Executive TLDR
Growth problems are leadership problems, not technology problems
Live kitchen table presentations build stronger trust and higher close ratios
Every appointment should lead to an FNA, life app, investments, and recruiting
Daily disciplines prevent pipeline dry spells
Retention matters more than raw recruiting numbers
Leaders must be stable, consistent, and trustworthy
Be hard on yourself, supportive with your team
Video Summary
This RVP Locker Room session focuses on the difference between managing and true leadership. The speaker emphasizes that while Zoom and technology are useful tools, rapid and sustainable growth comes from strong relationships built through live kitchen table presentations and local activity. He explains that retention and duplication improve when leaders prioritize connection, field training, and financial needs analysis over quick sales. The discussion highlights discipline, accountability, and daily standards as the cure for dry spells. Ultimately, growth is framed as a leadership issue: people follow strength, stability, and consistency. Leaders must model the fundamentals, maintain high standards, and create an environment where others feel secure enough to grow.
FAQs
What is the difference between managing and leading?
Managing focuses on overseeing activity, while leading focuses on modeling behavior, setting standards, and building trust that others want to follow.
Why are live kitchen table presentations emphasized?
Live presentations build deeper relationships, increase trust, improve close ratios, and create stronger retention compared to online-only interactions.
Why is the Financial Needs Analysis important?
The FNA uncovers real client needs, builds credibility, increases life and investment applications, and improves long-term client value.
What causes recruiting attrition?
Lack of leadership stability, weak relationships, and overreliance on volume recruiting without retention systems lead to higher dropout rates.
How do you prevent dry spells in production?
Maintain daily prospecting standards, track activity consistently, and avoid drifting into passive management instead of active leadership.
What role does accountability play in growth?
An accountability partner with vested interest helps enforce daily standards, track results, and prevent procrastination.
Glossary
Kitchen Table Presentation
A live, in-home financial presentation designed to build trust, present solutions, and create opportunities for sales and recruiting.
Financial Needs Analysis (FNA)
A structured review of a client’s financial situation to identify protection, debt, and investment needs.
Attrition
The rate at which recruits leave the business over time.
Retention
The ability to keep recruits active and productive long term.
Duplication
The process of teaching others to replicate proven systems consistently.
Daily Disciplines
Non-negotiable daily actions aligned with long-term goals.
Accountability Partner
A person who monitors performance and ensures standards are consistently met.
Pipeline
The ongoing flow of prospects, appointments, recruits, and clients that sustains business growth.
Transcript:
So who’s got a question? Who’s got something they want to ask? Yes, sir, I do.
And thank you. Tom Whitmore, regional vice president from Michigan and been a regional vice president for just under a year. But I want to grow big. I see a lot of bigness happening here. A ton. How does someone go from, you know, brand new RVP to. You’re seeing people cross all these diamonds, like, real fast. How do you stay organized with that amount of. Of people? Or if I’m the only person right now that’s in my organization, mine, that’s really producing and you get. So how do you organize that and get others to move? I don’t know.
No, that’s a good question. But let me help you all out, okay? I’ve been doing this for 45 years, so I promise you I can help you on that. Okay. However, you’re worried about something that’s not even in your wheel game. I mean, it’s not even. That should be the furthest thing from your mind. Okay? You’re going to handle that issue when it gets there. Okay. You’re not. I’m going to cover a part, I think, tomorrow afternoon. They gave me a little more time because somebody weenied out. So I get their time. But it’s called the transition from a small. I’ve got an incredible PowerPoint on that. I won’t be able to do it this weekend, but it talks about how do you go from a. And I got it from Natural.
It’s a book called Natural Church Growth, and it’s about a church growth. Okay. But it’s all the same business, churches, anything else like that. And this will go to your. To your question. And then I got another PowerPoint that I do, I’ve done for another 30, 40 years. And you can get this stuff probably online because I’ve got it out there. Okay? But you think about it. Anytime you start off small, okay, you’re kind of what I. It’s called the creative stage. At that point, like where you are, you’re. You’re new, you’re excited. All your energy, all your time, all your effort is in the building. Creating, you’re creating. Okay? Now think about that. All of a sudden, now you’re going to the questions of what you just asked, which I guarantee you would be the biggest thing that will cause you to fail.
If you get that mindset, you are dead. Okay? Because you’re putting the horse in front of the. Or the cart in front of the horse. Okay? He’s got Me on that. All right, so then what we do is we’re creative, we’re recruiting, we’re selling, we’re getting, we’re doing all these stuff, then we get into management. And when you get into management, you are toast in Primerica. And technically, that’s a management question you’re asking is. It wasn’t a creative stage question. It was a management question. How am I. How am I going to handle this? What if this. Okay, well, you’re putting so many problems out there and they’re not even there. They’re just not there. Okay? That’s not leadership. Leadership is if it shows up, I’m going to be prepared. But you know what?
I’m not going to create a problem that I don’t have right now. Let me take care of the problems I have right now. Because if you get in that management stage and all of a sudden you got to get everything organized, you got to make sure this happens or that happens. I got to get what kind of drapes we’re going to get in our office. What kind of desk are people going to set behind all this kind of stuff like that? All of a sudden, then. Then you’re in the justification. You’re gonna start justifying why you’re not growing now, why did you do that? Cause you got out of the creative stage. You got the management now you’re not growing all of a sudden. You gotta justify that. You know what the next step is? Condemnation. You start blaming, criticizing, you are gone.
So what would be a good thing for you to do right now? Know that. And with the moment those thoughts come to your mind, slap the stink out of yourself, okay? Because I promise you’re headed down. Just stay in that creative stage. Don’t worry about all those problems because you ain’t got them right now. You don’t have those problems. Okay? Does that make sense? Okay. Good. Good. Okay. Who else? Yes, sir. How you doing, Bill? Tim May, Ohio rvp. I think my question centers around goals because my goals haven’t changed. I want to promote VPs. I want to be a million dollar earner. I want to have freedom. Right? I think we all do. We wouldn’t be here if we didn’t. Well, okay, I’m gonna help you here, okay? You’re a leader, okay? This rvp, man. Okay? Right.
I wouldn’t assume what you just said is true. That’s not true. Fair. Okay, well, you got to get that okay, I received. Because if you put your assumptions on other people, I promise you’re Gonna. Hey, I’m glad. Good to see you. I love a man that travels with his daughter, don’t you? Isn’t that cool? Okay. But I think you got to really think about that, okay? And let me help you out, too. Your job is not to promote RVPs. That’s the dumbest thing people get in their mind, okay? Now if you do your job, you’re going to promote RVPs. Their job, if you recruit the right kind of person, is for them to get to rvp. Your job’s creating an environment and atmosphere that’s conducive to success. Now that’s your job. That’s your only job.
You’re not going to make chicken salad and chicken manure. That ain’t happening. Okay? You’re not going to win the Kentucky deal with a pack meal. You got to find people and put them into your system. You can’t control what everybody else does. So I want to promote RVP’s. Well, you see people doing that in a company, they’re promoting a bunch of misfits that they should have never promoted. Why? Because their goal is to promote RVP’s, make this much money, this, that and other. And they’re just throwing mess against the wall. Some stick, some don’t. That ain’t how you build this thing. Build. You become a leader that other people want to follow, that you’re worthy of being followed. That will attract people that are worthy of the RVP title. If not, then that ain’t your responsibility. That’s not your responsibility. Because here’s the deal.
You could find somebody to promote right or wrong. Correct. Okay. And you have the power to promote them. Right or wrong. Correct. Okay. Doesn’t mean they’re RVPs. But if you have standards and you create an environment and atmosphere conducive to success with high standards, you’re going to attract the right kind of people. And when they go out, they’re going to be. They’re going to be an rvp, a real rvp. And your money will grow exponentially. That’s a pretty blunt answer, but I was telling you my question was going.
To be what should my daily focus be?
But I think you already answered that. Okay, good. Well, and let me give you a hint on that. Okay, here’s the deal. It’s a real simple rule. You ought to get this down. You ought to get it. It’s called the 5050 rule, okay? And really, this was founded by Art Williams 40 something years ago. 45 years, I know is one of the first things I ever heard nobody ever. They don’t. They hear only half of what Art said. Like they said, art said, build 7 and 10, get your RVPs. That ain’t what he said. He said 7 to 10 every 10 years. But nobody hears that because they don’t want to hear that. Okay? That’s not how. That’s how people, they selectively listen, right? Like children. So in that it’s a 50 rule.
50% of your time should be prospecting, and then 50 should be kitchen tay type thing. Kitchen table. Now, it goes back to what were talking a while ago. That’s where the people get managed. You look at most people in the company right now, they’re not. They’re not doing that. They’re not doing that. And they wonder why their business isn’t growing. They’re managing. They’re telling their people, you go do it. You go do it. They’re gonna. They’re putting on meetings, they’re doing this, but they’re not actively recruiting direct to them. Why? Because it’s hard. And you guys get to RVP and you want everybody else to do it. Okay. And that’s normal. That’s normal. Okay. But it’s not gonna grow your business long term. Does that make sense? So I look at it 50. Look at your day planner.
If I hope you have a good day planner. If not, I got the best one company’s ever created because I created it. No, I’m not exaggerating. It’s the best anywhere company took it, screwed it up. Howard, my buddy, took it and screwed it up. But if you want a copy, I’ll send you a copy of it. It’s the best thing ever. I promise you it is. Okay, who else? Yes. Okay, give me a minute. Andrea Howland. Ooh, that’s loud. Andrea Howland, Michigan Regional Vice President. So we have incredible leaders here that just recently got promoted to national sales directors. And the talk. Yeah, yeah, the talk to get to a million is like heavy in our office right now. So as leaders that support them, We’ve got several RVP’s here for the waymakers.
What is the mentality that we need to have as like, supportive leadership on, like, how we get them over the million? We’ve got incredible hierarchies here that are all over the place that our million dollar team, we want that for our team. What do we need to be focused on to support them and help them get there? Well, I think you. The biggest word you said, which I think you answer your own question there. Your Job is obviously not to do it for them. Your job is to support them, and then their job is to prove themselves worthy of your support. Okay, does that make sense? So you got to look at their effort. I mean, what. I’d be doing a big thing here. And I will hit this over the next couple talks I have in front of everybody.
Is that you got to ask, do they really. Is that really what they want? Now, you gotta. You gotta meet with them, and once they tell you, yes, this, whatever, and you’ll see this. I’m gonna do this tonight. I’m gonna recover. I’ll cover tomorrow. Tom Landry, a great coach. He’s dead now, obviously, but he coached the Dallas Cowboys. He’d bring an individual player in, and he’d ask him, what is it? What do you want? What do you want on this team? He said, you want to be a starter? You want to be a star, or you want to be a sub? He said, now, I don’t care. He said, we are going to pay you a lot of money, the Dallas Cowboys. But he said, I want you to tell me, what do you want?
You want to be a starter, star, or a sub? Now, it didn’t matter. He said, but whatever you tell me it is, then my job is to hold you accountable for that. Then he had turned to him and say, but your job is to hold me accountable. I did this with my own son, Blake, when he was coming up, because he wanted to be a star basketball player. I said, I know how to do that because I was. However, I also know what to do. I’m gonna tell you what to do. You gotta ask me, are you willing to pay the price that’s gonna take for you to become that star player? If not, we gotta lower your goals. So in that case, you need to meet with them. You gotta get good at holding them accountable.
Then they need to get good at holding you accountable. Cause if they need help and you’re not there to help them, they need to find somebody else because you’re not their leader. So your job is to supply all the support that they need. I think the same thing with raising children, great children. If the parent can’t supply what that child needs to grow up to be a mature adult, then that’s a pitiful parent. And I always told my son this when he was playing college basketball. I said, if the coach can’t tell you what you need to do to get better, you need to transfer because you’re not playing for a good coach. Now, you never transfer because you Always played for good coaches.
So in that case, find out what they want and then be willing to hold them accountable on a consistent daily, weekly, monthly, whatever your system is. Okay. Of accountability. And then let them hold you accountable. So if they need something, whether it’s sales training, product knowledge, recruiting, whatever it is, your job is to bring in people and supply that form. Does that make sense to you?
Okay, so when Rhonda and I went to. When we became an rvp and Santo, you’re the only one old enough to remember Santo in the room. Patty’s saying she is too. When Santo was making a run for nsd, our upline, we said to our team, our bay shop, we said we want to have the biggest influence on his going to nsd. And so we use that as a rallying point for our bay shop to help create the momentum that would get him to nsd.
Okay, help me out. So what’s that mean her role would be.
Well, she should be rallying her team and they all. All the RV should be rallying their teams.
Okay.
To have an impact on their.
Okay, so they got a local. Yeah, local example. A local leader. And you’re kind of making that run together. Yeah, it’s like getting in shape. It’s always good to have a running buddy. I call it business buddy. Most people have a buddy, but it’s not a business buddy. It’s a busy body buddy, you know, or a whining, griping buddy. But that ain’t who you want to make your run with. Okay, Great. Okay, who else? Who’s next?
Right here.
Bill.
Tabitha with a team buyer. Wait a minute.
Oh, I’m sorry. I thought the holy spirit was talking here, maybe both of us today. There you go.
So my question is, I heard Glenn Williams say, listening to the senior. Senior leadership meeting and our coaches, Jerry and Rhonda, about how we have our recruiting numbers up, but this is an internal consumption business and our life business and internal consumption. We need to better at that. So my question is, we got our.
Recruiting numbers up in our bay shop.
And how do we get that internal consumption like it was back in the Art Williams days. How do we get that up there so that we can go and accomplish.
The things that our coach wants us? Well, I’m going to correct that a little bit. Okay. The disadvantage I’ve been around a long time. Okay, Art Williams didn’t say that. I promise you. Okay? That is not. That was not how this company is built. This was not built on internal consumption. Absolutely not. Now anytime you’re Recruiting business, will there be internal consumption? Okay, no question about it. Just the sheer numbers. Okay, he said that if you recruit somebody, should they buy our product? Well, that’s not necessarily true. Yeah, if there is a need, okay, internal consumption, they don’t care if there’s a need or not. You’re going to buy the product. That’s not how we remarket. It’s a need based company. The ratio was. How this company Is built was 3 to 1. You see all these recruiting numbers.
I know when they don’t know what they’re doing. If your ratio you recruited 100 people to make 100 sales, something’s wrong. That’s what Art Williams said do not do. You’re throwing stuff against walls. Some stick, some don’t. You don’t care about the people. You’re just slapping numbers in classes and seeing who passes. Okay, that’s not how this company was built. It’s basically a three to one ratio. That’s what it is. If you look at the 8, 5, 3:1 pipeline theory, that’s basically what that is. Okay? It’s the same thing. It’s a numbers game. But you see people that recruit the same numbers that make sales, they’re treating people like numbers. They’re not playing the numbers game. They’re treating people like numbers. So that’s not what Art said. And if it did, it was just misconstrued because that’s not how you meant it. Okay?
Because his ratio was 3 to 1. You recruit 30 people, you ought to have at least 100 sales every time or you’re not doing a good job training your people because somebody’s got to be out there selling. This is a, this is a marketing company, not a multi level type thing. This ain’t Amway. Art was psycho about that. He didn’t. Everyone was called that name, hated it. Yeah, but kind of a combination of both, I’m sure. Yes, sir.
Hey, good afternoon. I heard that it’s a bogo. Today we get two questions for the price of one. So my first one is my youngest is getting ready to come into our business here soon. So I’d love to hear any philosophies or mindsets or non negotiables for your how you worked with Blake, who’s awesome coming through the door. And I would love to know what.
Your early morning ritual looks like with God. Oh, that’s good. Okay, let’s go to Blake first. Because I had the privilege and honor of coaching Blake in basketball just like I did in Primerica. Okay, I Never pushed Blake toward basketball, but he always wanted to play basketball. Now, you can imagine if you got a child and he’s a child of a father. I had a great career. I was very successful in basketball. Okay, so he came up in a basketball what? Okay, you said it. Environment, okay? So y’all gotta understand this. But I knew what I was doing. I. I knew if I created the environment that was what, conducive to success. It’s like a magnet. He would be what, drawn toward it. So every time there was a game on, okay, I was watching who you think was sitting next to me.
He was okay. And I found out what his favorite team was. Happened to be Chicago Bulls. Anybody know why? Michael Jordan. So I made sure I’d fly him back and forth to all the games. I’d make sure all the All Star games. We were on the front row of all the All Star Games every year. He was being exposed, keyword, exposed to that environment that was dragging, pulling him in. So did I really ever have to push him toward that? No. He got so excited. And then another thing I did was any level of success. I praised him so much. And everybody wants praise. I don’t care who you are. They want that. And so he was getting praised for that. Now, if he’d have chosen, you know, ballroom dancers like Jerry did, that kind of stuff, okay? And if he.
It wouldn’t have matter what he chose, to be honest with you, okay? I would have been the same kind of father. I promise you, I would have been. Okay? Just. He just chose it because he was just bombarded with it, okay? Then little things like my house, okay? I had a basketball court and all that kind of stuff. And all my guys would come over late at night. We’d be out there playing ball. Well, he wanted to be out there playing ball. Little bitty kid running around. And I invited him to be a part of it. Why? He was a part of that environment, okay? And so I take him to ball games. He’d go to the ball games with me and people, hey, Bill. What on. And then he’d see me getting recognition. He kind of liked that. You know what I’m saying?
I took him to LSU game where I played and stuff. So he got involved with that kind of stuff. And then he started playing at a very young age. And every time he wanted to be out there shooting, practicing, I was there with him. Then what I did was I got other people because I had the financial thing and I had the knowledge. I’d get other people to come in and help him to develop him. So I was telling her about her people to get them to come in and train him on ball hand or train him on this, train him. Because I wanted him to better than me. So I got him trained on that. Then I got him a strength coach.
As he got older, I kept getting more and more resources his in his life for him to become the best he could be. And then I told him at any point in time, sub starter, star. What was his goal all of his life growing up? He wanted to be the star. The star. But what I tell him, there’s what’s attached to that, a price. And I’m big on that. That’s standards. There’s a price to be paid at every level. Are you willing to go to the next level? Well, then the price did what? It just went up. Like being an auction. It just went up. It’s going to be higher. Are you prepared to go that? Yeah. Okay, then we got to go practice more. We got to practice more. We got to get up early. We got to do more.
We got to do more, more. And that was the whole mindset. So when Primerica came around, he was in college playing basketball. I’d never talked to him about joining Primerica ever. But he saw my environment. Now I hear other people in primary say, I don’t want my kids getting in Primerica. Well, that’s a sad state in my opinion. I mean, I think that’s sad because I understand what this company will do for you if you make it best, what it’ll make you as a person, but also what it do for your financial. But I think it makes you a better person. So in this he. He said, I. I really didn’t know what my dad did. He said, I used to think, does my dad ever work? Then he said he thought, does my dad ever take time off? He said, he’s always working.
Yet I look around, he’s everywhere we are. He never missed. He’d be playing in Hawaii. I’d be up there at every game. I’d fly from Hawaii back to Baton Rouge or back to a company event. One time in Arizona, spoke, got back on a jet, flew right back to Hawaii that next night to watch him play basketball. He was in Alaska. Did the same thing in Alaska. I never missed one event ever. Except when my daughter was cheering in the Grand National Cheerleading Championship. The only time I ever missed a game of his, ever. But I watched it on tv and I was there with my daughter. Never missed an event with either one of them. But what was I doing? I was praising him. I was supporting him. I saw him, showed him that it mattered.
So when he came time to get in Primerica, he came to me and said, dad, this is what I want to do. He said, but how do I get started? I said, well, and I went through the sub starter, star, and I started with him the same way. Didn’t expect anything more from him, but nothing less. That’s a big thing. I see people coaching their kids or getting them in Primerica. No, I didn’t make Blake play any harder, do any more, any of my teams that I coached him on than I did the other players. I also did the same thing. Blake had to give me a heck of a replacement. I’ve never promoted one RVP ever, in my 45 years without a replacement. And it was no exception with my son. Now, I wouldn’t try to make him a martyr.
It’s just the right thing to do. Does that make sense? Okay.
When you talked about, you know, if you want to go to the next level, you have to up your game.
You have to pay a bigger price.
So talk to the RVP’s about coaching their downline on that, and then the RVP’s to go to the next level. What does that mean to them to pay a bigger price to go to the next level? Next level.
And I’m. I’m always. It’s always. To me, a price is an enigma. Because I think for what is a price to somebody is maybe not as much of a price to somebody else. Does that make sense? Okay. Because I know a lot of people. Oh, God. I don’t know how you keep doing what you’re doing. Why this and that. Well, I don’t consider that much of a price. You know, some people, you know, they could have a hangnail and they think they can’t work because they don’t know how to pay a price. I slashed my leg two nights ago, and I got 18, 20 stitches in it. And people said, we gonna take that flight. You can’t even walk. I said, what are you talking about? I had.
I was in the hospital doing a thing with my heart again the other a couple weeks ago, and Glenn Williams heard about it and he said, well, look, you don’t have to worry about. I said, glenn, I said, are you on drugs? You think I’m going to miss that? Ain’t happening, you know, But I think the price, you got to be careful because sometimes we take and we impose us our toughness or our what we’re willing to pay, and we think everybody else should be paying the same thing, then we discount the price somebody pays and thinking, well, that ain’t nothing. Well, maybe it’s. It is for them, is that. I don’t know if that makes sense. Okay?
But if you look at price, let’s say for a new person, you got to realize, most people, like, for me, this thing was like coming in, this thing was like shooting fish in a barrel. I mean, people, oh, it’s going to be so hard. The price I said, not the way I grew up. This was like nothing. So I had no challenges whatsoever when I came into prime era. I mean, none. Okay? Only thing I had problem was I hate rejection. I hate it. Still do. And so I had a little problem with that. But you know what I did? I got so good at my skills, I just didn’t get rejected. Okay? I didn’t get told no. So I think you got to take younger people when they’re first coming in. Not younger chronologically, but as far as their experience in Primerica.
You got to realize most people don’t know what it means to pay a price. And so you got to kind of ease them into this thing. And you got to allow different personalities to the ones that are weenies, they can’t handle it. You might need to hug up on a little bit, because you can’t treat everybody the same. I promise you can’t. You’re going to screw them up, you’re going to run them off. So you got to be maybe a little tougher on this person, but do it on an individual basis. And I think on the younger level, you got to kind of give them a chance to save face. And all the times, because most people coming in, they’re looking for a reason to quit before they even get started. But that’s normal. I mean, we all judge people, but everybody’s like that.
And it’s sad, but it’s the case in this generation. Now, I sound like a really old guy now, but, you know, it is. It’s not a silent quitter. They’ll just tell you out loud, I’m quitting. I’m out of here. You know, it’s just. But that’s on us as leaders to influence them to stay. So when things get tough, you got to be closer to them. I see so many people in Primerica, and I’m not knocking anybody. But all this long distance stuff, I’m telling you got to be right there with your people. You got to Be they got to know you’re in the trenches with them. Not, oh, you’ll go fight. You know, I’m supporting you. They don’t even know who you are. I’d be real careful now as they get higher like RVP’s. The price. Think about this.
The price when you become an RVP. What do most people think when they get to RVP? Y’all are RVPs. You know this. You think you could. You’ve stopped paying the price. Yeah. That you’ve arrived. You get tied a lot as you think you’re. Now, you don’t say that, but your actions say that you really don’t think you have to pay the price any longer. And the fact is, John Maxwell talks about this. He said the price is paid every day, all day, forever. Now, nobody wants to hear that, but that’s the way it is. Art Williams said it so well, either you’re growing or you’re what, dying. Which means what? You can never let up. Which means when are you going to pay a price? Every day, forever.
So it might be that you have to pay a bigger price to go to the next level. Is continuing to do what you did to get where you are.
I think, because I want to make sure I don’t, because I have some of this in a PowerPoint. What got you to this level will not be enough to get you to the next level. That’s a fact. Now, mentally, no, that’s not even true either. Because. Because the bigger you get, the more problems. We’re gonna talk about this behind the stage. The bigger you get, the more problems you’re gonna have. Cause you got more people in. People bring problems, okay? And it’s your inability to handle their problems that’s your problem. If you’re not growing, it’s because you don’t know how to spin the plates and you don’t know how to put up with people. And you stop growing. Growing as a leader. As John Maxwell’s the leadership lid that you stop growing as a leader.
So some people, they can lead a small team because that’s who they are, small leaders. Some people can lead an average sized team because they’re average leaders. But huge leaders, people get big. What did they do? They grew themselves. So your number one role is personal development, personal growth. Every day, every day. Getting better, getting better. And that’s the only way you get bigger. Think about the guy with Chick Fil A. When they ask him, all the bored people say, we got to get bigger, got to get me. So, no, no. We don’t have to get bigger. We got to get better. If we get better, we’re going to get bigger because the consumer will demand we open up more outlets. So if your business is not growing and they’re not beating your door down, if only because you’ve stopped growing.
And what’s that mean? You stop paying the price to get up early, read the books, go to seminars, take notes. I’m watching somebody on that take notes. The Delos pencil is better than the sharpest mind. You’re not going to remember all this stuff. And the problem that you don’t get solved in your mind, how to handle it when it comes up, it’s going to knock you out of your business. I promise you it is.
So to eliminate or minimize this, to have continuous growth, you’re saying that you have to keep recruiting directs. You have to keep. And you have to keep growing, and you get incremental growth if you do that. Not explosive growth.
Right. And you might. You might. You know that because Art said what? You’re one what? One what? From a what? Okay, so is an explosion incremental? No, he said you’re one recruit. What away from a what? Explosion. But what are we doing? We’re hoping our people bring in that recruit. And you got to remember, it’s called the two times one half rule. Something I created years ago. Pretty cool. But anything you do good, your people are going to do half of it. Same thing with your children. Anything you do bad, they’re going to do twice as much of it. So when you let up on recruiting, personally selling, personal improvement, your dress, how you dress, guess what? They’re shutting it down. Moment you lower your standards, I promise you it’s going to be the true in your morals, ethics, values, business practices.
And then society is the same way, and it falls apart. Now, let me hit that one question because that was so good about. Because what I do for my. My personal growth, I try to do a lot of. I pay a guy to coach me to make sure I’m growing personally. Okay? Because I stopped growing about three or four years ago when I had that heart issue and I stopped growing, I kind of started capitulating, listening to the different people in my life. They were giving me, I think, good advice because they loved me. But I think it was part of it was they want me to let up, because it makes sure they let. Up until that point, I’d never, ever let up. I did what Art Williams said. I always built new RVP’s every 10 years.
That’s the reason in the history of the company, I think I’d maintain that level more than anybody’s ever done the history of the company. However, at that point, I kind of let up. Well, when I let up, they doubled it. And like that baby went. It’s amazing how fast that happened, okay? I kept on my personal life, I kept raising it. So one thing in my personal life, I. I hired a guy that coaches me. You’ve heard a guy. Ed Millette and Brandon Beshear. They’re top influencer in the world. So I hired these guys, okay? And I’m paying a lot of money to get coached, okay? Because I want to get better, I want to grow. And I listen tons of podcasts. I listen to a lot of stuff. But here’s what I started doing. I started violating my own mouth service.
The Bible says, do not be hearers of the word, but be doers of the word. Whoo. I could read all. Read all these books. I read five, six books a week. Still do. I do all that. But am I living it now? If I was living it going back to what Jerry said, I’d be personal recruiting? Well, you look at the people I personally recruited. Every first generation I recruited, they made 250,000 first year out, every one of them. And then what did I just stop doing? Recruiting? What did I stop doing? Field training, what did I stop doing socials? What did I start doing? Playing golf, doing this, taking trips, doing the things that I knew works and started listening to people. And I went straight downhill. And that’s why I’m back after it again now.
And I got several new people directing me now, and I’m going to build it right back up because this ain’t that tough. Now, as far as my personal growth, every morning I get up, I’ve got five devotionals, okay, in my one year Bible. So I do two or three things I don’t read. 10, 15, 20, 30, 50, 100 minutes, whatever it is. I go in my library, which is my bathroom, pretty nice place, and I’ll read De La Vost with Joyce Meyers. I do another one with three different ones with John Maxwell because John and I are close friends. So I do three with his material. I do a couple other leadership type training stuff, but all devotional types. So I’m also getting ideas. I’m taking notes on this and other.
And as soon as I do that, I leave there and I go immediately to my dressing area and there’s my day planner. And immediately in there it says dd, you know, for personal or pd personal development. And I start writing all the different things that I just read. Why? Because I want to keep that in my mind. Does that make sense? Then immediately I go to my top part of that and it’s got my goals and my affirmations. I write it down in there and then I’m starting to say it and I get in the shower and I’m starting to say it and starting to say it out loud. As long as my wife’s not around, think I’m crazy or my puppy. So she comes up and wants me to take her to Starbucks. That’s my routine.
And so I do all that and then I’m out on my day. Okay. Then I repeat that with the different sources at nighttime. So I’m bombarded in my mind. As soon as I get in a car, I’m not listening to radio status. I put a podcasts on there. I’m listening. I’m bombarding my mind. Okay. And so I’m trying to do this all the time. Does that. I don’t know if that makes sense. Okay. That’s what I do mentally. Okay.
Can I just say on behalf of everybody, we appreciate your work ethic.
Well, I appreciate. Thank you. I appreciate it.
You’re a big stud.
Well, thanks.
So this is a question that Rhonda wanted to ask you. You chased her off. You’re too tall for her. Okay. So she wanted to ask you to comment on field training. One of the things that we’ve seen is that field training has become weak since our entry into the zoom age. So she wanted you to comment on your opinion about field training and what it should look like for the RVPs right now.
Once again, 100%, I’m going to tell everybody up front, I know I’m wrong. Okay. On the other hand, 100%, I know I’m right. So I think there’s got to be a massage thing take place because if you’re thinking I’m going to build a solid, secure business, zooming, you’re dead wrong. The company right now, Jerry knows this. Glenn Williams, Bobby Peterman, the CEO of this company, are in dire panic because the quality of business and the quality of people we’re bringing in, social media and zooming and all that kind of stuff, it’s just riff raff out the butt and it’s just a nightmare. And people are taking bloodbaths all across the company. And we’re a public held company. We can’t allow this company to go down the toilet because everybody gets caught up on the wanting to be promoted real fast, make all this money.
You can do all that. Because I’ve had people in my organization went from nothing to SNSD like that, went from nothing to 600,000 like that. Now they’re hanging on by the skin of their teeth. Why all social media, all long distance. And think about that. I mean, just simple logic. Common sense says you’re not going to build a solid, secure business. This is a Art Williams kitchen table, kneecap to kneecap, eyeball. Now, has things changed since COVID Have they? Yeah. However, let’s look at what’s happened now with the political world, the business world. These guys are the multi, multi mega billionaires. What are they making mandatory right now? Back to work. Tell me why. I mean, these are the most smartest people in the world. Well, what are they saying? What do they say?
Okay, so if that was working in the real world, the business world with these multi mega billionaires, and it was working, what would they say to do? Keep doing it? Matter of fact, intensify that. Everybody stay home, nobody do anything besides online. And they’re saying, no, you’re in back end or you’re not working here. Now, I don’t think you can do that in your businesses because some of y’all have to make a total business change. I don’t think I should have changed earlier. My son did, but then I looked at his business, it didn’t grow. It did this and he got a few people in, but because there was no. And I’m gonna cover this tomorrow. Gerald tell you this. Art Williams said, build strong. What? What? I gotta help him out here. Personal what? Relationships.
Now, if you can show me any of y’all how to build strong personal relationships, long distance or by zoom, this, that and other. I’d like to hear it. Cause you can’t do it. You can’t do it. Can you do it temporarily? Can you date long distance? Okay. I’m used to talking to people that respond, okay, we are in a church, okay? Some of y’all Baptists or Catholics, and you don’t talk, okay? Okay. Act like you’re a pentecost, okay? Get excited. Jump up and down, okay? Run around the place, okay? But you gotta get where you’re with your people, where you really can touch them, where you’re meeting with them. I go to my office every. Every morning. I got away from that a little bit. I was out playing golf every day.
And all that kind of stuff like that, you know, because they had me convinced, oh, you’re probably not going to live much longer, and all that kind of stuff. They were wrong. I think my wife was praying. I caught her in the back of the room reading my policies one night. Okay, but you got to be there with your people. You got to be the first one to your office. I wear a shirt and tie every day. Usually I wear pants, and I wear a shirt and tie every day because I want to set a standard. Because if I start going up there with a golf shirt on this and guess what my guys start doing, I promise you what they start doing. Jeans and T shirts. We’re not going to have that stuff.
You’re going to come to my house and take my money and looking like a bum? That ain’t happening. So we got standards. Now, you might not agree with that, but you asked me to come speak, okay? So I think it’s important. And if you do watch the kind of caliber of people you’ll start bringing in now, they think you’re a little weird at first. Show up on time, see what happens, okay? I’m telling you, this is leadership. Think about you running a professional football team, basketball team, baseball team. You think they have standards? Yeah, big time. And they’re paying these guys millions, tens of millions per year. But they’re still demanding you show up. You do this like the kid here in Miami. I love Butler. They’re fixing to get rid of him. You know why? He’s not a team player.
He don’t want to come to practice, don’t want to come to game. What should they do with him? Fire him. Get rid of him. And guess what they’re going to do? I know Riley. He’s going to get rid of him. And should he? Yeah. What’s he expecting them to do? Adjust to him. Guys, somebody in this room’s got to. You got to set the standards on that. So field training. You’re across that kid’s table. I take Jerry out, we’re in the field. Guess what? We meet up. We’re gonna go see his buddy. I’ve already gone through his 30 name list. I already know a little bit about this person, his wife, this, that, and the other. We’re gonna go see them face to face on zoom. They could be motioning each other on a table. They could not be paying attention.
Hey, tell him no, I’m not gonna. You can’t do that with me. Face to face. I drive up in your neighborhood, I see the neighborhood. I I see what kind of car you got. I see what kind of how you keep your yard. I’m seeing what kind of human being I’m dealing with. I know. I see your neighbor out there. I see how you treat you. I see how your front room, I see, is it clean. I see how your kids run out there, they want to sit on my lap. I see how they’re raised. They’re saying, yes, sir, no, sir, yes, ma’am, no, ma’am. Or they’re whatever, it doesn’t matter. If they’re acting like little hellions, that’s okay too, because they’re kids. They’re kids. But I’m going to see how mom and Dad’s interacting with their kids.
I’m going to see how mom and Dad’s interacting with each other. I’m going to see their environment because I’m fixing to bring them into my environment. I’m buying them. I’m fixing to invest my life into them. This ain’t going to be a little sign you up an IBA and hope I’ll see you and get some money off of you. I’m not into fleecing the flock. I’m not into that. I’m into building personal relationships that last long term. Now, does that mean I know somebody says, well, you know, people won’t quit on a friend, they’ll quit on a boss. Let me help you out. Quitters do what? That’s why they call them quitters. You can be, as nobody can be, a better friend to somebody than I am. I’m not saying you could. I mean that nobody could do more for some people.
But they quit on me, they’re going to quit on you. That’s the way. That’s just the business. Don’t worry about that. You know what? You need more of them. You just need more of them. So field training. You’re out there at kids table. You’re out there, they’re seeing how you’re going to handle the objections, how you’re gonna handle the positives, the negatives. They’re gonna see how you’re gonna physically get the policy at the table. You can’t do that on Zoom. Gotta get the policies physically at the table. How you gonna do this stuff? How you’re gonna come back, deliver the policy, how you’re gonna build a relationship, recruit them, then you get back in that car, then you’re driving back to that next appointment. But you’re what? You’re driving back to the next appointment. What are you. What’s the key Word together.
That means you’re building close personal relationships. You’re talking, hey, tell me about, how’s your wife doing? How’s the kids doing? How they doing that ball game the other day? So you don’t do that Zoom. You get it on, you click off, you’re done. You ought to think about it. You don’t have to do it, but solid, secure, lasts for a long time. I just think it’s. That was Art Williams, a multi billionaire. That’s how he built this thing. I think he’d still do it today. What do you use? He’d do it.
So we recognize that you’re far left on this issue and others are far right.
Yeah, but a lot of my guys in my hierarchy include my own son. He’s bigger than this, but he’s let me know real quick. Dad, I was wrong. I went too far right. He said, now you’re wrong. You’re too far left. I said, blake, I’m just too dumb.
Yeah, well, you know, I don’t think that. I think that it’s hard to make the complete transition. So, like, when Johnny and I talk about this, and we talk about it all the time, because he really taught us all how to do kitchen tables. Johnny was the king of. Give Johnny a big hand. John Lavin, right? He was the king of kitchen table presentations. And we grew up. Us grew up making live kitchen table presentations. So we’re naive enough to believe that you should do that as well. We understand that the left and the right are far apart. So one of the things that Rhonda and I have been preaching is maybe 50% of your activity, you should have a goal to be local, to start to warm it up, to get back on track.
Right.
Half of your activity should be local so you can do more live kitchen table presentations. Because we believe today, even in the Zoom era today, they’ll be more effective. You’ll get better clients, you’ll get better sales, you’ll pick up more investments, you’ll have a higher close ratio if they’re alive. So we’re trying to help people. Yeah, we’re trying to help people.
I try to stay away from dead people. You said if they’re alive, live, okay, good.
Live presentations, okay.
Yeah. But for me, it’s just me, because my. My personality. I’m a high A personality, but I’m extremely high R. That’s another reason I do the Zoom stuff. Okay? I do all that stuff. And I promise you, if I had that when I started, because I opened up Indianapolis, I opened Up Dallas. I helped open up, so I was all over the place. And I drive like a crazy person traveling. Okay. Am I prepared to do that at 74 years old? Probably not. Would I do it if I needed to do it? Absolutely. Is it the best way to do it? No question about it. However, it’s no. For me, it’s no fun. What’s fun for me is I like people. I like this. I watch the TV back there and there’s going to be people watching this event on tv.
Right or wrong, there’s zero chance they’re going to. Zero chance they’re going to get as much out of it as here live. Right or wrong. I don’t even think it’s debatable. At my church, we have one of the biggest growing churches, Huge church, bigger than this. And we have packed house, five services every Sunday, and now they’re having to go to a sixth and all that. And they do Saturday and all that kind of stuff. And that place is packed now. In addition to that, they have everybody online. Who do you think gets most out of that thing? Cause my wife, I like to go to the early service. Okay. But she doesn’t like to get. So I wait for her a lot of times, but sometimes I don’t now, so she’ll watch on the couch.
There’s no way she’s getting as much out of that service. But here’s another thing. What is she not building? Okay. What’s the purpose of the church? It’s a gathering of the brethren. You’re supposed to come together. No way. You’re building relationships. So when somebody wants to quit, all they could do is flip a switch.
Okay, I want to try to tighten this one up a little bit. This is for Rhonda now, so don’t avoid Rhonda’s question.
Okay?
Okay. So what I remember when we grew up in the business is that at 6 o’clock, we would make sure that we look good and maybe have a quick bite to eat and get in our car. And we’d go in the field with a map. Right. We go in the field with a MapQuest. Right. Flashlight. Right. Flashlight. And a map. And we would go out with a goal to make three or four kitchen table presentations in the evening. Since the Zoom era started, it seems like at 6 o’clock, there’s nothing different than at 12 o’clock. Nobody is going out. Nobody is trying to do kitchen tables at night. Nobody is trying to do kitchen tables on the weekend. They’re not going. Is that Only because we’re not local. Or did we get off track on that as well?
Well, I want you all to think about this, okay? Because this is an important thing. All right? Because once again, let’s go. Let’s go to it, okay? When we say nobody is. Nobody’s out night, nobody’s doing this, doing that. Have any y’all gone to anything lately in the evening time? I don’t know about y’all, but sporting events are packed. High school basketball, junior high school basketball. What are people where they want to be? We’re not, if we’re honest. Think about this. When did this start? Now, look, I’m all for this. I promise you, I am. Because a lot of guys in my hierarchy, Kyle Temple, he’s great at this kind of stuff, okay? But he said the other day, he said, coach, he said, you’re right. He said, I’m going to keep doing this, but I’ve got to get back to that kitchen table.
He said, this. This stuff ain’t working. It just ain’t working. You can’t build relationship. He said, there’s nothing solid. We gotta keep bringing in more and more and more and more people, and they’re falling out as fast we bring them in because there’s no relationships there. Okay? However, if it was this, what would I done? Like, I was in Mobile, Alabama the other night and I prospected three or four different people. Well, I’m going to probably train them partly by zoom, but I mean, but what else? I got offices there. So now we have. What do we have now? Networking. We didn’t have that then. So I’m adjusting all that kind of stuff. But also, it’s only three and a half hours from me. I’ve got a house down in Florida.
So on my way to see my daughter, where I have a house, I could run through Mobile, couldn’t I train somebody? Couldn’t I do both? Okay? Now, if not, if they’re not worthy of being trained by me, what could I do? Just turn them over to somebody else? I would use everything, but I would be very careful of not doing it. Cause think what it’s really saying is, in reality, you just don’t really like people. You can say that. No, no, I’m not trying to be mean. I guarantee you just don’t. Like, I was just church guy. I want to meet the preacher here. I guarantee you, at our church, it’s packed. But at one point in time, three or four years ago, it was nobody there. Tell me why was nobody at the church three or four years ago? Okay.
Why is it packed now? One word. What? Yeah, one word. One word. What? Leadership. Guys, this is a leadership issue. That’s it. That’s it. It’s all leadership.
Okay, you ready for the next one?
Yeah.
By the way, I like live kitchen tables. Live. I recruited somebody recently here in Florida, and I did three live kitchen table presentations with him. I like that. I think you get better results. I think it’s exciting to spend the car time.
Right, right.
The car time. Field training to recruit. I like that part of the business.
I like people. It’s fun.
Yeah. And I think that is how you develop relationships that to. And the. From appointments.
Absolutely.
So I love that. Yeah. Okay, so another question, and I think it’s, again, an attack on Zoom. So I want to be careful because I know that we do plenty of that.
Yeah. So.
And it works. And it works. A lot of works a lot of time. But the fna, I did base shop training yesterday.
Is that my pacemaker? That noise?
Yeah. Yesterday I did base shop training, and we talked about the FNA because we believe we need more focus on the fna. So let’s hear from you on that a little bit.
Okay. Now, because that’s part of, you know, you think about how many y’all had a chance to live set through a live Tom Hopkins sales training course by a show of hands. Okay? Now I want you to look at that. Holly Nobody. Greatest sales trainer in the history of the world, and none of y’all have sat through his course. Now why? Think why? Yeah. He’s no longer around doing them. Okay. He’s not dead, but he doesn’t do them any longer. Okay? Right. If he was still actively out there. Good. Doing these seminars, a lot of y’all would probably go to because you want to learn. But then what? A lot of younger people are going to say, well, I wonder if I can go online and watch it online. Then we’re back to the whole thing again.
Okay, now, should you do all that kind of stuff? What did I tell you what I do every day, I listen to podcasts every day. I listen. I watch Dooms every day. I. I do a lot of that kind of training. My wife, she’s getting ready to get one of her license. She said, would it best if I study online or go in person? I said, well, baby, I don’t know what your learning skill is. I know me, I’d rather be in person so I could ask questions or be there with everybody. Because I like to socialize. So I want to be there with everybody. Okay. You look at the financial needs analysis. Okay. Most of the people in Primerica today are not doing another fear of the company are not doing financial needs analysis. Tell me, think why. Let’s be honest, huh? Yeah.
They don’t have. The leader isn’t enforcing that. But think why they’re not doing it. Think what’s their. They don’t know how. But what’s the mindset in reality for most people in Primerica? Let’s be honest, this rv. What? Think it’s too hard? I don’t think they think that. What? Well, think. Yeah, they want to get the sale. Think. Think what we’re saying. What’s the sale? Quick. Let’s get it. Get out of there. Let’s just get and get out of there. Why do you have financial needs now? It’s because when you do a financial needs analysis, what are you doing? You’re analyzing that. And it may take more what Time. And you might not get anything out of it. It’s just get it. Get out of there. Throw it against the wall. Some stick, some don’t. Let’s move. Let’s get another one. Let’s get another one.
Let’s get another one. That’s why people are not doing the financial needs analysis. They work, but nobody’s doing it. Is because the consumer doesn’t want it, is it? No. It’s what we’re not giving them the opportunity to see if they want it. That’s on us. So are we doing the right job for the consumer? And yet we say we are. No, we’re not. We’re not. And it’s tough because I know a lot of people in my hierarchy, they don’t want to do them. They don’t want to do them. Why? Because. Do most people follow through in their FNAs? No. But is it still the right thing to do? Then that’s what we should do. Then you got to decide who to. I’m telling you up front, I don’t do an F and A on everybody because some of them.
I’m not going to waste my time on somebody that’s not going to follow through anyhow. And I’m pretty good at judging what people are going to do, but at least I’m going to give them an option. Remember the old goal the book go for? No. At least give them a chance. Like witness somebody. They can bust hell wide open. But I’m going to witness to you. And if you say no, that’s on you going to give you a chance to get a financial needs analysis so you don’t meet with somebody. Say, I got a policy with Primerica, you got investment. Are you out of debt? Are you this. How many? All have met people that went to the. The guy, you know, Dave Ramsey course. Okay. They say, I went to one of those courses. So you got your plan taken care of? No.
What do you mean plan? Am I right or wrong? Why no follow up? No follow up in reality. What’s that saying? They don’t care. They want to get them in the room. Please apply, get their 150 bucks to come to a meeting. After that. Heck with you.
So. So the way that we’ve always taught it is every kitchen table presentation, you should do an F and A. If they’re interested in some of the things that you’re talking about because of your interest, the next step is to fill out the questionnaire and see if and how we can help you. Very simple. It’s a simple transition. If they’re interested, it’s an automatic. And every time you do an F and A, it should be an automatic that you get a life sale.
Right.
We want to improve our insurance business. As Tabitha alluded to earlier, every time you do a kitchen table, your goal is to get an F and A. Every time you get an F and a, your goal is to do a life app. And every time you do a life app, your goal is to do two to three investment apps. Right. Then you’re doing it the way we learned it. Right. Then you’re doing it the right way for them and the right way for us.
Right. And probably every third sale, you ought to get a recruit.
Yes.
And with every recruit, you ought to get a 30 name list and the cycle should continue. Pop out a good district, highly qualified with a license, and then you’re going to have a failure ratio. It’s just the way it is. You’re not going to. Everybody’s not going to make it. Yeah, yeah. No. Excellent. I know we’re out of time here. Let’s go. Maybe one more or two more. Anybody?
This guy’s a big stud.
Is he big stud. Thank you. This has been awesome. Bobby Ruggieri, RVP in Ohio. This may have already been addressed, but what do you think are one or two things that separate somebody that just seems to be a magnet for new recruits versus somebody that tries or seemingly tries just as hard, but maybe reflects a lot of people, you know, myself, you know, trying to fix Me here. So is there anything that you think stands out where somebody is just attractive people join their team, more likely. Yeah, I love that question. I think that’s so good. I was, you know, a big thing. You look at Primerica right now. Look at the dropout ratio we’ve had now, okay? Now I’ve talked to Glenn about this, and I understand this, okay?
Some of this is promoted in the company because what are we pushing right now? Massive numbers to recruit. I totally understand the numbers game, okay? I didn’t do my job the last four years. I was kind of, you know. But we used to recruit a great ratio, okay? But you can use ratios all day long. That’s BS when you’re trying to win, okay? So you look at it. But there’s a thing called attrition and retention, all right? And you look at some people’s numbers, they have no retention and they have tremendous attrition. Now that’s good. If you in an area and you’re just going to just go. And you got so many numbers, or you even do social media where you just go market the whole United States, but then you’re going to increase your failure ratio, okay?
And to be honest with you, that’s just not who I am as a person. I’m not going to do that, okay? I don’t care if it made me 30 million a year. I wouldn’t. I personally would not do that. Not saying it’s wrong. I just would. I would not do that. Okay? But if you look at the majority of time, I do this little silly thing, but you think about a Chihuahua where they’re. I do that kind of stuff, okay? Now you want to stomp on that little sucker, okay? Then you think about a Dover roar. That kind of stuff that kind of scares you. You want to run away, okay? But you look at a. What’s the seeing all dog And a lab. Lab. He said a German shepherd, okay? Now they’re a protect animal, and yet they’re a CNI dog, okay?
They’ll attack you. They will attack you. Military uses them, okay? Now think about that. What people are looking for in a leader is Visualize. I’ve got a slide on this thing, but Visualize a bridge. You’re trying to get from one side of the mountain to the other side. You got to get across that bridge. You go. Remember the Tarzan movies where they’re going across? Or the. The. These things with. Who’s the guy who. Indiana Jones. Indiana Jones, okay? And you’re trying to get from it and the Bridge is all slat, it’s all broken and all that kind of stuff. And it’s swaying back and forth and you’re trying to get from one side to the other, okay? Then visualize you’re trying to get from one side to the other. That’s your bridge. Or you got the Golden Gate. Solid, strong, okay?
Now that’s how people look at us as leaders. And we’re expecting them to come along with us to get to the other side. And they don’t even know if this thing’s going to stand up. They listen to what we say. They listen. If we don’t come in on time, do we do everything that we say we’re going to do? Can they really count on us? Okay? And people, I think, sense that up front, okay? And so my philosophy has been try to give nobody ever a reason why they wouldn’t join me ever. So I’ve got a pretty good track record, but I’ve got a good record of dealing with people. And so everybody I went and saw when I got started, everybody liked me and they trusted me because they knew I was gonna do what I said I was gonna do.
They knew that. They knew they could count on me, okay? And I think people sense that, right? And so I think as a leader, one of the biggest things you gotta think about is when people see you, what kind of bridge are they seeing? Are you solid? Are you secure? Are you. Are you mature in everything you do? Do you do everything you say you’re going to do? Even if it costs you time and money? Are you going to do it? I didn’t care what it was going to take to be here this weekend. I’ve got another heart operation Tuesday, and I’m going to follow up Thursday. But I got a fast start school Friday. And I promise you I’ll be on that stage because here’s the deal. It doesn’t matter. Nobody cares. I promise you, people don’t care. That’s leadership. That is leadership.
And I think that’s what you got to show out with your people. And I think people need that because so many people are afraid of failure. You’re the only hope they have. And if they see any hurt, any doubt in you, they’re gone. Yeah. Great question, though. Jerry said you’re a stud. I like to get to know you. Yes. And we’ll wrap up Matt Sullivan from Ohio. My question, what part of Ohio? What part? Just south of Cleveland. Medina IO I have a technical question as far as, other than recruiting and doing their easy five appointments and getting referrals. What were two or three strategies that you used to drum up business when you were maybe in a dry spot? No, I think you’re always potentially in a dry spell. Potentially. Okay?
And nine times out of ten we put there because you really should never, ever. This really should be a self perpetuating type business. You should never, ever get to that point, okay? And then once you get to that point, it should sting you so bad, you think, I ain’t gonna let that happen again, okay? Because what you’re really doing is you’re letting that pipeline line get dry. You stop putting in the front end, front end. And probably because what we do is we get into management once again instead of creative. We stop prospecting, we stop recruiting. We stop getting referrals. We stop. We stop. We stop. And the longer you stop, the more that thing dries up, okay? Now what do you got to do? You got to start over again right now. Are you at that point in your career right now?
Okay, so you’re not at that point. Yeah, we all want to do better, but you’re not at that point right now? No, not completely dry, but is it going down? You got to get it going again. Okay, good. So you answer your own question. You did something to get it on its way back up, okay? And I bet you I’m right about this. I bet you went back to the basic fundamentals of prospecting. Now, here’s what I do. It’s in my pocket right now. I’m not gonna let you feel, but it’s in my pocket, okay? I carry. Thank you, brother. Okay? Okay. I carry five pennies in my pocket, okay? Now once again, I don’t want to be a hypocrite. So I’m not saying I do it all the time, okay? But I do this all the time in my pockets.
Also my goal card. I clear that goal where my goals, my affirmation are written down and laminated in my pocket, okay? And that’s to remind me outside, out of mind. That’s the way the human mind works, okay? That this is what I’m supposed to be doing. So when I get up, my five pennies are laying right there in my cabinet next to my. My day planner. What’s the first thing I do? I rake them in. Once I put my clothes on, stick it in my pocket. My goal card. I read that. I’ve already said it out loud. I’ve already rewritten it that morning. Now it’s in front of me, okay? So I’m trying to incorporate all my five senses in reaching my goals, Right? And I’m going to say it out loud when I get back in my car.
Now, I wasn’t doing that, obviously. How do you know I wasn’t doing that? My results show it. So I’m no different. I’m no different. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired. I said, I’m not doing this because I was managing. I was trying to get my RVs to do it. My RVs do it. I’m not doing that. Best thing I can do is set the example, get my base shop back up to 100,000, which I’m the king of that. I know how to do that. I did it more than anybody’s ever done in the history of the Primerica. So I know I can get it back up. I know I can. Okay. Question is, am I willing to pay the price? That’s a tough one. Guy working with me, he said, bill, you’re wealthy. You don’t have to do this.
You don’t have to. I said, shut up. I don’t want to hear all that. I don’t need that sound in my head. Okay? So in your case, I would ask yourself on a daily basis, what are your disciplines? Once again, Jim Rowan. Daily disciplines. Okay. What are your daily disciplines? Do you get up every day with a standard so you can say, well, I gotta go to get five names and numbers today? Okay, well, that’s a goal. But what are your standards? What’s the standard? It’s not. You’re not gonna negotiate it? It’s not. You don’t accept anything less than what you said you’re going to do. Now, Whitney Cooper is great at this. If it’s midnight and she don’t have her names and numbers, she gets her butt back out there and goes and gets them. Most people don’t do that.
They say, what, I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow. I’ll do it tomorrow. That’s the first sign of a loser. When procrastination’s a way of life, then you become insignificant. So I get myself some standard based on my goals, what I want to accomplish, what I’m going to do to get there, and then have it written down. Okay. And probably. Let me ask you a tough question. Do you have an accountability partner? Okay. Okay. You have a business coach. Is he involved with Primerica? I’d be. I’d consider that if I were you. It should be. Someone’s got a vested interest in You, I’d look at that. Maybe just think about that. We need to shut that down. Okay. But I want to hit that real quick because I would look at that.
Because if it’s just your spouse, nine times out of ten, they’re either going to be too tough on you or too easy on you. That would not be my accountability partner. They’re either going to be too tough or too easy. Okay. I’d find somebody that’s got a vested interest that understands Primerica, because I don’t think most people understand this is a different animal. Okay, then if that’s going to be the accountability partner, you need to be telling them every day, here’s what I’m going to do. And that’s what they need to be holding you accountable for. And then you need to have self accountability. Do you use a day planner? Okay. Do you. Do you do it every day? Okay. Okay. Okay. It didn’t fit in my little box. Do you do it every day? Okay, good.
Do you do an autopsy every night to see if you did what you said you’re going to do every day? Do you do it every week? Every week. Okay. Last month or two. Okay. Don’t be looking at her now. This is on you. Okay. Do you. So on your day planner, it should be daily, weekly, monthly. Do you do it every monthly? Do you do an autopsy every month? Every month. Last couple months. Okay. Now, how would you do it every month if you’re not tracking it every day? What are you putting in there at the end of the month? You’re guessing. Okay. So it should be tracked every day, then tracked every week. What you did that week, then tracked every month, then tracked every quarter, you do that four quarters, you’ll smoke people.
Because in there is your routine and your routine determines your results. Does that make sense? And a lot of people say, why don’t they? I heard a guy say the other day, he said, you want to be a slave to your calendar and your calendar should be a slave to your goals. But most of us don’t do it. It’s hit or miss. The same with people’s diets or this, that and the other. It’s non negotiable. Like, there’s times I don’t want to get up and work out. It’s non negotiable. Now, my diet, if I don’t do it, I die. So that’s non negotiable. Okay. But I’m very strict on that because I don’t want to die. Does that make sense? Okay, good. That’s a great question. So now listen. Very important. So you’re going to see me kind of flip a switch.
So this is locker room. So I’m a little more blunt, a little more opinionated. I ain’t going to be like that up here tonight. So don’t think. Well, this guy’s kind of a. He flipped. Well, you got to know the audience you’re speaking to, okay? So you can’t be some tough, aggressive, all that kind of stuff. I promise you. I talk a lot tougher on the stage than I am. I talk real tough, but I operate like a pansy, okay? I’m more lovey dovey. I’m more pat you on the back. I’m not a big. I never do this to nobody. I don’t do that ever, ever. I’ve said, oh, you gotta do this, you gotta do that. Okay, we’re. Okay, let’s do that. Let’s do that. You know what I’m saying? And I think you gotta have both feet firmly planted midair.
I call it rigid flexibility as my management philosophy, okay? I think you gotta do the same thing with your children and the same thing with your spouse, but not necessarily with yourself. Be tough on yourself, but be easy on other people. You don’t gain anything by being a tough butt on other people. I’d get away from all that. You see people on stage and they act the same off stage they do on stage. They’re all this and that. You wouldn’t coach me. You’re not going to do that to me, okay? I want to play for somebody I want to play for, okay? And that means somebody that loves me, cares about me. But you know what I need every once in a while? How about y’all? I need a kick in the butt. Anybody besides me.
But I don’t need to beat over the head. Maybe a kick in the butt that drives you up and out. Beat over the head drives you down. Okay? So tonight and tomorrow, I’m gonna flip the switch of a bit of. Be more, you know, energy and fun and all that kind of stuff. But you’re rvp. So y’all tougher, right? Y’all tougher, right? Okay, good. All right, we’ll see y’all tonight. Thank you all very much. What an honor. Thank y’all. Thank y’all.
