consider it done
Time Management....
- Thread starter iaminsman
- Start date
consider it done
I know alot of you are "one man" operations and that can be hard. I just finished Dan Kennedy's book No BS Time Management for Entrepeneurs and it would be a good read if you feel like your days are slipping by and you're just not productive enough. His analogy of "time vampires" is right on the money
I'm with djs, I only take appts that will generate X$ in commission or it gets delegated to a producer. Has proven to reduce stress significantly and increase profitability as well.
I'm with djs, I only take appts that will generate X$ in commission or it gets delegated to a producer. Has proven to reduce stress significantly and increase profitability as well.
- 25,998
Hi,
Kinda depends on several factors. What is the service. Who the call is from. What time it is. What the message is. Probably similar to DJS.
I do primarily Life Insurance. I work out of a home office. The business phones only rings there. "Normal" office hours are "about" 9-5. Most clients do not have my cell phone. And I normally block my cell out going calls.
If a call comes in while I am in the office. My assistant (wife) answers the phone. If they ask for me I take the call and handle what ever it is. If I can not take the call She offers to help. or I call back when I can. If it is a bank change she handles it. Bene or address change she may handle sending it out but I call back To check if there is an opportunity. If it is a death claim I call back right away. I follow through on the claims past the payment.
Caller ID is a wonderful thing. I have a couple of those clients that call every other month to check what ever. I will normally have Lisa tell them I am out and try to help them. I still call them back, but on my time. It is a training process. If a call comes in from a pending client or from a referral I always take the call. Got to handle those right a way.
Calls after hours or weekends really depend on the message left. Also who it is from. If I am working the phones in an evening or they work during the day, I will return the call.
Mostly, I personally handle all the service calls. I pull the file as I am talking to them. That way I can personalize the call. Such as "how is John" "Are you still working at the IRS?" "How are the grandkids." I take the opportunity to do a quick policy/needs review. I am mining for info. I note the info in the file. Things like; retiring in 6 years, wants to leave something to granddaughter, Had to help pay for mother-in-laws funeral, Has a policy with XYZ policy, who the agent is, when was the last time he called her to service the policy. If the agent has orphaned her, I service that policy. I get an in force, copy of the app etc.. I do an agent of record change. I keep an authorization and Agt of record letter in my kit. Or if it is term I try to convert or rewrite it. If the salesman abandoned the client, take the client and all of the clients that agent wrote connected to her.
I do not automatically give the clients the HO phone number. My phone number is on the front of the policy folder and policy. I let them know that I want them to call me. I let them know that I am their agent and advocate, NOT the company. If I get a notice that a client called the HO I follow up with the client. These are MY clients. Not the insurance company's. They need to refer Me, not some company.
We also do a lot of client letters and calls. We do not buy leads. So I guess this is my lead system.
I look forward to being able to say "I do primarily...." Right now, I do primarily whatever insurance product a client wants to buy kinda thing.
You and I keep about the same office hours, but I do have to be out of the office occasionally so how do you make this work? When you are away from the business phones, do you find yourself checking your vm frequently?
Could you go a little more into detail about how you follow through beyond the payment?
I really like the calling them back on your time schedule. I'm still working on that one as well as how to tactfully get rid of those clients that just "drop by to chat" because they happen to be passing by. Really eats into my day. Do you have that problem and if so how do you handle it? I want to tell them, "hey, I'm trying to make a living here and you are wasting my time", but realize that is not a great retention script.
So you don't feel an urgent need to call back until business hours if you don't think the request is critical? I believe that is managing your clients rather than the other way around and again I haven't mastered that yet.
Good to know because I do not regularly call my life clients and had not thought of that as abandoning them, but of course it is. If you were in my state you would be picking up my clients, or maybe you are anyway hmmm?
Again, thank you. Might be common sense to some, but for those of us that are just trying to build a foundation we forget to consider these type things. Appreciate the response and benefit of your experience.
CharityQuotes
Expert
- 44
Generally, my problem is not so much with getting a lot done but more so making sure I get everything done. The sticky notes function on windows 7 seems to help out quite a bit.
What is the 20 point system?
What is the 20 point system?
- Thread starter
- #27
I agree and can't wait to be able to hire someone to do that cold calling for me sometime soon. But until that time comes what would be an ideal amount of time spent for each activity daily? How would/did you schedule your days when you first started when you couldn't afford to pay someone???
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and what about those like the "master" (Frank) who does all the cold calling himself? How do those of you who do not go out of the home office as much schedule your days?
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- 7,066
The single most important thing I have done to help in time management is only going on appointments when I feel that I have at least a 90% chance of making a sale. I didn't always do that.
When I first started selling insurance I use to believe that getting them to agree to see me was the most important part, the "foot in the door" concept. I wasted thousands of hours going on appointments to do a "policy review".
I still do my own calling and set my own appointments. I have tried hiring people to do that for me and I discovered that doing it myself, the way I do it, not only increased my production but saved me a ton of hours sitting behind a windshield. I no longer have the luxury meeting nice people who want information but are not prepared to sign an app and write a check when I get there.
My percent of telephone sales has also increased dramatically in the last 24 months. Seniors are more receptive to purchasing it over the phone than ever before. I never thought I would be selling insurance in other states. That is not something I can hire a person to do for me. I have to be the one who makes the initial phone call.
I still answer the phone when a client or prospect calls instead of letting voice mail get it. Calls only go to voice mail if I am on the phone when they call. It is something I have tried to get better at but I have a real problem not answering the phone when it rings regardless when it is. During the evening, weekends and even holidays. Taking the call when the phone rings works better for me than having return calls pile up.
I find that setting priorities on a daily bases works much better for me than trying to set and stick to some kind of schedule.
When I first started selling insurance I use to believe that getting them to agree to see me was the most important part, the "foot in the door" concept. I wasted thousands of hours going on appointments to do a "policy review".
I still do my own calling and set my own appointments. I have tried hiring people to do that for me and I discovered that doing it myself, the way I do it, not only increased my production but saved me a ton of hours sitting behind a windshield. I no longer have the luxury meeting nice people who want information but are not prepared to sign an app and write a check when I get there.
My percent of telephone sales has also increased dramatically in the last 24 months. Seniors are more receptive to purchasing it over the phone than ever before. I never thought I would be selling insurance in other states. That is not something I can hire a person to do for me. I have to be the one who makes the initial phone call.
I still answer the phone when a client or prospect calls instead of letting voice mail get it. Calls only go to voice mail if I am on the phone when they call. It is something I have tried to get better at but I have a real problem not answering the phone when it rings regardless when it is. During the evening, weekends and even holidays. Taking the call when the phone rings works better for me than having return calls pile up.
I find that setting priorities on a daily bases works much better for me than trying to set and stick to some kind of schedule.
- 10,722
I wake up at 6-7am, I do my S's, I do some meditation, read the news online, go through my emails, see whats viral on the internet (so im not tempted to slack off mid calls to see outa boredom). At 9am I make out my list of to do's, to call's, and proposals (if they aren't done from yesterday). At 10a I call small biz 1-4 employees, wait for the 4th ring or else I go onto the next one. I do that until 12pm, I break for an hour, toke on the herb, eat something, and see whats viral (again, im a junkie when it comes to news and antics). 1-3 I call again, and afterwards, starting at 3pm, I do appts until 6 or 7pm. After that, I take notes, write out to-do's, to-call's, and this is where I will start to use my time for blogging, social media etc. in about a month or so. No weekends unless I have a scheduled appt with someone I think will be a close.
Weekends? go golfing, but up here in ohio, thats hardly feasible.
Weekends? go golfing, but up here in ohio, thats hardly feasible.
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