Every few months, it seems there’s a new program or sales tool coming out that can give you a decisive edge over the competition. It can be hard to keep up, but experienced and successful agents understand that an occasional tune-up is crucial to keeping up with today’s market — and one of the best ways to do so is by attending conferences that are relevant to your practice.
In any given year, there is at least one insurance industry conference or chapter meeting held somewhere close to you. Many insurance professionals know that conferences are great opportunities to meet representatives of companies that offer products they can add to their portfolio, create business alliances, build their reputations, and unearth new tools and strategies that can be incorporated into their business.
But it’s not always easy to find the right conference, and many agents don’t know how to get the most out of them. Following are a few tips for finding conferences that deliver resources to your practice, as well as how to incorporate these resources into your business.
Finding the right conference
You can’t spend every other weekend attending conferences. You’d rather be closing deals, which means you may only be able to attend one or two conferences a year. The challenge is to make that investment of your time and money worthwhile.
For most agents, this means looking for larger conferences that will deliver more resources, programs, and product offerings than smaller events. If you live in a large city, a local conference will probably suffice. Other agents may have to shoot for regional or national conventions.
If you belong to a specific industry group, you’ll automatically be invited to their conferences. But if their meetings tend to be small and local, you may want to look around for larger conferences that offer more, so see if your group maintains a list of additional upcoming conferences. (See below for a list of major insurance conferences slated for 2008).