The Chris Voss Show - The Chris Voss Show Podcast – Unlock the Secrets to Success in the Federal Insurance Market with Lisa Dalton

Episode Date: August 10, 2024

Unlock the Secrets to Success in the Federal Insurance Market with Lisa Dalton Daltontrainingacademy.com About the Guest(s): Lisa Dalton, founder of the Dalton Training Academy, is a prominent figure in the insurance industry with a 20-year track record of success. She specializes in building multimillion-dollar agencies and developing innovative sales methods, particularly in the federal market niche. Lisa is certified by the Department of Banking and Assurance and has received top national awards for her mentorship of thousands of agents who have achieved remarkable success under her guidance. Episode Summary: In this episode of The Chris Bos Show, Lisa Dalton shares insights into the unique opportunities present in the federal market for insurance agents. She introduces the concept of targeting federal employees to help them navigate complex benefits and achieve financial success. Through the Dalton Training Academy, Lisa equips agents with the knowledge and tools necessary to excel in this lucrative niche, offering a pathway to six-figure incomes within a short timeframe. Key themes covered include the challenges faced by agents entering the federal market, the importance of expertise in federal employee benefits, effective sales strategies, and the impact of technology on modernizing the insurance industry. Listeners gain valuable insights into the potential for success in the federal market and the resources available to support their journey in the insurance business. Key Takeaways: Specializing in the federal market can lead to significant financial success for insurance agents. Being knowledgeable about federal employee benefits and maintaining professionalism are key to building credibility with clients. The Dalton Training Academy offers mentorship, courses, and resources to equip agents for success in the federal market. Technology has revolutionized the insurance industry, enabling remote sales and expanding opportunities for agents. Agents can achieve substantial income levels by targeting the federal market and leveraging the resources provided by the academy. Notable Quotes: "You better be on time. That means a lot, especially when dealing with military and federal employees who value precision." - Lisa Dalton "Sales are about talking yourself in, not out of a sale. Federal employees expect expertise and professionalism." - Lisa Dalton

You wanted the best. You've got the best podcast. The hottest podcast in the world. The Chris Voss Show. The preeminent podcast with guests so smart you may experience serious brain bleed. The CEOs, authors, thought leaders, visionaries, and motivators. Get ready. Get ready. Strap yourself in. Keep your hands, arms, and legs inside the vehicle at all times. Because you're about to go on a monster education roller coaster with your brain. Now, here's your host, Chris Voss. Hi, folks. This is Voss here from thechrisvossshow.com.

There you go, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the big show. We certainly appreciate you guys coming in As always the Chris Moss Show Is a family that loves you but doesn't judge you At least not as harshly as your mother-in-law And remember we're the family that doesn't loan you money We care about you

We love you 16 years, 2000 episodes We've been loving you But we're still not going to loan you money We're kind of like your bank We'll take your money But don't ask for any The Chris Moss Show Bank to loan you money. We're kind of like your bank. We'll take your money, but don't ask for any.

The Chris Foss Show Bank, that'll be coming on shirts, t-shirts next August. Anyway, guys, we, as always, have the most amazing guests that share their brilliant minds, their stories, and everything that's gone on in their life. Today, we're joined by Lisa Dalton of the Dalton Training Academy. She's the founder, and she is a powerhouse in the insurance industry with a 20-year track record of building multimillion-dollar agencies and developing groundbreaking sales methods. As the founder, she's the driving force behind the mentorship program recognized nationwide for innovation, lead programs, and exceptional teaching credentials certified by the Department of Banking and Assurance.

Her accolades include top national awards and mentorship of thousands of agents, many of whom have gone on to achieve their own remarkable success. Her unique approach combines strategic sales techniques with deep understanding of the federal employee benefits landscape, making her an invaluable resource for any agent or advisor looking to excel in this niche. Lisa, welcome to the show. How are you? Great, great. Thank you for having me. Thank you for coming as well. It's wonderful to have you. Give us your dot coms. Where can people find you on the interwebs?

DaltonTrainingAcademy.com There you go. So give us a 30,000 overview of what you guys do there. So at Dalton Training Academy, we specialize. It's an interactive platform that we teach agents or soon-to-be agents a very niche market, which is the federal market. And basically, we're teaching them how to have six-figure incomes in as little as 30 to 60 days over the phone. Wow. have six-figure incomes in as little as 30 to 60 days over the phone.

Wow. Now that's working with the, when you say the federal market, what does that mean exactly? So civilian employees that work for federal agencies, so you have, you know, social security, EPA, all the federal agencies out there, they have a vast array of benefits and they really don't have anybody to help them. So they're really, yeah, they literally can Google information. So we really narrowed down this niche market. It's basically a funnel of retirement-minded individuals that need help so desperately. And there's a lot of misinformation out there. So we really wanted to have a platform that we can teach people how to help them and really make a great living at it. There you go.

And it's got to be a good market because, I mean, a lot of people that are in government are kind of career employees. Oh, yeah. They get paid pretty well and probably have good retirement packages or good 401ks or, you know, stuff that they want to take care of. Who is the target market for people that can use your academy, sign up for it and all that stuff? So the target market is really an entrepreneur, somebody that wants to take a hold of their future. Really, sky's the limit. They can do, there are so many different avenues

in the world of insurance. So what happens is a guy like, all right, I'm going to work in the world of insurance. You hear all kinds of things. And then what happens, you know, unless they have a neon sign on the side of their car, you know, they can't really get in front of people, you know. So it's really for somebody that wants to target a specific arena. And are the federal employees that like you said they have great retirements and they need help with it it's really for anyone who really wants to succeed now do i need to have insurance agent license for this yes you do okay and our platform guides you in that direction too it's very easy to get yes okay I think, is it a Series 6 and 63?

No. Actually, you start out with your life license, and with that, you can handle as much as you can handle. And then if you want to go on to the Series license, the advisors are more than welcome to do that. There you go. I know there's stockbrokers, and there's life insurance licenses licenses and all that good stuff that's out there. Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into this field? How did you, what was your journey through life and some of your stories? Right. You know, I, I kind of landed in the insurance field in my early twenties. I was

doing bookkeeping for an agency and I just kept seeing my boss's bank account. You know, I'm doing the bookkeeping I'm like what am I doing I'll make it 40,000 you're right I'm making 40,000 a year and I'm looking and they're hitting millions and millions and they you know it's hire agents have them work for you you make a little on top I mean I'm from New Jersey it was like the perfect it was perfect so I saw it I'm like wow wow and I saw it. I'm like, wow, wow. And I saw it from ground up. So I decided to open my own agency.

I'm getting some of that money. Yeah, right. Exactly. So why is the federal market such a hidden gem in the insurance industry? So there's a lot of avenues that agents go down. Like you said, broker the series so they can be managed money agents. There's agents that, I don't know if you've ever purchased a house that you get bombarded with a million letters for mortgage protection. So you have those agents.

So these are all market. There's final expense agents that you hear the colonial pen or whatever, the TV commercials targeting for seniors. So there's all these avenues basically to get in front of people. Those avenues are extremely saturated, extremely. And here's a market that there's a lot of money in there. The TSP, which is their 401k, has over $800 billion the last time we checked. Holy crap. Mm-hmm.

And they need to do something with it. And what happened is, you know, I learned, I dove into it. I really learned about it inside and out. And I was doing really well. Anything I teach, I tried and it's tried and proven and I worked it tirelessly. And I said, oh my God, why didn't I do this 20 years ago? Oh my gosh. It's just, it's taken away all the fluff and all the clutter and all the other agents coming. And I'm being able to sit in front of people, offer them something and make a really, really good living at it.

Yeah. Yeah. So I kind of, that's when i said all right so what i did is i had agents and you know i helped them and you know they kept coming back for me on questions on questions and you know so i was like you know let me put together a platform so that they all have a place that they can go to and i can teach in masses instead of one at a time you know it it ended up becoming very overwhelming with so many questions. There you go. It's much easier because then, you know, you can be like, go look at question number nine. And you know, whatever, however.

Pull up that video. Pull up that video and watch that video. And watch them all. That way you know everything. I can text that. Right. Yeah. So they can train at your website, DaltonTradingAcademy.com.

They can log in. They can go through the process of seeing how all the instructions and how everything works and stuff. What are some of the, how do the, what are some key strategies for insurance agents to succeed in the federal market

that makes it kind of unique? One, they need to take my course, obviously, right? So that's one. So they need to be, and with that, they need to be very educated on the employee's benefits. And then this way they can talk the talk and they know those benefits inside and out. And that's where the agents trip up a little bit.

That's where our course comes in. We teach that. Then there's the entire aspect of okay how do you sell we teach that as well we have a subscription so it's really and a mentorship which i'm one of the mentors we have several mentors i had a mentor my whole career i don't think i could have gone as far as i did without that mentor and it's somebody that's to bounce those ideas you know As an entrepreneur, you get these crazy ideas and you're like, I'm going to go with it. And you're way out there and you're painting the picture and you're drawing the rainbow and everything's going to be great.

I'm going to be a multimillionaire. And sometimes you got to get somebody to, okay, bring it back. All right. And let's get you there. And I had that and I want to do that for other people. They need to really be educated, get a mentor, get in a program. Our subscription base, I mean, they get us even if it's in a group setting once a week. They can ask the questions. This way, they're not stumbling along. You don't want to stumble with somebody's retirement benefits. You want to be an expert.

Oh, yeah, you want to muck that up. Exactly, right. That'd be bad. Right, exactly. I put it onuck that up. Exactly. Right. That'd be bad. Right, exactly. I put it on Bitcoin, and then Bitcoin went down. I put it on black at Vegas. Yeah, spun the wheel, and it didn't go well. But you know, you can all get it back if you work long enough.

What, you're 65? Oh, shit. Yeah, those days are gone Oh, shit. Yeah. Those days are gone. It's 85 now. Is 85 the official retirement age? Is it? Is it?

I want it to be later. I have Warren Buffett's mentality. I'm just going to work until I'm going to, what is it? I'm going to keep working seven years after I die. I think that's what he says. I want to work because I want to work, not because I have to. That's the difference. So if I'm listening to this and maybe I'm a potential entrepreneur, an entrepreneur,

and let's say I don't have an insurance license yet, how long does it take for me to go on average or maybe on a good wind to go from zero to taking your program and you know i know there's licensing process there the the life insurance license you just buy don't you no no you have to actually take a course there's required hours every every state is different we have we have a link with a great school that if you go right through, you'll get a discount. You can actually do it online. Depending how fast you are, I say you should have it done in a week. Oh, that's not bad. You can sit for your test.

A lot of them are remote now, so you can do that. You're ready to go. So give yourself two weeks, three weeks tops. You're ready to get out the door to at least be able to talk the talk. And you can be selling to the federal people there then? Yes, yes. So that's the market. We have a great relationship with what we call lead vendors because obviously you need

to get in front of the people. You can't just knock on federal buildings. I can't just stalk them in the parking lot. Don't do that, folks. Don't do that. It's going to get the FBI giving you calls. Are you stocking the parking lot of their buddy of a federal facility?

Yeah. Don't be doing that. Don't blanket the car, you know, the windshield. Don't go on the telephone. I wonder how that would turn out. Maybe you might still get an offer from the FBI. You might get one. Is this your flyer you put on people's windshields? You did it at the FBI headquarters.

Come with us. Exactly. Yeah. I learned that in 2008. I don't know what that means. I papered the FBI headquarters once with flyers about, I can't make up a joke for that. I don't know. I was mocking them and said the CIA was better and they didn't take it well. They didn't like that, no. They didn't like it. So don't for that. I don't know. I was mocking them and said the CIA was better and they didn't

take it well. They didn't like that now. They didn't like it, so don't do that. What are some of the best practices and techniques that have helped to show closing deals with federal employees and improving welfare in the market? Federal employees, they're precise. In the world of insurance and agents and sales, you get the salespeople are like, it's all about me. And they want to put on a show. Listen to me. I know sales. I'm going to teach you everything. And we call that word vomit. Hold back a little bit. Or talk yourself out of the sale. Exactly. Talk yourself in, talk yourself right out. right? You know, in the federal market, you have to remember that clientele.

A lot of military, you know, you better be on time, right? Yeah. Yeah, you better be on time, if not a little early. Unless you're the Marines, you just show up whenever you want. I'm just kidding. I don't know what the Marines do. I've never been in the Marines. Like, to make that clear, don't write me.

Don't write me. So, yeah, you know, be on time. I know it sounds simple, but it means a lot. And then really be an expert in their benefits so that you can answer all their questions. You know, you have some of them are 20, 30 years. They know those benefits inside and out. They don't want to hand them off to some hack. Exactly. Exactly.

Exactly. Build a reputation. So is there any projections on the potential an average person, because I use averages a lot, an average person could make in their first year of this business? I'm trying to appeal to any of our listeners out there that are like, hey, man, maybe I should go get in this business. Yeah.

I mean, you should be making at least six figures and and mind you it is from your home and it is over the phone i haven't left the house to make a sale in years it's definitely remote over the phone i have one of our students he's an experienced agent but they call them the seminar agents you ever get a mailer come to our dinner seminar right yeah yeah so the an agent goes you know and he spends a lot on that so when people come we call them plate lickers you know they just want they want the free meal right wow my mom is my mom is senior citizen so she gets a lot of those. What state does she? Utah. And they get these local, she gets these, hey, we've got a great steak at the steakhouse. Now you need to tell her, mom, don't be a plate licker.

Oh, she knows. Don't be a plate licker. I've never heard that term. That's funny. That's funny. So they, so, you know, and then what happens is the seniors get together. It's a night out, you know, so they all come for the free meal. And here's the poor guy who probably has spent $5,000 for that to put that on for them in hopes that he gets that one or two person in there that needs help with their retirement.

And if he gets it, great. So I had one that converted over, you know, I'm a seminar agent. Okay, just trust me. Learn this. So he went through the course. He learned the federal market. had one that converted over is you know i'm a seminar agent okay just trust me learn this so he went through the course he learned the federal market he has written he said so much business as his into his 20 plus year agent in his entire career is working on his second brand new car bought a house cash but he just he raves and said he won't do anything else i'm getting i'm getting goosebumps just talking about him because he we really did change his life. And I have many, many,

many, many agents that we've done that for. His wife's going to be happy when she divorces me. I don't know what to do. Well, you know, I'm helping her out. Chris, I'm just doing my part. Get a kickback for it. No, I'm just kidding. Don't do that, folks. There's lots of don't do that's on this show. But no, I mean, that sounds like a great business to go into, especially if there's somebody out there listening and they're like,

hey, I want to upgrade my life or I want to do something, maybe have some more control. And yeah, insurance is, I mean, it used to be a really good business. I think it is for some people. But, you know, it's highly competitive. And your targeting of this federal market certainly seems to have a niche. And it seems like, I mean, once you said federal people and federal market, I was just like, oh, yeah, people working for the government. They get paid well. And they usually have pretty good, you know, what do you call it, job insurance, job security.

Yeah. You know, they don't lay off silly crazy, you know, the rest of the public corporations do. So those people have some money. There you go. I'm going to go ask them for some. Borrow it. And what's amazing, they don't have anyone to help them. Really?

Yeah. So they have all these. It's like the federal government just gives all this money and benefits. Here's your benefits. Go ahead. You don't know what to do with that this money and benefits. Here's your benefits. Go ahead. Find somebody and hope you get somebody good. You know, and that's really. So not only we want to help people make money, we really want to help these employees.

I mean, they really have complex benefits. And we'll teach you how to navigate through those complex benefits. There you go. And make a great living now in the academy is the training ongoing or is it is it a great library place where i'm like hey what was the question on that i you know a client asks you a question you're like oh crap i don't know the answer you can go back to the academy and it's on some video or area somewhere yes so you have the library and then you have the subscription it's a it's a small fee the

subscription will really unlock all kinds of you know scripts everything that you need videos questions that everybody else has you know you get to join a group as well so everybody's really there plus you get access to our trainers our mentors that will you can pop on ask them questions you know whatever it is we we understand that you're going to need more help than just taking a course yeah does the insurance business still have a lot of that residual things my dad used to be in insurance he used to tell me he goes yeah once i sign him chris i that income keeps coming to me every year when they re-sign yada yada yada is that still the way it is the business runs yeah there definitely is

residual income it's changed a little bit that used to be a while ago that's why you got into it now the carriers you know they say okay we'll give you something up front you know and that's it you know so they got wise to that too yeah i know some of those you know i i did mortgages for 20 years and we did okay mortgages for some state farm or some farmers or you know some of those, you know, I did mortgages for 20 years and we did mortgages for some state farm or some farmers or, you know, one of those, you know, those established books that, you know, you keep coming up. And yeah, I mean, they made some serious money for the ones that were successful, you know. So that would be more like the PNC, that's your auto, your home, you know, along those lines, which, yes, that's all residual. That's why they go into it is for that renewal. Residual stuff.

So, what other questions did I have for you? There you go. Let's see. What are some common challenges that agents will face if they try and enter this market? Maybe if they're not educated or… Oh, yeah. They get eaten alive because, you know, they're going to, you know, they're going to try to come in as an expert.

And then, like I said, you'll get an employee who's been there 30 years, who's schooling them. They just lost all credibility. There it is. You know, so they need to be the expert in, in their benefits. And that's a challenge and getting in front of them. That's really difficult to get in front benefits. And that's a challenge. And getting in front of them. That's really difficult to get in front of. We have these amazing relationships with lead vendors. A lead vendor

is just a way to get in front of people. And they will get them in front of those federal employees waiting for them to have a review and to be able to help them. Sounds like a good idea. I suppose i could just commit a crime and then the fbi would arrest me and then while i'm in there i could be like hey have you guys what are you guys doing with your insurance you're gonna get a knock on your door after this thank god we've had a couple fbi agents on the show they might have been our clients yeah i turned in i turned turned in a January 6th person to him. It was kind of funny. He's retired, but he was like, yeah, I know the call.

And so there you go. But so lots of good stuff here. There's, what are some ways that you equip the agents with tools and knowledge? Is it pretty much courses? Can they call in? Can they get coaching from you directly, et cetera, et cetera? Yeah. So we have the course, you know, always. That's there. I think that's the first step. And then we have mentor programs.

So we have, you know, I actually co-founded this with my son. So he's one of the mentors, Anthony. He's one of the mentors as well. And then we have several other mentors. So they can pick and choose and have them for a couple of times a month. They can have them once a week or whatever they need to get them to that next level. So we're there for them. So I think that is something that they really, again, recommended. I had it for my whole career. Yeah. Being able to talk to somebody sometimes really helps. How has technology helped in in modernizing the insurance industry remote i mean

that's been huge you know so years ago you literally would have to get in your car you know it's seven o'clock at night and you're getting your gps trying to figure it out you know and you're driving you know all hours to go in somebody's house sit it out, you know, and you're driving, you know, all hours to go in somebody's house, sit across from them, you know, it's, it's, it's a, it was a really tough way to make a living, you know, make a good living, you know, but I mean, I kind of looked at if I'm coming to your house for two hours, I'm not leaving, you know, unless we, we finish this, because I'm not coming back, but, but, no, I'm not coming back. Not coming back or else. No, not coming back. But, you know, with technology now, you can see more people.

You can, you know, I mean, your day is filled as opposed to seeing one or two clients a day. I mean, that's really all you can do in the car. Now you can see eight, nine, ten. I mean, as many as you want. There you go. Let's see. And nationwide. Yeah.

And I imagine if somebody's listening to this and they already have insurance licenses and maybe they're focused on car and auto or property or whatever, and they're just like, oh, I'm tired of how saturated this market is. It's a great switch over for them too. Oh, it's amazing. It's amazing for them because they have, you know, if there are years of experience, they have sales experience. And that experience will carry over whether you're selling, you know, PNC or life insurance or retirement. The sale is the sale, you know. You know, so that definitely will work for them.

I will tell you they'll make more money than they've ever made in what they're doing. There you go. Any predictions on the future developments or opportunities you see in this niche as it comes up? I mean, it's just, I think the technology has made it easier and easier and easier. It took the federal government systems to catch up a little bit.

And now they're actually catching up now where it actually, you know, it was a lot of paper and a lot of overnights, and now they're doing, you know, everything is virtual as well. So I just see it getting better and better. And it seems like they always are hiring more and more people at the government level. I mean, government doesn't shrink.

No. It kind of keeps growing. But, you know, I suppose some of the service they do have to do does need to increase with the population. But, yeah, it's like, there's a joke somewhere that if you start a government program, don't ever expect to stop or something. I don't know what it was. But there you go. But I can see why that's a great market. The people there earn good money.

They hold their jobs for a long time. Their 401ks are probably huge and all their different whatever else they do. Any more antidotes you want to share of success stories of people you put through the system? I mean, we put people through the system. I mean, we definitely, some agents, we take them, you know, and they're the guys who, I have to go see people. I have to go see people, you know, and then we're like, you know, we're slowly like, no, no, no, come our way, come our way. And when we get them over to us, you know, it takes them a little bit to undo some of, you know, what they've. Bad habits.

Bad habits, bad habits. Once they get over, they're like, okay, all right, we should have listened to you. And then they're doing so well, you know, I mean, myself, I've been in the business, agent myself, over 20 something years. Yeah. And, you know, I was out there just like all the other agents, you know, not door knocking, I've done door knocking, I've driven in the car, I've sat there, you know, on the side of the road broken down, you know, I'm going to cut to your house, you know, here I am, you know, and, you know, one thing I learned, it's about getting in front of the right people. So I've purchased all kinds of leads, you know,

this is what happens with an agent, they want to sell insurance, great. Okay, now what? Okay, you have to buy leads. I've purchased leads. Oh, and they would tell you, we don't sell them to anybody but you. Okay, great. You're all blue-eyed and ready and wide-eyed, right? Okay. And I had one time where I really thought I have to change what I'm marketing to.

So I was purchasing leads from a company and they were televised leads. So you see a commercial, the person calls in, we get the lead. So you kind of imagine who they were, right? You see them buy insurance, right? And I'm like, oh, these are great. And they're selling them. They were like $65 a piece. It was crazy, right?

And I'm buying them and they sent me to these areas and I'm like, I don't think these areas are really good. You know? And I'm like a girl by myself at seven o'clock. So I get to this really bad area, but I'm like, you know what? I have to sell this lead. I just drove two hours and I go up there and I'm like, Oh, this doesn't look really good. A really good area. So I, I knock on the guy's door. I opened the door and a big cloud of smoke of something I've never smelled comes out. I'm like, oh, my God. Oh, my God.

Right. So I'm standing there with my binder. And I'm like, I'm here for your TV lead. And I look in the house. They're like, come on in. There's not a TV anywhere. I'm like, great. OK.

Clouds of smoke. I'm running out of there. And I was just like, you know what? I'm not going out anymore. This is it. I'm going to figure something out that I can do over the phone because I'm not leaving my house. You know, Lisa, go. No, no, I'm not leaving.

Yeah. You don't ever want to find out what's in the basement of somebody's house. Oh, my God. I just went running. I literally went running out going, oh oh my God, what am I doing? It puts the lotion on the skin and it gets the hose again. The lotion in the basket. Yeah, definitely.

So I'm trying to save other agents from that. We shortcutted it for you. We did all in the trenches. I was there. And now we want to make it nice and easy and you can bypass all that. There you go. Right with the Academy. So give us the final pitch out as we go out and give people the.com and where

they can find out more about you guys. All right. You know, we're on all social media, Dalton training Academy. We're on Instagram and Twitter X and Facebook and Tik TOK. We're out there. We'd love for you to like us and comment on our page

and, you know, DaltonTrainingAcademy.com. And we're there for you. And we are going to show you how to make at least six figures. Nice. Nice. It's always good to make six figures. At least. Wait, wait, wait. At least. At least. I think there's been reports that come out that say you almost have to make six figures as a single person now. Right. Just to maintain normal. I know. Listen, I want to say seven figures, but I'm going to start six figures. I mean, yeah, if you want to get ahead.

So there you go. Thank you very much for coming on the show. We really appreciate it, Lisa. You're so welcome. You're so welcome. Thanks for having you very much for coming on this show we really appreciate it lisa you're so welcome you're so welcome thanks for having me thanks for coming thanks for tuning in go to goodreads.com for just christmas linkedin.com for just christmas christmas one the tiktokity all those crazy places on the internet be good to each other stay safe we'll see you next time and that should have us out so we'll have this up in about three