Insurance Agents and Financial Advisors: Are You Feeling Frustrated Even Violated?

When you spoke with the recruiter and then the sales manager you were told you’d get all the training you needed to succeed. Now that you’ve been in the business nearing two years do you look back and realize that you aren’t even close to knowing how to do what you need to do to succeed? You’re pay structure is coming to an end, it would take a miracle to meet the demands you have for expected sales, and you have no idea what to do. You aren’t alone and this is exactly why fewer than 5% of the people who enter the insurance and investments industries are still around after 5 years.

You have every reason to feel frustrated, violated even angry as heck. You’ve been mislead and cheated. You did everything they told you to do that they “said” would work, and all those things you tried blew up in your face more often than not. You’ve cashed in on every personal connection you have, and you have no where else to turn. What do you do? What can you do? The only thing you can do is take complete responsibility for your own success.

Start succeeding by placing your focus on the right end of the business. You think you’re in the insurance and investments business. You’re really in the marketing business. You have to learn how to market yourself so you can fill your appointment calendar with people who want to meet you. You have to fill your appointment calendar with people that mutually understand the purpose of the appointment is determining if you can do business together. Your instinct is to focus on more product knowledge and the production side of your business, but there is no production until you’re able to generate leads entering your sales funnel through your marketing.

So, you have an appointment now what? You know the way you were shown how to hold an appointment feels awkward and pushy, and doesn’t result in a high percentage of the people you set appointments with doing business with you. So learn how to sell a service. Seek first to understand so you can help your prospects discover why they want to buy. And by being a good listener you’ll help them to discover why they want to buy now. The sales process you have now isn’t working, so learn one that does.

No referrals or no good referrals? Here again the high-pressure tactics you’ve been told to use to get referrals just don’t work. You can’t expect to get a bunch of referrals from a client when the ink isn’t even dry on the paper. You earn referrals through the quality of service you provide, by really connecting with your clients and expanding on the relationship, and by providing them with examples of how you’ve helped people that will trigger their memory. Only you can help yourself succeed, and to do so you’re going to need to look outside your industry for real help that will get you real results.