Cea

Stop Selling Insurance!

Whenever I conduct a workshop or give a talk van insurance a group of agents, I ask how many of them are in the business of selling insurance. Inevitably about 25% raise their hands. My response to them is, If youre in the business of selling insurance youll have a hard time succeeding because NO ONE WANTS TO BUY INSURANCE!

No one wants to buy insurance. Not homeowners, auto, life, health or disability They only want what the insurance provides. They only want the benefit. Believe me, if people could get the benefits they wanted in some other way, they would. So, if you sell insurance success will be tough. On the other hand, if youre in the business of helping people its a different story. Now, you might protest that the distinction is simply a matter of semantics, but there are fundamental differences between having a sales focus and having a helping focus.

This difference affects pretty much everything a person does along with how they do it. If they have a sales focus, their focus is on making the sale! Everything cheap car insurances the initial contact to the presentation to the close to the follow-up is done from a sales perspective. Marketing, contacting, presentation, and follow-up are from a product and/or company perspective. On the other hand, a person who is focused on helping rather than selling will understand that the service they provide (helping) is what matters and the insurance they offer is simply the means to achieve the solution they create.

Let me illustrate what I mean. Heres how a sales-focused person contacts: Mr. Jones, my name is Bob Smith and I am with the ABC Insurance Company. We have a full line of products to meet your needs. Id like to set up a time to show you our products and explain how they can solve your problems. The focus of the entire exchange is on selling their insurance products. In contrast, a person focused on helping, contacts this way: Ms. Jones, my name is Sue Smith and I help people protect their assets/reduce employee turnover/leverage their financial security. Is that something of interest to you? They understand that they are a professional offering help, rather than a salesperson selling products.

There are many other distinctions related to taking a professional, helping approach over a selling approach, and they have significant implications. Professionals help rather than sell. They have clients instead of customers/policyholders. They build relationships instead of conducting transactions. They offer solutions instead of sales. They attract clients instead of pursuing customers. People buy from them instead in being sold. They find cooperative opportunities instead of competitive obstacles. Think of the implications from these distinctions. Weve always heard that people do business with people they like, and people like people who help. Youve heard the term trusted advisor? This is what were talking about. It occurs when you shift from selling to helping. Imagine having clients who are eager to refer others to you.

When you adopt the attitude of a professional and take the focus off the products, guess who the focus falls on? You! You become the service that clients buy. You become valuable. You become a resource. You become an expert. Clients dont look to insurance policies for answers, they look to you! One of the greatest challenges in arriving at this mindset is becoming clear as to what makes you unique so you can communicate it effectively to your prospects and clients. I often work with my clients on clarifying their purpose and identifying their unique strengths so that their marketing and leadership is effective.

An interesting challenge we face is that we tend to downplay our strengths, especially if they come easily to us. We tend to take them for granted and we tend to assume that everyone has the same (or better) abilities. A very revealing exercise I often ask clients to do is to ask five people they know for five traits that make them excellent at what they do. (My suggestion is to ask people who arent family. Ask clients, friends, and associates.) You may be surprised at the results. I find that the responses fall into three categories. 1) Youll hear things about you that you and everyone else already knew and will thereby get confirmation, 2) Youll hear things that you already knew but didnt think anyone else noticed, giving you new insights as to what people notice and value, and 3) Youll hear things that you never knew about yourself; things that never occurred to you to be a trait that others would value.

These traits and insights are the things that set you apart from all the others out there. These are the things that cause people to do business with you. These unique traits will help you be more effective as you contact new prospects, present your ideas, and generate referrals.

I find that when people arent clear about what sets them apart and arent clear about their purpose (Inotherwords, why they do what they do) they end up leading with their products and their company. They rely on the strength and credibility of others instead of leading with themselves. The goal of every professional should be to become credible in their own right. That doesnt necessarily becoming the foremost expert in their field, but it does mean becoming excellent at what they do as a professional helping others. It means finding new ways to help. It may even mean helping in ways other than with insurance. You can become a resource for information or a networking source of contacts within your community. You can offer advice in other areas of business or life (other professionals are more than happy to provide you with article and insights you can pass on).

The whole point of this is to stop selling insurance and start helping people. Its been said that people dont care how much you know until they know how much you care, and its true. The interesting consequence is that when you take your focus off of selling and place it on helping, youll attract more clients, generate more referrals, and sell more insurance. Life is good

Written by Michael Beck, The Insurance Coach. Michael, an Executive Coach and Recruiting Activist, helps insurance professionals succeed faster and easier. He can be reached at 877-977-8956 or href="mailto:mbeck@theinsurancecoach.commbeck@theinsurancecoach.com You can learn more about his work at: www.TheInsuranceCoach.comhttp://www.TheInsuranceCoach.com You can subscribe to his newsletter at: www.theinsurancecoach.com/Subscribe.htmhttp://www.theinsurancecoach.com/Subscribe.htm (C) Copyright 2006 Exceptional Leadership, Inc.

posted by biibj @ 7:32 AM 0 comments

How to Deal With Neurotic, Compulsive, Difficult People at Work, at Home, and in Yourself - Part 1

• Can you imagine how your life would improve if you genuinely got along with and understood your teenagers and coworkers?
• Can you imagine Louisiana Lemon Laws peace in your household and workplace if you had the power to transform arguments into discussions?
• Can you imagine how much more productive your life and the life of those around you would be if you knew how to communicate with them so that you actually heard one another?

Can you imagine what your environment would be like if peopl worked with you in a spirit of cooperation? THIS IS YOUR LUCKY DAY!STOP IMAGINING AND START MAKING IT HAPPEN. The key is understanding others and yourself through the Enneagram-the ancient system of personality profiling that places people into one of nine categories, based on what negatively motivates them to act.This is the first in a series of Enneagram scenarios and discussions designed to help you identify the personality type of your children, and interact with them accordingly. Of course online insurance quote important to figure out your own type as well, as we go along.By the time you've read the entire series of articles, you'll know much more about yourself, and about those wonderful people with whom you work and live.And I guarantee you'll be making changes in how you communicate with people-you'll understand others and yourself much better, and you'll be more successful in getting the behavioral results you want from other people.(And you just may make a few behavioral changes in yourself as well.) Let's start at the beginning-a very fine place to start.... Does your "challenging person" consistently and predictably demand such a high standard of perfection that he/she is almost doomed to fail-and so is anyone else who tries to meet those standards?

• This person appears to be driven by the need to be perfect.
• This person never wants to show anger.
• You will soon be silently calling this person a ONE.

Ones feel COMPELLED to be perfect.

They are always in emotional and situational control. Their essence is their perfection. Imperfection (especially "emotional imperfection") causes them to lose the sense of who they are. They will frequently use phrases such as "I want this done perfectly" or "That's not how it's supposed to be." They know they are perfectionists, and will frequently identify themselves as such.Expect their rooms to be neat and orderly, their work stations to be neat and orderly, their closets to be neat and orderly and their physical appearance to be neat and orderly.Not only do ones wantthings done right, they want others to do them right as well.They are always controlled, and try to control emotions, because to lose control emotionally shows a lack of personal perfection. At their best Ones are honest, fair, dependable and accountable people who encourage growth and change in those around them. However... Their need to be perfect is their gift and their curse Affirmations for Category One- If your son or daughter would answer YES to 20 of these-the odds are that child is a ONE

1.Things are seldom gray; they are good or bad, right or wrong.
2.People just don't put enough effort into doing things correctly.
3.I read self-help and self-improvement books but I already know most of it.
4.Most people waste too much time.
5.I try to be very orderly and organized.
6.People don't try hard enough to improve themselves.
7.There's usually not enough time to do it, much less do it right.
8.Worries plague most of my thoughts.
9.My word is my bond.

10.I am always punctual, and bothered when others are not.
11.There is no reason for people to use incorrect grammar or spelling.
12.IfI'm not perfect, I fear I won't be loved.
13.If everything is not done perfectly, the entire event will be ruined for me.
14.A place for everything and everything in its place comes naturally to me.
15.With me, honesty is more than a virtue; it is a compulsion.
16.I analyze the cost and value of purchases
17.I try always to be fair, and expect the same of others.
18.Spontaneity offends my need to plan and organize.
19.I am often seen as too serious.
20.I see myself as disciplined, practical, and reliable.
21.I secretly fear criticism by others.
22.Time is precious and not to be wasted.
23.In social settings, I can be amusing, but not silly.
24.I rarely over-indulge in anything.
25.People seldom meet my expectations of them.

Have you already found your "special person"?If so, NOW WHAT?How do you deal with such a personality type?We'll discuss that in the tenth article, after we go through the other eight Enneagram possibilities.Perhaps you've found yourself? Next in the series-Category Two-The Saint.

Check out my YouTube channel at: www.youtube.com/user/PowerDiversityhttp://www.youtube.com/user/PowerDiversity In 10 minutes you could have some new tools to help you deal with difficult people.

posted by biibj @ 6:55 AM 0 comments