Aging Is The Biggest Issue Facing The Human Race

DALLAS -- Joe Jordan has been in the insurance business for more than 40 years and hasn't lost a bit of passion for helping people.

Jordan delivered a session Friday at the National Association of Independent Life Brokerage Agencies (NAILBA) annual conference in Dallas. The title was "Surviving in a Post-DOL Environment," hinting at discussion around overcoming regulation.

But to Jordan, the answer is the same as it ever was: advisors need to deliver solutions with compassion to people in need. That means establishing connections and making relationships with clients that last a lifetime.

"Create a culture that celebrates the impression you're having on clients," said Jordan, whose own father had no life insurance and died suddenly when he was young. "When you change the way you see things, the things you see change."

Jordan addressed the "No. 1 fear" of young advisors: prospecting. The key is to tackle cold calling head on and gradually get better at it, he said.

"Set up a daily contact commitment," Jordan said. "You manage the effort and not the results. You don't control the results. The only thing you can control is your effort."

As a young agent in 1974, Jordan said he celebrated getting "10 nos" in a day.

"It was a successful day because I faced my fears," said Jordan, who had a long career highlighted by a stint at MetLife. "The more you prospect, the better you do. The better you do, the more you prospect."

There are three variables in business, he said: the quality of your work, the number of people to whom you try to show your work, and how people view you. Most industry training focuses on changing the third one, Jordan said, which is the only one you can't control.

Jordan noted that our aging population is the biggest issue facing the human race. A 65-year-old couple has a 50 percent chance of living past 92, he said. They are going to need strategies to pay for decades in retirement.

"The future belongs not to the people with answers. It belongs to the people that ask the right questions," he said. "We've got to begin to go out and act forcefully with the purpose we have."