As an intern, green as can be, I found out the hard way that words are very powerful things that have intense meaning. I’d just closed my first 50-life case and couldn’t wait for the employee group meeting. Visions of 80% employee participation were letting my mind cash checks that inevitably my mouth hadn’t yet written. While presenting, I proceeded …
10.5 ways coaching youth baseball is the same as leading a sales team — Part 3
Over the last many weeks, I’ve shared with you the first seven ways that coaching my daughter’s youth baseball team was the same as coaching all of my sales teams throughout the course of my 16-year professional career. (See Part 1 and Part 2.) I hope you’re as excited to see the final similarities revealed as I am to share …
10.5 ways coaching youth baseball is the same as leading a sales team – Part 2
Last time, I shared with you the first three ways that coaching my daughter’s youth baseball team was the same as coaching all of my sales teams throughout the course of my 16-year professional career. This time, I’m continuing down the list starting with No.4, in this second of a three-part series. 4) I was fortunate enough to have a …
10.5 ways coaching youth baseball is the same as leading a sales team
My daughter is playing baseball, not softball. Why, you ask? How about, why not? When recruiting new sales professionals to join my sales team, it never crosses my mind that I should only hire a man because women can’t be in sales. That would be akin to telling the qualified and talented women I interview that they’d be better off …
Change client lives through small talk and soft questions
“No, I’ll just sign a waiver.” Six words an enhanced benefit enroller never wants to hear. We all know that employee, the one who doesn’t have time to meet, already knows everything, and just wants to sign a waiver. I was enrolling a multi-thousand employee group and in walked a gentleman whom I’ll just call ‘Mr. Waiver’ — the employee …
How benefit advisers can use negative enrollment to achieve some very positive outcomes
How can advisers use automatic benefits enrollment to better support their clients? Here’s a real-life case study provided by Matt Berger, who heads the Philadelphia market for Aflac. An employer was seeing the bulk of its employees abuse the ER or similar urgent care facilities for mundane ailments like colds and stomachaches. The employees’ $50 copay wasn’t much more than …
When it comes to sales staff, is more better?
We all know that when sales are down benefit agencies commonly hire more sales people. I was probably as guilty of this as anyone for more than a decade. But just because it’s a common practice, doesn’t always make it the best idea. I was part of and even led an organization that recruited more new inexperienced agents in a …
When it comes to referrals – don’t be afraid to ask
So you’ve found what I call your “owner advocate,” that decision maker on your client’s team who believes in you and what your products and services stand for. Now what? Why not tap your advocate for referrals to other potential clients within their professional and personal network? These are people who would gladly meet with you, if the introduction is …
Blizzard marketing: A prime opportunity to reach decision makers
What do catastrophic blizzards and major federal holidays have in common? If you guessed days off of work for millions of people, you would be correct. However, the real question is who gets the ‘luxury’ of taking the day off — employees or employers? If your sole weekly objective is to book appointments with potential commercial clients, then I suspect …
Boy am I stupid: Assumptions wreak havoc
Before you blindly agree with the beginning of my headline, please allow me to defend myself. Has anyone else ever rocked an enrollment — and I mean, really crushed it — only then to have the owner of the company call you unexpectedly when the enrollment is complete to tell you they need to meet with you immediately? Let me …