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Pivot Application Promise: Shootin' It Straight With Stan®

Stan Haithcock
December 28, 2022
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Your Annuity, Your Choice

Today's topic is the pivot application process. I'm proud of this one. This is unique to us at the Annuity Man® and one of the reasons I would like you to consider doing business with us now. We have gone through tremendous growth here at The Annuity Man, and I'm humbled. When I started this, I didn't think it would be this big. Now, it's still me, it's personal, I run it, I own it, but I have a big staff, and they're very, very good at what they do.

One of the things that we are proud of and are now starting to promote is our business model, "We just tell the truth." My grandfather always said, "If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything." Just tell the truth. Let the chips fall where they may, leading us to the pivot application process.

We're in a time where rates are moving, and they've moved significantly. I believe we'll be in an ongoing moving interest rate environment, which leads us to what happens to the decision-making process and when to buy an annuity. These annuities include an Immediate Annuity, Deferred Income Annuity, a Qualified Longevity Annuity Contract, an Index Annuity, an Income Rider, a Multi-Year Guarantee Annuity, whatever it is.

When you talk to us, you're like, "Well, is this the right time?" First, it's hard to time, and you can't time it. I always tell people that if I knew where interest rates were going, I'd shut down the Annuity Man and trade interest rates on my Learjet. I wouldn't be talking to you. Nobody knows. If anyone says they do, they're guessing and throwing darts at it. We decided to change the application, cancel the application, redo the application, and go to the higher rate as many times as you want to get the rate you want. We are the only ones that will promise that and I hope other people follow, but they will not because it takes commitment, staff, money, time, and us wanting to make it right with you.

We'll Take Care of It

We do everything from start to finish, over the phone or via a Zoom call. We're licensed in all 50 states, and from the time the application is taken, quotes are locked in, and the process of moving the money back and forth could be anywhere from one week to three weeks or more, depending on the capacity of the carrier. But during that time, I'm telling you if rates move up with a different carrier or the same carrier. If it's with the same carrier, we'll nudge them professionally to honor the higher rate, and most will. But if it's with another carrier, we will cancel the application and go to the other carrier. This even goes to when you receive your policy in hand. Every state has what's called a free look time period, which says you can get your money back without any reason. You call the carrier and say, give me my money back. Let me tell you something, that's a big deal in the annuity industry, and remember, life insurance companies issue annuities. It's the only industry that allows you to have a policy in place, have a strategy in place, and be able to pivot and get your money back. You don't have to interact with the agent, you don't have to give a reason, and you have to let that carrier know within that specific time period within your state that you want your money back. They will not ask why. They will not try to resell you anything. They'll send you your money back. So, the pivot application promise that the Annuity Man has, that nobody has, is that we will pivot as many times as needed to get you the guarantee you want. Now, once the policy has passed that free look time period, you own it. But think about it, now you can go into an application, lock in what you perceive as the highest guarantee and what we feel is the highest guarantee after quoting all carries. But in the future, somebody suddenly pops up that you want to get. And that's a carrier you want to take the money to instead of the carrier you did the application with to the new one. We'll do that for you. I am curious if we're keeping a record of this, but I asked my director of operations, "What's the record? How often have we pivoted for one client to get that person the guarantee they want? How many times?" And he goes, "I believe it's 10."

I'm like, "Really?" We pivoted ten times? He goes, "Yeah." But at the end of the day, you got an excellent rate. It wasn't worth the original company but worth it to him. In life, everything's about communication.

Our Staff

Now, we're not perfect. My staff's not perfect. I'm not perfect. Even though you go, wait a minute, Stan, that hat in the logo shirt is pretty perfect. I agree with you. We're not perfect, but we proactively communicate and run toward the bullets. When I say we're not perfect, there are some times that I'm hiring people as fast as I can employ them. I believe this is one of the biggest staffs in the annuity business. We're trying to ensure that you're taken care of and communicated with, and we can pivot with the application. And if anybody on my team complains that they're redoing the application repeatedly, they won't be with me too much longer. Because when I hire them to do applications, I tell them upfront that you will do® the application as often as our client demands you to do them to get that client the rate that they want, period. End of story. That's it. That's what we do. We work for you, and it's your money. We respect that and will pivot as many times as needed to get you that guaranteed. Know that you're not stuck with a rate that might be lower than a rate two weeks later or three weeks later, knowing that you will get the highest contractual guarantee on our good faith working on your behalf to do that. In a commoditized world of annuities, that's the least we can do. The fact that we're the only ones doing it is sad. There may be more people out there doing it, but I haven't heard of it, and they certainly aren't promoting it. I guess they do that for their bigger clients, but we do that for every client. There is no big or small client with the Annuity Man. I came from rural America. My whole family lineage worked in textile mills. Nothing wrong with that. That's a hard job. They were farmers. I grew up in rural North Carolina. We didn't have any money. By the way, if you're going to get an advisor, get one that grew up poor. We look at money differently. I got an email from the other day, from a client the other day, and he was pivoting. He said, "I want to pivot, and I want to go this higher rate." And the end of his sentence was, "I want to apologize because I know I'm not one of your bigger clients." What? No, you're a client. We don't rate clients. We just don't because I've had no money before. I know how that feels, and I also know that X amount of money means a lot to people. Whatever's important to you is important to us, so we will pivot to get you the highest rate because that money's important to you. That money's important to your family. You have scrimped, saved, and done without getting to this point to lock in the highest contractual guarantee rate.

Will Do, Not Might Do

I applaud you for that because you own an annuity for what it will do, not what it might do®. You're trying to lock in either a Lifetime Income Guarantee or an interest rate on a MYGA. A fixed-rate annuity and trying to get that highest contractual guarantee or a little bit more interest is a big deal over a Lifetime Income. In the south, we have a phrase for it. It's called squeeze in oil out of a brick. Think about it. In a contractual guarantee world where it's about life expectancy and interest rates on a Lifetime Income stream, or it's just about the interest rate on a MYGA in that world, we have to maximize as best we can. I am proud that we offer the pivot application promise. I hope everyone in the industry will follow because the annuity industry has earned its bad reputation with many bad sales pitches out there. I think with these types of offerings and promises and client-friendly services, the more we offer this, the better the annuity industry's going to be, and I'm going to drag them across the finish line. I'm going to make it to where if they don't have a pivot application promise like we do, they're going to, or we're going to.

Being Competitive

In a competitive world, it's going to be tough to compete with us because you have to ask yourself, I'm going to buy from my local person. Will he pivot ten times and do the application ten times? Will they pivot as many times as needed to get you the rate you want? Ask them. Say, "You know what? I like you better. I like your site better. I think Stan's loud. I'm not sure I like Stan." By the way. I'm never going to be your friend. You don't need friends as advisors or family for that matter, but ask them, will you pivot as many times? Will you allow me to free-look at the policy and start all over to get a higher rate? And if they hedge at all, welcome to the Annuity Man. The more, the merrier. Bring it on here because we will take care of that. We will pivot as many times as possible. We will get you the rate that you need. I am really proud of this because it's taken a while for me to get to this point and get to a staffing and technology point where I feel comfortable looking you in the face right now and giving you that pivot application promise. You're going to start seeing it here on the website. You're going to start seeing it advertised everywhere. We will set the bar in the annuity industry, which we already have, but the last thing to do, the last thing to do for me, is to set the bar on the application process that every single agent and every single advisory person out there that's selling annuities better follow. Because if they don't follow, then we will own the space even more than we do. Competition is great, and I encourage it, but I also encourage them to be as pro-consumer as possible, and with the pivot application promise, that bar is being set. I'm proud to set it. I'm proud to offer it, and I hope that you take us up on it without hesitation.

Never forget to live in reality, not the dream, with annuities and contractual guarantees! You can use our calculators, get all six of my books for free, and most importantly book a call with me so we can discuss what works best for your specific situation.

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