By Randy S. Schuster
Here are six strategies I use to consistently move my production and business to the next level.
1. Put life insurance first. My philosophy is to do life insurance planning first. This allows me to gain rapport and trust from the client so I can become involved in his entire financial life. I pace myself, often getting a piece of his business first and the rest as time goes on. Ultimately, I will get to all other sales such as sales for the investments, long-term care insurance, disability income insurance, group insurance, etc; sometimes I just don’t know when it will come.
2. Pace yourself. In this industry, there is an inordinate amount of business written in the fourth quarter. I have never had this problem because I’ve always picked an average quarterly target of how much new business I want to put on the books. For example, you might want to set a goal to place $25,000 of new first-year life commissions each quarter. This becomes the bread and butter of your business and does not include any big-ticket cases.
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Keeping track allows me to see my weaknesses and where I can improve so I can make my business model more efficient. |
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3. Nix evening appointments. When I first entered the business, I would get to the office by 8 a.m., work until 5 p.m., go home to eat dinner, shower, shave, spend a few minutes with my kids, and then exhaustedly rush out the door for a 7:30 p.m. appointment to get home at 9:30 p.m. After three months of this, I made the decision that what I do is so important that I am not going to work nights anymore. I am just going to tell my prospect that my last appointment begins at 5:30 in the afternoon. My business has only increased because my clients respect this. (To use this effectively with new prospects, see the box.)
| Arranging Daytime Meetings Only |
You only want to work daytime hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. So how do you respond to a prospect who tells you, “I work during the day and will only see you at night or on the weekends.”? I say: “Mr. Prospect, my business hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. All of my clients work during the day. I have three options for you: I can see you at 8 in the morning, or I can see you for a working lunch in my office and my assistant will order lunch in advance for us so that we can make our time efficient, or I can see you at 3:30 in the afternoon. I do not do nights and I do not do weekends. Which of those three would you like to do?” I have never once had a prospect refuse to make an appointment with me because of this. |
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4. Hire good help. My assistants are top notch. I can’t stress enough how important it is to be very picky about who you hire. And when you find the right person, pay him at the high end of the wage scale. You will find that a quality assistant will save you time and aggravation, which will allow you to focus strictly on getting the business and taking care of it, while allowing him to handle everything else.
5. Keep score. Many of us faithfully tracked all our activity when we first started in the business. But as we got busy, we slacked off. How many of us have information on our activity 10 years into the business? I do. I break activity down into key categories and keep it on an Excel spreadsheet. Keeping track allows me to see my weaknesses and where I can improve so I can make my business model more efficient. It helps me in challenging myself to move my practice to the next level.
6. Think big. Don’t be afraid to dream big. Write down what you expect to produce and quantify this in numbers by category over the next five years. Review this information on a regular basis and watch how what you have asked for comes true. Get a mentor or a coach to challenge you to take your business to the next level. Believe in yourself. Ask for what you want on a daily basis and watch it happen.
For more tips from Randy Schuster on how to improve your practice, be sure to listen to AdvisorToday.com’s podcast with him, “Must-Have Habits You Need to Succeed.”
This is an edited excerpt from a much longer speech given at the 2007 MDRT annual meeting. Used with permission. All rights reserved.
Randy S. Schuster, of Centra Financial Group in Rochester, N.Y., is an MDRT Court of the Table qualifier, author of The Power of Habits and a member of NAIFA-Rochester. Contact him at 585-899-1200 or Randy@coordinatedplan.com.
July 2008
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