Tag Archives: sales

I’m currently consulting for a fairly large insurance agency. While conducting a one-on-one coaching session with one of their sales representatives, I offered some advice that many salespeople–or anyone for that matter–can benefit from. And it starts with this: Get out of your own way! This was the situation. Zach (not his real name) was struggling. He had some personal …

Several years ago, when I was managing an insurance office, I was interviewing a prospective sales rep who I felt had great potential as an agent. Throughout the interviewing process, she was articulate, impeccably dressed, and demonstrated excellent people skills. I was convinced that I had found a real superstar. Shortly after she was hired, my new agent invited me …

“Understand that you need to sell YOU in order to advance your career, gain more respect, and increase your success, influence and income.” -Jay Abraham (American business executive, conference speaker, and author) In sales, it’s not how well you sell your product. It’s how you sell YOU. Product knowledge is not the main part of a sale, though it is …

Ours is a business full of twists and turns.  And it’s all a matter of how we handle those twists and turns that shape us.  I recently had an annuity case that put me to the test. And I wondered all through the entire process if I was man enough to complete it. Let me start from the beginning.  It …

When we hear the word “negotiating,” we often think of closing a big sale or making a big purchase, but negotiating is something that can happen every day with family, co-workers and clients. You are negotiating any time you tell someone that what you want is different from what they are trying to give you. The common goal of negotiation …

The idea that marketing is something that companies “do” is so ingrained in the business mindset that it’s impossible to think otherwise. Yet, that’s exactly what needs to happen. It’s true that many marketers enthusiastically avoid the traditional marketing label with energetic efforts to recalibrate their careers. No matter what you call it, pull the curtain back and marketing largely …

One-shot wonders in business are not unlike one-hit wonders on the Billboard charts. Basically, a person starts out with a bang, but is never able to replicate that level of success again. As Andy Warhol once said, “In the future, everybody will be world famous for 15 minutes.” Are you guilty of putting one-shot wonder effort into your insurance career? …

"Let your clients work through the solutions. They are more likely to acknowledge a problem they “discover” themselves, through discussion, than they are if you just assert that the problem is there."

"It's important to remind your clients that annuities are extremely safe because they are issued by insurance companies."