Sneaking a Peek at Best Practices

You're curious, right? Not quite Curious George, but interested nonetheless. You want to know what makes others successful. What works for them may work for you.

But what are others doing? You can ask colleagues, but not competitors. Naturally, we want what eludes us. How do we find out what our competitors are doing?

Three of the four choices are ethical:

1. technology
2. conferences
3. client seminars
4. maven/connectors
   

Using Technology
Technology offers solutions. We can use search engines to find people, presentations, newsletters, newspaper articles, press releases, and websites. It's surprising and sometimes shocking what you can find out instantly for free. The beauty of these sources is the anonymity. No one sees you peeking.

Try a search on your own name at google.ca, for example. Unless you know you're world famous, select pages from Canada.

Attending Conferences
Conferences are another way. You can ask questions during and after a session. Now you are asking a presenter, not a competitor. It's surprising how much you can pick up, how willing others are to share when in the right environment. Friendships can develop, which makes future contact easier.

Crashing Client Events
As Yogi Berra says, "You can observe a lot just by watching." A competitor's client event lets you see

• how the event is arranged
• the location
• the attendees
• the presentation
• the handouts
• the followup process

But you can't go --- even with an invitation. Only clients and prospects are welcome. Some venues are intimate and expensive, which would make your presence more intrusive and more costly. Unless you're a master of disguise like Inspector Clouseau (Peter Sellers, not Steve Martin), you're liable to be found out. To attend, you need permission. Good luck getting that.

So what can you do?

Use Maven/Connectors
There are three types of people. "Those who can count and those who can't?," you ask. "No," I reply. In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell calls them:

1. mavens (actively accumulate knowledge)
2. connectors (have links between different groups)
3. salesmen (persuaders who help clients act)

Do you see the dilemma? Mavens burst with knowledge but have few to tell. Connectors spread messages, but have no message to pass on. You as salespeople combine the knowledge with your persuasion skills but don't have ready access to the mavens.

You need a maven/connector. Do you know one? If not, you soon will.

Writer's Vista

What if it happened to you? Here's a new blog and I've already run out of things to say. It had to happen sometime, but why now? The launch hasn't even take place (a minimum of 5 articles are recommended). The wiki is under development. The email subscription option has now been added. The template has been tweaked.

All that's needed is content. Insurance is very serious.For humour, visit the Spark Insight blog.

The good news is that this blog is not known. It's not hyped like Microsoft Vista, which sold 59% less units than Windows XP in its first week. Here's why that might be

• no compelling reason to upgrade since Windows XP works well
• the cost ... the Ultimate version costs $300 for upgraders and $500 for new systems ... computer prices keep dropping, but Microsoft doesn't reduce it's prices
• most users would need to upgrade their computer hardware first
• it's only an operating system ... most people have lives
  

In insurance, there's concern about product prices. Explain this then. Vista Ultimate --- the priciest version --- accounts for 30% of the sales. Buyers need sophisticated hardware, which increases costs further. So the low price doesn't always rule. Some people want they consider is the best, which happens to be the most expensive. When clients perceive value, they are willing to pay more.

Testing 1-2-3

At least that's what you say in front of a microphone :)

This blog aims to help you sell more life insurance by

• providing information
• sharing best practices
• answering questions

You can post comments anonymously, if you're worried about identifying yourself.

The focus is on sales in Canada, though much of the content will likely be universal.