Whether your business has faltered or is still going strong, “reinventing” your business can provide an enormous boost to your results. I’ll offer some specific ideas to consider in a moment, but first let me help you appreciate the many benefits of reinventing. By “reinventing”, I don’t mean abandoning the business you’re presently in (although [...]
How to Retain Agents in a Tough Economy
December 1, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Finding good agents is always a challenge. It’s time-consuming and usually requires some financial investment as well. So it just makes sense – after going through all the effort to bring them on board – to invest a bit more time and money to retain them. Many organizations approach this task from the wrong perspective. [...]
Emotional Intelligence in Leadership
November 21, 2008 By Leave a Comment
I’ve recently had some discussions with clients regarding whether employing the competencies of Emotional Intelligence in their leadership style will accelerate or decelerate their productivity and progress. Study after study has shown that leaders who sharpen and employ EI skills consistently outperform peers who lead through variations of the stereotypical Command-Control model. Additionally, companies which [...]
Turnover is Not a Problem
October 25, 2008 By Leave a Comment
“Ha!” you say. “For someone to make a statement like that, they obviously haven’t worked in the real world and certainly have never had to run a company.” Well, let me assure you. In my past I’ve not only run companies, but spent many years in one of the most notorious industries for turnover – [...]
Does Attitude Really Count?
September 24, 2008 By 2 Comments
For as long as I’ve been a professional I’ve heard that a person’s attitude makes a difference. You’ve probably heard all the cute sayings about attitude – “Your Attitude Determines Your Altitude”, Attitude is Everything”, “The Only Thing You Can Control is Your Attitude”. Every sales manager talks about attitude. Every leader talks about attitude. [...]
Professional or Amateur?
August 8, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Are you an amateur or a professional? Now, before you answer, let me offer a perspective that may change your response… I recently had a conversation with a client about a successful agent within his district. This agent is a property & casualty agent who writes a good amount of business. He pulls in close [...]
Close More Sales Without Selling!
July 7, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Let’s face it… No one likes to be “sold” something. To me, being “sold” is when somebody convinces me to buy something – whether or not I really needed or wanted it. Have you ever been convinced by someone to buy something, maybe even against your better judgment, and then regretted having made the purchase? [...]
Marketing Strategies in a Tough Economy
June 3, 2008 By Leave a Comment
Wow! Talk about a marketing challenge… A weak economy. People in a wait-and-see mode. Bad news on the financial scene every day. The consequence? Prospects are reluctant to make a decision. They’re hesitant to spend much money or make any kind of long-term (or short-term, for that matter) commitment. So as sales professionals, we become [...]
The 4 Myths about Internet Recruiting
May 2, 2008 By Leave a Comment
There’s as much demand as ever for insurance and financial services. In a tough economy, people especially need their assets protected and they need sound professional advice for minimizing erosion of their investments. So it’s no surprise that the need for more, highly-productive agents and advisors is on the rise. There seems to be a [...]
How to Have Success with Direct Mail
April 15, 2008 By 1 Comment
Direct Mail, when done correctly, produces great results. The problem is that most people don’t really understand what direct mail is, and confuse it with plain old mail. Let me briefly explain the difference. Now bear with me; this may seem a bit simplistic but most people actually misunderstand what makes direct mail different from [...]
