Succession in the insurance industry is dependent on a steady stream of business growth. These concerns can be addressed by four cornerstones that are crucial to the success of an insurance sales company. These are:
(a) Mindset
Selling is all about dealing with rejections. How do you approach selling? Are you resilient? These questions will determine if you are able to thrive or just survive in your business.
Your dreams and goals will guide your actions and determination. Are you dedicated and committed to your business goals. Are you attached to your goals? Are you excited to get up each morning and do you feel fulfilled?
You will succeed because of your conviction, belief, and passion. You can see opportunities where others don’t. You must change your mindset and beliefs to succeed in any business venture.
(b) Market
Which market are you best suited to sell your insurance products in? Do you prefer cold calling or natural market? Do you prefer working with business owners or professionals? Are you more interested in prospects from specific backgrounds, such as senior citizens or housewives?
You will need to choose the market segment that is most relevant to your target market in order for the marketing strategies to work. There are many marketing strategies that you can choose from, including direct mail, advertising and trade shows, as well as canvassing and direct mail.
Marketing also involves how to establish yourself in the market you want to enter and how to create a pre-emptive strategy that will prevent competitors from entering the market where you have already established your roots.
You can get a larger market share by doing a thorough analysis of the market you are trying to penetrate. It is important to identify the motivating factors for your prospects to purchase and to devise a sales strategy that will increase market depth and breadth.
(c) Mastery
Highly productive producers are able to respond positively to sales situations and easily demonstrate sales techniques to overcome obstacles. They are able to use a variety of skills, including appointment setting, relationship building, fact-finding, objection handling, closing, etc., to excel in the sales business.
Insurance companies are able to help insurance agents improve their sales skills by providing sales training and scripts that can be used. However, sales training is a one-time activity. It is the field sales activities that allow sales agents to continue learning.
Top producers or experienced producers might develop a new skill set that emphasizes building relationships to get referrals. This stage may focus on generating referrals from existing clients and repeat business.
(d) Measurement
How reliable are your sales forecasts? How can you assess your sales skills? How can you identify the areas that need development to get to the next level? These questions can be summarized in one word: data data.
Data is used to evaluate the skills and capabilities of professional sales agents to make strategic decisions. Data can help you benchmark your sales performance and diagnose your sales performance. Data can provide valuable information that could help you design the best sales activities to meet your sales goals.
Measurement is essential for qualitative and quantitative improvement. Insurance sales professionals need to determine the minimum number and frequency of visits that they must make per week, how many calls they should make in a single day, and the minimum number follow-ups per customer. These sales metrics provide the basis for measuring.
Sales is a science. Top performers understand that every problem needs a systematic approach in order to find a solution. Measuring leads to the discovery of areas for improvement. It is not just about increasing sales volume, but efficiency. This refers to the time, effort and resources that are spent to generate sales.
For any agent looking to increase sales, the 4 cornerstones should be considered. These cornerstones are areas that need to be addressed in order to improve the personal growth of agents as well as opportunities to increase their business’ value.
