What Are You Willing to Do to Make It?

[trh90]

Life, Health, Dental, LTC, Disability, Annuities.

I haven't given up just need a new plan of action. How many times have I read if it isn't working try something else?

I've asked the other agents I work with what I am doing wrong. Everyone says I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm persistant, and do things a lot of agents won't do I'm just seeing the wrong people. I'm not sure how but I am going to find the right people. I know I have room for improvement, we all do, so please don't think I'm being cocky about saying I'm doing everything right.

 

[Frank Stastny]

Life, Health, Dental, LTC, Disability, Annuities.

I haven't given up just need a new plan of action. How many times have I read if it isn't working try something else?

I've asked the other agents I work with what I am doing wrong. Everyone says I'm not doing anything wrong. I'm persistant, and do things a lot of agents won't do I'm just seeing the wrong people. I'm not sure how but I am going to find the right people. I know I have room for improvement, we all do, so please don't think I'm being cocky about saying I'm doing everything right.

As a new agent I think you are taking on too many products. That is a very common mistake many agents new to insurance make. They think they will be most successful having something to offer to everyone they encounter.

I suggest they pick a product and literally become an expert on it before adding and attempting to sell other insurance products. It is very difficult for one agent to be all things to all people.

I have been at this for almost eighteen years and I have stopped selling other products and only sell Med Supps and cross sell FE. In my opinion that is where the greatest amount of money is to be made. Plus Med Supps are the easiest to prospect for, get appointments for and sell of anything else I have sold. They also pay first year commission for the first six years.

Once the agent develops a good rapport with their client then it opens all sorts of opportunities to cross sell LTC, Annuities, etc.

All of the products you have listed, in my opinion, are much more difficult to sell than Med Supps. Feel free to give me a call if you would like to discuss it further. 573.544.4091

 

[Todd King]

trh90,

Do give Frank a call. He can certainly help you. After you spend some time with him, give me a call and I'll see what I can do to help too. Between the two of us I'm confident that your time won't be wasted.

 

[KJ in Miami]

Good (excellent) advice as usual.

One of the key concepts is how you define the word "successful" in the context of being an indie insurance agent.

What is successful for one person is failure for another.

Example. Assume you could get a job for $75,000 as a middle manger at Wal-Mart or an oil company or with a government entity. Now, say you make $55,000 a year selling insurance or whatever your OWN business is.

Success or failure?

To the guy or gal who absolutely needs the $75K income, it is a failure.

To the guy or gal who can get by on $50K but who has a disabled spouse or parent whom they have to take care of and need a flexible schedule it's a success.

To the person who keeps score with money (which is fine) it's a failure.

The the person who keeps score by the perks of not having a boss and not having to do "stuff" they don't want to do, its a success.

What is "success" for you? You should think about that.

Great point!

 

[Suis]

Wow! I just read this and printed it to post on my wall! Thanks for the encouragement!
Sue

What are you willing to do to make it?


If you are not willing to give it everything that you have, then it is not going to work for you.

It is not a simple thing like you spend x amount of money and you always double your money. You will run into failure many times in this business. The successful people just don’t give up. They roll with the punches and decide that they are going to make it.



I get so tired of lazy agents that complain that they don’t understand why doing nothing, is not working for them.

The lazy agents are not willing to do what we did to be successful.


Someone is not going to knock on your door and want to buy insurance.


I had an agent yesterday that told me he is quitting insurance and I told him he should and he got mad for agreeing with him the following questions:

How many prospects did you ask if they want to buy some insurance? NONE
How many prospects did you call? NONE
How many leads did you buy? NONE
DO you have a website? NOPE
Does your answering machine have a message that says you’re an agent? NOPE


I asked him a few more questions that all told me that he was never really in this business.


If you are going to give this business a try, you must give it everything that you have and know that you are going to mess up and have to learn from your errors a lot of times to make it in this business.


I know I keep saying this but is a lot like fishing. You have to keep changing baits and location and don’t give up if the fish are not biting today. Find your niche!

Don’t try to sell everything. Fine a product that you know a lot about and then find a market for it. You are better off being really good at a few things then just okay at a lot of things.

If you can’t buy leads, than learn to prospect. For many years, agents could not buy leads and they turn out just fine.

This is just like pushing a train. In the beginning it will be really hard to get it going. But after it starts moving, it get easier. Also after you get the train moving, don't stop or you will have to do it all over again.

If this is going to be a full time job for you. Give it at least 40 hours a week of you doing something. Not sitting there playing. I mean hunting for people to go see or help.

Learn how to get in front of people. Learn how to find problems that you can solve. Learn how to approach people.

You don’t sell insurance, you sell yourself!

 

[BTFuzz]

Yeah, good stuff for sure....too many agents are not only lazy but spend too much time working "in" their business instead of "on" their business. Work smarter, not harder.

 

[russelltw]

An agent told me one time, you have to treat this as a 8-5 job. Clock in and go to work.

The issue that I see kills a lot of agents is the complete freedom. No one is going to look over your shoulder to make sure you are working. It's all on you.

 

[KJ in Miami]

When you work "on" your business, you are acting as an owner. When you work "in" your business, you are acting like an employee. It is the way I look at it.

The E-Myth Revisited... a great book!!

Yeah, good stuff for sure....too many agents are not only lazy but spend too much time working "in" their business instead of "on" their business. Work smarter, not harder.

 

[Frank Stastny]

An agent told me one time, you have to treat this as a 8-5 job. Clock in and go to work.

The issue that I see kills a lot of agents is the complete freedom. No one is going to look over your shoulder to make sure you are working. It's all on you.

If one owns their own business, I have found that just working from 8-5 really doesn't cut it.

 

[KJ in Miami]

Does 9-5 work then Frank?

If one owns their own business, I have found that just working from 8-5 really doesn't cut it.