Importance of an insurance sales mentor

An insurance sales mentor is like your yellow brick road, following it will lead you to success

In the world of insurance sales a is absolutely essential. Anyone that is planning on flying a plane, doesn’t just jump in the cockpit and start actually flying the plane. No, that would be crazy. They turn to someone that is experienced in flying, to learn from them how to properly and safely fly. And like flying a plane, you need some kind of qualifications to sell insurance. A mentor can show you how to get qualified and much much more.

A lot of new insurance sales agents start out with a lot of passion and enthusiasm, and they don't get into the business expecting to fail. If they expected to fail, than why would they even get involved in the first place. But many of them will fail, usually because they hit some major obstacles along the way, obstacles that could have easily been avoided if the had someone with experience showing them the way. A mentor can be this person.

It is important to remember where you stand and what your purpose is when contacting your new perspective clients. In most cases it is expected that an insurance agent will guide customers though the maze of insurance policies, leading them to the right choice for them. It is of the most importance that insurance customers trust the fact that there agent are doing what is in there best interest. Often times the moment this is questioned is the moment the sale is lost.

There are a number of different forms of mentoring someone can look for or get involved in. You can have a short term mentors, a long term mentor, you might even have more than one mentor. No matter what your mentor relationship, they can help avoid mistakes. In many cases a mentor can provide opportunities that would not exist otherwise. Opportunities to have access to there contacts. These contacts could be anyone from a talented and loyal web developer to a trusted college in finance. One of the greatest thing about mentor-ship is that you don't just get there first hand experience, you get the access to many years of collaborative and accumulative business experience.

The insurance industry is constantly changing. It is important to know exactly what is going on and what might be happening, so when a potential client ask about what is going on in the industry, you need to know. You want them to really feel like you know what your talking about. Not only is this important for closing a sale on your insurance leads but it helps generate more word of mouth leads. Beyond new sales, really doing your homework can help keep customer retention up. Undoubtedly your client will be approached by another insurance company offering them a cheaper service, but they will not switch. Why? Because they know you know what you are talking about. In conclusion an insurance agent on top of his game will not only be a great agent but also a knowledgeable teacher and a curious student.

When someone is looking to find a mentor to help in insurance sales, they should look at what assets they might be missing, and find someone who could help fill that. The should be thinking in terms of the best, think about a team, and if there was an all star insurance sales team, who would be on it. Making a list of these people, this “team roster” if you will, can prove to be very helpful. One should not be shy about this list, it could contain people close that are close business colleagues , personal acquaintances to famous people and insurance industry leaders. This list will make for a good start.

When the list is complete it is important to take a step back and look at it objectionably and realistically. Some of the people on the list may be inaccessible. OK, that is fine, because now it is easier to take a look at the skills and qualities that person has that prompted there appearance on the list. From there it is possible to have a better idea of the criteria of a quality mentor is. From there it is possible to go out an find someone with those skills and qualities that are more accessible.

No one is the complete package, no one has the best of every quality, even mentors have mentors. But by having a mentor one can fill in some of the gaps that might not be in there repertoire. Having a mentor is a sure fire way to get on the fast track to success and help avoid the pitfalls of failure.

Mentor-ship is not always free, and usually comes at some cost. Any successful insurance sales person knows that they can't run around doing things for free all the time. In many instances new insurance sales agents just don't have the money to afford quality mentor-ship. Sometimes a symbiotic relationship can be established. In this one will find mentors who see the value in mentoring, because they in fact, can learn a lot from the process them self's.

If you have the means to afford a personal and dedicated mentor then avoid evaluating the cost of having one, rather look closely at the cost of not having tone. Costly mistakes are called costly mistakes for a reason. Many of these mistakes can easily be avoided with the guidance of a mentor. Even more so, what is the cost to an individual if they fail as an insurance sales agent. One should see how the importance of having a mentor outweighs the time and effort they have put into getting started, licensed, certified, trained and set up? How much money are they willing to loose by holding on to the idea that they are saving money by not having a mentor. Stubbornness in this aria of a sales budget could be disastrous.

When sales are high and we are raking in the cash, we feel like we are on top of a mountain. This is a great feeling. There are also time where things are not going so well, and we are up at 3am, worried about what the next day is going to bring, and if we will make it through the quarter? Mentors have probably already experienced both the highs and the lows. They can relate to most situations new insurance agents will face and more often than not save people from a complete meltdown.

So how do people know if you have found the right mentor? They know because they will be excited about it. They feel extra energy and they will be focused. Not only that they will be excited because they will actually know where they are going with there career in insurance sales, locked and loaded with a clear guide of how to achieve there goals.