Selling Isn’t Winning

Vince Lombardi opened the Packers training camp by saying “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing” One of Leo Durocher’s favorites was ” Show me a good loser, and I’ll show you a loser” In this article, I share two approaches to the insurance sales process. The selling approach, and the winning approach. You can compare the two, and make changes if you see opportunity to raise your game. Along the way I’ll share some insights, and quotes from winners to help fuel the change process.

• Find a prospect we would like to meet. Make phone calls, send e mails, make cold calls, or get introduced, and are granted an appointment.
• Show up, develop rapport, talk about ourselves, our Agency/Company, and ask questions to uncover pain so we can pour salt in the wounds.
• Get permission to quote, get copies of their Dec pages, discuss marketing strategy, get all excited, and go to work.
• Complete applications, and send out submissions to block markets (which backfires when the incumbent cries foul, and get’s the markets we wanted) Order loss runs, and loss control surveys, and follow up with several requests for additional information which destroys the rapport we built, and makes us look unorganized.
• Deliver our proposal, ask for the order, and get put off because the prospect needs to confer with someone else, wants to think about it, or wants to compare our quote to others. Usually, we’ll hear something like “it looks real good- We’ll call you after we have all of the quotes.” I hate hearing that.
• The renewal date arrives, and the prospect can’t be reached, or they have not yet received the incumbent’s quote. What a surprise! When we finally get a call back, we hear ” We decided to stay with our agent because there just wasn’t enough difference or reason to change” We also hear “Thank you so much for your hard work! “and “You are invited to come back next year to get used again” Sound familiar? If it does, keep reading.

What is missing in this approach?

The definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over, and over, again and expecting different results: Albert Einstein- Ben Franklin

The best in our business dissect their wins and losses to determine how to improve their performance. If you gain just one nugget to take away from this article, it would be this: Learn from others experiences. Learn from the best in the business. Go to school on them, and learn from their mistakes. This single skill will shorten your learning curve, and save a great deal of time and grief on your road to success.

“Geniuses learn from the mistakes of others, intelligent people learn from their own mistakes, and fools are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over again. “ Unknown…but brilliant

The very best producers in our business have all developed rules of engagement required before they spend one minute of their time, or one dime of their agency’s money working on a prospect. Here are some of the best rules I have learned from the best in our business. If prospects won’t play by our rules, I suggest we take our ball and go home.

So, don’t sell . . . WIN! Develop an effective strategy to deal with all of the hurdles up front. Create pain through comparison. Set rules of engagement. Gain commitment, and prepare your prospect to fire the incumbent before you go to work.

If you tell people where to go, but not how to get there, you’ll be amazed at the results. Don’t tell people how to do things, tell them what to do and let them surprise you with their results. George S. Patton

I hope I have followed the General’s advice and shared what to do, but not how to do it. Your thoughts and comments please.