Living Your Market

Several years ago I went to work for a very large insurance company. Accompanying me was another agent, whom I'll call Jeff. Jeff and I had met while working at another company and became friends. As usual we were required to attend a multi-week training class with a dozen or so other people new to the company. Our new employers tried their best to convince up they were a top-notch organization by plying us with plenty of coffee and snacks intermittently, as if the way to our sales success was through our stomachs.  

One of the exercises we had to undertake in the second week was to stand up in front of the group and talk about who we thought our "market" would be when we would eventually get out in the field. Some of the participants were former athletes who said that they were going to call on the "coaching community". I was unaware that this was a thing, as were some of the others in the room. 

Generally, the markets that my classmates were aiming for consisted of senior citizens, small business owners and college alumni groups. The consensus was that even though we wanted to hit these people up, we were willing to take whatever business we could get. (see: desperation) After each presentation, the rest of the group was supposed to ask questions like, "Do you have connections in that industry?" or "How are you planning on getting an appointment with the president of Nike?" It was a bit uncomfortable to stand there and get skewered, but the instructor wanted to see us squirm.

Eventually it was my turn. I decided to change things up by targeting two groups. I would be calling on small business owners, as I had a list of 1100 members of the local chamber of commerce. My role as an ambassador in the chamber would give me access to many of these people,I said confidently. Additionally, I would also start working a list of the local Greek community in my town. I had been attending the Greek Orthodox church since infancy and thought I may have a foot in the  door with some of these people.

In actuality, I wasn't as concerned with the latter as much as I stated. The Greeks are great people, but I only mentioned it to see what kind of reaction I would get from the training class. And it worked. As I suspected, a couple of guys in the group made snide remarks about targeting "ethnic groups", apparently discounting that I was a member of that group.

In the midst of all the discussion, Jeff stood up to speak, as if he was addressing a potentially riotous crowd. "I just want to say that Chris doesn't just work his market. He lives it." Immediately the room got quiet. "He doesn't just find a group of people he wants to call on. Chris interacts with these people all the time, volunteering with them, eating with them and generally being more than an agent. As a matter of fact, I'd say that most of Chris's clients end up being his friends."

Jeff was right. The majority of my clients are friends of mine, and not all of those were friends before they were clients. There is an old saying that we attract people into our lives who are most like us. And if that is true, I attract clients who I like and have the same values, along with a similar sense of humor. 

Have you considered who you want to market yourself to?  

Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. He's also the author of "You're Going To Be Great At This!", a humorous look at sales. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.