Cheryl A. Clausen's Articles

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Top Producers Sales Success You want to be a top producer, but you're stuck where you are and you don't know how to get any better. You've done what you were supposed to do, but you aren't moving up. You're frustrated and exhausted and you realize you don't know what you don't know. As long as you continue to do what you're doing now you'll stay stuck and frustrated. The very success that got you where you are today now has you trapped at that level. Sales Techniques to Overcome Insurance Sales Objections After a poor sales conversation do you get off tracking spending time and energy feeling sorry for yourself? You may not be consciously aware that you're doing it, but what do you do immediately after a sales call that doesn't work out? In essence, many salespeople call time out. I'm not discouraging you from taking a time out. In fact, I'm encouraging you to take a time out. But it's how you use that time out that will provide a real benefit for you. Insurance Sales: Focus on the Money The first sale is the hardest sale. Increase your sales and reduce your efforts by focusing your efforts on the right sources. To do that you have to treat your business like a business, and take ruthlessly control how and where you invest your time. Most agents waste their valuable time responding to and chasing after the wrong sources. Therefore, they don't have the time they need to invest in the right sources. Don't think because you're busy you're doing the right things with the right sources. If you were already doing this it would be reflected in your revenue. Sales Coaching Money Objections Do you accept it when a prospect tells you they don't have the money to do business with you? Do you accept it when a prospect tells you their goal is more money? If you do you're falling into a sales trap that means no sale for you in either case. Both responses sound logical. You're thinking that if they don't have money to do business with you they aren't a good fit, and you should just move on or wait until they do have money. But in most cases you're missing a real opportunity, and you don't even know it. Sales Techniques to Avoid Interrogation You realize that questions are a critical part of the sales process, but the questions you ask aren't producing the results you want. The way you structure the questions you ask, and the intent behind them have a dramatic impact on the prospect and your results. Questions are an easy way to establish rapport with the prospect, put them at ease, get them to open up to you, and help them to feel comfortable with you. But your questions must demonstrate your sincere interest in the prospect, or they just don't have the desired impact. Sales Techniques for Better Prospecting You may be surprised to learn that even MDRT members don't like prospecting, but they know it's something they have to do. Instead of dreading prospecting you should be looking forward to it with excited because you have to have prospects to sell. You don't look forward to prospecting because you want to be told "no". A system for prospecting will help you to get good at it. Of course, a system is worthless if you won't consistently implement it. Why you don't like prospecting now, and how you could like prospecting? What does Strategic Planning have to do with Insurance Sales? Strategic planning has nothing to do with sales if you enjoy working hard, and struggling day in and day out to hit your sales targets. If you'd rather make more and work less then strategic planning has everything to do with sales. There are two distinct approaches to sales, and the choice is yours to make. Most sales people follow an approach that focuses on high levels of activity hoping that all that activity will result in sales. Both you and I know people who tried that approach, worked nearly night and day yet they still failed. That contradicts what you're constantly being told by sales managers, broker dealers, underwriters, and others. Sales Coaching to Avoid Cold Feet Has a prospect ever told you they wanted to buy, and then changed their mind? Or they bought and then almost immediately backed out of the deal, wanted a refund, or canceled their premium. Were you left wondering how that could happen when they seemed so excited and on board? If you've never experienced this you've got to be green. Every beginner and many seasoned professionals experience this and they don't understand why it happens. The explanation is actually pretty simple, and you have yourself to thank for the result you got. Time Management Tips to Increase Value of Customers It's as easy as 1-2-3 to get more value from your time when you focus on the right things. Start that focus by identifying who your ideal customers are. Gain clarity about them by knowing what they're actively looking for. Then develop a message with the right offer to get their attention and interest. Potential customers with the greatest predicted value for you represent your target market. Get enough clarity about this specific group of potential customers so you know their names. Develop your own list of the top 10-100 prospects that you want to convert into customers. Are Your Insurance Sales Hot like a Bowl of Chili? If your sales aren't hot you may be frustrated and confused. You know the sales and marketing systems you're using are working for others, but they aren't working for you. How or why can that be? Because you're reading this article I'm pretty confident that you have at least some experience and knowledge with eating. And that's why I think you'll be able to relate to the examples I'm going to use to convey my point even if you've never personally eaten chili. In case you don't know what chili is, it's a hot spicy soup. Sales Coaching to Make Your Training Stick Have you read, studied, perhaps even trained on the sales techniques offered by the best salespeople out there yet they just don't seem to work when you do them? Are you frustrated and confused as to why and how that could happen? Whether you've studied Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Jeffrey Gitomer, Neil Rackham, or any other of the biggest names in sales training there is one thing you know beyond a doubt, and that is that there is unequivocal evidence that what they're saying works; but somehow it isn't working for you. And the fact that it isn't working for you has you in an emotional frenzy because you need sales and you need sales now. First, calm down and accept that it isn't your fault and it isn't their fault that it isn't working for you. I'm going to help you to understand that there is a perfectly logical reason this is happening to you, and that there is a way for you to overcome your challenges. Sales Coaching to End Closing Fears Thinking about asking someone for the sale causes perfectly normal people break out in a sweat. The reason these apparently normal people have closing anxiety is because they haven't properly handled the sales process. If they had closing would be nothing more than a natural conclusion to a selling conversation. You're anxiety is due to one of four reasons. You didn't have agreement from the prospect to have a selling conversation in the first place. You've confused the prospect by presenting too many options. You didn't take the buyer through a thought process that helped them to buy. You didn't evoke the emotional reason the prospect should act and act now. Time Management Techniques for Sales Professionals As a sales person, if you aren't focused on doing the right things at the right time you lose financially. Or you work yourself to death trying to hit your targets. But, if you'll do a little planning before you take action you can have the financial rewards you want without working unnecessarily hard. Ideally you want the majority, if not all, of your actions to take you closer to a paycheck. Prospecting is how you fill your sales funnel, but all too often sales people have a haphazard approach to prospecting. A better approach is to develop a list of your most desired future customers. When you know who you're focusing on it's easier for you to develop effective ways to approach them. Sales Coaching: You Can't Sell to People who Don't Want to Buy But don't you waste a lot of time and energy doing just that? You could be selling more insurance in less time with less work if you just knew how. Focus your efforts on people who already know they want what you have. You feel rejected when suspects continually turn you down, but they aren't rejecting you personally they'd reject anyone because they don't want what you're offering. When you try to sell to these people it's foolish and self-destructive. The reason you do it is because you're focusing on trying to fill your appointment book instead of focusing on only meeting with people who want to talk to you about what you have to offer. Sales Coaching if You have to Cold Call Even though cold calling would never be my first recommendation for success, there are times when you may have to do it. Why not learn how to do it well if you have to do it anyway. Keep in mind there are a few simple things you can do to make it easier for yourself and get greater success. Sales managers will force you to do it if you're fairly new in the industry, but there are people who've in the industry a long time that still have to do it because they've never learned how to market themselves effectively. Over 84% of all sales people you have call reluctance because they hate doing it, they get poor results, and it damages their self-confidence. Insurance Sales: Are You Recession Proof? There are three approaches you can take if the forecasted recession becomes a reality. You can watch it happen and allow it to determine your future, you can hunker down hoping to survive it, or you can develop a plan to grow because of the recession. The choice and the result is yours. It's never a good idea to allow external circumstances to determine your future. Start identifying how you'll be impacted by a recession if you do nothing to protect yourself. Think about how a recession will impact your customers and potential customers if they do nothing to protect themselves. Speed of Implementation is Key to Success You can pinpoint successful people because they are the people who immediately take action to implement their plans and ideas. Unsuccessful people rarely ever implement anything they learn. These people get caught in the learning and analysis cycle and just can't seem to move forward and take action. Quite often unsuccessful people can't take action because they have to ask everyone around them for their opinion and they get confused and frightened by everyone else's opinions. The really ridiculous thing is that usually the people around unsuccessful people aren't successful. Does it makes sense to ask someone who can't succeed themselves if you should do something that would help you to succeed? Law of Success Requires Speedy Implementation One thing you'll immediately notice about successful people is that they tend to take action to implement their plans and ideas at once. You'll also notice that unsuccessful people are just the opposite rarely taking action on anything. They spend huge amounts of their resources studying and analyzing things, but when it comes time to actually do something they just can't bring themselves to do it. And they don't get much help from the people around them because the people around them aren't successful either, but they have all kinds of opinions. Yet unsuccessful people continue to seek the thoughts and opinions of those around them when they should be making their own decisions. Time Management Tips to Stop Chasing Down Call Backs If you're a sales professional/business owner this time management tip will help you to be more time effective and increase your sales. It's no secret sales people like you like lots of activity. You think lots of activity means more sales but your thinking is actually counter productive. Your greatest potential for immediate sales is in your current customers. Customers are more likely to buy from you again and again and again than most prospects. Some of your customers are responsive in that they buy from you occasionally and some of your customers are highly responsive and will buy nearly everything you show them. Insurance Sales: How to Get Referrals & Never be Pushy The way you're trained to ask for referrals is pushy, obnoxious, and downright embarrassing. You hate it and your clients hate it, and it does nothing to further you're relationship. You ask clever questions like, who are the three people who speak most highly of you. Choke, puke, gag. Stop it and stop it right now if you're using these horrendous highly manipulative tactics. You don't have to stoop to these high pressure approaches to get the referrals you want and need. Insurance Sales: How to Get Referrals & Never be Pushy You've been trained to ask for referrals in a pushy, obnoxious, and downright embarrassing manner. When you use the tactics you've been trained to use it's very harmful to your relationship with your customer. Don't try asking ever so clever questions like, who do you golf with. Choke, puke, gag. These tactics are manipulative and you should stop using them right now. Don't stoop to using these high pressure approaches to get the referrals you need. Insurance Sales: Are You Winning the Sale before the Sale? Isn't it true that before you can ever sell anyone anything you have to sell them on having an appointment? Do you find it challenging to fill your appointment book? Wouldn't you like to hold appointments each week with people who are genuinely interested in doing business with you? You can. You just have to realize that selling starts way before the appointment. That means you have to set yourself up to attract the people you want to work with. Time Management Skills to Break it Down into Actions This one simple idea will help you to feel less stressed. Plus you'll make better use of the time you have. And all it takes is analyzing the whole of any project to break it down into the individual actions you will take or delegate. Let's be clear about what constitutes a project. A project isn't necessarily some gigantic undertaking that you're involved in at work. A project is anything that requires more than one action on your part. Sales Techniques for Translating Concepts into Actions When you're first exposed to a sales idea you learn at the conceptual level. This idea may sound pretty good. You know it has worked for other people so you presume it should work for you. Then when you try it you may find that what has worked for other people doesn't work the same way for you. That's because you aren't other people you're you and what worked so well for someone else may not match up with who you are and your strengths and motivators. Sales Skills to Stop Doing what Isn't Working Persistence is good, but not if you're persistently doing the wrong things. That's just being pig headed and stupid. But you do it because you allow yourself to be mislead into thinking that sales is a numbers game and that if you just keeping doing it you'll eventually get what you want. Sales is a numbers game for sales people who haven't taken the time to set themselves up for success. If you don't want to keep getting rejected and walking away without the money it's time to learn how to set yourself up for sales success. That means you need to think about sales as a scientific process revolving around your skill set that you can develop for consistent success. Turning Plans into Success is Key to Success When you can't turn your plans into reality you're just a dreamer. It's ok to dream, but you have to turn those dreams into actions if you ever want to be an achiever. Start with a clear plan and turn that plan into actions. You develop power through your ability to turn plans into actions. That power will help you to have the ability, strength, and capacity to achieve the success you want. You will succeed through your own actions and the help you get from others. Keys to Making Success Easy You make it hard by telling yourself it's hard. You make it hard by avoiding action. The combination of your thoughts and your inaction is ruining any chance you have for success. Successful people think and act differently than unsuccessful people. You can adopt the thinking and the commitment to action that they have and you can succeed too. But here is why you probably won't. Increase Your Insurance Sales through Questions Maybe you aren't asking the right questions in the right order for the right reason? Asking the right questions is definitely a skill and the best sales people are very adept at it. Most sales people ask the easy questions that don't promote their sales success. Are you asking questions that you could easily already know the answer to? If you are that's a big and annoying mistake. Contrary to popular belief not all people just love talking about themselves, and business owners and upper executives have no patience for educating you. Time Management Tips: Do You Act before You Think? Do you start your day running to your first appointment? How often do you get to your first appointment only to find that you don't have what you need? These are clear signs that it's time for you to slow down, and plan what you're going to do before you take action. I know it seems counter intuitive, but you'll get more done faster with less stress if you set aside proper planning time. Sales people love action and they would rather be doing than thinking. As long as you're doing something you think you're making progress. Keys to Success: Stop Blaming & Complaining Until you accept full responsibility for your current conditions you'll use excuses, blame others, and complain about your lack of success. None of those habits and behaviors move you closer to success. They only take you farther away from success, and they do so rapidly. Whether you like your current situation or hate your current situation you have yourself to thank. When you realize that you created whatever your experiencing now you can take responsibility for changing it. And you will make those changes through your plans and actions. Time Management Tips: Do You have Goals? Goals can help you to make the most effective use of your time. Most people understand that goals are important but they aren't very good at setting and getting them. And that creates a lack of focus and that lack of focus causes you to make poor time related decisions. One reason people mess up with their goal setting is that they try to set way too many goals. You can't focus on or track too many goals so you're better off setting a few goals and really concentrating on getting those than trying to do everything at once. Plus when you only have a few goals it's much easier to plan the next actions you need to take to get them.

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