Word From The Wise
Marcel Fenech, of Plano, Texas, equates being in sales with being in the infantry in the military. It’s a ticket to hard work, but ultimately to success!
Q. Can you share your history and tell us how you got your start in this industry?
A. I went to work right out of high school. I worked for an insurance company in the United Kingdom and spent time in the Canadian military before moving to the United States where I worked in the travel industry. A friend told me he thought I could be successful in the financial services industry because I wasn’t afraid to work hard. With that in mind, I responded to a newspaper ad and began my career. After working for the company from the advertisement for ten years, I set out on my own and have been an independent agent for eight years.
Q. You build your practice around client convenience, meaning you truly serve at the client’s pleasure. Give us an idea of your day.
A. I see clients when it is convenient for them. If my clients are early risers, I’ll be at their kitchen table at 7:30 AM to discuss their needs. My day typically starts with meeting with a client, after which I stop for breakfast before the next appointment. I don’t like to feel like I’m not working hard, it’s part of who I am. Also - I travel to my clients, I do not ask them to come to me. I believe in the past eight years, I have only seen two clients in my office. I have 262, 000 miles on my car and no office staff, because my clients have my phone number to get in touch with me directly. I’m in my office late in the day to do paperwork and check mail, but other than that, I’m rarely there. I make the most of my available time to spend with my clients.
Q. Can you tell us your philosophy about your career and your daily work?
A. Every Monday morning, I wake up unemployed. What I mean is that my week is a blank calendar and I must work to fill it up so that by Friday at 4 PM, I’m fully employed. I know my numbers well enough to know how much pending business I need to have to make the kind of money I need for my family. If my measuring stick shows that I don’t have the numbers I need, I am not afraid to work harder to raise the number to where I’m comfortable. To accomplish my goal, I host one seminar per week for retirees about annuities and the advantages available with them. I never host them on the same day, because one week, Monday might be the day for my clients other appointments and then the next week, it might be Tuesday. Again, I try to accommodate their schedules. At my seminars, I will have between 15 and 30 people attending, and from those people, I will usually set up three to four appointments per week. Then I work from the referrals I get from those who attended in the past.
Also, I personally deliver the paperwork to each client because that is a great time to ask for additional business. I walk away from 30% of my deliveries with additional business.
Q. You are speaking at the 2010 Learn To Earn Agent Sales Summit on the Art of the Referral - Earn the “Rights” to Recommendations. Would you give us a preview?
A. As agents, we must earn referrals, and we must always ask for them. I’ve had some clients tell me they are surprised by how long it takes an agent to ask them if they had friends who would want the same kind of service they had received. My theory is that if a client likes you, he or she will want you to succeed, and they are happy to refer their friends to you. I might get more referrals than the average agent because I am willing to ask. I think three to four of my appointments each week are from referrals. This tactic really can make a difference for any agent in this business, and I’m pleased to be able to offer some suggestions at Learn to Earn.
Q. How has Creative Marketing made a difference in your business?
A. You have changed my life. What you do, what my consultant does, is unbelievable. I speak to my consultant an average of three times each day, and he covers all the angles for me and points out things I might have missed in providing solutions and ideas for my clients. Since I started working with your organization, my sales have really taken off. This business is about hard work and relationships, and the one I have built with Creative is first class. I plan my own future, just as I help my clients plan theirs. My plan includes working with the organization that helps me to achieve my dreams.
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