THE POWER OF ACTION

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action."

Troy Korsgaden entered into the world of insurance in 1983. He was recruited by his District Manager, Jay Green, in Visalia, California. Signing on with a multi-line company, The Farmers Insurance Group, Troy was given training and guidance throughout his early years. Troy contributes much of his success to his District Manager and the support of his company. But that's not the whole story. Creativity and innovation also played a huge part.

Working alone for the first seven years he had moderate success. However, one day while visiting his dentist's office, a light bulb went off that changed the course of his career forever. Troy noticed that a staff member in the dentist's office was focused exclusively on telephoning patients to set appointments to get their teeth cleaned. The "aha" moment occurred when Troy realized that if the dentist had enough people sitting in the chair the law of large numbers would tilt in his favor. If 100 people come in to get their teeth cleaned then a certain number would have a cavity, a certain number would have a need for a tooth pulled, a certain number would have a need for a crown, etc.

Using the same logic Troy applied the method of setting appointments toward focusing on conducting annual reviews in his office. He knew that, just like the dentist, you need to have a consistent stream of people in the chair to create the opportunity for additional business. He hired a dedicated assistant to set annual review appointments for him every day. The annual review process enabled Troy to increase client retention and set up future appointments for cross selling in each household the agency serves.

From that point Troy began staffing up. He knows that proper staffing is one of the major keys to success.

Troy's philosophy on selling is very simple. Offer your client nothing but the best. Never sell price, always sell security and peace of mind. His systems for selling are simple and he has been able to duplicate his efforts by constantly developing his staff. His staff of more than 20 professionals is now led by Sharon Jansma, Office Director. Sharon and her team have been recognized at Presidents Council within the Farmers Organization. Troy is proud of his team because the Presidents Council represents less than 1% (top 100 agents) of the entire 15,000 agency force nationwide. The agency has won this award 16 years in a row.