Every salesperson or sales agent dreams of becoming a millionaire. This is how one individual became a billionaire insurance salesman.
More than half of recruited insurance agents make less than $50,000 before getting to a quick existence. So how do you make a million dollars and then more? Especially when your career involves selling insurance? For me it wasn’t from working 70 hours a week. I was not inspired by any “get rich quick” insurance trade magazine article or ad. I don’t remember ever working with millionaire clients. In fact, in my case, it would take many policies to equal a million dollar premium raised, let alone the commission earned. I didn’t even receive one of the 90+ insurance designations currently available.
My case involved putting together a formula that you could easily (with effort) mix to achieve similar or better results. For me the ingredients were made up of four components.
WILLPOWER I need to convince myself that I could achieve the insurance production goals that I was setting for myself. To start with, I bought a collection of books on positive thinking. In them, phrases such as “I can” and “I will do” stand out. I repeated these keyword phrases over and over again in my conscious mind and saw a definite, steady improvement in my sales achievements. Good, but not good enough.
I was suddenly introduced to self-hypnosis and my insurance career changed instantly. This was not some hidden form of hocus-pocus, but pure enrichment that builds and builds. It starts with a client from England who was a professional hypnotist. He was intrigued and agreed to show me how the subconscious mind automatically overrides the conscious mind. He then gracefully taught me how to easily hypnotize myself anytime I wanted. I programmed myself for success, and success followed.
SALES SKILLS The so-called sales skills that insurance companies showed me never really got better. I quickly saw that the repetition of a bad habit is dangerous for your career. Now that my income was increasing, I added another piece of dynamite to reach sales goals faster. If I could double my closing rate, it was easy to see my income double.
I invested in the Dale Carnegie course for salespeople. During this course I learned the steps that must be adequately covered if a sale is to be expected. What I didn’t expect was the announcement that passing the course required covering all the points in a presentation of two minutes or less. This is when I resurfaced a trait I wasn’t using enough of.
DETERMINATION I set myself a goal that was better than just passing the course. Although there were around 25 people taking the course, I was determined. Not only was I going to pass, but my presentation would be voted the best out of my 2 dozen sales professionals. Needless to say, it took willpower, sales skills and a lot of determination. Winning gave me a feeling of floating on high. After this I felt like I could sell snow to an Eskimo.
WITHOUT FEAR I have to admit that when I started selling insurance I was full of fears. He took the first 3 ingredients and one more step to prove to myself that I was now fearless. I had to do what few before me economically managed to attempt. That was making sales, breaking the established rules, and doing what the “experts” thought only fools would do. I would trade my briefcase for a folder and a yellow pad. My suit and tie would be reserved for funerals, and my dress code would be neat but casual. Now I was ready for my test of not being afraid.
Without scheduling a single appointment, I opted to knock on a prospect’s door and make a simple presentation. I also programmed myself to act casually, using a “well, maybe you can’t afford it” approach if I had a final objection. I knew that most prospects have their conscious minds ready to be told that they can certainly afford it. Using the opposite effect would alter your conscious thought process.
Starting on a Monday morning and not working at night, I wanted to test my skills to the fullest. I started out pretty self-hypnotized and with about 50 lead cards, some of them “leads.” Remember now, we are talking about more than 30 years ago. Without appointments I served 25 prospects and made 30 direct sales of all sizes. Not a single punch. With a bonus of over $20,000 and much of it in annual cash payments, I decided to stop at $12,000 in commissions. I had accomplished and accomplished my goals in just four days. Yes, with a rounded effective formula you can hit the brake.
MY FIRST MILLION then it was done very easily. I proved to myself that I could become a millionaire by breaking all the rules. My average policy size wasn’t huge, but my closing rate was amazing. He wasn’t wearing a suit or tie, and he wasn’t carrying a briefcase. My cars were fancy new Camaros and Mustangs, and I stopped wasting time trying to make appointments.
There is a danger in programming yourself to achieve a certain goal. Since you are forced to achieve it, before applying self-hypnosis ask yourself if it is good for your mind and body to do what is necessary.
To become a billionaire insurance salesperson, do the opposite of what most salespeople do. Develop your own prospecting methods, submission thresholds, and closing tricks. It becomes much easier to make an insurance sale when in your mind you’ve already done it and have the sales skills to back it up.
I did it my way. You can too.
