Page 12 - Life Insurance Today March 2018

Y How many sales do I want?
Y How many prospects do I need in order to reach my
total sales target?
Y How many activities do I need to do to generate one
prospect?

_ Telephone calls
_ Direct mail letters

_ Exhibitions or Seminars
_ Advertisements

_ Cold Calling
_ Other

Self deception
Self-deception by sales people is risky. Bob Broadly, one This is the first mental change we must all make if we are
of the world's top insurance salesmen puts it in strong to succeed in selling. Sales comes about from methodically
terms . He says that the single biggest failure sales people carrying out the right practices, day in and day out,
make is self- deception. He said he wasn't born with whether we sell large systems to governments which
success. He had to study the most successful sales people require three years to close, or retail products to
he could find. His advice? Don't fool yourself into thinking customers which take three minutes to close, we still have
you're selling when you're not in front of the right number to calculate which daily component parts will lead us to
of people every day. Working eight hours per- day is not success. Even if we only want three-customer per- year,
the point. It's what you do in that eight hours that counts. we will have to be negotiating with six, nine or two.

If you're not in front of enough prospects, you won't sell All top sales performers know their daily sales target and
enough to make your target. And how do you get in front daily activity schedule. They have calculated it themselves.
of enough prospects? By making enough appointments. It's
It is exactly what we all must do if we want true and lasting
that straight forward. Yet many people fool themselves
success. You must know your daily targets for findings
thinking they are selling when in face they are doing busy prospects and do that first. This means making
work, says Bob.
appointments and seeing prospects. All else is secondary.
Remember, the difference between success
Create daily segments: Creating daily segment is very
and failure often is neglecting to break
important aspect of selling. None can deny the fact and
down the overall target into daily targets its importance. It's because we have seen so many failures
and task. by talented, hardworking, well- meaning people who
deserved to succeed. No one ever told them, "Look
One sales man with a worldwide reputation for success is success comes by doing the right number of activities day
Ove Sjogren from Electrolux in Sweden. He has calculated in and day out”. We know that you are reading this book
his yearly target and broken it down into a daily figure. He in order to succeed. You want to use a strategic approach.
knows exactly how many sales he must take per day. He You want to avoid the pitfalls of others.
knows how many prospects he must see each day. He
stresses that staying at the top is easy if you know-how Therefore, take today to plan your targets. Plan your
much you must do every day and you do it. Many people systems for reaching your targets. Draw up wall charts,
are scared of daily targets. pocket memos- anything and everything you need to

"The hunger for love is much more difficult to remove than the hunger for bread."

12 March 2018 Life Insurance Today