You might be a brand new producer and are excited about your potential earnings of over $100,000. It’s not clear what you know about the product. You don’t know anything about the product, and you have no idea who it will be sold to.
You’re not going to succeed if you follow the advice of the insurance industry. An average new producer may sell $20,000 in their first year, and then realize that they are down the creek with no paddle halfway through year 2. If you really want to make that $100,000, you should realize now that you won’t be able to do what’s told you to do.
Your district sales manager has no clue how to help you achieve results, other than telling you to make more cold calls. It would shock you to find out how much insurance top producers actually sell, and not in an encouraging way. You’re not limited to helping you obtain your license.
This may seem like a rude awakening for some, and others might think that I don’t really know what I’m talking. Because I have never sold insurance or attempted to sell it in my entire life, I should not be able to explain what I mean. These are the harsh facts that I have learned from my clients. LIMRA has the solid data to prove that these are the facts.
This is actually good news. You don’t have make the same mistakes as 85% of new agents. Instead of trying to save a failing business, you can make smart use of your resources and build a solid business. The current industry practices aren’t working for a simple reason.
The goals of the insurance company and you are different. The main concern of both the insurance company and the manufacturer is to sell more widgets. Widgets in the insurance industry are policies. However, they only care about selling more policies and collecting more premiums.
Their main focus is on product, product and product. Your clients aren’t interested in products. Clients care about outcomes, problems, and results. They don’t want products.
The industry trains you to talk product-talk following the pitch that they force you memorize. And you fail. Why? This is supposed be a powerful pitch that people can’t resist.
Your prospect and you speak completely different languages. They don’t care what you are saying and they don’t care. You cannot win. Before you even start, you’re doomed.
The same problem exists for you as the Amway salesman. Amway is all about selling soap boxes. Amway’s dude was open to the idea of starting their own business. The customer believes they can buy soap from anywhere, anytime. They don’t want to pay for soap that isn’t expensive.
I hope you can see the analogy. Even though you might think your work is more valuable than selling soap, it doesn’t matter to the people you are trying to sell it to. They can purchase insurance from anywhere at any time. They don’t have to purchase it from you. They have never woken up in the middle night sweating and wondering how they will make it to the morning.
Here’s what you need to do first. This should be your top priority. Only one group of people should you be selling to. This is the key to your success.
This decision should not be taken lightly. Think about how many people like you are in your area. Choose groups that offer opportunities for you to get to know them. You won’t be able to exist in their world if you don’t choose these groups.
Next, find out what the most important things are that they want and are actively seeking solutions to.
It is not important to know the details of policies. You won’t be able to make any money with this knowledge unless you have someone to sell it to and a reason they need you. Only then is the importance of policies and their details.
