makes for a really good story, though. I'll tell you that. After five years of being an engineer, I was okay. I was not a walk-on-water engineer. I was good, but I wasn't excellent. I didn't see myself becoming excellent. Frankly, I wasn't having any fun. I wanted to do something that was fun. I wanted to be recognized for the work that I was doing. I wanted to be able to have some control over my life. About that time, my agent came over and we looked at buying some more life insurance because we just had a child. I looked at what he was doing and how he did it and I thought, "You know, that might be fun." I went through the interview process and became an agent with New York Life. My life changed overnight. It really, really did. I've had more fun over the last 30 years than I ever did as an engineer. I've had the opportunity to work with some of the best in the business. I've had the opportunity to meet people, and go places, and do things that I would never have had as an engineer working in a chemical plant or sitting behind a desk designing pumping systems. It would not have happened. It turned out well in the long haul, but at the time I wanted to do something that was fun, Mark. This looked like it was going to be a lot more fun. Again, as I said, I have a lot more control over what I do and what I make than I was as an engineer, as an employee. Mark Miletello: We're sure glad that you did. Thinking about influence, and freshly reading your book, I guess, everything I'm thinking now, and one thing is that agent that came out to work with you on life insurance must have done a pretty good job or had some pretty good influence on you. Morris Sims: He did. It was interesting. He did what I guess we always trained our agents to do. If someone expresses an interest, you immediately defer to your manager because the recruiters are the guys that really know what they're doing when it comes to that kind of thing. That's what this gentleman did. He referred me to his manager. His name, just as an aside, is kind of cute, or funny at least. His name was Ernest Gordon, but everybody called him Flash. He was Flash Gordon. He did a great job of sharing with me how I could be in control of my life, how could I be in business for myself, but not by myself. With the backup provided in his team and the team at the company, we were able to find a way to get out there and go sell some insurance, which we did. That was fun. I enjoyed it. To this day, my son chides me that I didn't stay in the world of being an agent, and why in the world did I ever go into management? But the management turned out well for me, too, I guess. It worked out in the long haul all three ways. Mark Miletello: Yeah. Yeah, just I've been there. You and I spoke last week. There's a lot of similarities we have together. I really looked forward to having you on the show because of that. I was an agent as well. I don't know. I just think sometimes individuals are led to help and work with others. My gosh, you must be one of the leaders in this country of working with agents. Looking back over your career with literally tens of thousands, almost 100,000 or more, of mentees and the positions that you held with really one of the world's top life insurance carriers, and you must have met all the greats in the industry, but what are you most proud of looking back over your career? Morris Sims: Oh, great question. It must be the people, Mark. It must be the people that I had the opportunity to be involved with and hopefully have a little bit of practical, positive influence on their lives. That's the most important thing that I had the opportunity to do. I wish I had been able to do it better and still constantly, you mentioned practice earlier, I'm still constantly practicing how I can relate with people better and how I can have more of a positive influence on others. Because it is what we do with other people that makes all the difference in the world. I think that's the other reason why I am so passionate about what we do and what agents do for a living every day. Because what we do, Mark, as insurance agents, we change people's lives. We change people's lives for the better every day. That's really where the rubber meets the road is when you can change someone's life. As the head of the training area, I was able to institute some new programs and do some things that I hope provided some training that changed people's lives for the better. A lot of agents become successful in this business of ours that maybe might not have been as successful if they hadn't had the training that we provide. I guess that's it, man. It's having that positive influence on other people. Mark Miletello: Right. You're being very humble because everyone I talked to said that you had great influence over their lives. This show is about influence. Let me ask you, Morris, let's talk about influence. What brought you to studying and really writing a book about influence? Morris Sims: Well, it was really my own need. I felt like I needed to have more influence with others and that I need to do a better job of doing whatever it is you do to gain more influence. I wasn't sure what that was. I started doing what I guess most of us would do. I started reading everything I could get my hands on about influence in the popular books and media that were out there. I couldn't find a book, or a podcast, or anything that really answered the two questions that were most important to me, one being what is this whole thing about influence and what do I need to know? What do I need to know to be able to have more influence on other people? Then the second, I think the more important question was what do I need to do differently to have more influence on others? What do I need to do differently? What skills do I need? Finally, how in the world do you go about doing it? How do you improve your skill of having influence with other people? With that in mind, I sat down and started looking at it and started trying to answer those two questions. Suddenly, a book appeared. Mark Miletello: One of the books, I guess, that pop into my mind when I think of influence is Dale Carnegie's book. Morris Sims: Oh, absolutely. Mark Miletello: Did that inspire you or did you- Morris Sims: 100%. 100%. That changed my life back 40 years ago when I was an engineer doing those things that I was doing to read more about sales, and how you go about doing that, and how much fun it was, and where you go. Dale's book made all the difference in the world to me in making the decision to go into the world of selling life insurance. Yeah, that book has been important to me my whole career.It certainly was on my mind as we went through this because he does a lot better job than I do when he starts talking about how you go about gaining influence and how you go about building relationships with other people. That's really where there's the similarity between the two. He does a much better job than I do in helping people learn how. Mark Miletello: I think it was one of the first books I read in the industry 27 years ago and still on my shelf today. I'm glad that now we have another one that built off the back of that because it is one of the most important topics when you're in sales is how you influence others.Reading your book, Practical Influence, there's 10 principles of practical influence in your book. We don't have time to discuss all 10 so, Morris, pick one for me that you think might be the most helpful for our listeners, if you could. Sorry to do that to you. Morris Sims: That's okay. One out of 10. I guess the one that opened my eyes more than any of the others is when, finally, in the research and the reading and the study that I was doing, it finally came to me and I began to understand, probably our listeners understood it a lot faster than I did, but when I had understood that influence comes from how other people perceive us, that made it all clear to me from that point forward. In fact, at one point I thought, "If I can teach people that principle, is there any need for the other nine," and finally decided, yeah, there was. But the key is this. How other people perceive us is going to determine how much influence they're going to allow us to have. Because you see, Mark, I can't influence you unless you allow me to have influence with you. There's got to be a reason that you would allow me to have influence with you. That perception is what makes all the difference in the world. Perception all is derived from how we behave around others, and what we say, and what we do. If we can sincerely, and that's the key word, Mark, is sincere, change the way we relate to other people in a positive fashion, then we can improve our level of influence with those folks. Sincerely is really the key because I tell you what, fake shows up very clearly very fast. Sincere- Mark Miletello: I'm sorry, I'm trying to think of a practical example. Is there a way that you can tie this into maybe what we deal with on a daily or a weekly basis, how that relates? Morris Sims: Sure, I think so. If you think about what we were talking about earlier, the fact that you all are insurance experts in all reality, you know more than the average person out there, if the prospect perceives you to be an expert because of the knowledge you have, because of the experience you have in the business, then they're going to listen to you and you're going to have more influence with them when it comes to things dealing with insurance.For example, take an off the wall kind of example here maybe. Mark, if I were an expert in automobiles and automobile repair, and I was the best mechanic you knew, and I came in, we rode in your car, we've got out of your car, and I said, "Gee, Mark, you know, it sounded a little rough; You may have burned a valve in there, man; You need to take this in and have it looked at," if you perceived me to be an expert in that area, what are you going to do? Mark Miletello: I'm going to run right to the shop because you obviously have this trained ear. I have no knowledge of anything mechanical. I'm going to have to trust you. Morris Sims: If I were to go on and say, "You know, Mark, you really probably ought to take it to go see Joe Smith down on Main Street because he works on that kind of engine and that model car all the time; He is an expert in that area; You'd probably ought to take it to go see," what did I say: Joe? Mark Miletello: Right. Morris Sims: Whoever the guy is down on Main Street. You probably would take your car to go see him, right? Mark Miletello: Exactly. Morris Sims: That's called expert power. That is one of those things that we can do as insurance agents constantly become more and more of the expert in our own business. That will, in turn, allow you to have influence in that area with your prospects and clients. Does that help? Mark Miletello: Oh, absolutely. I was just thinking while you're talking, my mind was going all over the place, but I was thinking that we very quickly will throw out, especially let's say in the property/casualty world, or even life insurance, but in the property/casualty world, we very quickly will throw out a plumber or a water restoration. We have an influence. I think sometimes we forget, especially as newer agents, when maybe our confidence is lower than it will be later in our career, but we forget that we do know tons more than the client, and we should walk in there with a heightened sense of confidence. Maybe we forget about what influence we have. In this world of commoditization where pricing wars, it's harder to stand up and be a professional, especially as a younger rep in the business, a newer rep in the business. I think you're right. I was thinking of a lot of different scenarios where, as an insurance agent, we have influence and yet sometimes maybe we don't use that influence on its fullest extent. Right? Morris Sims: Oh, I think so. It's so easy. It was for me at least. The things you remember, I guess, but I can remember as a brand-new agent thinking, "My word, I'm going to go see this businessman. He's got to know more about this than I do." Finally, one day my manager looked at me. He said, "Morris, think about what you know today and what you knew four weeks ago when you walked in the door the first time to actually become an agent. Think of what you know now that you didn't know then." You think about it and you realize, "My word, I know more about insurance than I ever thought I would ever need to know, much less want to know. And yeah, I do know more than the average guy out there."That's when all of a sudden, a little bit of confidence will show up and a lot of confidence will show up. Then eventually you can be that humble expert that can walk in and have that expert power with your prospects. They will follow your lead because you're doing what's right for them. You're doing it sincerely. You're doing it with that expertise behind you. Mark Miletello: Well, I tell you, it's a struggle in this day and time to learn, to get educated. But you know, one thing, you're right, is that our reps know so much more than the average client. Even a poorly-presented or brand-new rep can really influence their clients by protecting them.You know what? That's what clients need in this day and time more than anything. That's a large reason for me to go into management and for me to start this podcast is we must become better at what we do at influencing our clients to not so much look at the $2-a-month, or $20-a-month savings, or as much as price. I'm a big proponent of value selling and showing the value. I think that does come down to how we influence. It starts right off the bat from the very first meeting as to how you influence your clients. Morris Sims: Yeah, I think you're right, Mark. I think that the most important thing that we can do to begin building that relationship and building that influence is being who we are, and being ourselves, and being sincerely interested in helping other people get what they need and get what they want. Wasn't it Zig Ziglar that said you can have anything that you want in life- Mark Miletello: Help others. Morris Sims: If you just be willing to help enough other people get what they want. Mark Miletello: Right. Morris Sims: If we can sincerely be of a mindset that, "I'm here to help this family, I'm here to help this individual, I'm here to help this business accomplish what they want, and protect their family, and protect their business, I'm doing it to help them," and not walk in there with an idea that, "Man, I'm going to make the biggest sale of my career and everything is going to be great because I'm going to sell a bazillion dollars’ worth of insurance," because you know, Mark, there isn't any sale out there, there's just not one, that is big enough to make your entire career or one that's going to, that if you lost it, is going to kill your entire career. It's a career. It's a 20-, 30-, 40-year practice. One sale isn't going to make or break you, but one relationship certainly is going to have a significant impact on your business. Mark Miletello: Well said. Well said. I was watching, out of all the practicing for their entire lifetime these Major League Baseball players have, they still make errors and they wish that they could take it back. Looking back over my career, there are things that I would do differently. I would. I mean, I learned a lot and people say, "Well, that's why you are where you are because of those trial and errors." Morris, having a highly-successful career and still having a wonderful influence on the entire industry, looking back I think sometimes it's easy for us to learn from maybe others' mistakes. Looking back, is there an error that you had on the field of play in the financial services arena that you can share with us that you might have learned from? Morris Sims: Yes. That would be another three-hour show, Mark. That's for sure. I think the one thing that I've learned recently that I look back and I can see where it caused me struggles and challenges throughout my career, I didn't learn it until I went out and started to try and run this business that I'm running now, that is you must focus. There are so many different things that you can do as an insurance agent, as a business owner, as an executive. There are so many different things you could do that are all good, all practical, all going to help some way or another, going to help move things forward a little bit. But if you try to do it all, you're shallow. You're doing everything just a little bit. It's like being a swamp. You're shallow and stagnant, and you're not moving, and having a great amount of influence and impact. You want to focus on things so that you can cut deep like the Colorado River and cut a Grand Canyon into the earth. You've got to focus to be able to do that. I think that was the key thing that I had to learn was that I had to focus. I couldn't do everything. I said earlier I finally realized I can't do all the things that have to be done to be able to be the marketing expert that I need. I've got to hire that. I'm going to have to go find somebody to do it. I found a great guy to help me, but I had to focus it down to three things. "Okay, what do you want to do, Morris?" "Well, I want to run my own business." You take that all the way down and there turned out to be three things that I wanted to do, three strategies for my business. I wanted to write. I wanted to write books and articles. Or to use that technical term, I wanted to write stuff, Mark, because I enjoyed writing and it works out well for me. I wanted to write. The second thing I wanted to do was speak in front of groups of people because folks have told me I'm good at it and I love doing it. I just love helping people. I wanted to be able to do keynote addresses, and workshops, and facilitate groups of people. That was the second thing. I wanted to be in front of folks.Thirdly, I want to do, frankly, Mark, what you're doing. I wanted to create some digital training that people can find online because, frankly, you know what, with that phone in my pocket or that computer in my briefcase, I'm connected to the world. If I want to learn something nowadays, the web is the first place I go. What if we can create just what you're thinking about? What if we can create a library of knowledge and some practical how-to instruction to gain a skill that will help people get better at what they do all day long? That was the third thing I wanted to do. Those were the three top things that are on my list every week when I plan my week. I guess the real key to focus is this. I sit down on Sunday afternoon and I write down everything that I must do this week. Everything. I put those activities in each of the five days of the week. On Tuesday, it's marketing day. I spend all my day Tuesday focused on how do I get in front of more people and how do I get in front of more people that can have a positive impact on our business so that we can have a positive impact on other folks. It fills it up, fills up the week that way. Then every day I don't have to create a new plan for tomorrow. All I must do is tweak my plan for tomorrow. It works out well.There are going to be a bunch of things on my list every Sunday that don't directly connect to one of these three key strategies. They don't get put on the plan. Mark Miletello: You know, you said this podcast as well. That's kind of where I went with this is that ... I'll give you a perfect example. A partner in this and myself, we Googled, "life insurance sales training," and dog training came up. We laughed, and we said, "This is not going to work. This is not going to work for our industry." What we had to do is develop what we feel is to go out there and find the best with Van Miller, and Garry Kinder, and Tom Henga, and Richard Weylman, and now you, Morris Sims, and the many A-list talent that we're going to have on this show so that others can tune in and, first, and I've said it on a previous show, filter through all the noise out there, all the ads. You're right. Five, 10 years ago, there was no digital online. There was no digital type of training that was substantial. Now they're popping up all over the place. They really are. I'm starting to find more and more. It's still kind of a dead space. Let the listeners decide, but we, as the host of this show, myself, I want to find the best talent so that people can tune in and say, "Okay, that's what I need to know and that's where I need to go to find it." I think that's one of the things out there, so I'm glad that you're also someone that we can trust in the number of people that you've led and coached, and the speeches that you've given that we can follow, and we can learn. We hope that you keep plugging away. But I agree. I think looking back over it, I think everything you say I seem to relate to it. I think we're going to be good friends and I want to continue following you. But looking back over my career, I think that's one of my issues as well. One of my very best agents to this date that, nine years ago going into a leadership position, he said, "Mark, I don't want to do group health. I don't want to do this. I don't want to do that. I want to do the two, three things that you tell me will make me most successful with the vehicle that I'm in." I shared with him those three things and he became my very, most successful agent because he stayed focus on anyone I've ever worked with. Not like myself, either. I became successful, maybe because I was raised in an insurance family and I had this knowledge of long-term care at age 17 and 18 when it was really a brand-new thing. I've kind of had this knowledge that stretched out. I think because of the history of it, therefore, I was probably doing a lot more things than I should rather than being laser-focused like he was. But you're right. Looking back, if I would have just focused on a couple things that I was really excelling at, I would have had much. I think younger reps in the industry, especially, and maybe even a veteran that's listening to this, that could refocus, that they can hear what you've said and maybe what I've shared, and they can say, "Okay, I'm not going to make that same mistake by trying to be a jack of all trades." Joint work is a wonderful way to do those things. I don't know why I felt like I needed 100% of every commission when in this day and time most of the leaders in our industry do joint work, right? Morris Sims: Oh yes. Absolutely. It is so vitally important as a learning activity. That whole idea of being able to go out and watch, and then be coached by someone who is constantly doing what it is that I want to do every day, man, if that's not worth 50% of any first-year commission that you're going to make, it's probably worth the whole thing in all reality. We're only asking you to put up maybe 30%, 40%, 50%. Mark Miletello: I'm still in the game. I just can't help it. It's just been on my mind and I must share this, Morris. I think you will appreciate this as a coach. I have a rep, went out on his first life sale without me, which I said don't do, but he did. He came back with two $20-a-month term life apps. There were some issues with one of the home policies. The policy was set up to lapse. Anyway, long story short, I went back out to the house with this rep to meet with the clients. We got a commitment with a $20,000 IUL commitment and he had walked out of the house with $40 a month in the term, the $20,000 annual IUL commitment with the same client. If that doesn't share with you right, there that joint work can produce way more than you could have on your own. I love that story because it's fresh and I'll be able to share it, but it's just what you're saying as far as joint work. The greats do joint work. Morris Sims: Oh yeah, absolutely. I think as a learning professional for the past 30 years, I can tell you right now the best practice you can get is out in the real world with a coach for your side. Because if you think about what all those baseball players do when they practice, they're practicing, but they've got a coach with them right there saying, "Think about your grip. Think about this. Try this. Try that." It's that coaching with the practice that makes all the difference in the world. Mark Miletello: You know what, Morris? As one of the thought leaders in our industry, I believe that we must look back at the past and think of what we've done right and wrong. Then we must focus on today and the near future. But I also have the segment on my show that has a professional prediction. The year is 2027. It's 10 years down the road. Morris, as a coach and a leader, help me prepare for five to 10 years down the road. Morris Sims: Wow. That's an important question. It really is. It's one that we all must ask ourselves. Where do you want to be five years from now? Every time I've answered that question, it has propelled me a lot further than my answer. I think for us in this industry, things are changing rapidly. I don't believe personally that we will ever see a world where insurance will be profitable, profitably I guess is as good a word as any, where insurance will be profitably and correctly sold to the masses without having personal contact. I believe that to make the right decision about the insurance protection that I need to have for my family, be it for my office, for my car, for my house, for my boat, for my motorcycle, for my life, to provide for my retirement, that's not going to happen to answer a few questions online or even with artificial intelligence software. It takes somebody being out their toe-to-toe, knee-to-knee, eyeball-to-eyeball, answering those questions, and helping people make the right decisions. Without that, it's just not going to work. It's not going to work at all and it's not going to be in everybody's best interest. With that in mind, here's the answer to your question. I believe we must stay on the cutting edge, whatever that edge might be. It's getting sharper and sharper every day, but we've got to stay on the cutting edge. That means studying and spending money to develop yourself. That means studying and spending money to get your CLU, your ChFC, your CFP, to get the advanced degrees. Maybe a master's in financial services. All those things are available and all of them are attainable. All you must do is go to look for it and go start. Put a foot in the water and get it started. But it's also why we've got to be members of NAIFA. It's why we've got to be members of other professional associations where we can learn from each other. It's one of the important reasons for making MDRT is to get to go to the MDRT meeting and learn from other great professionals. I think that self-development is probably the key, is going to be the key, even more, going forward over the next 10 years. Mark Miletello: Thank you for that and I completely agree. I wish we had more time to really dive into all the wonderful relationships you have and the people that you've met. We'll do that personally because I'm excited to know you now, but looking back over your personal development, can you pick maybe a book or a person that inspired you that we can also look at and maybe gain that same type of inspiration from? Morris Sims: Another great question, Mark. I think the people that have influenced me the most and have had a great impact on my life, are personal friends and mentors that have helped me personally. A gentleman here in Dallas, Andy Marshall, basically taught me how to do public speaking and how to think. Another great mentor, Tony Jeary, also happens to be here in Dallas. Tony has written a book called Strategic Acceleration. Strategic Acceleration. In that book, Tony teaches what he taught me over the last 30 years, that you've got to have focus. You've got to be clear on your purpose. You've got to have focus. You've got to execute. Then he goes into things that will help you learn how to focus, learn how to determine what it is you want, and learn how to execute properly and be able to do it in a very practical manner. I think Tony has been a huge influence on me.Other authors and books, Mark, golly gee. You mentioned Dale Carnegie. That was a big one, but a couple of more recent ones. Drive, by Daniel Pink, talks about how we get motivated and how we can do what we do better. Outliers, by Malcolm Gladwell- Mark Miletello: Staple. Yep. Morris Sims: Yeah. He talks a lot in there about practice and it takes 10,000 hours to become a real expert. Then the other one that just really got me going was Shawn Achor's book, The Happiness Advantage. It's funny. He says in there that you don't become happy by becoming successful. In other words, because you become a success, it's not what's going to drive your happiness. In fact, it is the happy people in the world that become successful. It's the other way around from the way we've been taught to think about it as we grow up. The Happiness Advantage is really a great book as well. Mark Miletello: I'll tell you what, I've taken notes, and I've got a lot of new reads. I appreciate that. That's what this show is about is giving us places to go that is highly recommended, and will really filter through the noise, and find out what it is that we're looking for, and really help us in the way that you've explained. I want to tell you to thank you for the time of coming on the show. Tell Carla thanks for giving us your time. How can we find you? How do we research you? How do we follow you best, Morris? Morris Sims: Well, I'm on LinkedIn and that's always a good place to go, I guess. Just Morris Sims, I guess. It's the easiest way. But I have a website that's being developed right now. It took a lot of creative thinking to come up with this name, Mark. Are you ready? Mark Miletello: Go ahead. Morris Sims: Www.morrissims.com. Mark Miletello: Alright. Yep, yep. I got it. Morris Sims: That's Sims with one M. It's M-O-R-R-I-S-S-I-M-S dot-com. Those would be probably the best two ways. I'm doing a lot of posting on LinkedIn about sales skills and other sundry things. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn. Mark Miletello: Absolutely. We'll look you up. Check out Morris Sims, morrissims.com. LinkedIn. There's a lot of ways. Google him. I think you'll be able to find him easily.If you like what you hear on the show, I ask you that you go to iTunes, rate and review it so that we'll pop up and others can find us because it's very hard to find good things out there. I want to tell the listeners thank you for supporting us and following us. Thank you, Morris. Morris Sims: Thank you, Mark. I really enjoyed it. It was a blast. Look forward to more conversations in the future.

Van Miller

Van Miller

Van Miller

Kevin & Paul share their stories of covering Buffalo sports on the road. Special guest is longtime Buffalo sports photographer Jeff Helmick. Travel troubles, Van Miller moments, "Larry" from Daniel Snyder's office and Officer Hobert are some of the memorable & humorous stories from nearly 50 years on the road.

Van Miller

AFTERBUZZ TV – Ray Donovan edition, is a weekly “after show” for fans of Showtime's Ray Donovan. In this show, host Kennelia Stradwick breaks down the episode in which Ray creates an incriminating video in an effort to shut down Van Miller's investigation. He also has a score to settle with Mickey after learning the old man put his kids in danger. Elsewhere, Ezra wanders off before his scheduled surgery, and a housewarming party at Bunchy's new abode gets out of control. There to help Kennelia is co-host Sean O. It's Ray Donovan's "Housewarming” podcast! Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AFTERBUZZ TV – Ray Donovan edition, is a weekly “after show” for fans of Showtime's Ray Donovan. In this show, host Kennelia Stradwick breaks down the episode in which Ray creates an incriminating video in an effort to shut down Van Miller's investigation. He also has a score to settle with Mickey after learning the old man put his kids in danger. Elsewhere, Ezra wanders off before his scheduled surgery, and a housewarming party at Bunchy's new abode gets out of control. There to help Kennelia is co-host Sean O. It’s Ray Donovan's "Housewarming” podcast! Follow us on http://www.Twitter.com/AfterBuzzTV "Like" Us on http://www.Facebook.com/AfterBuzzTV For more of your post-game wrap up shows for your favorite TV shows, visit http://www.AfterBuzzTV.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app