I took my son and daughter to an indoor shooting range this week. My son had been shooting before but it was my 17 year old daughters first time firing a hand gun. I went through all of the safety procedures and then how to handle the weapon. Then I had to explain how to aim at the target, in other words Focus. It seems simple enough, but it does take a lot of practice. It then accrued to me, that as insurance agents, we can struggle with aiming for the target as well because of lack of focus.

I train a lot of insurance agents on my team from a lot of different backgrounds. Some sell health insurance, some Medicare Supp or Advantage; some sell P & C insurance and some life insurance and annuities. Here is what I learn from the successful insurance agents versus the struggling agents. The insurance agents that focus or aim at one primary type of insurance product or target seem to hit the target and have a lot of success. The insurance agents that try to be all things to all of their clients seem to be the agents that struggle. I know there are exceptions to this rule, but this is the vast majority of my observations.

I find that clients see an insurance agent as an expert in a limited capacity. So if the agent tries to sell too many insurance products in too many categories it leaves the client feeling uneasy and trust begins to wane.  Adversely, an agent that is the “expert” at their category builds trust faster and has more success not only closing deals but building a better book of business and receives more referrals. Today clients expect their insurance agent to have knowledge beyond what they can find on the internet. They expect real world solutions from their trusted insurance advisor. If not, they would just purchase their insurance products online and hope for the best.

For example, if an insurance agent focuses on retirement planning and savings plans, it is easy to include life insurance, annuity and disability insurance products. The focus is still the same target every time every day. The insurance agent still sells multiple insurance products, but it happens deliberately by up selling or adding by uncovering the needs of the client.  If that insurance agent leads with savings on one appointment, car insurance on the next appointment, and business liability insurance on the next appointment, this lack of structure and focus will be detrimental to the agent’s practice. Just like my daughter could hit the target, but struggled to hit the bull’s-eye (which she did start hitting after practicing). She was looking at all of the distractions on the target instead of the bull’s-eye.

Find what you are passionate about and focus on it with laser intensity and you will be amazed at where your  insurance practice will take you. Remember,” if you are shooting for the stars you seldom hit mud.”

Image courtesy of Suat Eman at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

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Tim Wilhoit is owner/principal of Your Friend 4 Life Insurance Agency in Nashville, TN. He is a family man, father of 3, entrepreneur, insurance agent, life insurance broker, salesman, sales trainer, recruiter, public speaker, blogger and team leader with over 25 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.