When it comes to leads and qualified prospects, it seems there are two camps...those who desperately climb uphill to gather their fair share, and those who live in abundance. I admit I was a pretty accomplished hill climber for years. Recently, I learned to "abun-dance" and it's a WOW transformation!
For years, I saw insurance as something most people need to buy at some point. How cool is that? I didn't have to create the demand. I just had to prove I was the best person out there to buy it from.
I sold comprehensive insurance and risk management, added an incredible service experience, and helped people protect what they love. I rounded out my accounts and got referrals. Nevertheless, when my prospect funnel was low, I'd begin the uphill climb. I'd make cold calls. I'd call people who didn't know me and who weren't expecting my call to convince them to consider buying insurance from me. The process wasn't fast or abundant, let alone confidence building. Yet, I believed that if I ever stopped climbing, I'd begin a financial downhill slide.
Of course, today, people scaling their businesses into hyper-growth is all the rage. Some are actually in the insurance business. These scalers have choreographed a predictable sales process that consistently, and abundantly, feeds qualified leads/prospects into the organization.
"Abun-dance " is a blend of realization and education. Those who embrace it grow their agencies or books by exponential multiples (2x,10x, 20x...).
Here's a few "abun-dance" moves...
Start with Why - In 2010, Simon Sinek explained (see the video "How Great Leaders Lead") that people don't really care about what you do (or sell) until they align with why you do it. Bring an irresistible solution (most likely wrapped in technology) that you are passionate about (your "why") and you've just placed a worthy destination at the end of your sales path.
Pull, don't Push - Hill climbers push people to buy. Abundancers help pull willing prospects, through a buying process. Instead of spending time trying to convince people they should buy, abundancers limit conversations to people who are already interested and ready for the discussion. In high-growth sales organizations, salespeople don't make sales, they fulfill sales demand.
Separate Lead Generation from Closing - Here's a twist...Great salespeople should never be expected to generate leads or qualify prospects. They don't like it. They aren't good at it. And it's an extremely expensive use of their time. Instead, the scalable organization uses high level email marketing campaigns and a sales development team to consistently serve up qualified prospects who are actually waiting for a salesperson's call. The salespeople are then responsible for closing sales, rounding out accounts and getting referrals. To dig deeper, read "Predictable Revenue" by Aaron Ross.
Give Up Control - Abundancers don't try to control how long someone takes to move forward in the sales process (that would be "pushing"). They recognize that today's prospects want to choose their own adventure in how they get to know a company, its products, services, and/or its team. So they design discovery opportunities (blogs, demos, technology, samples, interactive experiences, etc.) that simulate a Disney ride when it comes to capturing attention and engaging the audience.
One last thing...technology plays a huge role in any "abun-dance." From testing mutual compatibility with prospects and sales funnel tracking, to agency management and client-facing WOW, businesses that scale are fueled by smart people who know how to use technology.
