You're Going To Be Great At This!

Have you had a great sales run, with the wind at your back as you continue to sell and make money, only to have some event or holiday slow down your momentum? It's happened to all of us. I compare it to running at full speed down a field, and out of nowhere comes a patch of mud and tar, designed specifically to slow you down and make you work harder.  An example of this is the holiday season. For some industries, the end of the year is a great time to make those last minute sales and thin out inventories. But for others, it can be horrible. Let's face it, the holidays are about spending money on fun stuff, like electronics and clothes. No one is even thinking about buying insurance, unless they have to.  "I can't spend any money on life insurance because I have to buy Christmas gifts," is what I hear each year. (Nice priorities, by the way!) Having been through this for a few years I now plan ahead. Instead of beating my head against a wall trying to get people to...

I've been off the grid for a while, and for good reason. In a nutshell, I had hit a wall. Creating content for this blog, along with memes (which I hope are funny) and short videos takes a toll. And since I have another role as president of Surf Financial Brokers , which can involve lots of travel, my time and mental energy had nearly gotten wiped out.  However, I have also used that time to decide what I wanted to focus on in my next book. My only other book, " You're Going To Be Great At This! " was written and published in 2017, so you would think I have more to offer. But I didn't want the follow up to be the throwaway information. In a lot of ways it's like a musician who releases several albums and then the record label wants to release the stuff that sucked and didn't make it to the other albums. I don't want to do that to you. Also, my master plan is to use the next book as a link to my future speaking engagements. Hopefully Covid is behind us ...

Covid is starting to show a steady decrease in cases, hospitalizations and deaths, which I hope continues. Of course, the Debby Downer in me sees the cold weather and holiday gatherings around the corner, which can mean that people are gathering indoors again. Let's continue to think positive thoughts though. With that in mind, I have been considering in-person networking events that have begun again or will soon. I have attended a few online events that really didn't give me an opportunity to really network, as we had to wait for our turn to speak, which can dampen a spontaneous conversation. One of my concerns is that for those who have not done any networking in person, this skill set can be rusty. Also, there are those who haven't gotten into a field during the pandemic and have never even been to an event before.  There will be those people who will jump right back into networking and say "It's just like riding a bike!" Bless their hearts! For the rest of...

When I talk to sales organizations I give my definition of sales, which is a bit different than the one you would find in a dictionary.  A sale is the actual transaction, where "sales" and "selling" are the steps that lead up to that transaction. You see, sales is trying to convince, cajole or urge someone to take action now , not later. Also, there does not need to be a monetary goal at the end of the process.  Think of a college basketball team. The freshmen, who have come from different high schools with different coaches, are now playing for their new coach, who has a specific game plan in mind. He has to convince his new players (we're assuming that the upperclassmen have been convinced) to "buy in" to this plan so they are all on the same page.  Anyone who has tried to talk a co-worker into trying a new way of doing things or tried to convince a toddler to eat their vegetables is "selling". In other words, we all sell.  But the part of ...

Sales people know that one of the hardest parts of the job is prospecting. As a former colleague of mine used to say, "I spent most of my day just trying to find someone to talk to." Prospecting is what keeps the sales pipeline full. An empty pipeline can mean trouble.  Of course, there are different ways to solve the issue of the pipeline. One is to cold call, which can work for some people. I spent the early years of my sales career calling on people at their homes, which was a horrible way to work. Putting yourself in the prospect's shoes, you probably wouldn't want someone to come to your home unexpectedly while you were relaxing after a hard day at work, much less someone trying to sell you something. Personally speaking, I have no problem whatsoever with cold calling businesses. As a matter of fact, after calling on people at their homes for a year of so (and having guns pulled on me), any fear of cold calling an office building was non-existent. The battle was ...

A few weeks ago I joined an online meeting sponsored from a LinkedIn group. This group usually has a presenter or speaker who gives advice to the group, which is mostly made up of small business owners and other entrepreneurs.  As the presenter talked about sales and ways to improve the bottom line, someone in the group asked a question about how to manage others when sales drop. The speaker made a comment that hit me in the gut. "As sales decrease, there is an increase of micromanaging." Words had never been truer.  I immediately thought back on all of the times when my own production had taken a dive. On those occasions when I was working in an agency with managers, the micromanaging would begin. There was much hand-wringing. "What are we going to do to get you out of this slump?" I would hear.  My first thought was to ask, "Where were you when I was doing well?" I thought better of asking, because I knew the answer already. And the answer to getting out...

Have you ever watched a comedian bomb onstage? If done correctly, it can be both horrific and entertaining at the same time. Sometimes you actually feel sorry for the poor idiot on stage with their crappy material and defensive attitude when the heckling starts.  But sometimes when a comic has been especially bad and even more defensive, watching him or her fall without a parachute can be gratifying. I once saw a comic in Raleigh, NC who was mediocre at best. He had this crappy "I shouldn't have to be working this crappy club in North Carolina, I should be in Vegas," attitude. At one point he made a racist joke that more than irritated a very large African-American gentleman on the front row. "That joke sucked!" the man said with a very loud booming voice.  The air had been sucked out of the room. The comic lost his train of thought and blamed us, the audience. At this point, he should have been trying to win us over, but instead he decided to push us away. It w...

As a person who enjoys networking, I do my best when it comes to sites like LinkedIn. So it was a nice surprise when  I recently met Michael Seabolt through a LinkedIn insurance professionals' group. As I am an insurance agent who works directly with clients, I thought it would be interesting to give you some insights from the perspective of someone who works behind the scenes with agents and financial advisors.  Michael Seabolt is currently the managing member of Flower Risk Advisors, LLC, a cannabis industry focused tax and risk mitigation consultancy. In this role, Michael consults with cannabis business owners and executives, and their tax and legal advisors, providing risk and tax management solutions for the legal cannabis and hemp industries. Michael also is a contracted consultant with Bell & Associates Consulting, LLC is Phoenix, AZ which is an independent insurance brokerage firm representing over 70 of the largest life insurance and...

Years ago I realized that I needed to work on my public speaking skills because I was winding up in situations where I would have to stand up in front of a crowd and talk about myself or my business. A prospective client told me about his great experience at Toastmasters, so I looked into it and joined my local chapter.  One of the added benefits of joining an organization like Toastmasters is the opportunity to meet some awesome people from all walks of life. And even though it's not a networking group per se, I have managed to get some clients and great friendships through the club. One of those people is my friend, Rachel Pitts.  Rachel is a Master Sales Coach who brings her experience as a realtor, mortgage loan officer, entrepreneur and fitness coach to Sales Gravy. She understands the challenges that realtors face, which helps her relate to her realtor partners as she assists their buyers get a mortgage. After 10+ years as a realtor, she made the switch to the mortgage s...

For the last year I have been trying to maintain my business. Luckily for me, I'm a one-person operation, so I am not on the hook for payroll, much less overhead for a staff. But while in the throes of a pandemic, I have had to look for a whole new clientele that is hunkered down in isolation. Meeting people has been tough to say the least. Sure, people are going places, but everyday events like going to the movies, festivals and other places have been rare. And I'm the first to admit that Zoom meetings are not my forte. In person networking meetings, on the other hand, are right in my wheelhouse.  I love a good networking event, so much so that I even discussed how to get the most out of one in my book . So you can imagine how thrilling it was to actually attend a good luncheon again this week.  This particular group typically meets once a month and always was a great source of clients and referrals for me. It's a very loose knit group with not a lot of structure. No dues ...

Have you ever had an appointment with a client that was scheduled for an hour but lasted for two or three hours? Have you been in a meeting or presentation when someone was asking questions that were either too detailed or off topic? Have you ever sat down with a group of people wondering when you will get home? These are problems that happen much too often and can be avoided if you take control of your meeting from the outset. It doesn't mean you have to be rude or obnoxious, but instead become a leader.  One example of this happens before I the appointment happens. When I call my prospect I let him or her know that I would like to meet for a set amount of time, say 30 minutes. (As a matter of fact, if you go to my website and book an appointment online, it clearly states 30 minutes). This is the first message to the prospect that there is a time limit. I am aware that we may go over the time necessary, but I don't want the prospect to take advantage of my time.  When I meet ...

As I have mentioned in several of my previous posts, I started my sales career selling accident insurance plans door-to-door in rural communities. We had a crappy product that would cover someone for six months for a mere $30, so you can imagine how awesome that plan was (sarcasm is my forte).  When we were able to find someone who was home and was willing to listen to our presentation, the entire process took about half an hour. Our sales manager insisted we give 10 presentations a day, or my interpretation, which was to talk to 10 people a day. The only way to give 10 people presentations was to group them together. For instance, if I could find a small garage with a couple of mechanics, I would try to talk to them at the same time.  The point of all of this was, as my sales manager would say between his frequent tobacco spitting, was that sales is a "numbers game". This genius, who also would tell us not to get "flustrated", whatever the hell that meant, was tryi...

Typically the first post of the new year would be about something like goal setting or making a vision board*. As a matter of fact, I would imagine that most of the sales managers, team leaders and other mentor types are going down that path this time of year. But after the year we just had I figured you could use a respite from motivational talks.  Let's face it. Whatever New Year's resolutions or goals you set at the beginning of 2020 probably got thrown out in mid-March, along with college basketball and pro sports. I considered kicking myself for not hitting the sales numbers that I had set for myself, but what would be the point of that? I think that most of us did pretty good considering the circumstances. My suggestion for you is this: Take 2020 and put it in the past. Forget about and never speak of it again. Much like that shameful one-night stand you had in college, let it be. No one will think less of you as long as you don't mention it again.   As for those reso...

We finally made it to the end of the year. For some people (like every realtor I know) 2020 was a fantastic year. But for the vast majority of us, it just sucked. The pandemic ravaged the economy, closing businesses and, in turn, causing massive unemployment. I may be wrong here, but most people without a job don't typically buy more stuff. As we start a new year, I usually recommend that this is the time to assess your business and see what worked and what didn't work in the last 365 days. In this case, an autopsy may be more appropriate.  But it's not all doom and gloom. Their were those who adapted to the "new normal" by readjusting the way they worked. Zoom and other virtual meeting platforms created a way for sales people to see their clients without having to physically meet with them. The "contactless" sales approach kept many a good sales person afloat.  As the vaccines begin to get distributed and the pandemic slowly ebbs, I predict the economy ...