When you hear the term bean counter, most of us think of an accountant. However, really good salespeople and insurance agents understand counting beans is important to the sales business as well. Meaning sales is strictly a numbers game. The old saying of “some will, some won’t, so what, next” is very true in the daily life of the professional salesman. This also applies to recruiting but I digress. You must know your numbers in order to churn out sales like a well oiled conveyer belt. Have you ever known a professional salesperson or insurance agent that consistently produced large numbers week in and week out, while others rollercoaster their way through the business? Water cooler talks from the mediocre about the top dogs included “they must be doing something illegal or getting favored treatment. No one is that good”. Nothing can be further from the truth. These sales professional and insurance agents know their numbers and they work them every day. Let me explain.
When I first learned the health and life insurance business back in the early 1990’s, I was taught a very simple formula. I was told to go to the grocery store and buy a bag of dried soup beans or pinto beans for those of you not raised in the south. I was to place 30 beans in my left pocket. Every time I speak to someone about an insurance appointment, regardless of their answer, I was to move a bean from my left pocket to my right pocket. When my left pocket was empty then I would have a good week. At the time, that was the dumbest thing I had ever heard. First off, I am a big guy, it is summertime in Tennessee, it is hot, humid and I sweat a lot. I know what happens to soup beans when they get warm and wet. They start to swell and smell. “This ain’t happening”, I’m thinking at this training. But as I look at these insurance agency managers, they are very successful and that’s where I want to be in a few years, so what the hell.
I must confess, I never used real beans, but I did use a post it note. I stuck it at the top of my appointment book, remember kids these are the old days before technology. I wrote 30 Beans and every time I spoke to someone about an insurance appointment I made a tally mark. On Monday, if I was able to reach 30 people, I knew I was going to have a good week, no matter what and I did consistently. Here is the formula. If you speak to 30 people roughly half will set an appointment. Of those 15 people only about 67% or two thirds will keep the appointment. If you have sold you know the millions of excuses to cancel, reschedule or stand you up for the appointment. This also makes it easier to handle, because no matter how much they perturb you, they are just a bean! Of those 10 presentations made, I closed roughly half on a good week and one third on a bad week. Consistently I made my 3 to 5 sales per week which was my goal. Once I understood these numbers, I could win any contest by increasing my soup beans. If I wanted to make 8 sales for the week I needed to contact 48 soup beans. Stop trying to learn short cuts to success. Know your numbers and work them like your life depended on it. At least your livelihood does, if you want to be a professional sales person or insurance agent. Happy Selling!
“Two things you can control: The quality and frequency of your message.” —John Kalench
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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 26 years of experience in sales and marketing in the insurance and beverage industries.
You’re right again Tim. So the truth is all we need is prospects then the sales are a laugher.
Actually its getting easier to prospect with the internet and all the great software packages that are given to us by most of the companies.
I my case that’s one of the things I tout when recruiting, full blown marketing, full CRM, blogs, landing pages, capture pages, statistic gathering, follow-up on every potential recruit and prospective buyers, not to mention constant follow up with existing clients. If ever there was a good time to be in our business, its right now.
Add all that up and fully virtual as well and I can and will do this business the rest of my life.
All of the social media, blogs videos, landing pages, capture pages and CRM are useless without true engagement. Most of the big companies haven’t learned that lesson yet. Still no way to automate true engagement. Glad you love what you are doing, I hope it works out this time. Much continued success to you my friend!
Thank you….a good idea and a better reminder of keeping the pipeline filled.
Thank you Shelley for the positive feedback. Glad to help!
I remember dialing for dollars working for the New England life insurance company targeting business owners…mandatory calling nights with minimum appointments to be set. Those were the days when you could call and not get sued or have many rip your head off for calling!
That was the year 1990!
Jack, I believe we went to the same school, LOL! Seems we have evolved from the “boiler rooms” to the internet but it is still a numbers game. Thank you for sharing.
Tim, once again great info!
It truly is a bean game. My problem is you cant call, you cant door to door solicit, the grocery store will kick you out of their lot. What is your advice to get to those 30 beans?
Curtis, I believe with the evolution of the business the 30 beans are achieved by networking, building relationships with referral sources and proper use of social media. I agree the ways of old are too regulated to work any more. Best of luck to you my friend!