Why working is better than “spurting”

Freddy D. Donaldson was a New York Life Agent with the best, most folksy advice ever. One thing he said stuck with me especially, and I know it can help you do more business in less time too.

He said, “If you can sell one life insurance policy, you can sell a hundred. The trick is to squeeze them all into one year”. Freddy’s idea was to minimize the time BETWEEN sales to maximize the number OF sales. Good advice then. Good advice now.

So, here’s how you can sell more in less time too. First, this is a half day job, and you can work any 12 hours you like. Life insurance selling takes momentum, and you can’t build momentum in little spurts. In fact, “spurting”, not working, takes much more time but makes much less money. It’s far better to work long and hard when you’re working and then take lots of time off in between. After all, you only need 40 work weeks a year. 

Also, be sure to persist long after the enthusiasm for your goal has worn off. The best advisors persist with prospects, persist with presentations, and persist with closes. They make daily and weekly Activity PROMISES (not goals) to themselves and keep them, even when they don’t want to. And if you’re a “PLUS 1 Agent” too, by doing one more activity than you planned every day you will excel. Professionals make promises, amateurs make excuses.

Remember that you are only paid for results, not for activity, so do something specific to close a deal every day. And close without permission and you’ll get more sales, more often. Make things happen, don’t wait or watch for them to happen.

Finally, build a longer prospect list than you have today, target the people you want to sell, and then find a way to see them.

Do this and you’ll squeeze many more sales out of the time you have.

God bless.