But there is good news...

Selling in the voluntary benefits arena is incredibly simple.  So simple in fact that many agents mistake it for easy.  Unfortunately, this mistake often leads to the demise of their career. So what is the difference between simple and easy?  If something is simple, it should be easy….. right?  Not exactly!

Let me explain it this way.  If you have a library card, you are in the VAST MINORITY.  According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, only 16% of adult Americans had visited a library in the previous year.

Simple:

Is it simple to get a library card?  I’d argue that it’s very simple.  Remember back to the last time you got a library card.  Did you:

• Have to take a test?
• Give a blood or urine sample?
• Consent to a body cavity search?

Easy:

Is it easy to get a library card?  STOP!  Really think about it.  Here’s the thing, the last time you got a library card it was so simple, you “miss-remember” the process and think it was easy.  I’d argue that it wasn’t easy. (I must enjoy arguing….) Think back, did you:

• Call up the library and have them mail you a card?
• Order a pizza and then ask the Dominos driver to pick up a library card on the way to your house?
• Go online and have them email you a pdf version you could print?

Of course not!  You had to get your lazy butt off the couch and go down to the library.  Then you had to show them your ID and prove to them that you lived in their district.  After filling out the appropriate paperwork, they probably gave you your card right on the spot.  To keep the privileges that came with that card you had to return the items you checked out in a timely fashion or pay the fines for turning them in late.  See what I mean?  It was simple, but it wasn’t easy.  Why wasn’t it easy?  Getting a library card took a little initiative and effort.  Sound familiar?  Sales takes initiative and effort.

I think you can already see the connection between getting a library card and selling voluntary benefits.  Hopefully this will cement it for you.

• If you put an ad in the yellow pages or online and expect your phone to ring off the hook; you are confusing simple with easy. (For those under 25, the yellow pages were like a paper version of Google.)
• If you think that attending 20 networking events a week and passing out your card to hundreds of people will drive your sales; you are confusing simple with easy.
• If you have every considered mailing out letters to business and actually expected the business owner to read what you sent them; you are confusing simple with easy.
• If you think that there is any way to build your business that doesn’t include rejection and hard work; you are confusing simple with easy.
• If you think that once you get an account that your competition isn’t going to make a run at them; you are confusing simple with easy.

Let’s return to the library card analogy.  Almost 16 years ago my mentor told me this, “Tim, we often try to complicate this business. To make a bunch of money selling insurance here is very simple.  All you have to do is three things:

1. Talk to a whole bunch of people.
2. Treat them real nice.
3. Ask them to buy.”

How simple is that?  He was right then and it still holds true.  If we try to shortcut any of those three steps we are setting ourselves up for failure. So why do we do it?  Why do we try to take shortcuts?  Because all three of these things take hard work.  If you do the work the rewards are enormous.  If you don’t, your failure is almost guaranteed.

Conclusion:

This business takes hard work.  It IS simple, but it isn’t easy.  The good news?  It’s worth it!

Question:

Are you going to bear down and do the work this week?  Or are you going to delude yourself that you have a “new way” to be successful? (Tweetable)