Skip to main content

Use the Resources You Have Right Now

I've talked to a few of my fellow insurance agents, as well as other sales people recently and for the most part many are struggling in this pandemic and economic crisis. With people losing jobs and incomes, the worry is that if no one has money, people can't buy stuff, like homes, cars, insurance, etc.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, salespeople will need to temporarily learn to working from home or offsite. Luckily for nearly all of us, the internet is helping us tremendously. By using the web, I can still keep in touch with my clients, and still prospect for new ones. How does one do all of this when stuck at home? Here are some ideas.


  • Email is great for reaching out to your clients or customers. Drop a note and just ask how they're doing. At the end of your email, note that "If you need anything, let me know." They'll know you're there in case and appreciate you.
  • LinkedIn is a great place to find new prospects. Since face-to-face networking is off the table, use this resource to your best advantage. Find groups that pertain to your industry and contribute. Just like any other networking group, you get out of it what you put into it. 
  • Use your phone. If your phone is like mine it's filled with contacts from over the years. Don't be afraid to text contacts to "check in". Just like the emails above, you can make a great impression by touching base without having to sell something. 


Just this week I reached out to a nice lady I haven't spoken to in over a year. I let her know I had seen one of her posts on Facebook and I just wanted to make sure she was doing okay. We ended up talking for about 45 minutes, in which time I managed to explain a new company I recently became affiliated with. After asking a few questions she said she may know of some people who could be interested. By just touching base with her I'll get some referrals.

I've managed to stay much busier than some of my peers by staying active during this whole coronavirus thing. One thing we all need to avoid is having to start from square one once this crisis is over. Make sure that your pipeline is full from now. Heck, given that some business can be done on the web, you may be able to close some business now.

Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing the "You're Going To Be Great At This!" Podcast

I was pretty surprised when I saw that my last blog post was several months ago. Time really does fly when you're having fun, or in my case, just having a busy workload. In the last few months I've been on the road for an approximate total of 9 weeks. Needless to say I get less than motivated to work in a hotel room after selling insurance for 8 hours, so blogging isn't on my "to do" list. While driving in my car during these trips I try to make my time productive my listening to podcasts on business and marketing. I'm not sure if someone was trying to tell me something but over the course of a week or so, I heard 4 episodes on how starting a podcast can help boost your business. After mulling this over and considering my options, I decided to take the plunge and start one myself. I've had a YouTube channel for a while which is fine, but I wanted to do something a little different. So I decided to start the "You're Going To Be Great At This!"...

Changing My Scheduling Calendar For 2025

This blog usually has actionable sales tips and advice to help you succeed in your business. This time, I wanted to take a look at another part of your business, which is scheduling appointments or sales calls or whatever you need to schedule.  Having a scheduling calendar that your prospects can make your job so much easier. Instead of calling back and forth to pin a time to meet down, you can let your prospect/client pick their own time. According to FinancesOnline.com, online scheduling can lead to 26% more customers, so sharing your calendar is a real no-brainer. I have a Google calendar that I use to book appointments, but I have also been using Calendly and sharing it on my website and social media. The two calendars are supposed to sync up to avoid double bookings, but recently I discovered an issue.  I had blocked out a couple of days on my Google calendar for a business conference, but Calendly was still showing those days as available. After trying to find a way to f...

Your Sales Call Autopsy

A friend of mine recently did some contract work for a company. The project took several weeks and the work was much more detailed than my friend anticipated. Not only was the work itself difficult, but so were the other people who he had to deal with while completing the designs and other specifications.  When he was done he did something very important. He waited a few days and then took an objective look at the entire process, where he discovered what worked well, what didn't work well and the lessons he learned in the process. He even posted all of this information in a "bullet point" style on social media. With that information, his future projects will be somewhat easier if he runs into the same issues. Many people in sales and marketing fail to do this. If something works well, they just move on to the next deal. But if they hit a snag and fail to get the sale, they complain about something, usually the client or the working conditions, without having an honest ass...