the most important part
of the meeting is education
Focus on the areas that have the most impact: prospecting,
presenting, closing, and building relationships with your
biggest and most important accounts. Here are some areas
you may cover:
• Brainstorming strategy to win an account
• How to beat the competition
• How to ask for referrals
• How to cold call or prospect effectively
• How to close more deals
The objective is to get the best stuff from your best people.
Some people are great at referrals, others are great at cold
calling, and others are great at closing. Also, it’s important
that the successful people are talking. While we want to be
respectful and inclusive, we don’t need to hear tips from
someone who’s made one sale in the past nine months.
W
open and close the right way
Logistically you want to hold meetings early on Monday
morning to start the week off right. This best ensures
everyone is in early and focused at the beginning of the
week. Start the meeting with something short and positive.
A positive quote or passage from a book is good. You
can also have a weekly focus point. Another idea is to
highlight something positive that may have happened
recently. Next, cover the agenda in 15 seconds or less
then bridge into the main part of the meeting.
An effective way to close the meeting is to give everyone
one or two action items that they can act on immediately.
Here are some good examples:
• Go call on that account you’ve been afraid to call on.
• Do something you haven’t done before or challenge
yourself to break your previous best. For example, if the
most prospecting calls you’re ever made in a week is 50,
shoot for 75 or 100.
• Identify and do the one thing that once done, will
ensure the whole week has been a success.
The key to effectively closing the meeting is to harness
the energy created to take immediate action and get the
momentum rolling toward a successful week. This will
also help you develop the habits of stepping out of your
comfort zone, facing your fears, and pushing yourself to
become better.
John Chapin is an award-winning sales speaker, trainer and coach. You may reach
him at 508-243-7359, [email protected] or www.completeselling.com.
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|January-February 2015| KANSAS INSURANCE AGENT & BROKER
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