Sales Blog for National Agents Alliance

At National Agents Alliance, when we teach goal-setting techniques, we often hear this question from the new and uninitiated agent:  “What do I need to do to accomplish this goal?” That, unfortunately, is not the right question to ask.

We know the goal should be specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and time-sensitive.  We also know the philosophy taught by the late Jim Rohn regarding achieving success and reaching all your goals: “Success is not something you pursue. What you pursue eludes you. Success is something you attract by the person you become. If you want to have more, you must become more.”

Let me give you an example.  Let’s say your goal is to earn extra $100,000 this year. Now we need to ask the question, ‘Who do you need to become to be an extra $100,000 valuable?’ Your answer might contain some attributes—stated in the positive, “I am”—such as:

• I am a disciplined master of time efficiency.
• I focus solely on high-payoff and high-productivity actions.
• I wake up an hour earlier and review my priority objectives each morning.
• I fuel my body properly and exercise four days a week.
• I read positive books (found on CEO, Andy Albright’s Book of the Month list).
• I surround myself with high achievers.
• I am a smart, confident and effective leader.
• I deliver excellence to my clients and continually find ways to ‘wow’ them, which brings repeat business and referrals.

Before you can have, you must do. And before you can do, you must become.

“To achieve something you have never achieved before you must become someone you have never been.” —Les Brown

In order to achieve all that you desire, you need to determine the characteristics, behaviors and disciplines you need to adopt as well as the behaviors you need to expand on and maybe the ones you need to eliminate altogether. You will need to figure out how to become the person who would achieve your goals, and would deserve them.

Ask yourself:  “What are the top few ways I need to change or improve my behavior, habits or disciplines in order to achieve my goals?”  When you do these things, you will regularly find your name on the National Agents Alliance leader boards!

As we’ve previously touched on, National Agents Alliance believes in the power of setting goals, both in a business and personal setting.  So let’s look at a little more specific example and application:  At some point in your life, you, or someone you know, have probably tried to lose weight. There would be a grand plan to shed those pounds, but temptation would get the upper hand, and a dessert would be stolen here and there as time went along.

While we are aware that it is cheating the diet and ourselves, we give in and do it anyway. This blows the diet off course and the end result is that the weight isn’t lost. Justifications are easy to come by, “Just this time it’s OK” and related excuses quickly spring to mind.  Then, that easily turns into once a day, and proceeds to fries and burgers and other diet killers. This is a classic case of letting one’s head hurt their body!

The long and short of it is this: To lose weight, you really need to have your mind right first. When you get your head straight, you can focus on the work and the diet.

Selling insurance is no different in that regard. If you have your mind right, you are going to have more success than the guy who isn’t ready to do it!

There is a roadmap to success with sales. You learn it from people above you or from teammates. You learn it from reading and watching others. You hear it on conference calls and webinars. You learn it from dialing, talking and meeting with people too.

Where do we encounter problems when we are selling? We don’t up sell, we don’t make enough calls and we don’t follow the script. We focus on the wrong aspects of the product we offer. We convince ourselves our clients don’t want to hear what we have to say or just won’t like the cost involved.

In doing this, we basically void any sales we could make if our mind was right. We become our own worst enemy instead of being our best supporter and fan. We move back two steps instead of jumping forward three steps.

What you have to decide before selling …

Will you greet the next prospect or client with a sincere gusto or with a look of dread?

Will you be able to sell a policy when you think the people don’t want it?

Will you learn the script until you know it without even blinking when asked?

Will you work past 5 p.m. if that is what it takes? Will you meet people at night?

Will you make the extra effort instead of taking the easy way out?

Will you not judge your client or prospect based on appearance?

Will you keep learning, get better and get energized or will you just not bother to try?

Remember, sales really are in your head first! Whatever is in there determines how successful you can be!  Don’t forget to utilize all of the resources that National Agents Alliance provides for you in order to help with this.  From live and recorded information on NAAtv to the CDs and books available in the store, we’ve got whatever media form that you prefer.  Or if in person is more your speed, don’t forget to check out HotSpots for meetings and training opportunities from our top folks!

With the new year nigh, it is once again that time to assess and reassess, to plan and prioritize, and to make extraordinary resolutions for the future.  In reality, resolutions are simply goals.  So in the spirit of this period of goal setting insanity, let’s delve a little bit into how to set feasible goals (for the purposes of business of course, fantastic and incredible journeys may still be applied to your personal resolutions ).

If you have read about or attended a seminar or class on goal setting, the SMART mnemonic will most likely have been encountered.  Generally, as applied to goal setting, this stands for: S – Specific, M – Measurable, A – Attainable, R – Relevant, T – Time-Bound.  The objective of applying this concept is to apply focus and constraints to a goal, rather than having it be very open ended and vague.

As an example, let’s say the goal is to attend NAA University to increase your skills, knowledge, and earning potential.  Instead of setting your goal as “To attend NAA University,” employing SMART allows a more compelling goal, such as “To have passed the NAA University exam by June 1, 2012.”  It’s a small change, but it has a specific objective that is measurable and attainable, relevant to your career, and bound by time limits. Making this adjustment allows objectives to be set to achieve the goal via proper planning and time management, whereas being ambiguous leaves open multiple opportunities to let the goal slip through your fingers or be left until the last moment, where things would need to be rushed.

When establishing your goals use positive expression.  Doing so will aid in making the work involved with achieving it a positive experience, and each time you reference that goal will leave a constructive impression on you.  Using the above example, “To have passed the NAA University exam by June 1, 2012” will have a more encouraging bearing than “Don’t fail the NAA University exam when you’re taking it this spring.”  Be aware that sometimes you may need stronger language to help give the motivation you need to achieve a goal.  By strong language, think of altering our example to “I will pass the NAA University exam by June 1, 2012.”  Altering the wording in this manner can help to eliminate potential escape loopholes and excuses.

Record your goals somewhere and place them in a visible spot.  Putting them in ink, so to speak, will help to cement and hold you accountable for them.  Remember your time management techniques and don’t be afraid to prioritize multiple goals and make an actionable plan to achieve them.  This is frequently overlooked, but leaving out this step is sabotaging your efforts.  Have your plan together and stick with it!

While it’s important that your goals are realistic and attainable, don’t be afraid to challenge yourself with stretch goals.  These are excellent for developing skills and your character.  Remember that it is okay not to meet a goal too.  Strive to meet or exceed them, but realize it isn’t always possible, and simply take what you can learn from the experience and use it to further empower your efforts on the next one.

From all of us here at National Agents Alliance headquarters, Happy New Year!  We all look forward to continued fun and success in 2012!