Every Insurance Agent has Peaks and Valleys or Ebbs and Flows in their business. It may seem you find yourself in the valley often when it comes to your insurance business. Let’s admit it, the insurance business is not for the faint of heart.
In the last decade, I have found myself in the valley many times. Today, I want to provide some tips to insurance agents on how to handle those valleys, so that you can persevere through to the top of the mountain.
What exactly are peaks and valleys? It is a series of highs and lows of your business. It is the period where you write every appointment you talk with, and then suddenly you hit a wall and you can’t seem to get anyone to talk to you and definitely not to buy insurance.
Sound familiar?
The first thing you need to realize is every business has ebbs and flows. It is a part of life. Everything in life comes in cycles. We just have to get better at handling them and fighting our way out of the valley as soon as possible.
The first tip I can offer when you find you may be slipping in your business, is to ask yourself where is this coming from? Not the surface level answer you will tell yourself, because it will be something like this…. These leads suck, nobody wants to buy insurance right now, and many other excuses like that.
Four questions Insurance Agents need to ask themselves:
- Am I lacking clarity in my business right now?
- Is this a form of self sabotage?
- Am I neglecting self care, and I am mentally and physically drained?
- Do I need to do a better job of managing expectations of the business, myself, and others?
Lack of Clarity
Let’s start with a lack of clarity. Every time I am not clear on what my intentions are with the business, I find myself in a bit of a valley. A lack of clarity will lead to paralysis in a business. Paralysis leads fast to a negative cash flow, and will find yourself in a deep valley. Money likes movement, and the insurance business is an activity driven business. Your business has to be full of activity to continue moving in the right direction.
Are you clear of your highest intention? I talk often of your highest intention. Many business trainers and leaders talk about your “why” after Simon Sinek made it popular. I think it is deeper than just a why. Why’s change, but your highest intention is like the north star that guides you daily. What do you want others to say about you at your funeral? What is it you want to be known for? To work through identifying your highest intention, pick up the highest intention worksheet here.
When we are unsure of what we are trying to accomplish in the business, the lack of clarity will certainly creep in. Really, drilling in what you are trying to accomplish at the end of the day, you will have a northern star guiding you.
Self Sabotage
Self sabotage is sneaky. It will show up when you don’t even know what is driving your insurance business. Let me share a story with you. Until recently, I never realized self sabotage showed in my business. When I have a really solid week of production, I will slack up the next week. We know momentum is hard to get and easy to lose. Instead of leveraging the momentum of a great week of activity and results, I would slack up on my activity.
People can become addicted to the high levels of cortisol in the body from stress. The body releases cortisol every morning to help us wake up, and then it will level off and drop as the days go by for the body to release melatonin for sleep. We can become addicted to those high levels of cortisol. When we accomplish something, the body releases dopamine and counteracts the cortisol. So, for me, I thrive off of the cortisol, and I will let up to get back into a state of stress for the cortisol?
Anybody ever say, I perform best when my back is against the wall? That has been my motto for years and years. Let me tell you first hand, it is not a healthy way to run a business and live. Now I am aware of this behavior, I am trying to push through with activity when I feel I can slack up.
Just be aware the valley may be initiated by a level of self sabotage you are not aware of.
Managing Expectations
As not only insurance agents but business owners, it is common for agents to have extremely high expectations of themselves and others. Social media is driving this epidemic of self comparison. The comparison game we play daily comparing ourselves to others in the business, just sets the stage for unreasonable expectations.
The lavish lifestyles are being portrayed through, at best, lack of authenticity, will make anyone stop and question are they doing enough? Are they failing at the business? Can make you completely lose sight of what success means to you. Agents have to be careful of looking to external validation and really go within to see what success and validation looks like to them.
Everyone has a different idea of success. Hold true to your idea of success, and work daily toward accomplishing success. Stop letting social media make you feel less than enough. Every day, you are making a difference in the life of someone. Keep on your path.
Self Care
Long days and unhealthy eating habits can lead to lack of self care for us as agents. Perhaps with the current Covid Situation, agents may be taking better care of themselves since more sales have gone to telesales, but the time of long days out in the field and unhealthy food we eat, lack of activity and lack of water intake can really affect us and our business.
We have to have proper fuel to run properly. Take a look at your self care routine. Make sure you are getting proper sleep, nutrients, and water for maximum performance.
There are so many things that can contribute to our valleys but managing the expectations of yourself and your business is going to be key to long term success. Realizing highs and lows are just part of the business, and asking yourself how you can accelerate through the valley, so you can reach the valley faster is detrimental.
If you would like more training and tips like these, join my FREE Facebook Group for Insurance Agents, The Profitable Insurance Agent Community. It is full of resources and training on how to grow a profitable insurance business.
Go Be Profitable!