You're Going To Be Great At This!

I recently had the pleasure of guesting on Dave Campbell's "Living The Next Chapter" podcast, which focuses on authors and their books. I had a great time talking about the writing process and my unique way of promoting them. When I was in the process of starting my podcast, I did a search on Spotify and discovered Dave's "How To Podcast" show, which I suggest to anyone considering starting a podcast. At the end of the episode, Dave mentioned that he had a meetup group and that they discussed the podcasting world.  I tuned in and immediately felt welcomed by the group. I learned a lot about the process, but more importantly, I met some great people who were also beginners, as well as others who were veteran podcasters. An interesting note about Dave is that he has 9 podcasts, and how he does it, I'll never figure out. But his knowledge and willingness to help others demonstrate what a good guy he is. Give it a listen and check out Dave's other podcas...

In today's fast-paced world, staying connected and informed is key to successful networking. Imagine having a tool that keeps you updated on your prospects' achievements and interests without lifting a finger. Enter Google Alerts—an easy way to keep your network engaged and your name top of mind. Google Alerts allows you to monitor the web for specific keywords, such as a prospect's name or industry-related topics. When you set up alerts, you receive notifications whenever new content appears online. This enables you to congratulate a contact on a recent achievement or share relevant articles, demonstrating your attentiveness and interest in their success.  Consider a scenario where a client, Mary Johnson*, is mentioned in an article for her outstanding work. With Google Alerts, you receive this information promptly and can reach out with a congratulatory message. This small gesture can strengthen your relationship and keep you in their thoughts for future opportunities. Ne...

Many of us who have been in sales and marketing for a while have been fortunate to have someone mentor us early on in our careers. The best mentors help us negotiate the potential roadblocks that could keep us from sales success. We lean on them because if we can learn from their mistakes, we won't make as many of our own. As I have said in the past, a good mentor should have no financial connection to your business. I'm not saying they can't, but the best possible scenario is one in which their income doesn't depend on your production, like a manager. And although they may be a good mentor, it's not ideal. When I first got into  door-to-door  selling insurance I didn't know what a mentor was. But there was a kindly older man who felt bad for me and the rest of our sales crew. He'd always say something like, "You're doin' good! Hang in there!"  This guy had been with the company for decades and was actually successful, despite a horrible st...

Analogies are everywhere in business these days, but the sales profession has some of the best ones. One I have used for years is that when prospecting and marketing for clients, you should be leaving landmines everywhere, because sooner or later, someone will "step on it" and your sales will blow up. Recently, Davan Johnson, a coworker and friend of mine, appeared on my YouTube channel and we discussed prospecting for clients. He used the analogy of "planting seeds" while "preparing for a harvest". I chuckled as I explained that I preferred my more violent analogy. "I'm attaching life insurance applications to the landmine," I said. Feel free to use either analogy when you consider your prospecting plans. Both have the same principle, which is to always look for opportunities to meet people and tell your story.  You never know when one will blossom or explode. Ch ris Castane s is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through...

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...

As mentioned in the previous post I have worked with a lot of different companies over the years, and a few had a sales training course which I was required to attend. The one I discussed earlier focused on memorizing a sales pitch word for word and indoctrinating the class into a "cult" of positive mental attitude (PMA). I think the latter was because their product was so horrible we had to keep a plastered smile on our faces while trying to sell it. About 15 years later I went to work for another insurance company which had a completely different approach to their training. All they taught us for a solid week was their products, which were okay, but made the training meaningless since we weren't given much other pertinent information.  Imagine I gave you a toolbox and said, "This is all you need. Now get out there and build me a house!" If you had no construction experience, you wouldn't know which tools were appropriate, how to plumb pipes, saw wood, when...

One of the things I appreciate about LinkedIn is the opportunity to meet and network with people who are in the same industry as myself. I recently was afforded one of these opportunities when I had a chance to talk with Pat Ardern.  Pat Ardern is the Branch Office Supervisor of the Transamerica Financial Advisors branch in Stillwater, Oklahoma and she supervises securities licensed reps throughout the state. She enjoys travelling and spending time with her two children and grandson, and she is active in the community and her church.   Below is my conversation with Pat. First off, I'm curious as to how you got into the financial services industry.   I was laid off in 2007 after the company I had worked with for 9 years was purchased by another company.  As I watched the furniture being carried out of our office, I felt like someone had died.   The next morning I woke up with the question, “What do I do now?” This was a transformative event for me which brou...

A few weeks back I touched on the subject of coworkers who were trouble in a post titled " What Can I Do To Succeed? " This time I thought I would give a few more true stories of these toxic people and how they operate. First off, let me say that I have probably been one of these people at some point in my career in sales. It's a hard job and especially tough when one is not succeeding. As I have said many times, people who do not do well in sales are, in many cases, not given an honest assessment of the job when they are brought on board. Too many hiring managers and recruiters will only tell new hires the good parts of the job and leave out the bad.  For instance, a few years ago I interviewed with a very large life insurance agency in Charleston, SC. The manager showed me a leaderboard with all of the top producers' names and production. There were about a dozen names on the list. I had seen this kind of pitch before, so I asked how many agents were in the agency. ...

There are too many times when we meet a client, get some information from them and, for a myriad of reasons, never bother to give them another call. Maybe they didn't seem interested in what you were offering or they didn't fit into your target market. Or maybe you thought they said "no" when they really wanted to think it over. Whatever the reason is, you need to pick up the phone and give them a call back. When I meet a client for the first time, I do a "fact finder" questionnaire, which sounds formal but really is just a track to run on to get a conversation started. Open ended questions help get the client talking.  When they talk, I listen and ask follow up questions. It sounds easy, but our human nature makes us want to sell our product instead of hearing about someone else's issues. By listening to the client and getting them to open up, we build trust. People love it when others laugh at their jokes and are genuinely interested in their lives.  B...

Let's face it, when it comes to selling products and services to people, not everyone is going to be happy. Our job is to make sure that people are satisfied with their purchase, but there are those people out there who, know matter what you do for them, will never be pleased. The root of all of this is the adage that says "The customer is always right." We know that this is not the case. Telling people they are wrong or "misinformed" is hard to do, especially when the customer sincerely believes they are right. When I sell insurance I go over a lot of information, maybe too much. That is part of the job because the majority of my clients really are not insurance experts. They know what they have been told by their family or friends.  For instance, I had a grown man, probably in his 40's, who only bought whole life insurance because "that's what my father bought". We did the math and figured out how much coverage he needed. When I looked at his...

As the owner of a small independent insurance agency, I try to bounce ideas off of some of my colleagues from time to time. I enjoy finding out how they handle certain situations or use their marketing budgets (if they even have one). Recently I was on the phone with another agent and sharing some prospecting tips someone had shared with me. (We like to "show off" our knowledge sometimes.) That's when it hit me. "Would you be open to doing a three-way call, maybe once a week or so?" I asked her. She thought it would be a great idea.  After discussing it with the third agent we agreed on a day and time to meet. He already had a Zoom account set up so we tried it as a "trial period" just to see if we would get any productive information out of it. Three months later we are still meeting on a weekly basis and our group consists of about 4-6 people, depending on their schedules.  Even though we all sell insurance, there are a few facets of this group that ...

On the previous post I shared how Fred*, my sales manager from one company left us to work for a competitor, and about the same time yet another company, bigger and better than either of the other two, was trying to recruit me to work for them.  I had to make a decision. To say I was floundering where I was would be an understatement. My morale was low. When I was hired at the original company (Company A) they had promised to help me get my securities license, which at the time was an attractive offer. However, when I would bring it up they would move the goalposts. "Sure, we'll help you when you sell more life insurance." This was a slap in the face to me since I had been a decent producer.  The other company (Company C) that was wooing me also said they not only would help me get my securities license, but that it was required. My problem was that if I left Company A I would have to suffer through several weeks, or even months of Friday meetings, good old boys and low p...

I haven't posted a good "dumb story" in a while, which is unusual since I have so many of them to share. To be honest, I nearly forgot about this incident until the person involved came up in conversation a few weeks back when I was having lunch with a former colleague. Here's what happened. Several years ago I was working with a company (I will call them Company A) which had a very limited menu of insurance products to offer. The guy who recruited me, Fred*, was a tobacco chewing good old boy who looked like he couldn't get home fast enough to watch reruns of "Hee Haw". He was a member of the management team and, after meeting the rest of them, I realized this was a great example of "birds of a feather". These guys were all used to door-to-door old school selling in low income areas and expected the rest of us to do the same. Needless to say, I wasn't about to start beating on doors in trailer parks for business. Not that there's anyth...

It can be difficult to get your client to understand you, your product or even the concept of what you are trying to sell. For sales professionals we have to figure out how to get our message to these people in a way that is not just easy to comprehend, but efficient too.  There's an expression I've heard over the years from managers and mentors alike which goes something like "Sell the sizzle, not the steak". The imagery of the aroma of a steak cooking on the grill makes me want a steak. However, if someone walked up to me and said, "I sell steaks. Would you like a steak off of my meat truck?" the chances of me purchasing will drop. Don't get me wrong, I love steak, but the approach and allure of the sizzling juices on the grill are much more enticing. Selling the benefits instead of the features is one way to get our clients to understand what we are offering. Sure, a realtor can go over the features, or in their case, the amenities of a house. Tile fl...