In any sales environment, creating a consistent pipeline is one of the most important and probably most underrated aspects of the sales process. We all know that hope is not a strategy. We cannot hope that the phone rings enough. Insurance opportunities can be inconsistent. Without a focus on prospecting, you end up on the lead roller coaster. Some days you have more than you can handle, other days you’re scraping by to hit your goals. Every salesperson needs to have a consistent strategy to stay in control of their pipeline.
Golden Hour
One strategy that consistently works that we teach in our AppX Sales Training Program is identify a Golden Hour (or Hours) every week that is focused on proactively calling opportunities. The more of a focus sales is for your position, the more hours should be spent on this. For someone that is 100% in sales, this should be at least one hour per day. This can be calling leads directly or contacting your existing and potential referral networks. Imagine the opportunities that can be generated if you sign up one referral network a week! This hour is vital to the health of our pipelines. We cannot be “too busy” to get this done. One hour per week is 2.5% of your time. Even 1 hour per days is only 12.5% of your time. How can you afford to not spend this time on one of the most important components to new sales?
Who To Call
Referral network (or centers of influence) opportunities are a great place to start. Calls should be made to existing referral networks; if they are performing well, this is a “thank you” call. If they aren’t referring business, this is more of a sales call to reiterate what you do to help people. Others to call are lost clients and unsold quotes from last year. The lost client calls should have been set up by another batch of people to call during your Golden Hour which is people that have recently cancelled. This call isn’t (necessarily) to prevent the cancellation but instead to leave a memorable and positive last experience with your agency to allow for a follow up call next year. For both unsold quotes as well as lost clients calls should be marked the previous year. Not every prospect or client is one that we want to write. Identify when you lose a client or a new business opportunity if it is a piece of business you want to write. If so, set it up into a lost client or unsold quote campaign. Finally, we should be calling our mono-line clients or anyone where we know we have more opportunities. A great group to call is your commercial lines clients where you don’t write the personal lines for any decision maker in the business.
How To Call
Number 1 is focus. Shut down your email. Close your door. If you are in a more open space, put up a sign. This is not a time to be distracted by email or co-workers. If you have a receptionist, be clear on which calls you need to take. If you get a call on your direct line, make a quick decision if it is a call you need to take right at that time. Set a goal for the number of calls you are going to make. Hold yourself accountable to get to this number of calls. Be forgiving if you don’t hit it due to having good (productive) discussions with people that do answer. Also, have a script ready based on the call type and number in the call sequence. Be prepared for voicemail or for someone to answer. For example, if you are making a 4th call to a website lead and they don’t answer, what is your voicemail? If you are making a referral network call for a source that isn’t producing leads, what is your pitch to get them interested in doing business with you?
Don’t forget to document your calls in your management system and/or lead nurturing system so that you be sure to follow your sales process and allow any automation to launch. Commit to doing this immediately by putting recurring calendar events on your calendar to block off your time and discuss with your manager, co-workers, or staff what you need to be successful during this time. Happy Selling!
