Business

I recently rolled out the 2019 theme for my territory: Failure is a choice. My management team and I identified our top goals for next year and made a plan for keeping them our number-one work priorities. By doing so, we’re making the choice to work actively toward our goals rather than take a passive, come-what-may attitude.

Life insurance is important…we all know that. Life insurance rates have gone down significantly over the past 10 years as people live longer…many of us know that. Now life insurance is easier to transact… I know some of us might even challenge that one.

Many people don't set goals to achieve their dreams because they see them as futile or unattainable — machinations so far outside the realm of their day-to-day normal that they can't actually see their dreams as ever becoming a reality. But the ultimate gratification of achieving our goals and dreams, especially when it is such a tedious process for us, is one of the most wonderful gifts we can give to ourselves.

CEO Newsletter

Over 80 percent of consumers purchased goods online in 2016, with over half the population doing so regularly. Why? Money and convenience. Over 71 percent believe they'll get a better deal online than in store because they can price shop.

How many salespeople have the guts to state, “Off the record, since you have decided not to buy . . . what are you really looking for?”

Sure, there are plenty of infomercials that use over-exaggeration and half-truths to peddle cheap wares (though I’d say that’s closer to the definition of sales, not marketing) – but at its heart, that’s NOT what marketing is.

Selling in the insurance industry is not the same as sales in many other industries. Unlike most commodities being sold and advertised, insurance isn’t a choice in most cases, it’s a necessity.

As an insurance agent, your business lives or dies on the amount of new and renewing policies you sign with your carriers. Years ago, how you got paid was fairly straightforward: you got paid a percentage of the premiums you signed. But carriers have changed the way they compensate their agents.

Gone are the days when insurance agents had to invest in expensive hardware and software to quote, issue, and place policies. Updating software was tiresome and time-consuming. And when a computer went down, your production ground to a halt.