Unlike me, top producers selling insurance focus on making the sale to the exclusion of all else.
Recently I have been contacted by several folks either new to the insurance industry or considering getting into it. I can only assume that because I do so much social media marketing that they think I know something they don’t. First, a large marketing footprint does not equate to success. Second, if you want to be a “Top Producer”: don’t be like me.
Which road God?
In all honesty, I wasn’t prepared for the insurance industry when I got
Happy are they who dedicate their lives with focus.
started back in 2010. I had narrowed my new career path to either going to seminary or insurance. How I rationalized that either career was remotely connected to one another is a discussion for my therapist. However, I approached insurance sales with an open mind and listened and trained with everyone I could.
And the magic number is infinity
The most accurate statement in the world about insurance is that it is a numbers game. You have to filter through X hundred number of people before you even get an appointment, let alone a sale. There is always several questions on a major insurance carrier’s personality profile test about how many people can you start calling tomorrow. They want you to be able to call several hundred of your closest relatives and friends for appointments to sell insurance. I am told the magic number is 200+. I guess that is why I always failed those tests because I usually selected the 0 -10 option.
Let me tell you about my aunt’s friend’s nephew…
Stories always help close sales. If you like hearing stories, if you believe stories and if you like
She was just looking at the sunset when she fell and almost died…buy my insurance.
telling stories, you might do well selling insurance. To me, stories are at best anecdotes and at worst flat out embellishments of the truth twisted to make the insurance product appealing. If you can recount the following story with a straight face, you will do well in sales.
My uncle Frankie was climbing a ladder to save a kitten in a tree when a big wind gust came and toppled the ladder. He fell into the neighbors’ yard where their vicious dog chewed his leg off. Our company’s insurance plan paid him $500 for the loss of his toes. That’s what can happen when you climb a ladder. Now, you climb ladders occasionally, right?…
Stories are for movies, not insurance. I like to deal with real facts and figures not selling on emotion.
Don’t get between me and the cookie
Do you have the passion and will to succeed? Will you let nothing stop you? Do you thrive on competition? Great, either go into insurance or professional sports. I view all that motivational stuff as tunnel vision. If you can do nothing but focus on making the sale you have Top Producer written all over you. The other part I really dislike about insurance industry is all the competitions. I don’t care about winning a trip to Cancun or a sales bonus if I beat out all my colleagues in sales. Some folks thrive on that icing on the cake motivational stuff.
If you hate puppies, I hate puppies
Another trait of the Top Producer is not having an opinion. If you have no opinions other than
I’m telling you, your right, those puppies are no good.
government regulation is another form communism, you’ll fit right in. The trait of having no opinion also extends to turning a blind eye when you see a fellow agent or carrier doing something unethical. (Inside secret, Top Producers get immunity for violations from their company) If you voice an opinion you lose a potential client. Someone will take offense to your comments and not want to buy from you. My mouth is big and I open it too much. I tell folks, “Go visit my website, if you don’t like what I write about or support, don’t call me”.
Dial and smile
Especially when you are starting out you have to do loads of cold calling on the phone and in-person. Whereas I never had a problem cold calling, I never found it effective for my style. I have worked for a small business and I know how time consuming and annoying the unsolicited phone calls can be.
So if you do the calls, please be courteous and polite. If the person you are speaking to says “No”,
This dog sounds better than most pushy insurance agents.
move on. Don’t sit there and badger them to death. I can’t view a business or a person as something to “Win”. I have known agents who make it a personal crusade to win the prospect over. Okie-dokie, go grab that leg and don’t let go.
Yes, I should have gone to seminary
It’s a free country. Go sell they way you want to be sold to.
In summary, if you can’t develop a singular focus to win at all costs, bury any opinions way deep
down inside, ignore what prospects might think of your incessant calling and you love telling stories you heard third hand, you probably won’t make it in insurance. In other words, do everything opposite of what you see me doing and you’ll probably become a top producer.