121

Objections
Sanjay Tolani, FLMI, MBA

My topic area, which is primarily about objection handling,
will be: “Talking about some of the objections that I get on
a daily basis.”
I’ll start with the most basic one, which happened to me
many years ago when I joined this profession. I was only 19
and was sitting with a client when he said, “Sanjay, I love your
presentation. I love the product, and I love everything about
it, but I feel you are too young to be my financial advisor.”
So I asked him, “Who would you like to have as a finan-
cial advisor?” The client said, “Sanjay, I would want someone
who is my age.” Now, this client was about 50 years old, and
I was 19 at that point.
So I told him, “Mr. Client, let’s assume that you have an advi-
sor who is 50. Thirty years from now, when your plan matures
or you unfortunately pass away, which might be at about the
age of 80, where do you think your financial advisor would be
at the point? You see, in our business, the most important part
is getting a claim paid out. I am only 19. Thirty years from now,
I will be as old as you are now. I will be as experienced as you are
and I will be as strong as you are, and that is the reason why you
should work with someone younger than you are.”
And that was the one of the first ways I handled that
objection.
Now, there is problem with that, and the problem is that I
am not 19 anymore; I am 33. I now have clients who are younger
than I am. So the question is “Why should I work with you?”
I say, “Let me ask you this question: If you had a heart
attack, would you prefer working with a student, or would
you prefer working with an experienced doctor?” And you
get the answer to that one.
That was one of the most basic objections I got in the first
few years of my career.
Another objection I got a few years later was: “Sanjay, I
am so rich. Why do I need to buy insurance?” This client was
worth roughly $700 million. And he said, “Sanjay, I don’t
really see any need for insurance.”
The only thing I had to say to him was, “Uncle, . . .” (I call
him “Uncle” because he was significantly older than I am, a
family friend of ours.) “Uncle, the reality is that you are what
we call the Titanic, the unsinkable ship. There is no reason to
sink, but if, unfortunately, you did, don’t you want to have
some lifeboats? You see, I am not here to teach you how to make
money—you know that better than I do as you are richer than
I am. But I am very good at making ‘lifeboats’—that’s my core
expertise. So I am not here to teach you how to make money
or how to build another Titanic, but I do make ‘lifeboats,’ and
usually the bigger the ship, the more lifeboats you need.”
So a simple analogy like that always helps a client under-
stand what we do.
I had another client who asked, “Sanjay, how do I know
that an insurance company will pay my claim?”
I said, “Well, how many of us drive cars? Almost all of
us. We have sat in a car at least. We all have an airbag in the
car. When was the last time we tested it? You see, our prod-
uct, life insurance, is like an airbag. If you want to know if
it will work well, learn from someone else’s experience. The
more important question is: Would you drive a car without
an airbag or without a seatbelt or without the regular safety
features that would be in a car? Would you drive a car like
that? Probably not, and that is exactly what our product

Sanjay Tolani, FLMI, MBA

Tolani is a 15-year MDRT member with two Court of the Table and 11 Top of the Table qualifications. He
works with ultra-high-net-worth clients in 53 countries and has spoken at more than 100 conferences.
The CEO of Goodwill World, he has completed two undergraduate degrees and three graduate degrees,
and he is currently pursuing his PhD in finance. His book 28,000 has sold more than 30,000 copies
worldwide and has been published in four languages.
Goodwill Insurance Brokers Llc
Pob 2948, Dubai, 2948, United Arab Emirates
email: sanjay@sanjaytolani.com phone: 971.43595566 website: sanjaytolani.com Twitter: @srtolani

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122 General Sessions: MDRT Speaks

is. Our product is a security measure that is required for I say, “You see, Mr. Client, everyone has a Plan A in life.
everyday people.” You invest money by putting it into the business and buying
A lot of people tell me, “Sanjay, I have diversified, I have property. My job is to be the Plan B. If Plan A fails, what’s
properties, I have investments, I have a business.” your Plan B? That is my job!”

Annual Meeting Proceedings | 2017 ©Million Dollar Round Table