You're Going To Be Great At This!

A few years ago I was working with an insurance company that provided a "book of business", which consisted of clients who already had our insurance policies. These "orphaned" policies were written by agents who had left the company (which is not unusual in the least as the industry is rife with turnover). The hiring managers would try to attract new sales reps by offering up these clients as "people who need to be serviced", which was to mean that we could call these people and set appointments to try to sell more insurance to them. I learned quickly that my time was better spent prospecting locally, mainly because the vast majority of this book of business was over an hour away. Apparently an office had closed in another city and these clients were from those accounts.  One of my co-workers had, on the other hand, been working the phones and trying to see these people. He would try to set appointments to make his driving time as efficient as possible whi...

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...

Over the years I have moved around a bit working for several companies. The reasons for doing this have varied, but mostly it came down to a couple of factors. The first one being money.  For example, I went to work with a very large insurance company years ago. They offered me a base salary and a commission based on my sales. My job was to contact current clients and have them come by the office to purchase life insurance. When these people would come into the office the other staff members would write the policies seeing notes I had already put into the client's file. I didn't get my commissions and brought this up to my superior, who didn't care. After seeing this happen again and again I left with no explanation.  Another reason I have left jobs is because the recruiting manager was less than truthful about the job. As I have mentioned in my book, when I interviewed for my first sales job (I was right out of college) the recruiter said all kinds of things that weren...

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...

In the previous post, I discussed how companies, and their management teams, react when sales drop. The numbers affect the bottom line, which affects the profitability of the company, which in turn can lower bonuses and other perks, like profit sharing. The company, not sure what to do, begins to institute a program of micromanagement, making everyone more accountable for their time, while at the same time, making all the sales people miserable. That's the macro perspective. On the other hand, what happens to the sales person is a bit different. Especially if they are dependent on commissions, which are a reflection of their sales numbers, to pay their bills. Yes, they are miserable because they are under a microscope from management. Suddenly the sales person has to copy their bosses on items like details of appointments, how many phone calls were made, why the customer didn't buy and so on. Along with getting pestered by management, the sales person is also having to figure o...

A couple of years ago, before Covid arrived, I was asked to speak at a breakfast meeting of a local civic organization. I brought a few copies of my book along just in case someone wanted to purchase one. The person who had invited me to speak apparently had a last minute appointment or something and couldn't be there, but he let the rest of the group know who I was and why I would be there. As I walked in a young professional looking man approached me and introduced himself. "Hi, I'm Bob. We're looking forward to your talk," he said. "Please feel free to eat something. It's on us." He pointed to a table filled with store bought muffins and Krispy Kreme doughnuts, my favorite. Since I had not eaten breakfast at home (I was told there would be food) I thanked him and treated myself to an assortment of the delicious round treats. In retrospect, I probably had too many, but hey, you only live once, right? The young man was the president of the group and...

On the last couple of posts I discussed how difficult it can be dealing with co-workers and management. However this time I want to take a look at the clients we deal with each and every day. In my book I had an entire chapter on "How To Be A Good Customer", but apparently it went unread. Before I get started I want to acknowledge that a vast majority of my clients are awesome people. Many have become friends of mine as well, especially the ones that are local to me. This helps tremendously when there is an issue as they know the kind of person I am and can trust that I'm not out to screw them over.  But as we all know it only takes one grouchy, irritable jerk to ruin your day or week. Anyone in sales, self-employed or otherwise depends on their customers to earn a living and can share a multitude of stories about these people. Here are a few of my stories.   1. The drunk guy. Back in my retail days I managed a music store. We opened at 10am (mall schedule) and usually f...

In the previous post I discussed a few aspects of transactional selling as opposed to relationship selling. The "get in and get out" aspect of a quick transaction means that one doesn't necessarily have to build a rapport with a client at all. But is that a good thing? When I worked for a large insurance company a years ago it was instilled into our brains that we had to build a relationship with our clients. That does not mean we had to be their friend or their confidant, but instead we were to learn about some of the client's interests, family issues and other information that we could draw sales from in the future, as relationship selling has shown to garner more repeat business from the client. Not only will people buy from you if they like and trust you, but they will continue to buy from you if you keep the rapport going. But meaningful relationships are a two-way street, which means that you have to pull back the curtain and allow the client to see your world ...

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...

One of my old sales managers had been in the insurance business for about 40 years and had probably forgotten more about sales than I will ever know. Every Monday morning during our weekly sales meeting he would open up a discussion on any topic related to our work. If one of us was having a hard time closing a client, we would analyze the situation as a group and try to find ways to help solve the problem.  On those occasions when a new agent was having a hard time presenting a product our manager would say that a story would help. In some parts of the sales community, a good story is needed for every situation. If you are selling a car, you need to have a story about someone who bought that car and was the happiest person ever after. Selling homes? You probably have a story about how someone bought a fixer-upper and flipped it for a nice profit.  One note: Don't make up or embellish a story. Someone may actually want to verify it, so make your story truthful.  In the in...

As we discussed in the two previous posts, marketing and selling work together to help us figure out what the customer wants, how to get them to take action and actually buy. But for those of us who are small business owners or independent sales people, we don't have access to a formal marketing agency.  In my previous post I mentioned a friend who was shopping around for help with a digital marketing strategy. He was quoted an outrageous (in my view) price of $2500 each month. He's a smart guy and I gave him a much less expensive set of options.  I'm not a tech guru by any means, but I do have a background in marketing and sales. With this in mind, I have researched a lot of this. The strategy is a simple one for most of us. If you have a website, and your goal is to get people to it, then "funneling" them in that direction is the job. In my book, I mention how my friends at Chastain Media explained this to me, keeping it simple and easy to understand.  When they...

As discussed in the prior post, marketing and selling go hand in hand, with marketing developing a strategy to find the "hot button" that incentivizes the customer into buying. Salespeople, on the other hand, have to really push that customer the last few inches into "pulling the trigger". With that in mind, the seller also needs to use marketing techniques and find out what makes the buyer want to buy.  Since I am an independent insurance agent, I have to do both marketing and sales. Most of the insurance carriers I represent have their own marketing staffs and I can use them as a resource if I need to. These folks have also developed brochures and other materials that are professional and compliant with insurance laws and regulations. In other words, they have done most of the heavy lifting for me in that regard.  My job is to find prospects and determine a way to get this information to them. More importantly I need to make sure those prospects need the product I...

Getting your message out to the public can be the toughest job when selling your products or services. It can be especially hard when you have a lot of competitors. If everyone is trying to get the same group of customers you will need to find a way to stand out in the crowd.  When I watch television commercials I like to critique the ads. "Just another screaming car salesman!" I'll say, or "Is that supposed to make me want to buy that?" if the spot is boring. Coming from a sales and marketing background, I want to know what is effective and can motivate a potential client into taking action, like picking up the phone for more information.  People won't always remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel when you said it. That is why many companies have spokespeople or mascots and infuse humor in their marketing.  Old school life insurance agents will tell you that you have to sell on the emotions of the client. They love to paint the...

This has been a tough year for everyone. Of course, we have all had the Covid pandemic affect us either directly or indirectly. Not only has it been deadly to hundreds of thousands of people, but it has also devastated our economy. Unemployment has been high due to the vast number of businesses that just can't stay open in this environment. And I can't remember another instance in my lifetime where food lines were prevalent.   In my own case, the year started off on a horrible note when my father, who had been suffering from Parkinson's Disease for the last few years, suddenly took a turn for the worse and passed away. And while he was in the hospital during that time, I also ended up in the hospital for almost a week. That all happened in February, and a few weeks later the Coronavirus got bad enough to begin a series of shutdowns.  We all know the rest of the story. Businesses shut down, people were laid off, the economy spiraled downward and, of course, thousands of live...

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 ...