No, you are the problem my friend

There was a video circulating a few years ago when Gary V got into a discussion with a business owner who was prattling on about how his employees are lazy.

And, Gary’s response:

The problem is YOU.

Check out the short video over on the ‘ol Tube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPKEFuDbOzg

This business owner thought employees should stay late, work weekends and solve every problem for his business. But, as it turns out and he found out the long and hard way:

They just don’t care.

They want to go home to their family at 4.

They want to pick up their kids.

They want to go to the soccer games.

And, they don’t give a flyin’ f@&k about your business. Sure, they want you to succeed.

Sure they want to win. But, they don’t necessarily want to make the sacrifice for something they won’t get compensated for.

The point in alll of this, if you’re in the position of hiring people to work for you. You need to recruit and retain them better than you ever have.

And, if you work with business owners, you probably already know about this issue. Heck, you all run your own business, so you’ve probably seen it first hand.

I have a friend who’s a CFO and he told me they no longer get rid of underperforming employees. Point in reasoning.

They’d have to find another low performing person to replace them with similar results.

I’m not sure if I like this whole story, but I guess it’s the reality of the market.

Quiet quitting and all that stuff is at another level indeed.

That business owner at the beginning that was barkin’ up the Gary V tree. I can see he is in pain. I can see he is having trouble keeping people. He needs to change his approach to keep their best employees, their ideal employees.

Now for a second, I want you to take a trip with me to another universe.

So imagine in this alternative universe there are no labour rules (those pesky things and happy early labour day while I’m at it) and the talent pool was deep, so deep that on any given day of the week, you could hire people on command.

But imagine in this world, instead of these employees having pesky opinions of their own.

They didn’t.

Also, they never complained. Ever.

And, they worked long hours without issues. Actually, they worked 24/7/365. Weekends. Holidays.

And, you got to pay them below market rates and they produced above market results.

And, after paying them for a few years, you could just stop. And, they kept working.

And, then when you hang up your shingle and head out into the sunset of retirement (if that’s your style), they kept on working for you, paying you.

And, then when you died, they still worked for you. They paid off all your debts, covered all your taxes and left a tidy sum of money to your spouse, kids or whoever.

All in all, this would be your ideal employee. One who works hard, delivers results and is invaluable to your business.

In our world, we consider this a unicorn. But in this alternative universe, they are abundant.

Some people might say this is the promise land of AI and like. But, I don’t believe them. It never works that way. There will be a lot of blood in the streets before that happens.

This would surely be something, if this person existed right?

Well, actually they do. They aren’t some unicorn and they aren’t in some universe filled with rainbows and sunshine and cake that doesn’t make you fat and all the other dreams we all have.

They are here and now.

But, it ain’t AI. It’s not even a person.

It’s an insurance policy. A permanent one.

You pay it (below market rates) and it keeps making you money each and every year (tax-free of course). And then at some point you can stop paying them and they keep making you money. And, then in retirement they keep on paying you what you’re owed.

And when you die, they pay off all your problems (debt, taxes, etc) and then even leave money to your kids or spouse or whoever you want. So they work for you long after you’re gone.

If this wasn’t an insurance policy and was a real person, I bet every business owner out there would own one of them. Heck, they’d probably have 3 or 4 as backups right?

But, because people can’t see it for what it is, they don’t, right?

That is until you make the connection for these people. It isn’t an insurance policy. It is your single greatest employee ever. One that will never complain, never leave you and will give you the best return that money can buy.

Tell the story of the “Greatest Employee Ever”. A story that will turn heads and change minds.

It would even convince that business owner who was berated by the legendary Gary V.

Use this story and let’s make some f@c%ing sales.

Until next week,

Andrew

P.S. This is my final time asking (BTW), but I’ll be in Toronto on September 3rd hosting an event in the Distillery District. If you’re interested in joining me for an exclusive, Insurance Igniter’s members-only event, send me a message and I’ll get you all the deets.

P.P.S. I’ve been having a lot of fun coaching a group of Advisors to help them build a referral plan and it’s been pretty interesting. So many different questions, so many different problems. I’ve realized it’s not one sized fits all. Even, my long opus on implementing the plan isn’t as helpful as I thought once you get to implementation. This is all to say, I’m working on something that can better address the issues people are facing as they build this out. I’m thinking the best solution is a live coaching sessions with a group to help them build it out on their own. Anyways, keep glued to your email, as I’m working up a solution that will be able to help so many Advisors massively grow their referral business. More details to follow,