Miley Cyrus' breakup mixed tape nightmare

With Valentine’s Day right around the corner, let’s get into an epic love-scorned saga for the ages.
 
I’m not sure how up-to-date you are on pop culture, but this is a good one.
 
A few years ago, there was an epic divorce between Miley Cyrus, who you might know as Hannah Montana, her famous (or should I say infamous) Wrecking Ball or the offspring of the one and only (and one of my all-time favourites) Billy Ray Cyrus (of Achy Breaky Heart) fame; and her former husband, Liam Hemsworth.
 
I’ll forgive you don’t know all about this or even know who Liam Hemsworth is, I didn’t to be honest.
 
He’s played some bit parts in some big movies, including Hunger Games. But, I guarantee you’ll know his brother, Chris Hemsworth aka Thor in the Marvel movies.
 
Now, I can’t be bothered by why these two broke up. I’m sure it has to do with some kind of cheating, drugs or a mixture. And to be honest, I don’t really care.
 
But, what I do know is:
 
They hate each other’s guts.
 
Now recently is where this story turned into something worth sharing with you. Liam in all his wisdom dedicated the Bruno Mars song, “When I Was Your Man” to Miley.
 
And, then she clapped back in epic fashion and in a way that only a pop star could with her very own song, “Flowers”, which happens to be pretty catchy if I don’t say so myself.
 
Here are the first few lines of the Bruno Mars song:
 
I should have bought you flowers
And held your hand
Should have gave you all my hours
When I had the chance
Take you to every party 'cause all you wanted to do was dance
Now my baby's dancing
But she's dancing with another man
 
And here is Flowers:
 
I can buy myself flowers
Write my name in the sand
Talk to myself for hours
Say things you don't understand
I can take myself dancing
And I can hold my own hand
Yeah, I can love me better than you can
 
Point by point, Miley is refuting and rejecting every single line of the song and by default, ol’ Liam’s desperate attempt at reconciliation.
 
Now I’m not sure which side I come down on here, but I can tell you, I’ve seen this type of behaviour before.
 
I see it all the time when I present an insurance policy, and the single biggest objection comes out, very much like what Miley is doing to Liam:
 
I don’t need what you’re offering. Or, in our case:
 
I don’t need insurance.
 
So, let’s talk about this a bit because it’s worth exploring.
 
When someone who needs insurance or would substantially benefit from insurance says, they don’t need it. What are they really saying?
 
Are they saying they don’t really need it?
 
If we delve a bit deeper into this objection, here’s what comes out:
 

• I don’t want insurance because I want to spend all my money.

• I don’t want insurance because you aren’t listening to my needs.

• I don’t want insurance because I was told all my life that I needed term and I don’t need that anymore.

• I don’t need insurance because I can’t see how it would benefit me if I need all my money and all I ever needed was term.

You get the point. The real objection isn’t “I don’t need insurance”. No, there is something much deeper behind that objection.
 
In my opinion, this type of objection is a gut reaction answer. A default answer. A shutdown answer for most Advisors, but not you.
 
I was in a meeting a few years ago and to combat the “I don’t need insurance” objection, the Advisor I was with came up with a great plan. Let me give you the whole conversation, and then I’ll break it down for you:
 
ADVISOR: It seems like you want to spend all your money, and putting money into an insurance policy doesn’t make sense.
 
CLIENT: Exactly, you get me. I’ve worked hard, and I want to have a good retirement and spend all my money.
 
ADVISOR: Spend all your money?
 
The client explained all about the trips she had planned, etc. I won’t bore you here with those details.

ADVISOR: That’s exactly what I thought you wanted to do. That’s why this insurance policy is for you. Because, instead of paying tax on the money all these years, with the insurance policy you won’t pay tax on the investment or when you withdraw it. You’ll have more money to spend. And, if on the off chance you don’t spend it all, the rest pays out tax-free to your kids. But not until you’re dead.
 
She smiled. She was sold.
 
Let me explain to you what happened here.
 
First off, the client was apprehensive about the insurance policy. The first line the Advisor said labelled the clients' negative emotions: “It seems like you want to spend all your money…”
 
This is some powerful stuff. Because, instead of her emotions overpowering the meeting, the emotion was minimized, and therefore its power was eliminated.
 
Instead of the client believing the Advisor didn’t know how she felt, immediately it was dealt with.
 
Then, the advisor mirrored her answer, “Spend all your money?”. This is the closest thing we mortals can get to a Jedi mind trick. It encourages someone to explain more without us having to ask, but it does something else. Builds a stronger bond – that emotional connection.
 
The client took the bait and started dropping relevant information that could be used to further position the insurance sale to meet her goals.
 
The best way to combat a significant objection like the one above is to:
 

• Identify the negative emotions and make them powerless by labelling them to confirm.

• Mirroring creates a connection and allows room for the client to explain

• Reposition in a way that accomplishes the client's end goals

• Then, you make that objection effectively powerless.