Question for Agents with ADD/Autism

[Kenneth Andrews]

Alright guys. I'm more of a lurker, but I have a serious question for my first post. My question is to those of you with ADD or another condition that makes focusing a challenge, how do you cope, buckle down and make your cold calls?

And now to the controversial part. Have any of you taken medication for your condition and seen improvement? Obviously I'm not looking for medical advice as that would be a better question for my doctor. And i'm clearly asking about people who have been prescribed legal stimulants. I'm only curious about your personal experiences and whether it's even worth asking my doctor about, or if I'm over thinking things. I want to be clear I'm not one to really even ask this question. I've avoided medication because I really don't believe in taking it. But I'm at the point in my life where I can't keep job/school hopping and expect to be successful. It's not like I'm lazy. I work hard when I am passionate about something. It's just hard to keep my brain on track. Heck the only reason I held my last job down for so long is because as an EMT I could nap or play on my phone between calls. Then when I was working it was usually fast paced and even the boring calls weren't boring. But in this economy that wasn't paying the bills.

I've been in the insurance business before. And while when it comes to areas that interest me, such as the cool things we can do with policies I was like a darn guru. I would google and learn everything I could. But what I wasn't doing was selling. I wasn't sitting down and making the darn calls. I've always had difficulty with focusing, procrastinating, and just plain getting distracted. I'm the type of person that can learn literally anything about a topic, but have to remind myself that no matter how much I learn my community college butt isn't getting a hedge fund job. It's just hard for me to focus on the fundamentals that I know I need to focus on to be successful. I'm studying now to get back into the industry, and want to do it right this time around. However, even just sitting to study for the license is a struggle for me. I can't seem to focus on the material for more than 10 minutes without my brain drifting off. I catch myself thinking while reading and not retaining anything. I have to down multiple energy drinks just to get my brain focused on a single study session, which is obviously unhealthy in itself. How am I supposed to cold call for 4-6 hours straight if I can't even study for 10 minutes without getting distracted? I want to do the work. I want to make the calls. I just keep getting in my own way.

So for those of you with trouble focusing have you tried the medication route, and did it actually help you? if not what did? How do you make yourself do the darn work that needs to be done?

 

[goillini52]

Alright guys. I'm more of a lurker, but I have a serious question for my first post. My question is to those of you with ADD or another condition that makes focusing a challenge, how do you cope, buckle down and make your cold calls?

And now to the controversial part. Have any of you taken medication for your condition and seen improvement? Obviously I'm not looking for medical advice as that would be a better question for my doctor. And i'm clearly asking about people who have been prescribed legal stimulants. I'm only curious about your personal experiences and whether it's even worth asking my doctor about, or if I'm over thinking things. I want to be clear I'm not one to really even ask this question. I've avoided medication because I really don't believe in taking it. But I'm at the point in my life where I can't keep job/school hopping and expect to be successful. It's not like I'm lazy. I work hard when I am passionate about something. It's just hard to keep my brain on track. Heck the only reason I held my last job down for so long is because as an EMT I could nap or play on my phone between calls. Then when I was working it was usually fast paced and even the boring calls weren't boring. But in this economy that wasn't paying the bills.

I've been in the insurance business before. And while when it comes to areas that interest me, such as the cool things we can do with policies I was like a darn guru. I would google and learn everything I could. But what I wasn't doing was selling. I wasn't sitting down and making the darn calls. I've always had difficulty with focusing, procrastinating, and just plain getting distracted. I'm the type of person that can learn literally anything about a topic, but have to remind myself that no matter how much I learn my community college butt isn't getting a hedge fund job. It's just hard for me to focus on the fundamentals that I know I need to focus on to be successful. I'm studying now to get back into the industry, and want to do it right this time around. However, even just sitting to study for the license is a struggle for me. I can't seem to focus on the material for more than 10 minutes without my brain drifting off. I catch myself thinking while reading and not retaining anything. I have to down multiple energy drinks just to get my brain focused on a single study session, which is obviously unhealthy in itself. How am I supposed to cold call for 4-6 hours straight if I can't even study for 10 minutes without getting distracted? I want to do the work. I want to make the calls. I just keep getting in my own way.

So for those of you with trouble focusing have you tried the medication route, and did it actually help you? if not what did? How do you make yourself do the darn work that needs to be done?

To make a long story short...marijuana.

 

[Kenneth Andrews]

That's another reason why I kept my last job for so long. And also the reason why I can't do said work anymore. Part of the reason I love this industry is the freedom to live my life without my employer making me pee in a cup for something that is legal in this state. Unfortunately while marijuana calms me down and helps me relate to people better. It does not help with focusing. It's great to relax at the end of the night. Horrible for studying and productivity. At least for me.

 

[Travis Price]

My question is to those of you with ADD or another condition that makes focusing a challenge, how do you cope, buckle down and make your cold calls?

I have ADD. The answer is simple:

I don't make cold calls.

You didn't clarify what type of insurance you sell, but the upside to all of this is you have the ability to adapt your prospecting to your strengths.

Hire someone to cold call for you (which, cold calling isn't the most efficient use of your time as an agent.)

Consider direct mail, live transfers, seminars if you're doing complex products.

 

[Kenneth Andrews]

Problem is all of that costs money. If I have clients to serve and I'm busy I can absolutely hire someone to cold call and I should. I'm always a fan of delegating. I do plan on network marketing, and buying leads also. But You can only go to so many events in a day, and again leads cost money. So Yeah I'm down to buy leads and pay for things to expand my reach. But when I start out I need to do something during those golden sales hours if I'm not at an event. I've pretty much settled on D2D and cold calling. I'm sure I'll mix it up a bit to keep things fresh. But I can't think of a way to turn nothing into something short of cold calling.

Oh and I'm getting my P&C license. I figure it will give me the flexibility to cross sell later. But last time I was in the industry I did Life & Health. So I'm very familiar with that, and will grab that license next. My game plan is to offer everything the client needs. I figure this won't just be good for commissions. But Life offers better up front commission for me while I build those P&C renewals. And I feel a client who has everything through me won't want to go anywhere else. But that's down the road. I want to get a good understanding of P&C, and use that to get my foot in the door. I can focus on life & health once I'm comfortable with that.

 

[Travis Price]

. But that's down the road. I want to get a good understanding of P&C

Don't work for yourself yet. You don't have money, you don't know the business, you need structure.

Find a job. Learn the business. Save money.

The thing about this business is you have to find a few prospecting tools you ENJOY/HAVE ABILITY to do on a consistent basis.

You're not made for cold calling. That's okay. In fact, while it works.. it's not efficient. You've already said you don't have the money for other stuff.

Be honest with yourself, or you will fail again.

 

[goillini52]

That's another reason why I kept my last job for so long. And also the reason why I can't do said work anymore. Part of the reason I love this industry is the freedom to live my life without my employer making me pee in a cup for something that is legal in this state. Unfortunately while marijuana calms me down and helps me relate to people better. It does not help with focusing. It's great to relax at the end of the night. Horrible for studying and productivity. At least for me.

Pot has helped me focus for 50 years.

Have you tried Ritalin?

 

[Travis Price]

Pot has helped me focus for 50 years

Pot does the opposite for me... If I have to think, I'm done.

Ritalin also makes me into a zombie.

 

[shonceman]

I have many of the symptoms of ADD without the diagnosis. I took St John's Wort for many years which helped me focus, and also helped me be less irritable. (I had to stop taking it, though, because of interactions with other meds.)

I job hopped for many years, never staying with any company for longer than 5 years. Self employment has helped with that, because if I get bored or frustrated, I can change up my activity without changing jobs.

I became independent for the second time 17 years ago. I've learned through trial and error that the best strategy for me is to narrow my field to simple products, presentation, and process. Therefore I focused on Final Expense, and later narrowed my focus even further to Home Service (debit), which is a more old school way of doing FE. I can still offer other products as a client may have need, but I stopped trying to pursue multiple markets. When I did that, I began to see real success.

The great thing about the FE market is its simplicity. No complex products. Simple sales presentation. And the way I've done it, no real cold calling, unless the weather's nice and I feel like cold knocking for an hour or so.

I don't recruit anymore (because, for me, that was a distraction), but there are several IMO's on the forums that focus on FE and can train you well to be successful in that market. (They mostly hang out in the Final Expense Forum.)

 

[goillini52]

Pot does the opposite for me... If I have to think, I'm done.

Ritalin also makes me into a zombie.

Everyone doesn't have the same reaction.

I work with a light buzz. Sometimes if I smoked to much...then I had to think. That's another good thing about edibles, the high is more consistently measured.