By Eddie Vukovic – Digital Communications Manager – The Institute
It’s a new year –and with a new year, comes New Year’s resolutions. Most of us make plans to be healthier, drink less or read more but what about on a professional level? How many of us make professional New Year’s resolutions?
As you reflect on your results for 2014, using the beginning of a new year is a great excuse to make some professional resolutions.
Here are 7 New Year’s Resolutions you can use to make yourself a better broker:
1 Practice Your Sales Conversations
As experienced brokers you probably don’t think it is necessary to practice your sales conversations in front of the mirror or in a role-playing situation, right? Well, not according to John F Carroll – CEO of Insurance Splash.
He says that unless you’ve closed 100% of your sales, a great way to improve your technique is to go over the conversations where you didn’t get the sale and try different talk-paths that could have led to a successful sale. While you won’t get that sale back, the next time that objection, attitude, or conversation comes back around you’ll be equipped (and practiced) to handle it.
2 Use Social Media
This doesn’t mean posting more selfies on Instagram or making sports related status updates on Facebook. The world of social media can be a noisy one and sometimes it’s actually better if you post less but generate more engagement with your clients and potential clients.
Be creative, conversational and at times, controversial. Ask questions of people and find out what it is they need from a broker and be there to answer their questions. Remember, the social media environment is a replication of the real environment. Good feedback can go a long, long way.
3 Interact With Every Customer
There’s a saying that the best client is the one we never hear from… until the cancellation notice shows up. Try to call all of your clients, not just the ones that can be problematic. Come up with a process that involves reaching out to each of them throughout the entire year. Tie it to policy renewals, birthdays, or policy anniversary dates. Sure, it can be time consuming and requires additional effort but it also keeps them more informed and shows the value that only you can provide them.
4 Stop Delaying the Call-back
How often do you find you’ve reached the end of the day and have two or three calls to return? While it’s always easier deal with it in the next day, it may actually be better for your broker /client relationship to commit to answering those queries the same day – it’ll save you the frustration of doing it in the morning and will go a long way to keeping your clients feel valued.
5 Attend More Networking Events
Online social networking is big, a look at the LinkedIn membership numbers can quantify that, but it will never replace offline social networking in the insurance world.
While attending an event can eat into your day or night life, an industry breakfast or lunch, is a great way to rub shoulders with other people in the industry.
Volunteering for a charity or participating in other community events are also ways you can network with other local business owners and community members.
6 Talk Less, Listen More
As a broker you’re in the business of selling— and many sales gurus swear that by listening, rather than talking, means you’ll almost always have the opportunity to sell more, or provide better customer service because you’re focused on what the client truly needs rather than just trying to sell your product.
7 Get Some Online Reviews
What do you do when you’re looking to buy a major appliance? Do you believe everything the salesperson is telling you or do you put your faith in peer reviews from sites like productreview.com.? Most people put more stock in a peer review than an industry professional, so take advantage of it.
There are myriad business /service review sites around and websites like Google and Yelp are also getting much better at spotting fake ones—so you’re going to have to get real customers to write them for you. If you provide a valuable service, most people will be happy to provide for you.
