 |
 |
|||||
|
by Tom Wiecek
Yesterday, my mastermind friend, Russ Lowry and I were talking about our upcoming webinar interview with Ethan Kap in a couple of weeks. As we discussed some of the points that have helped us get the most freedom from our agencies, I brought up the mail. I said to Russ, “I wonder how many agents still open their agency’s mail?” Russ immediately fired back “I LOVE opening the mail!” We chuckled and agreed that we both love opening the mail.
We also agreed that it was a huge waste of time. Both of us have passed this task on to those that make less money than we do, but there are a few exceptions. Of course, we like to check out the “junk” mail. Why, because as a marketer, it’s good to see what other marketers are doing and steal good ideas from them. And, anything to do with fishing, I’m reading it!
Opening the mail is one of the tasks that many agents have a hard time letting go and is probably the biggest waste of money. Why? Because, Time is Money! Every minute of your day should be spent doing what makes you the most money. Everything else should be delegated.
by Russ Lowry
The answer is, 24 hours in a day. They wake up just like you and start every day with 24 hours, yet they control and manage Billions even Trillions of dollars every day. So how do these guys do so much in the same time as you have? I can sum it up in two words delegation and systems.
Sounds easy enough but is it? Do you have what it takes to delegate and automate your daily tasks? How about that one client you always handle just because? Or better yet the “mail”? Who doesn’t love to spend valuable time going through the mail? I mean why pay someone $8.00 an hour to do this when you can do it yourself (at a cost of what $150.00, maybe $200.00 per hour)?
by Tom Wiecek
My staff has always been trained to go for the “no” when working with prospects. Meaning don’t give up until you hear the word “no”. We never accept “I’ll think it over”. Of course, when we get a “yes”, I’ll accept that. This rule has helped us close more additional sales that would have simply gone away. It’s too easy for a CSR or a producer to accept a “think it over” and move on to the next prospect. It’s an easy way out and a common trait of a lousy salesperson.
Early in my career, I have to admit I used to focus on grabbing the “low hanging fruit” especially, when we had an abundance of prospects to work with. I remember a time when my agency couldn’t handle the amount of prospects coming into our office. We were the low price leader and everyone knew it. It was during a hard market and I had some very competitive carriers. We were order takers and business was good. Today, it’s a little different.
My son played in a soccer tournament this weekend. To get him ready for all those hard fought battles and wind sprints, I had to make sure he was hydrated and fueled. The hydration was simple, but the fuel presented some dilemmas. Should I prepare grilled salmon, wild rice and roasted vegetables or the classic, yet stellar PB&J?
I opted for the PB&J. Here’s why: In life and in marketing, what matters is what works. And, I know from experience that you can grill a boy a salmon but that doesn’t mean he will eat. The same is true of your clients. You can spend a whole lot of budget with very little result. In many cases, the classic, yet stellar tools fuel the most growth.
One of those classic yet stellar tools is the promotional sales letter. It doesn’t require any fancy design, programming or printing. In fact, you can mail merge and print from it from the comfort of your home office if you’d like. That’s what I did five years ago when I launched my insurance copywriting business.
I mailed my letter out to 200 insurance industry prospects, and I probably spent a total of $200 including postage, envelopes and paper – maybe even less. That simple, inexpensive effort generated an 8 percent response within the first month, and years later, the replies continue to trickle in. In fact, just six months ago, (4.5 years after I sent the mailer) a prospect called me and said that he’d saved my letter all this time.
If you’d like to send your own promotional letter, here are 10 rules of thumb to follow:
by Sid Walker
Early in my 30-year coaching career I discovered that it worked better to get permission to talk about subjects that were challenging for people to talk about. If someone says they are working really hard and not making the money they want to make, you don’t jump in and say, “I’ve got some great ideas on how you can make more money, let me tell you what they are.” Instead you take an approach that is more respectful and more permission –based. You say, “I have had some experience in helping people with that issue, would you like to hear a couple of ideas that have worked for other people?” If the other person says, “Sure,” you have respectfully included the other person in the process and prepared him or her for the discussion to follow. What usually happens when you treat people with this level of respect is that they feel a increased degree of safety in talking with you. You have demonstrated you care about them and don’t want to start into a conversation they are not ready to have.
by Sid Walker
One of the approaches I have used for decades to help reps get their prospective clients more excited about working with them in the initial interview is to start out by asking more questions. Instead of telling prospective clients how great you are, start out by asking them questions. People actually think you are smarter if you ask questions about them rather than talk about yourself. I think that is an accurate assessment, you are smarter if you ask questions about your prospective clients rather than just talk about yourself!
by Tom Wiecek
A couple of years ago I read Tim Ferriss’ now famous book The Four Hour Work Week for the first time. It’s a book that I pick up and re-read quite often and it has made a world of difference in my life and agency. Most importantly, it helped me free myself of the many low paying jobs I used to be responsible for. Today, I work less than four hours a week in my agency. However, I do work more than four hours a week on my agency, but I work where and when I want. And I only work on what makes me the most money.
I am often asked by other agents, “How can you spend so little time in the agency while it continues to grow faster than ever?” It comes down to eliminating and delegating the tasks that bring less value to me and using systems. Our time is the most valuable resource we have. It’s not our insurance knowledge or even our ability to service our clients. We only have so much time in a day and every minute of it is as valuable as you make it.
I was talking to a group of entrepreneurs the other day and they asked me some intriguing questions…
One of the questions asked was “Why do I think most people are not successful…and are the ones who are successful gifted?”
This is a VERY good 2 part question.
My answer, with no hesitation, as to why most people are not successful was… “Because most people are just like water…they follow the path of least resistance…”
In the circus world that we all live in -The carnival barker is yelling… “Step Right Up”…but most people are taking the path of least resistance and choosing NOT to step right up. They prefer to watch the side show featuring “The coulda, Woulda, Shoulda’s”
Why? Because The Polar Ice Cap Is Melting.
You may be saying “Where did you get that answer from?” Well, the truth is a bad excuse is just as good as a good excuse so what makes the difference?
An excuse is an excuse no matter how you spell it.
The excuse gives you the way out of taking personal responsibility. It IS the path of least resistance.
But with no personal responsibility you abdicate control and introduce the “I’m a puppet” excusitis and when the bad guys pull the strings you are helplessly under their control.
But I’ve got a deep question for you….Are you really under their total control?
I understand the ‘Yes’ answers, but because this is a MAVERICK site, by definition we contend a qualified ‘No’.
Meaning there are absolutely things in agency that cause you to be played with like a puppet. You can’t change that. Period. BUT, there are TONS of things that you control….IF you decide and WHEN you take ‘Accurate Action’
Absolving personal responsibility is in our very nature. We all struggle with it.
It goes back to The Garden of Eden when Adam basically said….and I’m paraphrasing…but he said … “God it was you! It was what YOU gave me that made me do this …” So there, I’ve given you another excuse for not taking responsibility. It’s not your fault…it’s in your nature. Right?
But, fortunately, those of you who are wise realize that this is absolute HOGWASH!
You must recognize this fact and engineer an environment to protect yourself from yourself.
Now for the second part of the question…and the REAL question at hand is: “Are these people are simply more gifted?” The answer is clear. NO.
They are simply the people who are taking action. Actually, “Accurate Action” Hmmm, Sound familiar?
So in short…When you stop taking the path of least resistance and when you stop making excuses and when you START taking “Accurate Actions” is when you’ll start making the money and stop loosing your business out the back door.
The Insurance Marketing Mavericks spoke about some of the “Accurate Actions” I mention above in a podcast that is available on this site. Go listen to it now.
Licensed & Lethal,
007
