Here at the agency, we believe in doing the little things right.
“Right things” is subjective in nature. It varies from person to person.
For us, it’s about doing the things today that are going to help us tomorrow.
This idea comes primarily from The Slight Edge by Jeff Olson. The principal thesis of this book is that small daily decisions and actions compound into large changes over time.
These decisions can either help you or hurt you. It’s that simple.
Prospecting daily will help you build your pipeline and improve your sales techniques. Avoiding necessary paperwork will lead to errors, upset customers, and extra work. These are examples of small daily decisions that can add up over time.
It is important to realize that these decisions are often both:
- Easy to do
- Easy not to do
Which easy you choose is up to you.
10 or 1 – A Mindset for Top Salespeople
We could point to several applications of this principle, but nothing stands out more than our mindset around what we call “10 or 1.”
10 or 1 is simple.
When you’re ready to go home, you make 10 more outbound calls or get 1 quote, whichever comes first.
It’s easy to do, and easy not to do. Compounded over time, it can yield amazing results. How long does it take to make 10 outbound phone calls if nobody picks up?
Five minutes? Maybe?
When we say it’s easy to do, this is what we’re talking about. We’re asking for 5 more minutes or one more shot to close a sale that day. Is it hard to devote 5 more minutes? Absolutely not, but many people won’t do that little bit extra.
Let’s look at how 10 or 1 compounds results using three examples:
Example 1:
Let’s start simple with just a solo producer.
1 Salesperson x 21 Days per Month x 1 Quote per Day x 20% Item Close Rate = 4 Items per Month
Stretch this out to a year, and that producer has added 48 items to their production.
Think about how many items your producers write in a month. Are they writing 48 items? If so, you’ve essentially found a way to get an extra month’s worth of production.
Example 2:
From my experience, the average agency has about 3 salespeople.
3 Salespeople x 1 Extra Quote Per Day x 21 Days x 20% Item Close Rate = 12 Items Per Month
Again, let’s stretch this out to a year and now your agency has produced an extra 150 items or so.
How much would 150 extra items on the year help your bottom line? Based on our calculations, this could be at least another $25,000 of revenue.
Example 3:
In our agencies, we have roughly 30 salespeople. We wanted to illustrate using our own numbers to show why the 10 or 1 mindset is non-negotiable for us.
30 Salespeople x 1 Extra Quote Per Day x 21 Days x 20% Item Close = 126 Items Per Month
Stretched out to a year, that’s an extra 1,512 items.
For us, that would be roughly $300,000 of additional top-line revenue. In no world would not doing 10 or 1 be an option for us.
Closing
I’m sure we’ve all heard it before. The more people you talk to, the more sales you get. It’s true.
The reality is that “10 or 1” is easy to do. It’s also easy not to do.
10 or 1 is not even about the extra sales you will get. 10 or 1 is about your mindset.
Are you doing the bare minimum, or are you willing to push a little harder?
You must choose your easy. Will your easy serve you? Or will your easy hold you back?
Leave your comments and questions below, or shoot me an email at andrew@nextcallclub.com.
I love the mindset. Insurance sales take grit, and anyone who does this has it!