Did you spend more or less than you expected on professional development in 2020?
Can we all agree that the year delivered all sorts of “learning opportunities” that we couldn't have had the foresight to budget for?
My biggest expense?
Investing in knowledge that would help me to be the best virtual facilitator.
And not just how to get by, but to create interesting, engaging, and comfortable spaces, that allowed me to look - and feel - like the professional that I am.
I also invested in education specific to insurance - as I always do - and in my personal development.
So much personal development in 2020, right?
And while training expenses for my own business were up in 2020 - budgets for many of the insurance organizations I consulted with were reduced - or cut.
Training is an investment.
It’s a literal commitment to success, expressing an understanding that success doesn’t happen overnight.
Will you be spending more or less on training in the new year? Let’s work together to deliver a facilitated workshop for your insurance agency or carrier sales team.
P.S. Not the right time for you? Let’s keep in touch through the twice-monthly newsletter I curate. Subscribe here.
The pain point
“I just want to educate my clients,” says every insurance agent you’ve ever met.
It’s an honorable mission - if for no other reason than it takes the pressure off of the sale.
Or at least it feels that way to us as salespeople.
But the problem is people often don’t want an education.
Do I go to the dentist to learn how to fill a cavity?
I just want the pain to stop.
Do I go to the repair shop to learn how to replace a tire?
I just want the flat tire fixed.
Want to know the best way to know what your clients want?
Ask them.
“I know we’re all coming from a different place when it comes to buying insurance. I’d love to learn more about your experience in the past.”
And then listen.
“My old agent was super pushy.”
“I felt overwhelmed so I didn’t call him back.”
“I just went with the guy my neighbor recommended.”
“I just hate insurance.” (this one is my dad!)
What might happen when you meet them here instead?
I’d love to know an area of expertise that isn’t yours - but that you are grateful others have. Mine is in the comments!
P.S. If you’ve mastered the difference between claims made and occurrence general liability coverage and are the expert in coinsurance - but can’t find anyone who wants to listen - it’s time for us to talk.
The price of your wisdom
Does an accountant sell tax returns?
Does an attorney sell legal documents?
Of course they don’t.
It seems silly just reading those questions out loud, doesn’t it?
Accountants and attorneys earn a living using the wisdom and tools they have to create and interpret your tax return or those legal contracts - correctly, and to your benefit.
Yet ask an insurance agent what they do?
“I sell insurance.”
We have the wisdom - the license, the education, the experience, the tools, of course.
And we say - without missing a beat - that we want to be seen as a trusted advisor, just like an accountant or attorney.
But with so much emphasis on the insurance policy itself, we diminish ourselves before we even get started.
“Let me give you a quote.”
Are you selling an insurance policy?
Or are people valuing you for your wisdom?
Spoiler alert: No one else will believe you until you yourself do.
Not sure how to get there? I can help - learn more about the benefits of private coaching here.
Over to you: What’s the wisdom people pay you for?
And the winner is...
It was the last day of summer camp and I was 10 years old.
The award I won wasn’t for Best Smile, Most Outgoing, or Most Creative.
Nope. I was Most Diplomatic.
I accepted the award with a half-smile and proceeded to sit silently in the back seat of my parents’ car as we made our way back to the suburbs of Chicago.
Once home, I raced upstairs to find the dictionary, to see just what “diplomatic” meant.
I was relieved it wasn’t an insult. But also a little disappointed.
Of course, if there were awards to be given in the relationships I keep today - personal and professional - there’s no doubt I’d again win Most Diplomatic.
Time and self-work have helped me to see the simplicity in understanding, honoring, and leveraging exactly who I already am.
And chances are good that what makes YOU great today is a lot like the 10-year-old version of you, too.
I shared this story - and lots of others - with Tina Paulus-Krause, CLF, CC on her podcast, Your Leadership Legacy. Listen to our conversation here.
Tina and I have much in common - including entrepreneurship after established careers in insurance. Join me for a deeper conversation about entrepreneurship in insurance on 11/19; the link to join is here!
Ready or not. Like it or not.
Ready or not.
Like it or not.
Daylight savings arrives this weekend in Chicago.
To put it mildly, I’m not a fan.
Already spending so much time indoors, and now so much of it in the dark, the change of the clocks has me feeling nervous - and also thinking.
What about this situation can I control?
Regaining control of something - anything - when you feel you have so little is a win in itself, right?
So I’m considering shifting the start of my workday to noon.
The mornings would be for getting outside. Taking the long way to find a cup of coffee.
And if my body needs it, sleeping a little longer.
I respect that kids, spouses, jobs - and life in general - might require you to make a different choice.
But as there are few "perks" to small business ownership these days (!) I’m giving it some serious thought.
Happy lights and intentional expressions of gratitude are other ideas shared with me to help ease the transition to shorter, darker days. What ideas do you have?
Don't be sales-y or gross.
I’m not sure that “sales-y” is a real word.
But when you hear it, you know exactly what I mean, right?
For me, it’s usually followed by “and gross.”
“Ugh. He's so sales-y and gross.”
I can feel it when I’m around a salesperson who is creating an uncomfortable energy between us.
They’re moving in too quickly “for the kill” and I am not ready.
I feel it when I see an ad for a system that guarantees that once I throw down my credit card, I will “crush my sales goals.”
Gross.
The insurance agents I coach are neither sales-y nor gross.
They are real people who want to align themselves with clients who value their relationships with them beyond the insurance transaction.
They are motivated and driven and they are self-aware.
And they are as committed to doing the deep work on themselves as they are their sales practice.
If you’re craving support that is neither sales-y nor gross as you show up for your ideal clients - I can help.
While the first step is up to you, it's as simple as messaging me here.
Over to you: In one word, how do you feel when you're around someone who is sales-y? Love to see your response in the comments below!
What's your sign?
I’m totally a Virgo.
As they entered the session, I asked the insurance agents in a workshop I recently facilitated to switch their screen name on Zoom to their zodiac sign.
What does this have to do with selling insurance?
Absolutely nothing.
But whether you believe in the zodiac or follow astrology, we all have a sign.
And most people, whether they take it seriously or not, know theirs.
So when we introduced ourselves, we included the characteristic of our sign that we thought was most true for ourselves - as well as the typical introduction stuff.
My little heart sang to see a fellow Virgo in the room.
What did this simple activity create?
Fun
Levity
Familiarity
Connection
And what are we craving now, more than ever?
Fun
Levity
Familiarity
Connection
You don't say?
What’s your sign? Tell me in the comments below!
P.S. Workshops like this are more accessible than you might think; message me here to bring this one to your team of insurance salespeople.
Why are you here?
Do you feel slightly less guilty about mindlessly scrolling here on LinkedIn than on other social media platforms?
It’s for work, right?
"Why are you here?" was the first question I asked myself when I considered my presence here on LinkedIn.
Yes, I was here to “grow my professional network.”
And to “stay up-to-date with industry trends.”
But I also found myself intensely curious about the people behind those connections I'd made - and the possibility.
When I really stopped to consider it - there is so much business happening here.
And understanding and leveraging this platform has been key to the growth of my own insurance sales consulting practice.
Yet most people on LinkedIn are still lurking.
They are consuming but they are not contributing.
They are watching and they are waiting.
Waiting for what?
Could it be you?
LinkedIn Essentials for Insurance Sales Professionals - the interactive workshop I facilitate - is available virtually to your team of insurance agents or carrier marketing reps. Message me here to learn more.
What's your unfair advantage?
I know my unfair advantage.
Do you know yours?
Your unfair advantage might be your product - but it also may be your individual experience or expertise that sets you apart from others doing similar work.
Your unfair advantage may be the thing you tout to a prospective client.
“Work with me because….”
But it can also be the thing you channel when your confidence is shot.
When you’re questioning all.the.things.
“I belong at the table because…”
When working with female entrepreneurs to build insurance programs, my unfair advantage is my experience as an insurance company underwriter. I know just the questions to ask - and can ask them in an approachable, conversational way.
When coaching an insurance agent, my unfair advantage is that I, too, am an insurance agent. My experience wasn’t gleaned in a market decades ago, but rather in real-time.
I won’t ask you to share your own unfair advantage - but will remind you that you do have one.
And it’s not arrogant or boastful to know what it is - and then use it to your advantage.
Just for fun: I've gone down the Seinfeld rabbit hole - a little late to the party, I know. If you have a favorite episode, let me know below!
Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally
To say that my love language isn’t math is putting it mildly.
Without the help of a tutor, I may never have understood the basics of algebra.
And thanks to the kindness of my trigonometry teacher - and art-related extra credit - I received a just barely passing grade in his class.
So when, in conversation with a friend last night, she mentioned the “order of operations,” I almost tuned her out.
Order of operations being the steps for solving a math equation.
I started to squirm as I heard Please Excuse My Dear Aunt Sally over and over again in my head.
PEMDAS
Parentheses
Exponents
Multiply
Divide
Add
Subtract
But I smiled in understanding as she said, “If only our lives came with an order of operations, right?”
Knowing the steps to take - in exactly the right order - that would lead to the right solution.
Magic? Not really.
Because the steps are already within us.
But that first step? It’s the hardest.
Take it when you join me this week for my next Ask Me Anything on Tuesday, and join me and Erin Brown for Navigating imposter Syndrome in Life & Work, a 6-week mastermind, starting on Wednesday. Learn more here.
Over to you: Math was - overwhelmingly - my least favorite subject in school. What was yours?