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June 01, 2010 at 08:00 PM
How many times have you heard a person say, “it wasn’t my fault” or “I can’t believe someone did this to me” to news of down or lost sales? News flash: everything is your fault (your responsibility to own). If we truly take responsibility for ourselves and as a leader to our insurance sales teams, everything is our fault, because ultimately we are the only things we can control.
A great leader can never be a victim and, just as important, a great leader cannot allow people on their team to be victims. We have all heard the phrase, “crap happens” (or a variation of it), but how we respond to it (crap), determines whether or not a person is a victim. The same goes for your business – the economy is not causing your business to struggle; rather, how your business is responding to the economy is causing it to struggle. (“10 ways to bust a sales slump“)
For those looking for motivation, there are many sayings or famous quotes talking about taking control and not being a victim. Winston Churchill quipped, “A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”
However, it takes a lot more than reciting famous quotes and great ideas to be a successful and victorious insurance advisor. It takes a true commitment, time, strong coaching, a willingness to learn and to take calculated risks and most importantly a refusal to be a victim. Despite the economy, you can motivate your sales team by taking responsibility and placing the correct emphasis on logical sales goals and market share. (“7 points that help you sell“)
There is no room for a realist in sales
Salespeople don’t need to be realists; they need to be blind optimists. Advisors need to only think of how they will achieve their sales regardless of the situation. When a salesperson says “I am not a pessimist, I am realist,” whatever goal or obstacle is causing them to make this statement will stop them from being successful, because they have already accepted it. In sales, there is no room for realistic goals and realists. This does not mean that a goal should be a pipe dream; it does mean a goal or result should be logical. The difference between logical and realistic is that realistic has limitations based on someone’s experiences and fears, and logical deals only with the action and the allotted amount of time.
The question every insurance sales team should answer when they are faced with an obstacle is, “what can we do, that does not require any other departments or things we cannot control, to overcome this obstacle, then do it and do it again?” If your life depended on it, could it be done? Great salespeople are visionaries who live a dream and find a way to make things happen.
