Ask a lot of questions and then listen, listen, listen.

As my previous career was that of a commodities floor trader where yelling over someone was a means to success, listening was not a practice I abided by when I entered the employee benefits business. Whether it was remnant of my previous career or having to show whoever was in the room that I knew everything (which I didn't), my lack of listening in the early days of my professional development was a trait that I needed to overcome.

As I set out to change this, I fought the urge to speak out and instead listened when a prospect, client or a fellow professional spoke. At this point in my career I see many others making the same mistake of not listening and missing opportunity.

Learn everything you can that affects your business.

Be a sponge for information. Learn from everyone: mentors, co-workers, fellow professionals and, most importantly, clients. The people within this field will teach you (whether they realize it or not) about everything that is relevant to our field. Clients will keep you grounded and will be a constant reminder that there is a whole business world out there that doesn't revolve around benefits. The challenge is making sure you become the student.

you earn your living in the last 15 hours of work each week.

While averaging a 70-75 hour work week is not my idea of fun, I have found that my business success often starts with hour 60 of the work week. Whether it's out working, out learning, out servicing, or out hustling others, making sure that I have enough time to take care of the bull that comes with a long career and still dedicate time to growing the business is of paramount importance.

The easiest sale is the one you've already made.

There is a saying in sales that the easiest sale that you can make is to an existing client. While this concept has merit, I believe that the easiest sale is the one you have already made. Nowhere is this truer than in a sale of voluntary benefits. Although it's great when the CFO or HR director awards you the business, it's meaningless if the enrollment and implementation are not executed correctly. Each mistake that is made in enrollment and implementation can be a loss of a sale that was already made. Considering the expense of generating business via a new employer sale is very costly, it pays to make sure you actually “sell the business that you have already sold.”

Remember, employers don't have to offer anything.

This has always been the case with voluntary benefits and essentially is now the reality of health insurance in many circumstances. As I have been dealing with this for years, I've found that a consultative approach as opposed to a sales approach works best. As I wrote above, it goes back to asking questions and listening. I find that if I do this enough the prospects will help make the sale.