When people first see the title, they may wonder:
“How can you sell more life insurance by not selling life insurance?”
I deliberately chose a title that sounds somewhat contradictory for Don’t Sell Life Insurance to Sell More Life Insurance.
But this is not a book against life insurance.
I believe life insurance is an important financial tool. It can protect a family’s income, help manage debt and business risk, and provide the liquidity needed for an estate.
This is not a book against selling, either.
Advisors still need to meet people, have conversations, recommend appropriate solutions, and help clients make decisions. If good advice never leads to action, the client’s problem remains unsolved.
The point I want to make in this book is simple:
Do not make the product or your sales target the centre of the conversation before you understand what the client needs.
When clients do not feel that making a sale is your first priority, they are more likely to trust what you say. When they truly need life insurance, they may also take your advice more seriously.
Why Did I Write This Book?
I have worked directly with clients as both a financial advisor and an investment advisor. I have also recruited and trained new life insurance advisors as a Sales Manager and Business Development Manager.
Through those experiences, I had a close view of how the industry trains new advisors.
Many people entering the business are introduced to a similar process:
- Write down the names of family members and friends.
- Contact as many people as possible.
- Book appointments.
- Present a product.
- Handle objections.
- Close the sale.
- Ask for referrals and repeat the process.
This is what is often called the Numbers Game.
That does not mean the approach is always wrong. Sales certainly involves numbers. No advisor can build a business without meeting people or having conversations.
Many advisors succeeded with this approach in the past. Many companies and organizations also grew through this structure.
But the market has changed.
Some training systems and sales cultures, however, continue to rely on methods developed when consumers had limited access to information.
I did not write this book to eliminate the Numbers Game.
I wrote it because I believe we need to create a better Numbers Game for today’s consumers and today’s market.
Consumers Arrive at Meetings with More Information
In the past, the advisor held the information.
The advisor brought the quote, product brochure, insurance illustration, and comparison material. Clients often listened to the explanation and made a decision based on the information placed before them.
Today is different.
Before meeting an advisor, a client can search Google, watch YouTube, and read opinions in online communities. They can compare products from several companies and ask AI to explain insurance terminology or evaluate a recommendation.
They can also verify what the advisor said after the meeting.
Even if the client does not conduct the research personally, a spouse, adult child, accountant, or another professional may do it for them.
The era in which advisors controlled access to information is over.
That does not mean advisors are no longer needed.
As the amount of available information grows, it can become even harder for clients to determine what applies to their own circumstances. They do not need someone who simply repeats information they could find online.
They need someone who can separate relevant information from noise, compare the available choices, and explain complex ideas in language they understand.
In the past, an advisor’s value often came from bringing information to the client. Today, greater value comes from providing clarity.
The Problem with the Old Numbers Game Is Not the Numbers
Many new life insurance advisors are introduced to methods such as Project 100.
They list family members, friends, former colleagues, neighbours, and people they know through their community. They are encouraged to contact those people and turn them into their first market.
This method can work well for some advisors.
If an advisor has already earned trust within a community—and people in that community genuinely need financial guidance—the approach can lead naturally to valuable conversations.
But advisors do not all have the same market, personality, experience, or personal network.
Treating family and friends as prospects simply because their contact information is available can strain relationships. Rejection may also feel less like a business outcome and more like a personal rejection.
More importantly, writing down a large number of names does not answer these questions:
- Which clients do I understand best?
- Why would a particular market trust me?
- What problems does that market actually face?
- Am I most effective through education, writing, seminars, or one-to-one meetings?
- How can I approach people in a way that feels comfortable for both the client and me?
The Old Numbers Game began by asking, “Who can I contact?”
The New Numbers Game should begin by asking, “Who can I genuinely help?”
We Need Meaningful Names, Not Just More Names
In the book, I distinguish between collecting a large number of names and identifying Meaningful Names.
Anyone you can contact can become a name on a list.
A Meaningful Name, however, is someone whose real circumstances connect with the service and value you can provide.
This does not mean the person must be ready to purchase a product immediately. It means there is a genuine fit between the questions or problems that person has and the value the advisor can offer.
Why does that distinction matter?
Contacting anyone and everyone may increase your activity. Consistently providing useful information to an appropriate market, however, can increase the number of people who trust you.
The numbers advisors monitor must also evolve.
- How many people did I call?
- How many appointments did I book?
- How many sales did I close?
Those numbers still matter. But we should also ask:
- How many people read my content?
- Which questions generated the strongest response?
- Are the right clients finding my education or seminars?
- Are clients introducing me to others without feeling pressured?
- Do prospects understand my philosophy and value before our first meeting?
- Am I connecting with people I am genuinely equipped to help?
The old numbers measured activity.
The numbers that matter going forward must also measure relevance and trust.
Saying “Sell Solutions, Not Products” Is Not Enough
The financial industry has repeated a familiar phrase for years:
“Don’t sell products. Sell solutions.”
There is absolutely nothing wrong with that statement. In fact, it is a principle the industry should follow.
In practice, however, the industry has often shown more interest in production numbers and sales results than in finding the solution the client actually needs. As a result, “sell solutions, not products” could become an empty phrase that did not lead to different behaviour in the field.
A client’s goal is not simply to own an insurance product. Clients consider insurance because they want to protect family income, manage debt, safeguard a business, or prepare for future uncertainty.
But one important question may still be missing:
Whose solution is it?
If an advisor recommends a predetermined product without first understanding the client’s circumstances, calling it a solution does not make the process client-centred.
A genuine solution must begin with the client’s problem.
- What needs to be protected?
- What would be the financial effect on the family or business if something happened?
- What insurance and other assets does the client already have?
- What should take priority within the available budget?
- What are the product’s disadvantages and limitations as well as its benefits?
- How does it compare with the alternatives?
- Is buying now appropriate, or would waiting be better?
If an advisor recommends the same product to every client, that is not Solution Selling.
It may simply be product selling under a better name.
Transparent Explanations Build Client Trust
Some salespeople worry that explaining a product’s disadvantages or presenting alternatives may cost them a sale.
Sometimes it will.
An honest explanation may mean that today’s sale does not happen. You may need to tell a client that they already have enough insurance or that keeping an existing policy may be the better choice.
But clients can eventually discover information that was left out of the conversation.
If an advisor discusses only the benefits and the client later discovers the limitations through the internet or AI, the concern will not end with the product.
The client may ask:
“Why didn’t my advisor tell me this?”
That is when trust can begin to weaken.
This is why I believe explaining disadvantages and alternatives upfront is a stronger way to sell.
Advisors should be clear about what they know and what still needs to be confirmed. If there are limits to the range of options they can offer, they should explain those limits honestly.
Mystery is not value.
Clarity is value.
Trust can last much longer than a single sale.
Sometimes Not Selling Creates a Larger Business Opportunity
One client transferred their investment assets to me after working with another advisor.
The client said that every conversation with the previous advisor seemed to return to life insurance. The client believed they already had enough coverage, but new insurance continued to be recommended.
When I first met the client, I explained that their current coverage appeared sufficient for the time being. I suggested reviewing it again if their circumstances changed.
The client later told me that because I had not tried to create an immediate insurance sale, they felt comfortable entrusting me with their investment assets.
In another case, I reviewed a retired client’s investment accounts and concluded that leaving them where they were would be the better decision.
Of course, receiving the transferred assets would have benefited my business.
But I did not see enough practical benefit for the client, so I explained why maintaining the existing arrangement made more sense. No transaction took place at that meeting.
The relationship remained. We continued to stay in touch, and the client later introduced me to family members.
That is the paradox at the heart of this book.
Trying to sell at every opportunity may produce one transaction.
Knowing when not to sell can earn trust.
Applying Daniel H. Pink’s New ABC to Financial Advice
The traditional sales ABC was Always Be Closing.
It encouraged salespeople to direct every conversation toward closing the deal.
In his book To Sell Is Human, author Daniel H. Pink introduced a new ABC: Attunement, Buoyancy, and Clarity.
I believe this framework is particularly relevant to financial advisors today. In Don’t Sell Life Insurance to Sell More Life Insurance, I connect Daniel H. Pink’s ABC with the realities of financial advice and life insurance sales.
Financial advice, however, is different from selling an ordinary consumer product. It involves decisions that may affect a family’s income, health, retirement, taxes, business, and estate for many years.
The book examines the three qualities needed for the future of financial advice:
Attunement
The ability to understand the client’s reality before focusing on the advisor’s sales objective. Advisors need to learn what the client is worried about, what they have already researched, and what decision they actually need to make.
Buoyancy
The ability to handle rejection and uncertainty without transferring urgency or anxiety to the client. Resilience is not the same as pressure. The more desperate an advisor becomes to make a sale, the greater the risk of pushing a product that may not be appropriate.
Clarity
The ability to help clients understand what matters amid an overwhelming amount of information. Advisors must explain benefits, limitations, alternatives, and trade-offs in plain language.
Attunement helps us understand people.
Buoyancy helps advisors sustain their business without abandoning their principles.
Clarity helps clients make decisions they can trust.
AI Will Reveal Advisors More Than It Replaces Them
Many people ask whether AI will replace financial advisors.
I see it somewhat differently.
AI can help good advisors deliver better service. At the same time, it may more quickly expose the weaknesses of advisors who do not understand their own recommendations or who have depended primarily on controlling information and projecting authority.
Clients can use AI, too.
If an advisor simply copies an AI-generated answer and sends it to a client, the client can obtain the same answer directly. The client may reasonably ask:
“Why do I need an advisor for an answer I can get myself?”
AI can help advisors with tasks such as:
- Researching the questions and concerns of a target market
- Preparing meetings and educational material
- Translating difficult concepts into plain language
- Structuring articles, newsletters, and seminars
- Comparing different explanations and messages
- Organizing follow-up communication and administrative work
- Supporting communication across languages and cultures
But the advisor remains responsible for the final judgment and recommendation made for the client.
I think of AI as a Navigator.
It can show us possible routes, present options, and identify something we may have overlooked. The advisor, however, is still the Pilot.
AI cannot care about the client on the advisor’s behalf.
We should use AI not to create more noise, but to become clearer, more useful, and more human advisors.
Five Questions to Ask Before Meeting Your Next Client
The central message of Don’t Sell Life Insurance to Sell More Life Insurance can be summarized in five questions:
- Did I understand the problem the client wants to solve before thinking about the product I want to sell?
- Did I explain not only why this product may be suitable, but also why it may not be suitable?
- Did I ask what the client has already researched or believes?
- Did I provide information that will help the client even if they do not buy today?
- Can I be honest if not making a sale would be better for the client?
If you can answer yes to all five questions, there is a good chance you are providing sound advice—even if the meeting does not result in an immediate sale.
When clients repeatedly have that kind of experience, they may return when they genuinely need advice.
Who Is This Book For?
I wrote this book primarily for life insurance advisors, but its message extends beyond life insurance.
It may be helpful for:
- New advisors entering the financial services industry
- Advisors who feel limited by traditional prospecting methods
- Financial professionals who want to build more trusted client relationships
- Managers and recruiters responsible for hiring and training new advisors
- Professionals who want to build a market through content, SEO, and social media
- Advisors who want to use AI responsibly in their practice and marketing
- Sales professionals working in fields where trust matters more than the product itself
This is not a book of closing scripts designed to help you complete a sale as quickly as possible.
It does not offer techniques for pushing a particular product or a formula promising immediate success.
Instead, it asks advisors to reconsider which markets they serve, which questions they ask, and how they earn trust.
The One Message Don’t Sell Life Insurance Is Meant to Deliver
The need for life insurance is not disappearing.
Families still need income protection. Business owners still need to plan for continuity and liquidity. People still need to prepare for illness, death, debt, taxes, and an uncertain future.
The need for advice is not disappearing, either.
But the way advisors earn attention and trust is changing.
The future will not belong only to the advisors who memorize the most closing techniques.
It will favour advisors who understand their clients, compare choices honestly, explain complexity clearly, and have the confidence to say, “Not now,” when a product is unnecessary.
The message of the book comes down to this:
Do not start with the product.
Start with the person.
Do not start with the commission.
Start with the client’s concerns.
Do not begin by asking, “How can I close this client?”
Begin by asking, “How can I help this person make a better decision?”
That is not giving up on sales.
It is how we become better advisors.
Discover the Book
Now available in English, Don’t Sell Life Insurance to Sell More Life Insurance explores changing consumer expectations, the Old Numbers Game, target markets, transparency, content marketing, and financial advice in the age of AI—all through Johnny Choe’s real-world industry experience.
You can learn more about the book and find the available formats in Johnny Choe’s Bookstore.
Visit Johnny Choe’s Bookstore →
Would You Like to Connect?
If you would like to discuss financial advisor education, practice consulting, workshops, speaking engagements, or using AI for content marketing and business development, please feel free to reach out.
Important Notice
This article and the book introduced here are intended for general education and information only. They do not recommend or guarantee any particular insurance or investment product, sales method, marketing result, or business outcome.
The examples and opinions in the book reflect the author’s experience and perspective in the financial services industry. Some examples may have been simplified or may combine elements of several situations to protect privacy and improve understanding.
Insurance, investments, taxation, legal matters, compliance requirements, and client-specific financial decisions should be reviewed with appropriately qualified and registered professionals and in accordance with the policies of the relevant firm.