4 Phone Calls To Make Every Day To Grow Your Business

I know that most sales professionals cringe when they think about picking up the phone and cold calling or "dialing-for-dollars" (me included). For some people, the thought of picking up the phone and calling an angry client, an missed sale or even a referral can make their hands clam up and their heart skip a beat.

I get it. When I was first starting out, I used to cold-call for 3 hours a day, 5 days a week and I hated every minute of it. I forced myself to do it because at the time it was my only source of new business, but I hated it the whole time. While I don’t have to cold-call for business any more, there are still 4 phone calls I try to make EVERY DAY in order to grow my business.

The “save-a-deal or client” call. Unfortunately, not every deal goes smoothly and not every client sticks around forever. Clients leave for what they think are greener pastures, buyers try to bail out of buying because some other company is $5 less, etc. Pick one deal or one client that seems like a goner and make a call to see if you can save the deal or the relationship. You’ll be surprised at how many deals are salvageable and how much extra money that one call can add to your bottom line each year. If you make an average of $400 per auto/home insurance client and you can save one client a month or close an extra one deal that would have otherwise gone away, that’s about an extra $10,000 in your pocket every year! If you're making a call to an investment or life insurance client, the numbers could be far bigger. I don't know about you, but one call per day, five days a week for an extra $10,000 seems like a pretty good return on my investment.

The “random check-in or thank you” call. Even your best clients forget about you if they haven’t heard from you in awhile. An easy, personal, and effective way to make sure that people remember you when it really counts (like when someone mentions they need the services you offer and you want them to refer you), is by calling a few clients each day in order to check in on them and let them know you are thinking about them. No selling, just call and see how they are and let them know you appreciate them being your clients. You’ll be amazed at the conversations that come up from a simple phone call. You'll come across clients that are in the process of leaving their jobs and needing to move their 401(k) to an IRA. You'll discover new babies in the house that brings up conversations of more life insurance. Don't bring any of these sales conversations up yourself, but if the client has something to discuss, by all means answer their questions. If something does come up that warrants a follow up conversation and the client doesn't get the conversation started, make a note of it and follow up with them the following week to discuss.

The “happy birthday” call. Your clients deserve to feel special on their birthday. With all of the Facebook, text and email “happy birthdays” these days, a personal call really goes a long way. It will let your folks know they’re important to you and remind them of what a great person you are! Even if you don't reach your client and you just leave them a message, birthday calls are a quick, easy, non-sales type call that will allow your best clients to hear your voice and be reminded of who you are and all you do for them.

The "Let's Do Lunch" call. When was the last time you had lunch with one of your best clients? Most agents like to have lunch with their friends, their colleagues or (a lot of the time) alone. I get the appeal of eating with friends and co-workers but ask yourself this one, very important question - how many opportunities do you have to sell your services and your products to your colleagues? What chance do you have of making a sale while you are sitting alone enjoying lunch? If you're in the business of selling (you are) and you get paid for making more sales (you do), then creating opportunities to have sales conversations with people that can and will actually buy something from you is a REALLY good idea! 

Try calling up a client (or prospect) around 11:00-11:30 each day and let them know you'll be in their area around noon. Tell them you don't like eating alone and you'd like to get to know them better and offer to buy them lunch - no sales, no hidden motives - you just want to get to know them better. One of two things will usually happen when you make this kind of call:

1. Most of the time the person you call will not be available and will not meet you for lunch. That's okay! Even if they don't have lunch with you, they're probably thinking about you. They may even tell someone that they work with that their insurance adviser is a great person who tries to have lunch with them. Your client or prospect will probably even feel like they owe you or should be more loyal to you just because you offered (and even though you didn't actually buy them lunch). If they get this call from you twice per year, they'll think more highly of you and feel like you are taking better care of them even if you never get together!

2. You meet for lunch, get to know them better and have a nice conversation about them - what they've got going on, goals and dreams, family activities, hobbies, etc. Half of the time, something will come up that needs to be discussed further in a business setting but, even if it doesn't, you've created a more loyal client and a longer-lasting relationship. You've increased your retention and given a client another reason to stick around and tell others how great you are. Not a bad deal!

If you took the time to make all 4 calls each day, it would probably take you about 10 minutes per day. But the amount that you can accomplish in those 10 minutes is staggering if you stop and think about it. You'll be increasing your retention, coming across sales opportunities, generating good will, strengthening client relationships, giving people another reason to refer you...the list goes on and on. Ultimately you'll be putting more money in your pocket and making yourself more successful. Not bad for picking up the phone a few times each day!

Achieve More Of Your 2016 Goals With These 2 Simple Tweaks

Do you want to achieve more in 2016 and have your best year ever? Try these 2 little tweaks to your goal setting and see what happens!

For the last 5 years or so I’ve been following the same ritual  almost every day when it comes to my goals - every morning I get out a note card and list my goals for the year as things I hope to achieve during the next 12 months. Then I flip the card over and write down 5-10 things I can do TODAY to move me closer to my goals.

Not a bad system in general, because it’s been proven over and over again that those who take the time to write down their goals daily are FAR more likely to achieve them. But I recently came across some new research that suggests two little tweaks will help trick my brain into achieving more each year. I’ve got some pretty big goals for 2016, and if I can get my brain to think better and work harder towards achieving my goals, I’m all in! Here are the two tweaks, I’d love to hear what you think about them:

1. Write down your goals as if they’re already happening; write them in the present tense instead of the future tense. For example, instead of listing "50 paid life policies” as one of your goals, try writing “I issue 50 life cases per year.” If your goal is to sell more annuities, don't write "$500,000 in annuities" write "I help clients by issuing $500,000 of annuities every year.” Science suggests that when our brain sees and hears things like “I own” and “I do” and those things don’t yet match with your reality, your sub-conscious brain looks for new and more ways to make things match and help you achieve your goals.

2. Write down your goals twice per day instead of once. I know that a lot of people don’t even write their goals down once per day...or week...or month...or maybe not even once per year. When you physically write down your goals, your brain takes them much more seriously. If they’re not written down (with a date for reaching them) your brain considers them more of “dreams” or “wishes” than goals you ACTUALLY WANT TO ACHIEVE. 

The two best times to write down your goals are fist thing in the morning before your day gets going (I was already doing this part) and right before you go to bed at night (this one is new to me).

Writing down my goals first thing in the morning always made sense to me because I had the entire day to think about what I wanted to accomplish and take actions towards achieving my goals. But why bother writing them down again before bed? It’s not like I can do anything about them or for them overnight while I’m sleeping!

It turns out that I was wrong about that. When you write down your goals right before you go to bed, your subconscious actually works on the problem of achieving your goals all night long while you are asleep.

We don’t give our subconscious enough credit (or enough to do) when it comes to helping us achieve our goals. When you go to bed with your goals fresh in your mind, you may find that achieving those goals somehow winds up in your dreams or that you wake up with a fresh idea on how to improve your situation or solve a problem that was holding you back.

By writing your goals twice per day instead of one, your keeping your goals fresh in your mind AND keeping your mind focused on helping you get everything you want for the year. Give it a try and let me know what you think! I'm more excited going into 2016 than I ever have been for a new year in the past. I know that the agents who get creative, focus on the right things and work hard are going to have their best year ever, and I know my name will be on that list of agents.

Let's make 2016 the year ever and share the best agent ideas ever!

2016 - Best Year Ever, Best Agent Ideas Ever!

Believe it or not, Britney Spears has an amazing lesson for you when it comes to growing your business and having the best insurance agency in town!

Before we get to it, let's talk about 2016 real quick. I'm dedicated to making 2016 the best year ever for insurance agents all across the country by providing the best agent ideas ever all throughout the year. Why, you ask?

Because this is OUR year! The year of the agent! The year for professionals to fight back against the 800 #'s and internet insurance companies! I just read an article about the up and coming "Uber" of the insurance industry that is designed and dedicated to driving the local, professional agents out of business. I don't know about you, but that makes me mad. Really mad!!

I come across so many prospects who are currently insured with an 800 # company that have the ABSOLUTE WORST insurance coverage possible for their situation. High net-worth folks with low (and sometimes NO) coverage to protect their families and their assets. Young families starting out that have coverage they don't need because someone on the other end of a phone line a thousand miles away pushed the wrong button on their computer screen.

Consumers NEED professional agents and those of us who are in the front lines representing our clients and protecting families deserve to be paid for the hard work that we do every day. Not only are we fighting for and helping consumers, most of us are small business owners that are also employing people and supporting our community. Our cities, our clients and our country needs professional agents like us to not only stay in business, but to thrive, excel and succeed!

If it sounds like I'm pumped up and looking to change the world (or at least improve our industry), it's because that is EXACTLY what I'm planning to do in 2016. I'd love it if every professional agent form every company in every city across the country came along for the ride. We may work for different companies, but we're in this great industry together and we're definitely stronger together than we are apart. It's time to share better ideas, help each other and our industry grow. It's time to be more successful, and help more people. It's time to stand together and fight back against the big companies that are trying to get rid of us, and Britney Spears knows how to get it done (or one of the main components of getting it done, at least)!

Fortunately, she put it into a song for all of us. I've taken the liberty of highlighting the important parts. Here it is:

Work Work

Britney Spears

You want a hot body? You want a Bugatti?
You want a Maserati? You better work b****
You want a Lamborghini? Sippin' martinis?
Look hot in a bikini? You better work b****
You wanna live fancy? Live in a big mansion?
Party in France?
You better work b****, you better work b****
You better work b****, you better work b****
Now get to work b****!
Now get to work b****!

Bring it on, ring the alarm
Don't stop now, just be the champion
Work it hard, like it's your profession
Watch out now, cause here it comes
Here comes the smasher, here comes the master
Here comes the big beat, big beat disaster
No time to quit now, just time to get it now
Pick up what I'm putting down
Pick up what I'm putting down

You want a hot body? You want a Bugatti?
You want a Maserati? You better work b****
You want a Lamborghini? Sippin' martinis?
Look hot in a bikini? You better work b****
You wanna live fancy? Live in a big mansion?
Party in France?
You better work b****, you better work b****
You better work b****, you better work b****
Now get to work b****!
Now get to work b****!

Break it off, break it down
See me come and you can hear my sound
Tell somebody in your town
Spread the word, spread the word
Go call the police, go call the governor
I bring the treble, don't mean to trouble ya'
I make the governor, call me the governor
I am the bad b****, the b**** that you'll never know

Hold your head high, fingers to the sky
They gonna try to try ya', but they can't deny ya'
Keep it moving higher, and higher
Keep it building higher, and higher
So hold your head high, fingers to the sky
Now they don't believe ya', but they gonna meet ya'
Keep it moving higher and higher
Keep it moving higher and higher and higher

Work, work, work, work
Work, work, work, work
Work, work, work, work
Work, work, work
Work it out, work it out, work it out, work it out
Work it out, work it out, work it out, work it out
Work it out, work it out, work it out, work it out
Work it out, work it out
You better work b****
You better work b****

Although it does take MORE than just work to be successful and get you want (like working on the right things), there is no substitute for hard work. It's one of the components needed to make 2016 your best year ever. Thanks for the reminder, Britney!

Don't Be Like The Broncos. Play To Win In 2013!

It is Sunday, January 13th 2013, the day after the Broncos loss to the Baltimore Ravens and elimination from the playoffs. I sit here as a disappointed, down and out Broncos fan, still reeling over yesterday's game. It was frustrating and upsetting, and unfortunately very predictable based on the style of play chosen by the Broncos in yesterday's game.

The Broncos were not playing to win, they were playing to not lose. The underdog Ravens, on the other hand, were playing to win. There is a big difference between the two, and there are some pretty good lessons to be learned from the Broncos' loss as well. In order to make 2013 a winning year, let's take a look at the Broncos' mistakes to make sure we don't repeat them in our own business lives.

1. Never Went Long Or Took Any Chances: The Broncos never went for the big play - the long pass down the field for a touchdown. Instead, they stuck to the little runs and super short passes and, in doing so, missed out on the opportunity of a big score that could have put them so far ahead of the Ravens they would have never caught up. Don't make the same mistake in your agency. You need to have the consistent smaller sales to keep moving forward, but don't neglect the big plays that will really make a difference in your yearly production. Be on the lookout for the large premiums and big cases and don't be afraid to go for it a few times per year. You never know when a large case will connect for a big score that elevate you to a whole new level. Try asking at least one person a week if they need an extra $1,000,000 worth of life insurance. That would give you 52 chances at a big play, and you never know which one will connect if you don't at least try.
2. Relied Too Much On Others: Instead of taking charge and really pushing ahead, the Broncos' offense relied on their defense to do more than their fair share and keep them from losing. Meanwhile, instead of forcing a turnover or making big plays, the defense was relying on it's offense to score more than the Ravens in case they were unable to stop the Ravens from putting points on the board. In a playoff game, and in the game of life, you are responsible to make it happen, and no one else is going to do it for you. There is an old saying that still rings true today, "if it is to be, it is up to me." Take responsibility for your own success in 2013 and adopt the common denominator of success into your business. Those who are truly successful form the habit of doing the things that failures are either unwilling or unable to do (Albert E.N. Gray). It takes discipline and hard work to be successful, and as the Broncos players found out yesterday, no one else can be expected to do it for you.
3. Didn't Make Necessary Adjustments: Champ Bailey got burned 3 times for big scores from the Ravens. The Broncos receivers couldn't get open down field. Ray Lewis was being blocked effectively. The Broncos had the same problems from the start of the game all the way through a second overtime. But the even bigger problem was that they stuck with a flawed game plan and didn't make the needed adjustments to win the game. If you're like me, you spent some time at the end of 2012 setting your goals for the new year and putting a game plan in place to succeed. But not all game plans work out. Home offices change rates or underwriting, consumers change what they want and things that worked a year or two ago may not work today. It's great to have a game plan, but don't be so rigid that you stick to something that isn't working. Make adjustments in your communication, closing techniques and marketing if your systems aren't producing the results you need. Keep learning and growing and tweaking in order to stay ahead of your competition and win in 2013.
4. Quit Before The Game Was Over: With 36 seconds left to play and 3 timeouts left, the Broncos took a knee in the 4th quarter and quit playing. They didn't try to get down the field and score one more time to seal the win. They played not to lose, for fear of turning over the ball. Just like in football, it's not over until the final whistle blows. There is always more that can be done and a little more effort that can be given. As you finish each day, don't give up at 4:55. Make one more call, fix one more problem, try to get ahead one more time. If you quit before it's over, you're adding more work to tomorrow and missing out on the opportunity for one more win. If you made on more call on your way out the door every day, you'd have 200 more phone calls in a year. How much more successful would you be if you called an extra 200 people in 2013?

Everyone knew the Broncos were a better team going into the playoffs. They had home field advantage, an altitude advantage and had won 11 straight games. But they came into the game with the wrong attitude, they came in playing to not lose. Consumers and the insurance industry are always moving forward. If you're playing to not lose and just trying to maintain what you've got, you're going backwards! Make 2013 a great year by really going for it and playing to win. It's the only way to get ahead.

How To Turn A 3% Improvement Into 40% Growth For Your Agency

If you're planning on staying in business for awhile, you already understand the value in growing your agency. And since you're taking the time to read this, you're obviously interested in growth. Increasing the number of clients you bring into your agency each month has a direct impact on your bottom line - how profitable your agency is. Most agents think that in order to grow their agency they need to find the "next big thing" to revolutionize their business and get them to the next level, but nothing could be further from the truth.

The truth is, trying to hit a home run and catapult your agency towards success with one shot is often what drives agents out of business or keeps them stuck where they are. A home run would be nice, but most of the time if you swing for the fences you end up striking out. Too many agents invest a lot of time, effort and energy into one big program that ends up not working out. If you want consistent growth in your agency, you need to focus on the little things - hitting the singles. The singles take a lot less time and effort AND if you do it right, you can turn 3% more effort into 30% annual growth in your agency!

From 3% improvement to 30% growth, where's the magic? Whether you know it or not, there are only 6 major profit drivers in your agency that earn you a profit from new clients. Your goal is to lead clients through these 6 steps in order to grow your agency. The 6 drivers are:

1. Lead Generation: How many client leads you are producing
2. Request A Quote: How many leads you convert to prospects that request a quote
3. Deliver A Quote: How many prospects who request a quote follow through to review the quote on a favorable basis
4. Close The Sale: How many prospects become clients
5. Cross-Sales: How many of your new clients do you cross-sell into additional lines of business
6. Referrals: How many of your new clients provide you with referrals

For a typical agency, here is the breakdown of numbers from initial lead to closing the sale:

What if you could improve each of the 6 profit drivers by an average of just 3%, how would that affect your business? This is where the real magic happens! There are a plethora (one of my favorite words) of things you can do to improve your numbers by a measly 3%, and I'll save that topic for another time, but if you average 3% improvement in each of the 6 profit drivers, you've effectively made 18% worth of improvements. BUT, because of the magic of compounding (something you should be talking to all of your clients about!) each 3% improvement gets bigger as the number from the previous profit driver improves. The result is pure magic - a whopping 34% growth for your agency from a measly 3% improvement!

The best part about a 3% improvement is that you don't have to kill yourself to get it done. You don't have to go out and find the next big thing and you never have to strike out! You can still swing for the fences if the opportunity presents itself, but most of the time it's the small, steady improvements that add up to a big increase in your agency.

Take a little time to break down each of the 6 profit drivers and figure out how to improve it by just 3%. At the end of the year you'll be amazed at the extra 34% of new clients in your agency!

$8000 Sale As Easy As "Did You Know?"

Do you ever walk out of a P.I.R. ticked off at yourself for not bringing up life insurance, investments or some other service that you know you should have talked to your client about? Most P&C agents I know (myself included) find that opening up a life insurance or retirement conversation with their P&C clients isn't always easy. The next time you find yourself talking with someone about their auto or home insurance, try this simple transition that just helped me open an $8000 life insurance sale:

"Did you know..."

Yep, sometimes it's really that simple! The other day I sat down for a first time visit with David, a client who's agent had recently left the company. His policies were transferred into my agency and this was our first meeting so I could introduce myself and do a quick review of his policies. David's prior agent had done a good job on the auto and home side of things, but there was no life insurance in place. I had no idea if David (who is 71) had already been approached about life insurance or not, or if he already had a retirement plan put in place, so I threw out the "did you know" question.

"Did you know we also take care of life insurance and retirement planning?" The answer was no, he did not. Over the last 5 years, David had met with his prior agent 4 times, referred a few new clients every year and added more P&C policies to his account on multiple occasions, but he had no idea that his agent could help him with life insurance. And he needed some help! It turns out David had recently received a letter from a prior insurance company explaining that the policy he had purchased 19 years ago was about to expire. He knew he needed to protect his family, but wasn't sure who to talk to since the agent who sold him the original policy 19 years ago had retired.

David ended up choosing a $250,000 permanent policy to make sure he could take care of his wife and leave a legacy with his children and grandchildren. The premium is $8000 per year, but David knows it will be the last life insurance policy he ever has to buy. David thanked me for helping him and for letting him know we took care of more than just auto and home insurance.

It's amazing how 3 little words can start so many wonderful conversations. The worst thing you can find out by asking someone a "did you know" question is, yes, they already know. You might also find out that not only didn't they know, they're also glad you asked!

You've Done A Great Job, But...

One of the best things about being an insurance advisor is knowing that you are really, truly helping your clients protect the things that matter most to them. Their cars, their homes, their boats, motorcycles and other toys will all be repaired or replaced if something happens because you've done a great job of helping them protect those things.

But what about their retirement plans? Are your clients protected from losing something just as important as their cars and house - the money they plan on using for retirement? Our job as advisor is to protect our clients assets - including their retirement accounts! Most advisors don't ever think about insuring their clients retirement, and most clients never think about it either. If you change your mindset from helping your clients INVEST for retirement and instead start helping them INSURE and PROTECT their retirement account, a whole new world of opportunities will open up for you!

In-sur-ance: The act or system of protecting against loss or harm arising from specified contingencies, in consideration of a payment proportionate to the risk involved.

Here's a new conversation starter you can try with your clients this afternoon, whether in person or over the phone. The result (if done right) will amaze you:

YOU: Mr. Client, you've really done a great job with your insurance program. Your cars, your house and your motorcycle are very well protected from loss in case something happens to them. May I ask you a question? What are you doing to insure your your retirement account to keep your money protected from loss in case something happens with the economy?
CLIENT: What do you mean insure my retirement plan, is that possible?
YOU: Well let me ask you, is that important to you - to protect your retirement plan if something happens in the economy?

There are a lot of different ways you can respond with this opener, and the bottom line is that you CAN protect your clients retirement plan and insure that it never loses money. We have the products and the strategies to available to give our clients safety and guarantees and, as Van Mueller always says, our company and our industry were made for times like these!

Stop worrying about investing your clients money, and start concentrating on protecting it. Your clients will thank you and your production will skyrocket!

Catch Up Or Give Up?

The year is 50% over and I've only achieved 25% of my annual goals. Should I try to catch up or just give up on this year's goals?

Disclaimer: I'm writing this for myself. It may or may not help anyone other than me, but it's been one of those years and I've been really challenged to keep my head above water.

There is a season for everything and for everything there is a season. A time for rate increases, and underwriting revisions. A time for record setting hail storms and out of control wildfires. A time to be understaffed and a time to be staff-less. A time too travel to much, play too much and work too little. Whatever the reason - or reasons - sometimes you find yourself in a year where everything that can go wrong or get in your way, does. For me, this has been that year and it's really been weighing on me lately.

If things continue at this pace I'll end the year having accomplished only 50% of my annual goals. I'm at a cross-roads and need to decide what to do with the rest of this year. Should I try to catch up - squeezing in 75% of my production goals into 50% of the year? Should I adjust my goals and lower my expectations for the year? Or should I give up and consider the year a loss? Truth be told, in a year like this I could use a break! I could take it easy for the next six months and coast, re-charging my batteries and getting ready for next year.

The problem with that route is explaining  to my family why we don't have the money for our annual family vacation or half of the other fun stuff we do each year. Don't get me wrong, no one will starve if I don't keep pushing myself, but do I really want to set the example for my kids that when the going gets tough, the tough...take time to coast for awhile?

That means coasting is off the table and I'm left with either adjusting my annual goals to a lower, more reachable, level or going all out and all in and finding new ways to knock it out of the park in the next 6 months. Either way, I'll be better off than if I just quit trying, but I think the right choice can be best expressed by a wise Indian saying I once heard: "better to shoot for the moon and hit an eagle, than shoot for an eagle and hit a rock".

So, it's settled. Now I just need to figure out how to produce 75% of my production goals in half of the year. I'll have some thoughts on how to get that done in my next post. I know it won't be easy, but achieving goals rarely is. I'm used to finishing on top and I know it's still possible even in a year where things are stacked against me. I really do believe you can accomplish everything and anything you put your mind to, now it's just a matter of getting things going again. I'm looking forward to reading this post again at the end of the year and telling myself "I told you so, I knew you could do it." If you're having the same kind of year as me, I know that you can do it too!

A Note Card A Day - A Simple System To Get More Done

On the way home from a great meeting in Phoenix with mentor/coach/hero, Van Mueller, I was thinking about all of things that needed to get sone in my office. Selling, marketing, servicing, putting out fires, prospecting, training new staff...the list is endless and, if not managed, leaves you heading home at the end of a very BUSY, but not very productive day. There is a big difference between being busy and being productive, usually only the latter grows your agency!

So how do you manage your time and efforts in order to have the most productive day possible? You've heard it said many times before - MDRT agents market first, every day - but what method do you use you're spending the right amount of time marketing, the necessary time learning and the needed time preparing? I use a very simple method that I developed called the "Note card System" that helps me make sure I get the most important tasks of the day done AND lets me see and keep track of my goals on a daily basis. The whole thing takes me 3-5 minutes a day and lets me go home feeling like I've won every single day! Here's how it works:

Some of my note cards from 2012

1. Go to your local office supply store and buy the biggest pack of lined note cards you can find. I usually just buy 2,000 at a time so I've got them ready for the whole year.
2. Every morning I start by listing my business goals for the year down the right side of the card. For me, I list how many units I want to write, how much life and annuity premium I'd like to sell, the persistency I want to maintain in my agency. There's no right or wrong goals, just list what you want to accomplish. This step alone will help you increase your production. By writing down your goals for the year every single day before you head into the office will cement in your mind what you are working for and keep you focused on the right things.
3. Down the left side of the card I use the 14 lines to list out the most important things I have to get done - TODAY - to make sure I accomplish my goals. First I list everything that I know I need to accomplish in no particular order. I write them down as I think of them and try to come up with at least 10 things. Then, I prioritize from the most to the least important and usually from the most difficult (or most dreaded) to the easiest so that things get easier throughout the day.
4. As soon as I get to work I start working my way through my list. I've never been able to get through everything in a day, but the things that do not get accomplished get re-evaluated the next morning and added to the next day's list if they still need to get done.

Being a successful agent and growing your agency requires discipline and focus. Having a system in place, even one as simple as the note card system, will help you stay focused on the right things and remind you throughout the day of what you're working for. As an added bonus, the back of the note card gives you a great place to jot down important things throughout the day. I use the back for my "lesson of the day." Before I head home from the office I write down the most important thing I've learned during the day and then use it as a reminder of the lesson the next morning while putting together that day's note card.

"I Know I Can Find Cheaper Insurance"

What do you say to clients when they tell you they know they could find cheaper insurance somewhere else?

I just met with a client who's agent is no longer in the business and who's policies were transferred to me. This was our first meeting together and unfortunately we were reviewing their policies which had about $400 in increases (not my favorite first meeting!). Right away the client attacked with the cheaper insurance statement and I had to make the decision on how to respond. Here's what I said:

This might not be the right response every time BUT it is good to remind people of why they have insurance - and more importantly - why they have insurance with you! The result from this meeting was a client who better understands their premium, better understands their policies and better understands the value we bring.

By Robert Edgin

What Are People Really Buying From Their Insurance Agent?

I know a lot of insurance agents who think that their prospects and clients come to them because they need to buy insurance. Do they need the insurance? Yes, but are they taking time out of their day to drive across town and sit face to face with an insurance agent (not known for being the most exciting people on earth) simply because they need to buy insurance? No!

If all they really wanted was to buy the needed insurance they would just get on line or pick up the phone. Then, 15 minutes later they would save 15% on their car insurance and then move on with their life. There are many, MANY ways to buy insurance that are both easier and cheaper than using an insurance agent. They may need the insurance, but they want something more!

They'll hardly ever tell you they want more because often enough they don't even realize it but the fact that they are talking to an actual, living and breathing, local, professional agent should tell you enough. Do they want good rates, sure. Do they want convenience, absolutely. But if that was all they wanted you wouldn't know they existed because they never would have called you. Deep down inside they want more than an 800 number or web site can give them, and if a professional agent has the opportunity to fill those needs, that agent has no competition! At least not from the 800 number and internet insurance companies.

People still want to feel cared for, taken care of and protected. They want someone to put their arm around their shoulder and say "don't worry, you're safe with me." People want to interact professionals who are more concerned with protecting their family than entertaining them with a funny commercial. People want the expertise and knowledge that an agent provides and the peace of mind that comes with knowing that their personal agent is looking out for them. People want an insurance agent! People want YOU and they are buying YOU as much or more as anything else they are buying.

Does everyone feel this way? No, but why would a professional agent waste their time on someone who doesn't? Let those people go elsewhere until they find themselves in a situation without the helping hand and support that an agent brings. Let the prospects focused on cheap go with cheap.  Find the prospects focused on value and you'll build a lasting, successful agency.

So many agents whine and cry about the prospects who went elsewhere because the rates were cheaper. They were never prospects to begin with, they were price shoppers and future headaches. The old saying still holds true, if you win on price you'll lose on price because you won't always have the best price. However, if you educate clients about what they really want - the best value and the best agent - then price is only ONE of the considerations. Quite often, it is not even the primary consideration!

My favorite sales are to new clients who's current price is $200-$400 below mine. I know that if I can help them realize what they want deep down inside and understand the importance of the best value then the sale will not be hard to make. I also know that a client who chooses to pay more to work with my agency will be a client for life and a great referrer of similar clients. My least favorite sale to make are to people who are already paying more and are actually saving money when working with me. I know I'll have much tougher sales to make in the future to the second client because they typically switched started working with me for the wrong reason - price!

Stay focused on what people are buying first and foremost when you sell them insurance. They are buying the peace of mind and comfort of working with you, a local, professional agent. They are buying you first, insurance second.

By Robert Edgin