Since we are now in the new year, I thought I would consider some business and personal goals. Why put off an assignment you could (or should) have done in December 2008, when you can do it now, right? Actually I did start earlier, but failed to write down one more important goal for 2009 – prospecting. It's generally on my "to do" list every year and never materializes as a completed goal. I thought I would leave it off this year, but the "insurance gods" just made me write it down again. It kind of falls into that weight-loss program I set myself up to fail every year. It really sounds great on paper, but I can never bring myself to do a very good job of it.
The bottom line is that a large majority of us in this business believe we are poor prospectors. Yes, we are all part of this Worse Case Scenario. It's an easy club to be a member of. It doesn't require a fee or even a secret handshake. However, those who have been in the business longer than it takes an NBA season to end, fully understand that prospecting is the life-blood of our successful practices.
I was trained in the art of prospecting when I entered the life insurance business countless years ago. That's when you really had to work hard at getting some poor chump to meet with you about something they thought they would never need. We were taught to pass out our business cards to anybody who was breathing and vertical. Most of the training videos were, in my opinion, obnoxious and out of my character. I hated it.
Recommended For You
Then we were taught after you sold a policy to someone who didn't really think they needed it, we were to get referrals. "Who do you know that would be interested in the service I provide?" was the question we were supposed to ask our new client. My district manager said we needed three referral names to be a success. I wasn't very good at that either. Now I would agree that referrals are much better than just picking up the phone book and calling names. Asking for names of my client's friends to pester was just not part of the "Dave Shymkus persona," though.
You're probably asking now, "How did this guy ever make it in the business?" Lesson learned … after writing most of this article I found that while not the traditional prospector in the sense of those awful training videos, I'm better than I give myself credit. And, I think we all are. As long as we do the very best job for our clients, we will be rewarded with an influx of more clients. I received a call from a small business wanting some group insurance recently. I had given them my card two years ago and advised them to give me a call sometime if they ever wanted to discuss group health. I can't remember what color socks I had on yesterday, let alone giving someone my card two years ago. But, it turns out that I had provided some good advice and service to another small-business friend of theirs, they dug up my card and called me. I'm sure some of you who use the traditional prospecting methods from those videos and training aids are very successful and probably cussing me right now. I'm glad you're doing well, but I plan to stay on my course of action. I still intend to write, "prospecting" down in my goals for 2009!
Hey blogger-buddies, use the form below to post a note about your likes or dislikes about this article!
© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
