Foundation For This Company – A President’s Message
A well-worn cliché is when a company President gets up for a speech at a convention or annual meeting and says, “The foundation for this company is our people.” Then it is mandatory to go on and extol the virtues of the workforce and how nothing could get done without them, etc. etc.
Now I take second place to no one when it comes to pride about the field and home office associates of Lincoln Heritage. You are first rate and your track record speaks for itself. But I think the old cliché is simply incorrect, especially when the business in question is an insurance company.
The foundation of an insurance company is mathematics. Until and unless the company does its math right, no amount of hard work and no number of dedicated people will make up the deficit. Even if everyone else in the company does a superb job, if the actuaries do not price the products right, if the accountants do not have tight controls on the cash, and if the investment managers make foolish investments, then all the other work is for naught.
When you stop and think about it, the same thing can be said for the sales business. You have got to get your math right in order to be successful.
We all know that some people just can’t sell. If they attempt a career in sales, they find out in short order that it is not for them and they need to pursue another career. But assuming a minimum proficiency and skill in sales (much of which can be learned and improved upon but that is an article for another day), then a lot of what determines success is simple math.
The numbers questions abound: How many leads do you need to make a sale? What is your average sale, and what is your income from that sale? How much are your renewals worth the longer that you are in business?
How much does good persistency (or poor persistency) affect your income? If you make one extra call per day, how much would your income go up? If you work all of your leads out, and ask for referrals, and call on neighbors, how much would your income go up?
You can’t sell a policy to everyone you talk to. You also can’t sell large enough policies to where you can thrive by selling one every once in awhile. So the two ways that you can increase your income is to work more hours (always a good idea) and to work smarter in the hours that you do work. Knowing your numbers inside and out will help guide you as to how to work smarter.
Do your math first, and then put that math to work.
President Tom Londen The Londen Companies Lincoln Heritage Life Insurance
[Reposted from January 2011]
