466. How to Avoid the Summer Sales Slump in Insurance

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What's in this episode:
Summer is one of the biggest make-or-break seasons for insurance producers, and most agents lose ground without even realizing it. In this episode, Michael Weaver lays out the exact framework for avoiding the summer sales slump - starting with the mindset shift every producer needs before they pick up the phone. The message is clear: you either make excuses or you make it happen, and there is no in between.

Michael walks through the three non-negotiable basics that separate producers who thrive in summer from those who coast - always prospecting, consistently meeting with customers, and maximizing every single conversation. He also breaks down the strategic time-blocking system that keeps high performers organized, productive, and ahead of quota when everyone else is blaming the weather.

[00:00] You either make excuses or you make it happen - no in between
[01:30] Why summer reveals how prepared and strategic you really are
[02:45] Basic #1: Your prospecting funnel must stay full all summer
[03:45] Basic #2: Meet with customers - virtual or in person, not phone
[04:45] Basic #3: Maximize every conversation - multi-line, risk advisor
[06:00] Time blocking: why your calendar is your most powerful sales tool
[07:30] How to structure service time so it stops stealing from sales
[09:00] Know your expectations: calls, quotes, production, Google reviews
[10:15] Michael Jordan didn't practice half-court shots - master the basics
[11:30] You are in total control of your summer results
[12:30] All gas, no brakes - time to make hay

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

There's still a job to be done. There's still people to help out. There's still money to be made. There's still bonuses to be had. And so you're either going to make excuses or you are going to make it happen. Hey, welcome to the insurance buzz. I am your host, Michael Weaver, and I'm flying solo today. And we're going to be talking about how you can make sure you avoid the summer cell slump. That's exactly what we're talking about. Summer, summer, summer time. Summer is here. And the last thing that you want is a slump during the summertime. The warm weather, everybody's in a good mood. This is the exact time that your cells should be skyrocketing, not plummeting, not a summer slump. No way. So today's episode is all about how you can make sure you avoid the summer slump. And I want to get right into it. It's going to be a short, sweet, to the point episode, something that you can take today and see success with because we are officially in June, or at least I am recording this on June 1st. So the very first thing I want to lead off with this, and it is true. You can either make excuses or you can make it happen. There is no in-between. There's no middle road here. You're either going to make excuses, whether it's like, oh, well, everyone's on vacation, or you know, I'm taking a vacation, or, you know, no one's answering the phone. People just uh people got stuff going on, you know, kids are kids are playing sports. Like, you can say all of those things, and while they may be true, there's still a job to be done. There's still people to help out, there's still money to be made, there's still bonuses to be had. And so you're either going to make excuses or you are going to make it happen. And if you want to make it happen, go ahead and continue to listen to this because I'm going to give you the exact uh outlay of what needs to happen for you to make sure that you do make it happen. And if you if you want to make excuses, that's fine. But you might as well might as well pause or stop this episode because it's going to be a waste of your time. And time and attention are by far your most important asset. So the last thing you want to do is waste your time. So let's get straight into it. You need to be strategic. If anything, what the summer months show me is it shows me how prepared you are as an individual in your career. All the work that you put up to the summer months, that's when I see those individuals that are not super strategic, not super organized, um, not doing the activities they need to do. This is when they struggle the most. And so, most importantly, here, you need to be strategic, and I'm gonna walk you through exactly what that looks like, and you need to get back to the basics. Look, the basics in sales is really simple. You always need to be prospecting. That is what you have to do as a producer, as a sales agent in sales, in the insurance industry, is you have to be prospecting. You've got to get back to the basics. So you have to be prospecting, you have to be meeting with customers, and you have to make the most out of every single conversation. If you will do those three things right there, you will have no slump this summer. So you always have to be prospecting. You have to make sure that your prospecting funnel is full all the time, which means that you have to be making phone calls, you have to be smiling and dialing, you got to be out banging on doors, you have to be out maybe developing centers of influence, whatever you got to do, you have to be filling your prospect funnel full of individuals that you are talking to, having conversations with, and actually trying to close business. That is that is tip number one. That is how to avoid summerslump. Number one is you have to be prospecting. Number two, you got to be meeting with customers when you talk about getting back to the basics, either virtually or in person. This is going to number one drive retention. Number two, it's going to drive and give you the opportunity to sell more products per household, specifically, typically financial services products. So you have to be meeting with people. Right now, this summer, if you had a goal of meeting with your top 100 households or your top 200 households, go do it. It will pay massive dividends for your future, for this year, for your book of business. Again, it's gonna help with retention, it's gonna help with production, and let's not forget, it also helps with referrals and Google reviews. So meet with customers, either in person or virtually. Phone appointments do not count. Number three, so we got prospecting, we have meeting with customers. So you also have to make sure that you are doing everything you can to make the most out of every single conversation, every interaction with every single customer or prospect. What I mean by this is, is when you are on the phone with a with a prospect, you're not just talking about single-line insurance. You have to be talking about multi-line production, true risk advisor conversations. Your talk time should be long. Not only this, when talking to current customers, you have to make sure you are pivoting and cross-selling to other lines of insurance. You are asking questions. Again, you are their risk advisor. You are just not an order taker. You have to have the ability to ask questions, figure out what is missing in their household that you can protect, that you can help them with a plan. This is just getting back to the basics as an insurance producer. If you want to be successful, you're doing these three things. You're always prospecting, you're meeting with customers, and you're maximizing conversations with both current customers and prospects. When you're doing that, you are giving yourself the opportunity to write a ton of business. And that is what this is about. So let's get into the strategic plan real fast. Let's take a quick break and talk about something that actually matters in your agency. Your expectations are at an all-time high, yet your team is underperforming. And your team is underperforming because they've never been trained. That's not just costing you money in the future, that's costing you money right now. At Weaver Sales Academy, we are having a summer sizzle sell because it is our eighth birthday. I cannot believe it. We've worked with over 17,000 insurance professionals. We've helped sell over 200 million in insurance sales, and we would love to work with you and your team. Not only is your untrained team hurting your production and business right now, it's also hurting in the future. It's a compounding result. And that's exactly why I want you to click the link below today. Take advantage of the savings. It's over $1,200 savings. Usually to work with us, it's $4,200 right now. It's $29.97. Make sure you take advantage of this summer sizzle sell. Other than that, let's get back to the show. So, number one, your days have to be organized. What I mean by this is time blocking. Now, if you've been listening to the buzz for any amount of time at all, you know I'm a huge fan of time blocking. What is a time block? A 30, 45 minute, or one hour time frame on your calendar with something specific that you are supposed to be doing. For example, prospecting. You should have prospecting on your calendar every single day for multiple hours a day. Probably three hours to two, three hours minimum a day should be prospecting, maybe more than that. Four hours, five hours, with the whole goal of getting someone on the phone and having a conversation with them about their insurance plan and how you're a better fit and how you're going to solve their needs. So strategically, you have to make sure that you have prospecting on your calendar every single day. Strategically, I would have meeting or appointments on your calendar weekly at designated times. If you are a producer that's also servicing, I'm going to put a service time on my calendar, probably one hour to two hours a day. To where during that one hour, that's when all the service work I've collected that entire day, that's when I'm doing the service work. So it doesn't throw me off my day. Think about if five to six hours of your day could be sales and only an hour to two hours of your day could be servicing. And yes, it can happen that way. Just because you answer the phone and there is a service call that needs to be made or service issue that has to be done doesn't mean you have to do it right then. The customer just cares that it gets done. They don't care about when it does get done or that it gets done right that moment. So, does this help? Hopefully, this is helping. You have to be strategic. You have to organize your day. The more organized your day is, the more efficient it's going to go, the more clarity you're going to have, the more confidence you're going to have. So that's number one. You have to organize your days. They have to be as organized as possible. I know as a salesperson, I'm one myself. Hey, been a sales professional for a long time. Look, I know organization is tough for some of you. That's okay. You're not alone. Use your calendar to your advantage. What's on the calendar gets done. Next, you got to have clarity on expectations. So you have to know exactly what you need to do to win the day, win the week, win the months. Meaning, how many calls do you need to be making? How many conversations or quotes do you need to be doing? What is the production expectation out of you? And how are you going to do that? You have to know exactly what you're doing every single day. What is expected of you? Not just from production, but how about Google reviews? How about referrals? How about appointments? How about life insurance? Now I can guarantee there's going to be three things that are most important to you, your career, in the agency you're working with. You need to know what those three things are, and you need to structure your calendar around it. So, hopefully that's that's good. So, again, organize and know your expectations, and then you're getting back to the basics. That is the most important thing right now to avoid a summer slump. And here's the best part. I know right now you're like, well, Michael, this sounds pretty pretty damn basic, pretty easy. You're not giving me a lot here. You think Michael Jordan went in and practiced half-court shots? Or did Michael Jordan go in every single day and do chess passes and layups? You think Kobe Bryant went in and just practiced half-court shots all day long? Or didn't or did Kobe Bryant show up before everybody else and shoot free throws? You see, to be the master at anything, you have to be the master at the basics. What I'm talking about right now is not complicated. It is not earth-shattering. It is nothing that none of you are not capable of. Every single one of you are capable of exactly what I am talking about and sharing right now. And I will start off, I'll end with how I started off. You can either make excuses or you can make it happen, but you can't do both. What you do every single day is pretty simple. That doesn't mean it's easy. That does not mean it's easy. I know the days can be tough. I know they can be hard. Just because something's simple doesn't mean it's easy. But it is simple and you're in total control. You're in total control of how much you're prospecting. You're in total control of the conversations you're having with customers. You're in total control in the type of products that you're mentioning in those conversations. You're in total control whether you're taking a service transaction and turning it into a sales opportunity. You are in total control. You're in total control of your day, how organized you are, how efficient you are, how effective you are. You're in total control of your attitude. You either have a positive can-do attitude or you don't. Your success is up to you and you alone. You are in charge of your future. You are in charge of your results this summer. You are in charge of your paycheck. You are in charge of the bonuses. You are in charge. That's why you are in sales. And now you get to choose. Are you going to let the slowdown of summer slow you down in your career and the money you want to make? Or are you ready to turn up the heat a little bit? You're ready to drop it into another gear. All gas, no brakes, baby. Let's freaking go. So avoid the summer slump, and it is up to you. You're either going to make it happen or you won't. And it's really easy. Be organized with your name with your day. Know exactly what you're doing every hour of the day. Know what moves the needle in your career that helps you accomplish your bonuses and your commission structure and your production and maximize every single conversation. And if you will do those three things, you will not have a slump. You will be making hay, baby. And that is what we do. When the sun is shining, we make hay. So start up those tractors, get them out of the freaking barn, and let's make some hay. Now, with that being said, I appreciate you as always. As and as always, time and attention are by far our most important assets. So now it's time to go out, make it great, and maximize this summer. Appreciate you and talk to you soon.