How to Stay on Top

 "I am here for a purpose and that purpose is to grow into a mountain, not to shrink to a grain of sand. Henceforth will I apply ALL my efforts to become the highest mountain of all and I will strain my potential until it cries for mercy." 

Selling power originates from developing and maintaining definiteness of purpose. The strength of your purpose determines the attitudes you develop about selling and the habits you develop for spending your time. "Thinking right" will move you to join the agents who get to the top and stay there.

Make these tenets a dominant part of your selling style:

• BELIEVE that the modern-day, client-oriented life insurance contract is the single best instrument for providing a complete and balanced hedge against the twin economic dangers that confront every prospect: the dangers of living too long or dying too soon.
• BELIEVE  that financial products and services, properly sold, are of considerably more value to your buyer than any commissions you can possibly earn.
• BELIEVE  that you are your most important customer. You must be sold on your job, your products, and your ability to perform.
• BELIEVE  that you should set realistically high goals and achieve them on schedule.
• BELIEVE  that time is money and that learning to manage your time productively will be one of your most profitable achievements.
• BELIEVE  in the law of averages and in the wisdom of knowing the dollar value of each of your primary activities: setting appointments, the fact-finding interview, and the closing interview.
• BELIEVE  that honest, intelligent effort is always rewarded.
• BELIEVE  that a selling interview is never to be considered a contest between you and the prospect.
• BELIEVE  that the power of your sales presentation will always lie in its simplicity.
• BELIEVE  that the product purchase must be "helped along" and is most often made because you guided the prospect's behavior in an effective manner.
• BELIEVE that prospects buy financial products and services not so much because they understand the product thoroughly, but because they feel and believe that you, the agent, understand them, their problems, and the things they want to accomplish.
• BELIEVE  that almost all development is, in fact, self-development.
• BELIEVE  that staying physically fit is a prerequisite for maintaining a high level of energy.
• BELIEVE  that top producers are ordinary people with an extraordinary determination to make every occasion a great occasion.
• BELIEVE  that the spiritual always determines the material.
• BELIEVE  that your image of yourself determines how far you will go in earning money, gaining clients, and achieving influence.

Study these philosophies. Digest them. Make them a dominant part of your selling strategy, and you will find yourself among those agents who go to the top and stay there!

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How to Motivate Clients to Action

 Produce in your prospect the confidence to buy. 

Motivating to action is the aim of every presentation you make. The single most important attitude for you to carry into your presentation/closing interview is this one: I will take the initiative and assist my prospect in making the buying decision. The prospect will seldom ever close the sale. I must supply the motivation.

• Summarize the key buyer benefits. This is the first step in motivating prospects to take action now! Frequently, the prospect forgets some of the reasons for buying -- remind them. Your rapid-fire summation recalls to the prospect's mind the important things that dictate acceptance of your recommendation.

• Next, ask for any questions the prospect wants answered. You will gain valuable information answering their questions. Look for buying signs here. 

• Move to questions of your own. Your strategic questions should assist the buyer in making minor decisions in favor of your recommendation. These minor decisions should direct the buyer to make the important decision to buy from you.

• It is now time to ask the prospect to buy! Assume the prospect is going to buy from you NOW.

Many buyers say it is amazing how many sales reps seem unable to bring themselves to ask for the "order." Keep in mind that you may have to ask the prospect for the "order" several times before the sale is obtained.

We encourage you to follow this strategy for motivating prospects to action.

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Sell Ethically!

 "Always do right; it will gratify some and astonish the rest." 

At the center of all you do in selling is all that you are. It's the core issue. Your ethics are not a discipline you learn. Your ethics are a statement of who you are; a way of life that is intricately woven into your daily selling activities. Your "Code of Ethics" is not a set of principles to be framed and hung like a picture collecting dust on a wall.

We like this description of ethics: Something that you do for the soul. It's doing the right thing because doing the right thing is the right thing to do. That's ethical behavior.

What is your ethical base? Can you articulate it? Can you identify how it influences your personal and professional behavior?

Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy's Restaurants, said, "Success begins inside." Unless your attitudes and beliefs are right, you can never be a real success in the world around you. He contends that people cannot ever really have their act together unless three things are true about them:

• They are honest
• They believe in something
• They are self-disciplined

A pebble dropped in a pond has an amazing effect on the entire ecology of the pond. Such is the influence of your behavior. The ripple effect is beyond measure. This kind of awareness is the beginning of ethical behavior.

Your recommendations do have a positive or negative effect on the life of your clients. Your dealings with the companies that provide your product line affect their bottom-line results and thereby the service they are able to provide for your customers. Your behavior impacts your own reputation and business success. Your life is a part of many other lives.

Maintaining high ethical standards is the right thing to do, and it's also good business. A spotless reputation is an invaluable marketing asset. Competency and trust comprise the framework for marketplace success. Build them every day with your commitment to excellence and by selling ethically.

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