‘Tis the season, the biggest shopping season of the year. As we know, that often means that people are strapped for cash due to the long wish list they’ve been given by their loved ones. The Holiday Sales Slump, as it’s often been called, can be discouraging, frustrating, and down-right depressing (seasonal depression, anyone?) Here’s a few quick tips to avoid the winter blues and have a holly jolly sales season instead.
Create a Structured Plan
One aspect of a successful salesperson is the plan that they create (and stick to). Many of us make year-long plans in January around resolution time and the end of the final quarter, but that means by November/December that plan is old and stale. Revising old plans keeps you on task and moving forward. Consider reviewing your structured sales plan and renewing your commitment to it.
Without a current and applicable structured sales plan, the competition in final expense and preneed insurance will feel impossible to overcome—especially during this sparse sales season. To create your plan and adjust your practices as needed, don’t worry! We have a few suggestions to push you past brainstorming and into the realm of action.
Personal Philosophies
Not sure where to start when it comes to creating a plan? Try designing your goals around your principles. Your sales plan could be shaped around your agency’s philosophy: are you service-oriented or sales-focused? Focusing on philosophies helps you look beyond the numbers and beyond the trends and focus on your roots. Why did you start this career in the first place?
Measuring and Avoiding Wasted Time
If you are going to spend the time to create a structured sales plan, it better make you a more efficient salesperson. When was the last time you invested the hours to track source to sales? Tracking helps you avoid wasting time on outreaches that don’t pan out so you can focus instead on the most lucrative sales practices. We know warm referrals are our primary source of sales, but do you know how often warm referrals turn into closed sales? What about internet referrals? Are they worth the time you’re investing in them?
Refocus on Core Sales Strategies
Unfortunately, we are all-too aware that the average human being hates thinking about insurance. This is true all year round. During the holiday season, we see less activity because no one really wants to deal with insurance on a daily basis, and that avoidance increases during the business of the holidays. Go back to the strategies that are proven to work time and time again, such as the Three Rs (Referrals, Retention, and Rounding). These three work like a cycle and they feed into each other, which reduces the amount of work you put in and creates a self-serving pattern with long-term benefits. Referrals lead to first contacts that have more buy-in, which always leads to a greater likelihood of retention. Rounding activities increase the number of policies per client, which leads to more long-term growth.
