If you listen to my podcast, you hear me say it in the intro every single time, you can’t be a one trick pony. You’ve got to be a 5 Tool player to be successful in this game. I’m excited to announce that this is the intro to a five-part series on each of those five tools you need to have as a producer to kill it in commercial insurance.
The term of 5 Tool player gets thrown around quite a bit, and people don’t even understand it. I use it because I grew up playing baseball, and it was something that we constantly discussed. But concerning producers, there are five core competencies that you need to have to be successful. So as we go through this series, we’re going to take the time to break down each one of those five tools so that you know what you need to be working on in your game to become the [inaudible 00:01:04] 5 Tool player when it comes to commercial insurance production.
The very first one is you have to have technical knowledge. I don’t care who you are, where you came from; you need it. If you don’t have the technical knowledge and understand at least the basics of commercial insurance so that you have a foundation to build on, you’re going to be in trouble. Right now, you can get a great deal through the National Alliance in the CIC Institute for $700 plus or minus. You can buy a subscription to their website that will allow you to take an unlimited number of courses. This strategy will get you up to speed and hopefully earn that CIC designation and get you the product knowledge and the foundational insurance knowledge you need to be successful at the point of sale.
The second thing that I think everybody needs is they need to be fluent in the phones. You got to be able to make phone calls. You can’t be worried about rejection. You have to be able to write a good script, follow that script, course-correct, adapt on the fly and do whatever you need to do to get through on the phones. So many producers hate the phones so much that that’s a tool they’ll never be able to develop. So I would challenge you to get outside of your comfort zone and build up your game on the phones.
The third one that every producer needs to have in their arsenal is that you need to be able to cold call, and I’m not talking about telemarketing like I just mentioned. I’m talking about walking into a business and getting in front of a decision-maker. If not the decision-maker, at least talking through the gatekeeper and getting them the information you need to begin developing and nurturing that relationship. If you can’t do that, you might need to find another job because cold calling is the best way to get new business in this game.
The fourth thing that everybody should have to be a 5 Tool producer is digital presence. You need to have a good-looking website. You need to make sure you’re active on LinkedIn and that your profile is complete. And that you’re not sharing things that are controversial or, quite frankly, childish in a professional environment. Online. Most people looking to hire a new insurance agent will go to two places, your website, and your LinkedIn profile, and that’s the interview they conduct before they ever talk to you for that first appointment when it comes to new business. So, we are going to dive deep. And it may even be two separate drill-downs on digital, but that’s coming very soon.
The fifth thing is probably the most important. You have to be involved. You have to be involved in your community. You need to be visible. People need to understand that you’re not here to write their business and leave like a carpet bagger. You’re here to write their business and then turn around and invest in the community that’s paying you back so much. If you can focus on these things, if you can follow this series as we put this content out, I can assure you, even if you don’t implement 100% of it, you’re going to kill it in commercial insurance.
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