Agency Leader just bought an Office & Want to set up Estate Planning Office:

Date: 4/2/2009 6:12:51 AM
Hi Lee,
this is Agency Leader from ABC Insurance Company. We met before and at some points i do agreed with what you shared.

I just bought an office which is at KL city centre, 1st floor facing main road and thought of what to do with it for my business.

You know, after 20 yrs in the biz, we either drive by passion and remain focus or half-hearted as no more enthusiasm left for the biz due to lack of consistency in direction from the company.

By the way, I thought of setting up estate planning for my biz and make use of my new office. I wld appreciate your ideas how i can work things out.

Regards.
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Date: 4/2/2009 10:26:49 PM
Hi,

Thanks a lot for your reply. I certainly remember you.

.. I can certainly understand how you feel. I may not be in the biz as long as you but I joined the agency in 1997 ( long enough ) ( 1995-1997 I was a Company Trainer ) .. and I have your same feeling now. Time to INNOVATE and remodel our biz concept.

Glad that you are now looking at using Estate Planning model now to do our insurance business. Actually some MDRTs had been doing this for donkey years.

Having a " neutral " office is an essential to do it big in Estate Planning. You can turn it into your own private office with Rockwills logo. Your location is very strategic. RW provides subsidy for your signboard; monthly office subsidies, etc.

I will be in KL soon and hope you can make time to meet and I can give you some valuable inputs on how you can strategise using Estate Planning to do high networth market and recruit better quality associates ( esp graduate bank officers & CFPs )

Will share with you some more in my coming emails.. I will take a video first of my nicely done "private office" targeting high networth clients & do their Will, Children Maintenance Trust... Then upgrade their coverage...

cheers..kheechuan

P/s: meanwhile, please visit my website www.lkcestateplanning.com to get some idea of Integrated Estate Planning I am advocating. I can put your new office address in my web site as well when it is ready.
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Please watch my Office Video below:

Welcome to: LKC Estate Planning "Private Office" for High Income Clients:

Banks & Insurers form Exclusive/Strategic Alliance to Introduce more Products for Consumers!

In the past one month, we have seen increased corporate alliances among the banks ( or UT companies ) & insurance companies. you can expect more.

When the Banks' income from loans is affected ( interest rate dropping & economic downturn ), they will be more aggressive in pushing their Bankassurance to earn more commissions from the sales of other financial products, notably unit trusts & insurance..
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Reported in the Star: CIMB Wealth forms alliance with AIA
Tuesday March 31, 2009
http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2009/3/31/business/3591419&sec=business

Tie-up will enable a holistic approach to financial planning

KUALA LUMPUR: CIMB Wealth Advisors Bhd yesterday formalised a 10-year strategic alliance with American International Assurance Bhd (AIA) to offer a wide range of differentiated and innovative insurance protection solutions.

CIMB Wealth Advisors chief executive officer Tan Beng Wah said the company’s 5,500 agents and financial planners would market insurance products underwritten by AIA and its subsidiary AIA Takaful International Bhd.

“It (strategic alliance) will enable both parties to leverage on their proven strengths and expertise in the areas of wealth planning and insurance protection solutions respectively to offer Malaysians a holistic approach to financial planning,” he told reporters after the agreement signing ceremony yesterday.

Tan said the company’s agents and wealth planners would now be able to offer customised financial solutions to clients by bundling some of the insurance products with other offerings such as unit trust funds, credit cards, structured products, wills and trusts services provided by the CIMB group.

He also said there was potential to cross-sell their products to benefit both organisations.

“It took us about a year to seal this partnership and last month we came out with a product offering that combines education with insurance,” he said.

He said CIMB would initially introduce about seven AIA insurance products.

AIA chief executive officer Khor Hock Seng said: “Through this alliance AIA will be able to tap into CIMB Wealth Advisors’ agency distribution strength and 35 regional offices to provide a full range of diversified insurance products.”
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Let's put things into perspective:

1. When two elephants fignt, pelanduks die in the middle. But When two elephants make love, the pelanduks ( mouse deers ) also die in the middle!

BUT that's a trend that cannot be reversed. So agencies must THINK & STRATEGISE, no point just complaining.

LKC: More urgent than ever, agencies must THINK OUT OF THE BOX & Re-engeneer our business model to not only survive, but can add tremendous value to our clients!
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2. There seems to be a conflict in the above news report - one one hand, the bank says that they want to provide "holistic financial PLANNING" but as you read further, the CEO starts to use wordings like "bundling insurance PRODUCTS" & "cross-selling". So are they going to do holistic PLANNING or just SELL more PRODUCTS to their customers?

LKC: Well, the 'split personality' is actually good news to agencies who can transform their business into PLANNING ( or PROBLEM-SOLVING model ) because at corporate level, the main concern is showing profitability to their shareholders. we are the ones who can adopt the HOLISTIC approach to PLAN comprehensively and SOLVE the PROBLEMS of our clients using INTEGRATED Problem Solving approach ( read more on this: http://www.lkcestateplanning.com/?i=additional_page&id=20 )
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Actually, in early March 2009, www.theedgemalaysia.com reported:

On Monday, RHB Capital Bhd — the holding company of RHB Bank — announced that the bank had executed a term sheet with AIA, which constitutes the preliminary statement of intentions of AIA and RHB Bank to establish a 10-year mutually exclusive bancassurance relationship in Malaysia.

Under the proposed terms of the bancassurance alliance, RHB Bank is to market, promote and sell conventional life insurance products developed by AIA via the bank’s network of offices, branches and other channels.

“This RHB Bank-AIA alliance is similar to the Public Bank-ING 10-year partnership that was cemented in November 2007. But the goodwill payment that Public Bank received from ING was a more substantial RM200 million with another €12.4 million (RM58.1 million) to be paid over the duration of the agreement upon fulfilment of the conditions set out in their agreement.
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So, this will be the kinds of new competitions you & your agents face when you your biz model is just PRODUCT-Focus or Single-Need Focus !!

Contact me if you feel it is time to STRATEGIZE your business model: leekheechuan@lkcestateplanning.com or visit:

http://www.lkcestateplanning.com/?i=business_opportunity

老鼠与米缸故事的启发

在一个青黄不接的初夏，一只在农家仓库里觅食的老鼠意外地掉进一个盛得半满的米缸里。这意外使老鼠喜出望外，它先是警惕地环顾了顾了一下四周，确定没有危险之后，接下来便是一通猛吃，吃完倒头便睡。

老鼠就这样在米缸里吃了睡、睡了吃。日子在衣食无忧的休闲中过去了。有时，老鼠也曾为是否要跳出米缸进行过思想斗争与痛苦抉择，但终究未能摆脱白花花大米的诱惑。直到有一天它发现米缸见了底，才觉得以米缸现在的高度，自己就是想跳出去，也无能为力了。
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对于老鼠而言，这半缸米就是一块试金石。如果它想全部据为己有，其代价就是自己的生命。因此，管理学家把老鼠能跳出缸外的高度称为"生命的高度"。而这高度就掌握在老鼠自己的手里，它多留恋一天，多贪吃一粒，就离死亡近了一步。

在现实生活中，多数人都能做到在明显有危险的地方止步，但是能够清楚地认识潜在的危机，并及时跨越"生命的高度"，就没有那么容易了.
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一个人、一个企业都有类似的情境。一个人在一个地方、一个领域待的时间长了，进入舒适区，容易有种惰性，必须不断为自己设立目标，"跳出生命的高度"，不断超越自己，否则，有"坐吃山空"之险，到时意识到"为时已晚"，后悔已经来不及了，坐以待毙。一个企业亦如此，

要善于发现自己"生命的高度"，善于发现自己发展瓶颈，抓重点，不断突破，居安思危.

Problem-Solving VS Financial Planning Approach

( Our Customized SOLUTION is the KEY to unlock Prospect's PROBLEM )

In my post entitled "Time to think out of the box", I mentioned that many agency members & even qualified financial planners ( ChFCs; CFPs )find it tough to practise comprehensive financial planning approach in Malaysia because:

1. Most Malaysians are not ready for financial planning; especially if you tell them you are going to charge a fee!

2. Financial Planning is important but not urgent.

3. Consumers can't see or touch or feel the value of a written financial plan.
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After I thought hard on this issue for some time and getting myself of always thinking out of the box, i came up with a good concept - instead of using "planning" approach, now I adopt the "problem solving" approach.

( In actual fact, I bring my approach to a HIGHER level, i.e., using INTEGRATED problem approach; meaning I solve my cliet's estate planning problem ALL AT THE SAME TIME and "under one roof". Visit my professional web site for more on my INTEGRATED approach )

In another fantastic book that I refer to, The 21st Century Agent by Dan Sullivan, Sullivan says:

* Life insurance consumers now seek the knowledge and skill of individual agents who are able to operate as independent counselors and problem solvers

* The most successful life insurance agents (in the 21st century) will be those who see themselves as problem solvers for their clients rather than peddlers of products for the insurance companies.

Time to Think Out of the Box

" Adapt or die "

- Norman G.Levine CLU, ChFC
( Top of the Table; Life and Qualifying member, MDRT )

Realizing that my practice must do more than just product peddling and single-need focus, especially after I qualified for my ChFC, CLU, CFP in early 2003, I stumbled this classic book written by our industry legend, Norman Levine, From Life Insurance to Diversification ( I prefer the word INTEGRATED now & I will tell you why later , it changed my life forever.

Let me tell you this "gem" among many classic books written by great people in the life insurance ( LI ) industry.
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It was published in 1987 ( yeap, 21 years ago! ) and Norman Levine wrote to share his experience about how he re-engineer his practice/business model in response to the changes in the LI industry changes in USA at that time.

Mind you, the changes experienced by Norman in USA in the 1980's are exactly the SAME as what we are experiencing now in Malaysia in the past few years!
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Quotes from the book:

Chapter 1: Why this book

• Why this book – until the mid-1970’s, life insurance selling was a relatively traditional and well-established business.

It was almost exclusively dependent upon life insurance agents to market what were basically very traditional and sometimes antiquated products

• Everything that had been traditional and constant suddenly experienced a dramatic evolution which some perceived to be a shocking revolution – banking, stock brokerage houses and most particularly the LI industry struggled through innovation and experimentation to cope with this noticeably evolving environment.

• Like everyone else, I found myself questioning every aspect of my business. Products that I had relied on were questioned or challenged by potential clients and my own self-confidence began to erode.

• Since all the books I have ever read and all my sales presentations and procedures I had ever used were based on the challenged yesterdays, I could find no proven track to run on.

I, like most other practitioners, continued to make do with procedures that still had some limited effectiveness, but at the same time I began to experiment and invent new wheels.

Finally there was a little light at the end of what had been a frightfully long tunnel.
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Hold your breath. Read on.

I finally found that there's light at the end of the tunnel after reading, thinking through and researching into what Levine said in this wonderful book over the last 5 years, which I suggest that you read it yourself.

In his book, Levine said:

• Now just a few years later, my personal sales operation and the organization that I built to support that operation, only vaguely resembles the traditional organization that had worked so effectively for the first 30 years of my insurance career.

For the first time in many years my business and the future are very exciting.

I am dealing with a more select group of prospects and clients.

These people are more stimulating, challenging and more rewarding in every way.


Now I can really feel what Levine mentioned above in his book and I like to share my thoughts in this blog with those colleagues in the industry who feel that you must "re-engineer" your business/operation model in order only to survive, but also to thrive in this ever changing financial services industry in Malaysia.

One concept in Levine's book struck me:

• Let me begin with an analogy – if you are going to buy some new cloths, you could go to a store that sells ready-made clothes or to a custom tailor. Usually price is the main basis for your decision.

For most people, it is simpler and cheaper to buy ready-made but have to live with the compromises because you can’t get the exact fabric, or print or color you really want.

Even if all of those are perfect, you have to find the right style. Or you may prefer to go to your favorite tailor, pick out the exact fabric, pattern and color, and then get fitted very precisely as the finished garment is perfect for you.

• In the modern total financial services world all solutions, even at the most basic level, require a customized approach

• ## due to the unique needs and financial situations of our prospects, and with the great varieties of products and services now available, each practitioner must make some basic decisions about which type of prospect they wish to serve and what products and services necessary to do the job right.

– the market;
- the products; and
- the salesperson’s current level of expertise.

• Pursuing the ready made vs custom made analogy, there have been changes in consumers’ attitude – increasing demand for ‘ high touch ‘ in the sales process – they want someone to care enough about them as individuals, to feel their financial concerns, and to respond with sensitive financial solutions.

In effect, all consumers want custom clothes but frequently at bargain prices. Happily, with today’s technology, we can provide more comprehensive and sensitive solutions to problems at a more modest cost than ever before.

In other words, we can do it better, for less, more effectively, with greater profit if we plan and implement effectively.
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Bingo!

That's it! I bought Levine's idea. So after I have qualified for all my " kuali " ( Quali -fications - ChFC, CLU, CFP )I wanted to do FINANCIAL PLANNING !!

so I got hold of all the financial planning books that I could find, to the extent of buying the expensive FP textbooks in Singapore! I also attended many FP courses and wasted my money on the so-called financial planning softwares!

Then I realized a few things:

1. Most Malaysians are not ready for financial planning; especially if you tell them you are going to charge fee!

- They have been getting the 'advice' from friends, financial products salespeople for free.

2. Financial Planning is important but not urgent.

- You tell them about topping up on their life insurance especially during financial crisis now, they say no budget;
- You tell them about retirement planning, they say can defer for a few years until economy improves
- You tell them that it is important to write their Will, they procrastinate ( delay )or say they don't have many assets

3. Consumers can't see or touch or feel the value of a written financial plan

I had been a lecturer for CFP since late 2002. I have some CFP lecturing friends whom I met in one of the "train-the-trainer" course. After talking to them, I realized that many do not practise the comprehensive approach to FP ( meaning analyzing all the areas from cash flow; personal networth; to tax planning; insurance planning; investment planning; education planning; will & estate planning and then find out the gaps and the recommending the solutions & implementing it ). I also talked to some ChFC holders. Many do not practise too.

For some of the reasons which you may agree; disagree or want to argue with me, the fact is that many agency members in life insurance and unit trust industry or accountants/company secretaries who are ChFC and/or CFP DO NOT practise comprehensive financial planning. Some 'regress' back to selling products or back to single need planning.
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You may argue with me that some do multiple-need planning/selling. I agree. But most are at "cross-selling" ( meaning carrying a range of financial products and get consumers to take multiple products )To me, banks are also at "cross-selling" level as well.

The reason is that players in the industry are conditioned to focus on products / single need and find it very difficult to think " client-focus " ( which is being taught in financial planning courses alike ChFC/CLU/CFP ). Why?

My theory - Evolution - the industry is still evolving and insurance companies and unit trust companies still dominate the scenes.
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But that does not mean that agency as a species should be just reactive to the ever changing environment and becoming extinct; instead one should be PROACTIVE in changing one’s THINKING and adopt a new concept of doing business.

My answer to that challenge is doing my own R & R ( Reading & Research ). So, I challenged myself to lecture so that I keep up my my FP knowledge and because of the questions raised by adult students in my class, that spurred me to think through a lot of issues.

As a result of 5 years of intensive R & R ( reading; lecturing; writing articles for Borneo Post & Smart Investors; hands-on cases; & researching into problematic Estate Planning cases from my wife who is a practicing lawyer ), I have proudly developed my advisory & planning model I label it as: Integrated Estate Planning
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As a result of my continuing research, I found that the estate planning problems of clients are not FULLY addressed because their estate plan are un-coordinated and fragmented. For more details, read the explanation in my professional web site.

( please click on links on the top right hand corner of this blog )

Enjoy your reading!