 I just reviewed several websites about being a successful insurance sales agent and little what I read is true based on my experience selling insurance and observing successful insurance agents.Insurance sales agent success stems from the ability to market and sell. Mention of issues like good client service, taking care of people, blah blah blah don't matter if you can't get clients and can't get the business. Getting the business is paramount or you will have no clients to take care of. Getting the business is about insurance marketing. Insurance marketing means that you have a way to attract insurance buyers to you. There are many methods to do that such as:
If you begin your career as an insurance sales agent, your employer will mention none of the above. To tell you the truth would scare you off. Because the above methods take some money. If you are not willing to invest money in marketing, I suggest you think twice about becoming an insurance sales agent (or being self employed). Most employers will tell you to market yourself in the most inefficient way as follows. They will tell you to make a list of 100 people you know and then start calling them to sell them insurance. Whether they buy or not, ask them for referral. The theory is that doing it this way you have no investment and you can leverage 100 relationships into a successful insurance sales agent career. What they don't tell you is that this method fails for 90% of those people who enter the career of insurance sales agent. It's a stupid method that leaves you with nothing after you've spoken to the hundred people you know. If instead, you invest some money in your business as suggested above, you don't need to know anybody and you can even be in a new town and you can be successful. Here's a hypothetical example. Invest $300 and run an ad in the daily newspaper which advertises your free booklet, "Six Things Insurance Agents Never Tell You about Homeowners Insurance." Some people will call they will order your booklet, thereby identifying themselves as interested motivated prospects. You will have a conversation with these people, engage them, and some of them will become buyers. This simple method of marketing, identifying motivated prospects, and then having a sales conversation is what can make you a wealthy insurance sales agent. After your marketing plan is running, you must have superior sales skills to capitalize on your marketing investment. Do not assume that you learn to sell by doing it as this is an enormous fallacy. To become a successful insurance sales agent, take professional sales training such as the Dale Carnegie sales training, the training from Sandler Institute or some other multi-week structured sales training. There is nothing natural about having a successful sales conversation. It is similar to swinging a golf club. It is a skill that must be learned and practiced because nothing you already do in your communication will lead you to be good at sales. With the following concepts in mind about marketing and sales, you now have an accurate view of achieving success as an insurance sales agent and the truth about what the profession entails. For those who follow the above outline, you can earn hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just by being judicious. |
If all you want to do is peddle insurance products, and not really get involved in the lives of the people you sell, and simply just pad your own pockets, then you are right on! Go for it!
However, if you want a long, satisfying, rewarding and successful career as a respected insurance industry financial adviser - "Doing The Right Thing" for people, you will need to establish solid relationships, nurture those relationships, and then stick around to do service, service, service. I've learned that's the best marketing you can do!
Sales is 90% marketing (Prospecting in the old days), and 10% pure sales technique. No doubt if you do the marketing part correctly you will sell a lot of people insurance; but if you don't do the service and relationship part correctly, you will not keep most of your sales for very long.
Zig Zigler, in his book "Secrets of Closing the Sale", once said, "You can get everything in life you want if you will just help enough other people get what they want." In other words, help them first. Still good advice.
Someone else said, "It's not about me and what I want, but it's about them and what they need."
John Maxwell says that, "People don't care how much you know until they know how much you care."
I've learned in my career when I put them first, and genuinely care more about them and what they need than for myself, I always win. When I put me first, I loose every time.
I do agree with your comment that trying to sell your warm market is pretty much a waste of time. However, done correctly - not the way your sales manager tells you - your warm market can be a great help to you.
Have a great day!!