Mick Jagger has daily habits. What are yours?
Secrets for insurance and real estate agents to skyrocket their sales.
Every real estate agent and insurance agent wants more and better clients to make more and better sales.
This is not a secret.
What is a secret are the lies some agents tell themselves as to why they don’t have more and better clients that lead to more and better sales.
People in sales who are struggling always have a list of excuses as to why they are not doing better. These excuses help them rationalize and reinforce what they are doing, even though it is wrong.
Excuses are their way of not holding themselves accountable.
Excuses are how they blame others for their failures.
Excuses are often lies they use to avoid doing the real work involved with being successful.
Lots of people believe their own excuses. Excuses absolve us from responsibility.
That is why they are excuses and not actual reasons.
Here is the difference:
Excuse: “I did not sell any cars this month because no one has financing.”
Response: “Ha! You mean from all of the people who walked into your showroom in the past month, not ONE had financing options? Statistically, that is improbable.”
An actual reason is a legitimate explanation.
Reason: “I did not sell any cars this month because I tested positive for COVID and was too sick to work.”
Response: “I hope you and the people around you are healthy soon.”
Many people confuse excuses and reasons.
The secret to consistently good sales is consistency. Every day, the best agents and sales people, in their given field, are consistent with three things:
- Their outreach
- Their follow-up
- Their excellence in serving their customers
Sales strategies need to be done every day.
My friend, Meridith Elliott-Powell, author of the brilliant new book, Thrive: Turning Uncertainty Into Competitive Advantage has a daily routine, regardless of late night travel, early morning keynotes, or book deadlines.
Every morning she exercises, reviews her goals, and makes 2 client calls. Every morning. She never misses a day. The habit of reaching out to her clients is as routine as brushing her teeth. She does it consistently and it works.
Is it easy? No. Especially when the flight the night before was 7 hours late and Meridith lands at 2:47 AM. It would be easy for her to make excuses: “The flight was delayed by 7 hours so I am going to skip the calls today.”
But Meridith doesn’t make excuses. As a result, she is recognized as one of the world’s top sales thought leaders.
1. Outreach
What are you doing on a daily basis to find new and better customers and clients?
Where are you looking?
How are you attracting people on a daily basis to buy from you?
Where are your buyers online? In-person?
Where do you have to go, either online or in-person to connect with your buyers?
Where do they want to connect with you?
2. Follow-up
One of the questions I ask sales people during sales programs is whether they could do a better job following up with their customers and clients. Practically everyone says they could do a better job with follow-up.
The follow-on question is “what can you do to follow-up with your people?” Sales people always have a great list of things they could do to follow-up with clients.
They just don’t take the action.
So why don’t we follow-up the way we should?
Some people think they are bothering their customer and clients. If you are providing valuable information, you are not bothering them. You are staying top of mind.
Others make excuses that it is the wrong time of day, they don’t have new information, or that they are waiting for a better time.
Let’s focus on the follow-up. The time is now. Make the call. Send the email. Show up.
Do it every day. Be consistent.
If you need ideas on follow-up, the 5-Minute Follow-Up Plan is free here.
3. Serve
Agents who get into sales for the quick buck usually don’t last very long. When certain markets are hot, they attract more agents. The bad agents get washed out fairly fast.
Great real estate agents know that for most people, buying a home is the single largest investment their clients will ever make. We need great real estate agents. A car is the second largest investment most people will ever make. We need great car experts. Protecting homes and cars and the people inside them is why we need great insurance agents.
Clients want their agents to be knowledgeable about their unique situations, have solved similar problems, and be able to make the complex processes a little easier.
Customers want a good quality product. They want great advice and guidance.
They want interactions with sales people to be pleasant. They want the process to be easy, with trustworthy communication every step of the way.
Great agents work for their clients. They watch out for what is best for their clients. In real estate, they do not encourage them to buy a more expensive house even though their commission is usually based on the purchase price of the house.
Great agents of all kinds serve their clients in a way that is best for the clients. And they serve consistently.
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