This post is part of a series on how to cultivate three traits that will help any insurance agent be more successful: being persistent, productive and personable. Click on each link to read them all. Part 2, Part 3.
Learning to be Persistent
Persistence is such an important quality that it has been credited as a key to success by people in all types of disparate fields. Creative types like actors need persistence because they face lots of rejection. Scientists need persistence as they repeatedly posit, test and retest new ideas. Politicians need persistence to find common ground. And athletes need persistence to hone their natural talents into spectacular physical feats.
Once you choose a career in insurance sales, it becomes quickly apparent that you’re going to need persistence, too. You’ll need it to reach out to the same lead multiple times, to spend hours making cold calls and to move past rejections from potential customers.
So how do you go about cultivating this very important trait? Here are a few ideas that might help.
1) Set Daily Rejection Quotas
You already know that you’re not going to make every sale. But in general, the more you try, the more you sell. By setting a rejection quota, you’re acknowledging this and giving yourself permission to feel good about that part of your work.
This trick is popular among creative writers like novelists and poets, who face long odds of ever seeing their works published. The idea is to shift your thinking away from defining success solely as achieving your final goal. Instead, you broaden it to count true and consistent effort, too.
2) Learn to Detach
Often associated with Buddhism and other Eastern philosophies, detachment (also known as non-attachment or unattachment) is a way of recognizing that there is very little that any individual has control over in this world. So why spend time and energy trying to change something that you can’t?
This concept is especially helpful when it comes to dealing with unpleasant or rude people, which can be a demoralizing part of sales. It’s common to feel bad when someone is unkind, but often that unkindness has nothing to do with you. Instead of internalizing someone else’s bad mood, detach from it and press on. Their mood doesn’t have to be yours. Let them keep it as you keep your eyes on your prize, something that will be easier if you…
3) Clarify Your Goals
It’s much easier to stay on your own path when you’re clear about where you are headed. When’s the last time you thought broadly and specifically about your short-, middle- and long-term goals? At a minimum, you should do an annual check-in. Doing it more frequently like monthly or weekly can be even more useful to help you stay focused on what you want to accomplish.
Many people find it helpful to write their goals down and keep them somewhere visible—put a sticky note on the corner of your desk or change the background on your computer to your daily, weekly or monthly goal.
4) Practice Persistence in Your Personal Life
Like any other trait, the more you use it, the easier it will be to summon persistence when you need it. Try to think of a fun way to practice persistence in your personal life.
Ideal activities are ones that you can practice any time, on your own and with little required setup time. Maybe you’ve always wanted to take guitar or piano lessons or try to learn a new language or how to do computer coding. These are all things that require consistent repetition, which is the main muscle you want to work to become a more persistent person.
The benefits of persistence are many; for insurance agents, persistence can lead to more sales, an ever-expanding book and the ability to make a very good living for yourself and your family.
Hometown Quotes is pleased to provide insurance agencies with high-quality leads filtered by policy type, geographic location and more. Call us at 800.820.8921 to find out how we can help you achieve your sales goals.
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