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!

Getting "Social" With Your Insurance clients

If you've known me for any length of time or if we've had the chance to talk at all then you probably know I spend a great deal of time, energy and money on my current clients. In today's environment of rising insurance prices and declining persistency, every client renewal is almost like finding a new client. In fact, since insurance rates in the state of Colorado have gone up 50% (or more) over the past few years, every 2 client renewals is - financially - the exact same benefit as finding a new client. That is why I devote as much of my time to increasing my client persistency as I do to finding brand new clients.

When it comes to keeping clients happy and feeling loved, it all boils down to communication. How you communicate, how often you communicate, how enjoyable your communication is and how relevant your communication is to your client's lives all play a big part in whether or not your clients will stick around during the next cycle of rate increases. One of the many ways to improve your communication is to make sure it is both personal and business oriented. In fact, finding the right mix of business and personal communication is vital to your communication success. Here are a few tips to get more out of your "social" media:

1. Remember, it's called social media, not insurance media, education media, sales media or business media. While you can, and should, use social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to grow your business, their primary purpose is for people to be social. This is your opportunity to lighten up a little and have some fun with your clients! Use your social media outlets to share personal stories and photos in addition to things that are more business related. Clients and prospects want to know that you're a real person, just like them. I used to pay a company to produce 6 insurance newsletters for me per year and mail them to my clients. I never heard from anyone to let me know they appreciated it or even read it. But when I started writing my own newsletters that had stories about things I was doing and the adventures my family were having, I immediately started getting great feedback from my clients. I also started getting more referrals and better cross-sales too! Try to keep a 60/40 mix of business and personal in order to keep your clients interested and coming back for more.
2. Get your clients involved. You want your social media to be a two-way street with your clients. The more interaction you can get, the better. Use contests, surveys, jokes, comics or anything else that fits your personal style to get involvement from your clients. Have your clients post pictures and stories to your Facebook page as a part of a contest so you can learn more about them as well.
3. Find the right media to reach your clients. Not all clients like to get on Facebook, and age has nothing to do with it. One of the fastest growing Facebook crowds is the over 65 year old folks. People like to get information in a variety of ways, so give them a variety of ways to get information from you. You can share the same story, article or contest through many different formats. For example, starting a contest on Facebook and then promoting it through an email blast and discussing it in your printed newsletter will get 3 different segments of your clients to participate. People want to be reached on their terms, so give them plenty of options. Consider sending out a survey to all of your clients (or your best clients) and asking them how they prefer to get their information. There isn't one media that is any better than another. The best media is the one your clients pay attention too, and that is going to be different for each of your clients.

As you implement new ways of communicating with clients and start turning up your social presence, keep in mind that anything you do is better than most of the other agents around town, because most other agents won't do anything at all! Start communicating and reaching out to clients on a more consistent basis and you'll see big, positive changes in your agency. Test your messages to make sure they are a good mix of business and personal and test out different ways to reach folks. The more you do, the easier it becomes and the better you become too.

Other People's Wheels - The Best P&C To Life Cross-Selling Conversation

When I was growing up, my dad used to tell me that there was no need to reinvent the wheel if I could tweak someone else's wheel and make it my own. In other words, you don't have to start from scratch if someone else has already crafted something great that you could adjust for yourself. Save yourself the time, effort and energy of creating, testing and tweaking and use what others have already tried and perfected. That's exactly what Best Agent Ideas is all about, and I had a perfect chance to put into practice when I was reading this month's issue of Advisor Today.

I came across two articles that highlighted two different strategies for increasing life insurance sales from two different agent's. One, written by Ray Vendetti (who I had the pleasure of spending a little time with earlier this year) went over a great way to make the transition form auto insurance to life insurance. The other was the feature article for the month that shared great sales ideas from successful agents. Bruce Udell shared an easy 5 minute conversation that focused on asking clients and prospects the right questions in order to get better results.

While both articles shared great strategies to improve your life insurance sales, I found that for me and my style of selling, combining the two would give me the best results. We all have our own communication style when working with clients. While Brian and Ray's life conversations work great for their style, they weren't quite right for me. You need your conversations with clients to sound like your words, in your voice. Memorizing someone else's script or questioning sequence doesn't guarantee the same success for you as the person who developed it if it sounds like you're just reciting something you memorized. You're far better off doing a little tweaking and making the technique your own. Here's what my new Vendetti/Udell auto to life cross-selling conversation looks like:

Cross-Selling Life From Liability Conversation - Vendetti:

• How did you choose those liability limits for your car insurance?
• They may or may not be the right limits for you. Liability coverage protects you in the event that someone sues you. It’s designed to protect the assets that you’ve worked so hard to accumulate over the years. So, if you have $300,000 in assets and $100,000 of protection, how will those limits work for you if you are sued?
• If we were to take a few minutes to come up with the amount of assets you have, we could then set your liability limits at the right amount to protect you and make also make sure you’re not buying more than you need. How would that work for you?
• Let’s run through your assets real quick and see what we come up with.
• Do asset worksheet
•          You have a total of about $xx in assets. If you want to protect them all, you should have at least $xx amount of liability coverage, does that make sense?
•          How much of your assets would you like to protect? Your liability coverage options are…
•          It looks like you may also need an umbrella policy if you want all of your assets to be protected.

The Pivot - Udell:

• By the way, do you mind if I ask, do you have a will?
• What does it say about who gets your assets if you die?
• What would your wife do with the assets, would she need to get a monthly income from them?
• How much income would she need?
• How important is it to you that she has that $xx of income?
• How much money would she need to have to produce $xx of income per year? What amount of money would you need to generate that income? (help them find the answer)
• If you had all of those assets invested, what kind of safe interest rate do you think you could get?
• If you could get 5% each year, it would take $xx to generate the $xx of income that you want your spouse to have.
•          Right now, you have $xx of assets, which will produce $xx of income. That’s quite a bit less than the amount you said your family needs, maybe we should set up a time to look at ways to fill that gap if it really is important to you, what do you think?

By combining the best of what works for me from both the Vendetti and Udell ideas, I was able to create a 5-10 minute conversation that I can have with every new and existing client that has auto insurance (which should be just about everyone!). The Vendetti idea helps me start the conversation and the Udell idea helps me end it. It's a great example of the power of other people's wheel's and how using the best agent ideas can work for you. Don't be afraid to tweak a conversation or presentation to fit your style or even combine presentations to make it work for you. We're all in this industry together, and by sharing great ideas we can all succeed and help our clients succeed!