A common saying in the insurance industry is “Sales is just a numbers game”. This is a common cliche that motivational speakers and sales trainers use to get the message across to their salespeople: The more people they meet, the more sales they will make.
Sales is a numbers game. This argument always leads to the argument that more people are better at rejection. Insurance agents are unable to handle too many rejections and it is the most likely way to fail.
Opposition views also suggest that salespeople should not focus on the numbers but on quality. Sales is not about the quantity of sales calls or the quality of the pitches.
Another viewpoint states that it’s not the number or quality of prospects that a salesperson must see that is important, but the way that they approach them.
Some sales managers use the cliche to persuade agents to continue seeing prospects until they close a sale. Instead of wasting their time coaching and correcting the agents before they go out into the field to see their next prospect, the sales managers should actually have been there to help them.
The spirit of the cliché is not about asking insurance agents to use the same scripts and same tricks over and again. Continuous improvement is possible by learning from past mistakes. It’s about improving our skills as we meet more people.
An ineffective sales strategy is not something that an insurance agent will use. An insurance agent will quickly realize that a certain sales strategy or script may not be effective in certain markets or situations. The insurance agent must know what they can improve upon and how to do it before their next appointment.
Sales is a numbers game. It is the number of people that an agent must meet in a given day or week. It also includes the number and quality of the phone calls made by an agent, the number secured appointments, the number presented, and the amount of premium collected.
All these numbers are compiled to give us a clear indication of what went wrong and what we can do better. Selling is more than quantity. It is about quality. Selling is more than an art. It is a science, and can be managed to achieve predictable results.
We can improve our sales by tracking every sales activity and each step of the sales process. We can identify our weaknesses and determine the training or coaching that we need to improve.
Without such records, there is no way to know what has gone well and what needs to be improved. We will be like most insurance agents, who are struggling to survive if we don’t measure and monitor our sales activities.
It is impossible to improve sales performance without knowing what we do and how often. They can only think of a solution: Increase the number of people they see. The wrong problem will not lead to the desired results.
Sales is a numbers game. This means that we need to keep track of every sale activity. Our sales capabilities are reflected in the statistics. You can only get meaningful and interpretable statistics if you do enough sales activities. We don’t get the whole picture if we see too many people.
Every agent hopes to be less but earn more. If the agent has mastered their craft, this is possible. To be a top agent, one must have the right skills and the ability to put in a lot of effort to improve them. This can only be achieved if the agent has enough exposure to other people to improve their skills.
Learning skills and competency may not be retained if we rely on classroom sales training. It is useful for someone to understand the basics of selling. It doesn’t have the desired impact because it takes place in a controlled setting.
When you’re in the field, eyeballing and eyeballing with prospects, you learn the most. When you’re in difficult sales situations, you remember the most. When you don’t achieve the sales results you desire, you will be more aware of your own faults.
There are no champions who have not been hurt. Each mistake is an opportunity to learn from it and make improvements. Every bump and bruise makes them mentally and physically stronger.
To be a great insurance agent you must also endure rejections, frustrations, and objections. Every disappointment sends a strong signal that there is more work needed in order to close a sale.
Sales is a numbers game. This is as true today as it was in the past. This is your road map to success. But, inner drive is still necessary to get there. For a salesperson, the winning formula is Direction plus Drive = Success. Drive without direction is a waste of time. If we don’t have the Drive but know the Direction, we stay where we are.