10 Conference Takeaways Worth a Second Look

After NAFIC’s Fraternal Financial Leaders Conference in Chandler, we asked attendees what they brought home. One manager had already taken a story back to his team. One advisor had written several new applications. And seven separate responses remembered the same line about the IRS. Ed Slott would probably consider that a successful introduction.

For those who couldn’t join us, here’s what your colleagues thought was worth passing along. For those who did, you may recognize the line you underlined in September and meant to look at again.

1. The client is the hero. We’re the guide.

In Kurt Kersey’s Unlocking the Power of Story, the hero faces a problem and turns to a guide who has been down this road before. Two responses picked up on that distinction, and one manager said he’d already used it with his team.

It’s a good lens for listening to a case presentation. Can we tell the story from the client’s point of view? What were they trying to protect, what choice did they face, and why did they choose as they did? That’s the version they’ll tell at home.

2. “How do you want to feel about your finances?”

One attendee singled out that question from Kersey’s presentation. It’s worth keeping in your pocket even after the fact-finding is done.

Two couples might give us the same retirement income target. One wants to know the bills will be paid if either spouse dies. The other wants to book a trip without holding a household budget summit. The number alone won’t tell us which conversation we’re having.

3. A polite nod can look an awful lot like a commitment.

One attendee remembered Jim Effner’s distinction between hard and soft language. Think about the last minute of an appointment. “If you get a chance, send me that statement” is easy to nod along with. “Can you send it by Friday so I can have the comparison ready?” gives the client something definite to answer.

Either answer is useful. It beats spending Friday afternoon trying to interpret Tuesday’s nod.

4. Four responses came back to the comparison with bonds.

Bobby Samuelson discussed permanent insurance as part of a portfolio and compared whole life with fixed income. The interesting part for an advisor is where the comparison holds up and where it stops.

When will the household need access to the money? Which policy values are guaranteed, and which depend on dividends? What death benefit is the family counting on? Those questions give the comparison a purpose beyond putting two illustrated rates side by side.

5. One advisor put Tom Wall’s whole life discussion to work.

What stayed with her was the discussion of how to structure whole life for younger clients. By the time she shared her takeaway, she’d already written several new applications using Wall’s concepts.

That’s a design conversation experienced advisors will recognize. Two illustrations may fit today’s budget and still make different tradeoffs among premium commitments, cash value, and death benefit. The interesting question is which set of tradeoffs fits the years this family has ahead of it.

6. Seven responses remembered the “IOU to the IRS.”

Ed Slott gave attendees a way to talk about the tax still attached to a traditional IRA. A client can understand tax deferral perfectly well and still look at the statement balance as money available to spend.

Slott’s line gives us a natural way into the next conversation: what does the household want to spend, and how much might it need to withdraw to cover that spending and the tax? One member told us he’d already used a conference tax concept in a case he was preparing.

7. When the care plan says “family will help,” whose workweek just changed?

Four responses named long-term care among their takeaways. One specifically remembered Phyllis Shelton’s discussion of long-term care conversations.

Here’s the part that brings it home for me. A couple can agree on staying at home, agree on what they can afford, and each have a different daughter in mind to be there on Tuesday morning. That’s a conversation worth having while everyone still has a say.

8. A consistent process gives a manager something to coach.

One response singled out Effner’s sales process training. Another remembered consistency. Read together, they bring to mind a familiar case review. “They’re still thinking about it” could mean a spouse missed the meeting, a concern went unanswered, or nobody agreed on when to talk again.

Each calls for different coaching. A manager and advisor who share a process can go back to the moment the case stalled. “Follow up more” is considerably harder to rehearse.

9. AI prompted some curiosity, too.

Two responses mentioned wanting to explore AI, and one paired it with storytelling. Kersey’s presentation had put the question of AI’s role alongside a very human part of our work: earning trust.

One place I’d be curious to try it is a follow-up draft. Put the draft beside the meeting notes and see whether “we’ll revisit this” has quietly become “we agreed.” A polished sentence can get several meetings ahead of the client.

10. Under pressure, we fall back on our training.

Utah park ranger Brody Young told the story of surviving an ambush on patrol. A manager heard something in that story he wanted his agents to remember. When the pressure is on, we fall back on our training. That is why we train.

In our work, the moment may be a client going quiet just as a recommendation reaches the table. Giving them room to speak takes practice, too. Most of us have found exactly the right words on the drive home. The audience is better during the appointment.

Thank you to our contributors

Thank you to Kristina Ribali, Chris Sparkman, Thomas Hendricks, Butch Byers, and the other attendees who shared what stayed with them. You gave colleagues who couldn’t be in Chandler a chance to bring something home, too.