How Do You Judge Your Week?

[djs]

If you're thinking to yourself, "woohoo, I sold nine policies this week," do you mean:

1. I had nine policies approved and issued this week
2. I had nine policies submitted this week
3. I convinced nine people to buy this week

Thing is, they all matter, they are all milestones to getting a deposit in the bank. Of course, what you did this week doesn't matter as much as what you will do next week.

Early on, you should track your numbers, x number of calls, x number of appointments (define what an appointment is), x number of apps, x number of issueds.

After a while, you'll realize a certain number of calls leads to a certain number of issueds. Then you can start looking at your process and see how you can improve it.

In short, focusing solely on what comes out at the end of the pipe doesn't work unless you pay attention to what is going in at the beginning of the pipe.

Dan

P.S. I personally have a hard time caring about the beginning of the pipe. Something I have to work on....

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Simple. Placed premium (not apps).

 

[somarco]

There are activity goals which are easily quantifiable and there are results goals.

Activity, if it is the right activity, will lead to results.

If you spend all your time talking to unhealthy folks who have no money you will end up just like them.

You can submit 20 apps a week but if you only make $10 per app you won't be able to pay your bills.

You have to find your rhythm. Solid activity with the right people will lead to the results you need.

I don't track closing ratio's but I do have an idea of what works and what doesn't. What works for me may or may not work for you.

Dave & Ned track apps which is great because they know that X number of apps will generate the financial results they need. A new person usually doesn't have that luxury.

It might take you 10 apps to achieve the results you need or it might only take 3.

I used to work with an agent in the life business who had a plaque on the wall showing he was a member of the app-a-week club. He had successfully submitted an app a week for several years running. Every year he got a new plaque which he added to his collection. He also had 5 year and maybe a 10 yr plaque as well.

Nice guy but never had any money. Some weeks the only app he submitted was a $10 monthly HIP policy while other weeks he might submit a few HIP's and maybe 2 or 3 juvenile life apps.

I remember him running into a guy who wanted to buy $50,000 of whole life and he had no idea how to calculate the premium on that much coverage and had to call his manager.

He considered himself successful because of his string of app-a-week plaques but he was always struggling financially because he never set his activity, or his results, high enough.

Like most of the folks here, I have had good months and bad months. I have had weeks when it seemed like I was selling belly buttons and no one wanted to talk to me because they already had one.

The good months are really grand and the bad months really suck. The goal is to make sure the good months get better and better so the bad months don't seem so bad.

There will come a day, if you stick with it and set the right goals, when you can actually take a day or a week and not feel the pressure of HAVING to do something.

When you are self employed you have no one to answer to but yourself. If you are not achieving there is no one to fire you or kick your butt to make you work harder.

Self employment is the greatest thing in the world for those who have the ability to handle it, and it can also be the worst thing if you are not diligent.

 

[Frank Stastny]

There are activity goals which are easily quantifiable and there are results goals.

Activity, if it is the right activity, will lead to results.

If you spend all your time talking to unhealthy folks who have no money you will end up just like them.

You can submit 20 apps a week but if you only make $10 per app you won't be able to pay your bills.

You have to find your rhythm. Solid activity with the right people will lead to the results you need.

I don't track closing ratio's but I do have an idea of what works and what doesn't. What works for me may or may not work for you.

Dave & Ned track apps which is great because they know that X number of apps will generate the financial results they need. A new person usually doesn't have that luxury.

It might take you 10 apps to achieve the results you need or it might only take 3.

I used to work with an agent in the life business who had a plaque on the wall showing he was a member of the app-a-week club. He had successfully submitted an app a week for several years running. Every year he got a new plaque which he added to his collection. He also had 5 year and maybe a 10 yr plaque as well.

Nice guy but never had any money. Some weeks the only app he submitted was a $10 monthly HIP policy while other weeks he might submit a few HIP's and maybe 2 or 3 juvenile life apps.

I remember him running into a guy who wanted to buy $50,000 of whole life and he had no idea how to calculate the premium on that much coverage and had to call his manager.

He considered himself successful because of his string of app-a-week plaques but he was always struggling financially because he never set his activity, or his results, high enough.

Like most of the folks here, I have had good months and bad months. I have had weeks when it seemed like I was selling belly buttons and no one wanted to talk to me because they already had one.

The good months are really grand and the bad months really suck. The goal is to make sure the good months get better and better so the bad months don't seem so bad.

There will come a day, if you stick with it and set the right goals, when you can actually take a day or a week and not feel the pressure of HAVING to do something.

When you are self employed you have no one to answer to but yourself. If you are not achieving there is no one to fire you or kick your butt to make you work harder.

Self employment is the greatest thing in the world for those who have the ability to handle it, and it can also be the worst thing if you are not diligent.

Wow! That is a whole oyster bed full of pearls of wisdom.

I don't think I have ever read a better description of what it is like to be an independent insurance agent.

I've always said that when this job works it is like having a license to steal, when it doesn't it is the worst job I have ever had.

This job is all about hills and valleys. I keep looking for flat, level ground and I have never found it. Those agents who are not very good climbers are going to struggle.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Newby]

First of all, I don't look at it by week. I look at months.

I make a spreadsheet each year with a tab for each month.

I enter the client into on the sheet each time I take an app. One of my columns is "commission earned" and the next one is "commission recieved."

As I send in the app, I fill in the commission earned column. When I get paid I fill in commission recieved. Everything stays within the month that I generated the application even if it's a month or so later that I get paid.

It's easy this way to tell what you have generated each month and how much you have yet to recieve.

 

[sman]

I measure the success of the week on whether or not I got to play golf and if I had any 3-putts. Unfortunately, the last 5 weeks have been so busy I have only played golf once and I had one 3-putt.

In all seriousness, I stopped measuring a long time ago. While my renewals and trails more than pay the bills, I still feel a little weird at the end of a week if I haven't helped someone. I determine helping someone much in the same way as somarco described.

Just as important though, is for you the agent, to have something to do that is non-work related that allows you a have fun and relax. Golf does that for me.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the last 5 weeks have been super busy. I've made some REALLY good money over that period of time, but I wouldn't say I've been successful because I've neglected something that I enjoy. We have to reward ourselves.

 

[Frank Stastny]

In all seriousness, I stopped measuring a long time ago. While my renewals and trails more than pay the bills, I still feel a little weird at the end of a week if I haven't helped someone. I determine helping someone much in the same way as somarco described.

Just as important though, is for you the agent, to have something to do that is non-work related that allows you a have fun and relax. Golf does that for me.

As I mentioned in the beginning, the last 5 weeks have been super busy. I've made some REALLY good money over that period of time, but I wouldn't say I've been successful because I've neglected something that I enjoy. We have to reward ourselves.

I wasn't sure how I wanted to answer that question until I read your response. You have pretty well summed up my feelings as well.

I went through a period when I first started of living insurance damn near 24 hours a day, seven days a week. (Paying one's dues.) They are paid now and I once again have time to put quality back into my life.

Now, a good week for me is when I have been able to have a good mix of both.

I have never "set goals" for myself. I have never needed to establish goals to motivate myself or to keep track of what I have done.

In the beginning my "goal" was to write as much business each week as I could. I would go anywhere in the state, any day of the week, at any time of the day or night to write an app. I have had appointments on Christmas eve day and early in the morning on New Years day. (I was single at the time.)

During the best month I have ever had it wasn't uncommon for me to drive 400+ miles a day and not get home until 10 or 11 at night.

If I had written six apps by Wednesday I figured I was "on a roll" and saw no reason to slow down. If I had only written two by Wednesday I didn't permit myself to get discouraged.

 

[Mark]

I just keep planting seeds in this garden and hope that something comes up. I don't slow down putting out seeds.

Just keep planting and as long as you are eating, you are doing well.

I guess a good week is when you bills are paid and you have some money left over.

 

[policy doctor]

Wow...some really good insights here from practicing agents!! Sometimes you just keep going and going and think you're the only one struggling, or working too hard, then you find out others are doing the same process and enduring the same crap to have some rewards.

WARNING WARNING...When you're self-employed it is easy to be a slacker...good discipline pays off.

I too judge my weeks performance by month's production. Using that farm analogy works here....first prepare the soil, sow, cultivate and water, than reap harvest.

Famous words of a former sales mgr: "You may have a bad day, you may have a bad week, but if you keep plugging, you will have a good month! So keep Selling."

 

[gprosperity]

Here is how I look at it a) how many contacts did I make, just because they did not buy today does not mean they won't buy tomorrow. b) how many apps did I send up to underwriting c) how much is my alp for the week d) did i manage to keep my funnel full to help out run death claims, and chargebacks? For example, this week I wrote 10 applications, $6k in alp , and yes some will draft in June some in July so my funnel is full, good week, great week will be when I am writing 10 k in biz.