Is Your Mind Right?

You know, it may not be the product itself that’s costing you money. It could be your mindset. In fact, it probably is. Don’t have any clue?  Keep reading!

What is a Scarcity Mindset?

Scarcity mindsets. They are cancerous to you and your organization. And unfortunately, we’re programmed that way. As human beings, we’re always worried about where we’re going to get our next meal. How are we going to have money to pay for this? How are we going to have money to pay for that? Instead of looking at things from a completely different lens. I hear so many stories about insurance agents and agency principals out there who always just never, ever take a risk. They don’t ever wonder what could be. They wonder how much. Software products are a great example of this. I’ve heard story after story from my friends in the InsureTech space that tell me about agencies that could be double and triple the size. But the problem is when they look at that product, their first question is how much does it cost me?

What is an Abundance Mindset?

That’s a scarcity mindset, folks. An abundance mindset will look at that same product and say, how much will this make me? How much money can I gain from having this in my operation? Now I’m not saying that you need to have everything be a free-for-all, in that you need to go out and spend money aimlessly. We all need to be good fiduciaries and stewards of the money and resources we get entrusted with. But as you’re evaluating purchases, that is the shift in mindset that you need to have. I was in an agency for several years, and it was ridiculous. It was insane—the level of scarcity that was in that agency. And as a result, five years later, that agency is still in the same place financially that it was five years ago, with minimal revenue increases. The reason why? Ownership didn’t believe in abundance. They believed in scarcity.

Scarcity Pushes Entrepreneurs Away

I can remember going to them and asking for a CRM system that would cost $50 a month. I didn’t get approval to do that because we didn’t want to spend another $50. Meanwhile, we had a middle-market practice that was floundering because we had no way of organizing sales data and leads and using it to go out intelligently and close deals. Instead of saying, how much does it cost? You should say, how much is it going to make me? Because even with the scarcity mindset, it may not be the actual dollars it can bring in. But what about efficiency? If you’re not worried about abundance and growing your top line, and all you’re concerned about is managing that profit, wouldn’t it stand to reason that you would even ask the question: How much time is this going to save?

While it appears to be a scarcity question, it isn’t. It’s an abundance question because it lets me know that you’re looking to free up time and ultimately use that to go out and use sales producing activities to generate higher top-line revenue.

It would help if you programmed yourself to think accordingly. If you don’t have the money to make your bills, you shouldn’t be looking at any products anyhow. But if you’re in the mode of expanding your agency and you don’t want to fall victim to a shiny object syndrome, only entertain one thing at a time and ask yourself the question: How much will this make me? Not how much it will cost me. Because if you don’t make the right decision, it could cost you a lot more than the monthly fee you’re looking to spend. Once you get that abundance mindset, you’re home-free. And you’re going to Kill It Commercial Insurance.

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