Indeed, MDRT membership is recognized as the standard of excellence in life insurance and the financial services business. Maintaining its membership is no easy feat and as such, it is important for financial advisors to develop several skills and qualities to keep them on track.  

We spoke to Alex Chua, a four-year MDRT member from Malaysia, to learn more about his strengths and how he makes the most out of these trying times.  

Understanding your strengths  

When it comes to work, Chua is most focused when he has set out clear professional goals to achieve. He believes that multitasking hinders productivity, and that focusing on a single task is the way to get things done. “There’s a lot of commendation when it comes to multitasking, but I prefer to take my time and focus on one task at a time.” 

Most people pride themselves on being able to juggle multiple objectives at the same time. But when you do that, your mind is never really committed to any one task. Chua shares that when we are trying to accomplish several things at once, our mind is divided between them so it’s only natural that mistakes will multiply.  

“If we try our best to complete a task in the fastest manner without giving much thought to it, there’s bound to be mistakes. Being focused on the other hand, can really help to achieve our desired results in a more efficient manner. I also believe being right the first time around can save us a lot of time than doing too many things at once and end up needing to re-do and fix the errors again and again.” 

The right approach 

Chua finds developing SMART goals is most helpful in retaining his MDRT membership. Here, SMART stands for specific; measurable; attainable; relevant (and rigorous, realistic, and results-focused); and timely (and trackable). The well-known method provides a sense of direction, a clear focus and motivation for him to achieve his goals. 

“If we want to achieve our goals to become a reality, we must place the right strategy to achieve the desired results. Planning my goals and targets each year helps to reduce the unnecessary steps or work that are either time consuming or meaningless activities that don’t help us achieve our goals.” 

Making the best of the situation  

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, it completely disrupted the insurance industry. Because of its restrictions, financial advisors could no longer meet physically with their clients and prospects in their homes or usual meet up spots. Their usual methods of meeting clients and gaining their trust needed to change to fit the circumstances. 

Chua soon realized that working from home during the pandemic was not going to stop financial advisors from achieving greater results. “With more time at home and people spending time on their devices, we could start meeting our clients and prospects online very often. By doing so, we were able to increase our activity rate from meeting two to three clients in our normal face to face appointments to meeting five to six clients daily over virtual platforms.”   

He said financial advisors can be more productive and effective because there is no longer a need to commute from one place to another. “This was possible because we saved a lot of time travelling from one place to another.” 

“Out of adversity, there is opportunity. Thanks to the beauty of our industry, working online is far more effective for us during the pandemic because of the working from home culture. Being able to work from home requires more discipline than usual, as at home we tend to get distracted easily. Financial advisors can use a timetable or planner to keep them on track and follow closely on the tasks we need to do. Knowing to place and work on our priorities is the key to achieving greater results working from home during this pandemic.”  

Chua ended by saying that despite the new normal we live in, retaining MDRT membership is possible with good old fashion focus, discipline, and hard work. 

Contact: MDRTeditorial@teamlewis.com