Before I get started, let me handle the gorilla in the room: You need to have a marketing budget. You must invest in yourself.
The amount you are willing to invest will affect the success you will find.
If you do not have funds set aside, don’t read any further. I hear it all the time: “All I want to do is see people and sell.”
That’s what we all want to do.
The reality is, to write annuities at the $3 million to $5 million annual premium level, you need to invest about $2,000 to $4,000 a month in marketing. To sell more, invest more; to sell less, invest less.
Here are five marketing budget investment priorities.
1. Outsource.
Outsource your lead generation. Outsource the marketing, answering the phone, paying the bills, and running the office.
Let those who know more than you do, do the heavy lifting.
Ask yourself this question: Who are you, and what do you want to do? If you genuinely want to be an annuity salesperson, then outsource everything except the activities that make you an annuity salesman and that make you money.
For me, those activities are: Seeing new prospects, soliciting referrals, completing Fact Finders, building relationships, closing sales, and delivering contracts.
Everything else in my life is outsourced.
2. Automate.
Use tools of automation to make your business run smoother. Automate your payroll; automate anything in your office you can. Automate your monthly (or weekly) client outreach.
3. Delegate.
Decide precisely what makes you money. Use a system to market yourself to your database, keep your clients, referrals and leads warm.
For me, it is seeing people and selling annuities. Everything else I do is delegated. I delegate my appointment setting and my appointment reminders. My assistant calls my clients for reviews, I see them. I delegate everything about the applications and forms; I delegate money transfers and all service issues.
4. Ditch it.
Only do what you want to do, see people and sell product. Ditch everything else. This is hard for some agents because they cannot keep their fingers out of all aspects of their business.
To achieve the highest possible sales for your abilities, doing this is a must.
Anything that does not work, ditch it and try something else.
Follow the Starbucks Coffee business plan. Starbucks knows that 90% of everything they try will at some point fail, but that the 10% that works makes it worthwhile.
If you get a great marketing idea, try it; if it works, great. If it doesn’t, ditch it and move on.
Forget failures; they are history. How do we build our business model to become an outsource business? How do we maximize our selling efforts?
5. The most important part of your business is your internet credentials.
If you lack credentials, do something about it. Google yourself, you will see what your referrals, clients and prospects will see.
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(Image: Sergey Tinyakov/Shutterstock)