You're Going To Be Great At This!

It doesn't matter what you sell, or whether it's a product or a service, we all deal with people who just will not commit to buy, much less keeping an appointment. Some people would say that these people are not ready to buy or they are on the fence. One of my co-workers would just call them "flakes". And as she says, "No one likes a flake." When I lead a sales training session I mention that my definition of sales is a bit different than most people's. To me, sales isn't a transaction, but an attempt to convince someone to do something that may or may not want to do, but do it as soon as possible.  Let's use the example of a family that needs a new car. The old one is on its last legs, high mileage and needs to be serviced quite frequently. The purchase of a new vehicle keeps getting put off for several reasons, but more than likely this family just doesn't want to spend the money on a car.  Or we could use the example of a young family that...

How do you deal with your competitors? For some, a little friendly competition is a good thing. On the other hand, our competitors are taking sales away from us, which means a loss of income. And some will try to work with their competitors by forging alliances or even just taking over their business by buying them out. Years ago, I met a gentleman who was established in the insurance field. I was an upstart just getting back into the business after an absence. He and I chatted from time to time and we really didn't cross paths too much when it came to our clientele. Generally speaking we got along.  One day a lady called me and said she wanted to change her insurance. She was going through a divorce and was on her soon to be ex-husband's group plan. She said she had tried to reach her agent but he wouldn't return her phone calls. I obliged her and got her a policy she could afford.  About a month later the other agent approached me in the hallway at a networking function, ...

I was recently the guest on a Solutions From The Huddle podcast , which was a lot of fun. I'll pull back the curtain and tell you a little secret of almost all of the podcasts in which  I have been lucky enough to participate. They usually either send you the questions in advance or they let you send in the questions you want to be asked. In this case, neither happened.  The host, Titus Bartolotta, did an excellent job. We talked for about 10 minutes before the actual recording started so we could go over the general topics to be discussed. He said something like "I'm going to let you do most of the talking" and he was good to his word. We discussed a lot of great information about insurance, my agency, marketing, my book and a few other topics over the course of about 40 minutes.  This stream of consciousness approach was refreshing to say the least. As Titus was asking questions, I was thinking of other information, and you can hear that coming through. I could actu...

As a member of several sales groups on Facebook and LinkedIn I have noticed that the question that is asked the most is "Where do I find clients?" When it comes to selling, this is the proverbial conundrum wrapped in an enigma inside a puzzle. If you haven't read my book , one of the themes is that many companies are offering full commission sales jobs, which means that they can hire anyone and everyone at minimal risk because if these new recruits don't sell anything, the company doesn't have to pay anything. That puts a lot of the responsibility for finding prospects on the shoulders of the new hire.  As I state in my book, my first real sales job was selling insurance door-to-door in rural North Carolina. In the hiring process we were told that we would pick up renewals from people who had the policy and "they will give you the names of people to see". The implication was that when I showed up to get a renewal check there would be several names on a s...

From the very first day I worked in sales I was taught that there were two subjects one should not discuss with prospects or clients - religion and politics. The reason is very easy to understand, in that almost already has "dug in" when it comes to these two topics and they aren't going to be changing their minds. People are committed to their churches or other places of worship. I can honestly say that I only know of one prospect who changed their religious affiliation, and that was because they were previously "uncommitted".  And when it comes to politics, it is more important now than ever to avoid the topic altogether. A quick glance at social media reveals that there are not many "undecideds" either. In the months leading up to the last election I saw people of varying political stripes making claims, true and false, about politicians and candidates. If they didn't like the information others posted they went after the messenger instead of fa...

Marketing has been a struggle this year, to say the least. For myself, almost everything I had been doing came to an abrupt halt back in March, when businesses and some government entities began to take the Coronavirus seriously.  Suddenly there were no more networking groups (in person), taking a client to coffee or meeting for lunch to swap referrals.  As I had mentioned in a previous post, I was already considering moving to more of a virtual insurance agency, but the virus expedited that process. Since March I have spent a considerable amount of time working on the website for my agency. I have also spent a lot of time trying to find a way to boost my social media presence.  My social media gurus and I meet talk strategy about once a month. We discuss strategies that will ultimately get my website more traffic, which in turn should convert to more sales. I wanted to share some of this discussions with you.  Reverse engineering . Work backwards from your goal to f...

In the previous post I discussed why I decided to make a social media push, along with a few landmines I've found along the way. I also included a bit of information on Twitter, which for me is an exercise in futility. So let's jump to another platform. LinkedIn is a networking site that is used by professionals around the world for business purposes. You can find others in your industry, others in your area and people you just want to do business with. There are groups you can join based on location, for those who want to network with those in their town, groups for alumni organizations and many based on professions. Want to meet some sales executives? There's a group for that! Additionally, you can find or post a job opening if you want. A few years ago a friend of mine was looking for a new job and had been using sites like Monster.com and CraigsList, but couldn't find anything he really liked. I suggested he give LinkedIn a try and sure enough he found a job in his ...

As you already know, I am a small business owner and salesperson. Actually, I have a marketing agency. Or is it an insurance agency?  My insurance agency, Surf Financial Brokers , is pretty much a one person business. I have a few agents who I work with from time to time, but for the most part I spend the majority of my time prospecting, marketing and selling life insurance, along with disability, long term care, accident and cancer insurance.  I also have a speaking business , which for now, is on hold until the Covid pandemic is over and we can get back to doing things like gathering together and seeing people without concern of infection. And I use both my insurance business and my speaking business to promote my book on sales, " You're Going To Be Great At This !". You'd think I'm a pretty busy guy. Of course, I don't see many of my insurance clients in person either at this point. Everything is done over the phone, which is fine. I'll take what I can ...

No matter what field you are in, networking is still an essential part of your success, even during this pandemic. Business owners, sales people and otherwise self-employed people already know how valuable networking is. I have always done well at networking events, finding contacts and fishing for referrals. And I've even been known to talk to strangers in stores and restaurants.  These conversations have led to great sales opportunities and even friendships.  A great example is meeting people when my trivia team competes at a local eatery. Getting to know the other teams through friendly competition has resulted in a few clients that I wouldn't have otherwise. But with the Covid pandemic, almost all of my old networking opportunities have slowed down tremendously. So what are your options?  You could try calling all of your current clients and ask for referrals, but that will get old real quick. Or you can try an advertising campaign, but that can be an expensive way to...

With the pandemic upon us businesses have had to find new ways to market themselves. My insurance agency, Surf Financial Brokers, is no different. Social media and a web presence are one of the many ways we are trying to get the word out about the products we sell and the services we provide. And regardless of what you sell, looking for new, more efficient ways to market is something we should all look for. Actually, we were already changing the way we were marketing pre-Covid. I had been discussing with several of my co-workers new ways of selling insurance. The traditional route of asking for referrals and mingling at networking events, was still working for us, but only in a limited capacity. And to be honest, agents can get burnt out quickly that way. My agents and I had some conversations as to what changes we could make to expand our messaging. We also asked for feedback from our clients.   Social media can be a rabbit hole for a growing insurance agency like ours. It ca...

I got a new phone plan about a month ago and while I was at it I got a muchly needed new phone. Still trying to learn all the features I decided to make a couple of short videos. As a joke, I made what I thought was a completely amateurish looking "commercial" for a friend's business, with me giving a testimonial. I sent it to his wife via text thinking they would say something like, "Please delete that!" or "Thanks but no thanks." Instead she laughed and posted it on Facebook, saying they appreciated it.  Here's the video I made.  That's when things got weird. Later that evening, her husband posted a video talking up my business. They posted it on Facebook. By sheer goofiness on my part, we were now exchanging testimonials and endorsing each other to our followers.  The point of this story is to show how giving an unsolicited referral can come back to you in spades. For all of us who are spending the bulk of our time prospecting for clients a ...

After speaking to a co-worker today, I've got mixed feelings on the whole pandemic thing. Yes, hundreds of thousands of people are dead and even more have gotten sick. People are tired of having to isolate and stay in their homes. I get all of that.  Like others, I've had to make some major adjustments in my practice and have had to find new ways to market ourselves. My insurance agency, Surf Financial Brokers, is no different. Social media and a web presence are one of the many ways we are trying to get the word out about the products we sell and the services we provide.  Actually, we were already changing the way we were marketing pre-Covid. The traditional way of selling insurance, by asking for referrals and mingling at networking events, was still working for us, but only in a limited capacity. And to be honest, agents can get burnt out quickly that way. My agents and I had some conversations as to what changes we could make to expand our messaging. We also asked for feed...

Marketing yourself and figuring out how to do it efficiently are two of the hardest things for sales professionals to wrap their heads around. The actual "selling", where you sit down with a prospect and pitch your product or service, is difficult enough. But all the work that goes into getting that meeting with the prospect can take up the bulk of your time. It's like my former co-worker you say, "The hardest part of the job is finding someone to talk to." Someone gave me a great analogy one time. Imagine a very good professional golfer playing a round of 18 holes. For a good player, a round takes around three hours. But the actual playing of golf, teeing up the ball, a couple of practice swings, and hitting the ball only takes about 20 seconds. Multiply that 20 seconds times 18 holes and our golfer has spent 360 seconds, or six minutes actually playing the game.  What is happening in that other 2 hours and 54 minutes? After the golfer hits the ball, he or she ...

In my book, "You're Going To Be Great At This!" I discuss joining networking groups and civic organizations. To be clear, these are two separate kinds of organizations. Networking groups can be broken into several categories, including exclusive, non-exclusive, online and in-person, with their main focus on you getting to know and create relationships with others in your business community.  As an insurance agent, it's imperative that I have colleagues at arm's length to work with, bounce ideas off of, and generally can relate to when it comes to our industry. This is important for each industry, whether  you sell cars, homes or pottery from your own kiln. Networking is the lifeblood.  When it comes to civic organizations, on the other hand, it can be more complicated in that each group has a main focus which isn't necessarily about your success. Their goals may be more altruistic, like helping kids in need get scholarships. Yes, you can network in one of thes...

When I first got into sales I was flying by the seat of my pants. Mentally I was completely disorganized and would muddle my way through the day. Sure, I would have a couple of appointments on the calendar, but during those meetings with clients I would try to squeeze in activities like lunch, paperwork and having coffee with a coworker. I was getting a few sales here and there but I didn't have any consistency.  One day I received a phone call from someone who wanted me to come work with them. "These guys are top notch! I've learned so much from them!" he said. Within a few months I was working with an organization that was almost militaristic in their approach to sales.  I'll spare you the details of my departure from this company but I did walk away with some much better ways of conducting my business. The most meaningful of these was to prioritize my activities and plug them all into a calendar.  Rather than making phone calls throughout the day, schedule a ti...

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 consist...

Let's assume that you are single and your friends pester you into going out with them, knowing that they are going to try to "set you up" with someone. You reluctantly go and see someone across the way that you would like to approach but you have a lot of self-doubt. Trying to build up the courage to approach the stranger, you make the decision not to go through with it because of a litany of excuses, like "I'm not that attractive" or "I don't want to come across as being too forward".  Now consider that your career is in sales and you have to go through this same scenario everyday, except if you don't follow through, you won't make any money. Sales professionals fight this battle all the time. Some are better at dealing with it than others, but in the end, the ones are work around the doubts are the ones who succeed. It basically comes down to the fear of rejection. Where does this fear come from? It can come from a wide array of sourc...

Too often I hear from people who are self-employed or business owners who say things like, "I could never go into sales because I'm an introvert," or "I suffer from shyness." I get it. There are days when I would rather stay in bed than go out and meet people, especially if I don't already know them. Even though I don't consider myself an introvert, there are those days when I am adverse to people in general. But when I hear these people say these things I want to shake them. If you own a business or are a self-employed contract worker, odds are pretty good that you are in sales, whether you like it or not. Highly specialized people, like neurosurgeons, are fortunate that they don't need to market themselves, but for the rest of us, we have to find out how to get our message to the masses.  It's not difficult, but it does take time and discipline. For example, carving out an hour each day to make phone calls, doing a few social media posts or att...

Over the weekend I ran into a gentleman I had not spoken to in a year or so. I run into him at a local coffeeshop every once in a while and we chat. But here we were in the parking lot of a big box retailer, both with our Covid-19 masks on in the 90 degree heat. The conversation eventually got around to our work and he was unaware that I had written a book on the subject of sales.  When I described the book as "sarcastic and snarky" he laughed and said something to the effect of, "Well, if you wrote it, I would hope so." He told me that he was still active but semi-retired and was considering a job offer with a local non-profit. If anyone would be great at the job he was describing it would be him, as he is great in a public relations kind of role.  With this in mind, I handed him a business card that I had with the name of my book and ordering information. I also mentioned that before the pandemic I was starting to do speaking engagements and sales training for som...