Showing Empathy: Do You Understand What Clients Want?
When you go to your local coffee shop and the barista, Stephanie, serves your favorite concoction, you love it when she uses your name and asks no questions. Occasionally, Stephanie recommends a different drink for you to try. Time after time, you relish the familiarity of the shop. If your barista stopped working there, it wouldn’t feel like the same coffee shop. However, if you don’t visit for a month, she still knows your name. Fortunately, there are other baristas who know your likes and dislikes. In this post, I want to explore what’s evident in this business relationship, especially when it comes to empathy. What Business Clients Want According to the Cambridge English Dictionary, empathy is “the ability to share someone else’s feelings or experiences by imagining what it would be like to be in that person’s situation.” While the relationship of empathy to Stephanie and the coffee shop may not jump off the page, they do to me. There had to be at least a few transactions in which this magnificent Stephanie learned your preferences. She had to ask your name and then practice using it. She probably took time to explain the menu and encouraged you to try different beverages until you settled on a favorite. She never forgets to smile when she recognizes your face. Sometimes, she gives you a free drink just because. How to Show Empathy Not everyone is cut out to serve their customers as well as Stephanie does. She is a special person suited to working with the public. However, owning a business or running a company calls for some interpersonal skills (or staying behind the scenes and letting the Stephanies of the world do it for you). If you want to be as successful at welcoming people to your company and then nurture relationships with them so that they will stay on the client list, here’s what you can do: 1. Keep a record of how every client finds your business. When you have a CRM platform, much of this is automated for you. However, you also need to add people to the CRM database who walk into the office, call first, email, or get referred by word of mouth. 2. Practice active listening. This requires that you stop thinking about what you will say next and give your full attention to the customer. It means that you don’t refer to a computer screen, a cell phone in your pocket, or a co-worker waving at you while you ascertain what the customer wants and needs. 3. Change the office environment to promote active listening. Find a place where the customer interacts with you in person or on the phone without distractions. In a busy call center, this might be hard to do, but other environments can allow for noise reduction and limited interference from managers and colleagues. Don’t force customers to yell into the phone or to keep repeating themselves because of your workplace’s shortcomings. Customers also need to focus on what you say as you explain products or services and pricing. 4. Get training for yourself and your staff on showing empathy. A person who shows empathy is not in a hurry to get his words out. He watches your body language and catches the intonation in your voice. He shows concern when you take a deep breath in case this means you’re worried or afraid to ask something. He leans forward when he talks to you and occasionally pats you on the shoulder or playfully punches you on the arm. He sometimes hugs you or shakes your hand. His arms and legs are never crossed because that creates a defensive posture. He will gladly show you where the restroom is and ask if you have any questions. He will never rush you to state what you want or need. He will not pressure you to buy anything. Many companies have lost the art of customer service. Empathy is the top skill that your business can provide training on for everyone who helps customers. If you go through empathy training with your staff, you will see rapid results as customers feel more appreciated. What’s more, don’t keep workers on the payroll who go through empathy training and fail to show this quality to customers. Your clientele deserve the best!
Tips to Attract Younger Clients
Whether you are an agent, broker, investment adviser, or an agency, you may start to realize that your clients are getting older. You may end up losing some due to old age. Because of this, part of the time, you need to focus on attracting younger clients. Here are some tips to help! Don’t discriminate against the younger crowd Too many agents, brokers, investment advisors, and agencies, prefer to work with older (and wealthier) clients, skipping right over the younger crowd. However, that is a mistake. Your younger crowd will grow up to get better jobs, buy homes, start families, and start to think about their future. If you don’t get them when they are young, they may find someone else to help them throughout the years. Offer services that younger clients want and need Your younger clients are not thinking about the future and retirement. Planning for their future and buying life insurance is not the first thing on their mind. Because of this, you might want to sell renter’s insurance, as well as have many options for health insurance. Most younger people fresh out of college have debt. They don’t have the money (or a good income) to buy a home. Make sure that you focus on your customer service By offering the highest quality customer service, you are guaranteeing that you have satisfied clients. These clients refer you and your business, getting you more business. While this was always important, it is even more important. More and more people are asking for referrals before they do anything, from buying products to working with professionals. Make sure that you focus on the benefits If you want to sell life insurance to people who have their whole life ahead of them, you need to focus on the benefits. You can’t be all doom and gloom, talking about death. Instead, let them know about all of the other things that they can use their life insurance policy for including college, their mortgage, and just more. It is also a good idea to let them know that the earlier that they start a policy, the cheaper it will be. It is much easier to adjust your policy than get one later in life. Get Social (media that is) Your younger clients have been online and surrounded by technology their whole life. They live on social media sites so you need to be where they are. Create at least one or two social media profiles so that you can reach younger clients. Be Available You need to be available to your clients, during business hours and after. More businesses are offering customer service twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. It can be hard to compete with that, so you should do everything that you can to ensure that you are available to your clients when they need you. Social media helps with this. As long as you respond to comments and messages, you are staying in contact with your clients. Make sure that your office is set up for the younger crowd You want your clients to be happy while they are waiting. Not only should your office be warm and inviting, you may want to upgrade to more comfortable chairs. Offering free Wi-Fi, drinks, and snacks can also make people of all ages happier. In closing, though you may not be thinking about gaining younger clients, the truth is that they will eventually grow older and want your services. For this reason, you should try to make them loyal clients as soon as possible. One way to do this is by offering them the services that they want and need. You should also focus on your customer service and the benefits of the policies that you offer.
Overcoming Self-Doubt to Increase Sales
Because of the potential for both high risk and high rewards, business is a very instinctive endeavor. Concepts like thinking with your gut and trusting your instincts become very real when trying to judge who to invest trust and resources in. Being self-assured is one of the primary ways to gain customer trust and increase your sales. Unfortunately, that casual air of confidence is hard to achieve for the thousands of people in every city who suffer from self-doubt. Self-doubt saps your ability to proudly represent your products and makes customers wonder if you doubt the quality of your own pitch, costing you potential sales at every turn. If you’re ready to leave doubt behind and become the sales guru you know you can be, take our advice and try these simple doubt-defeating tips: 1. Treat Yourself with Respect Self-doubt is there to stop you from feeling confident about yourself or anything that you do. Every action you take, your doubt second-guesses whether or not it was a good idea. This is a form of undermining and that little voice is treating you with incredible disrespect. Every time you think ‘maybe I can’t do this’, imagine if someone else had said it. You wouldn’t take it from a stranger, so don’t take that kind of back-talk from yourself either. The first and best way to deal with internal doubt is to fix your self-talk and treat yourself with more respect, from the inside out. 2. Look How You Want to Feel Humans are incredibly responsive to appearance, and the way you view yourself matters too! If you have trouble feeling sleek and capable, make yourself look cool first. Don’t just comb your hair, add a little gel to the mix and style it in a new and professional way. Instead of the ‘same old work clothes’ choose something snappy. If you only have a few nice options in your closet, that could easily be part of the problem! When you look and feel your best, customers will be able to tell and will think “Now here’s someone who’s got their act together” and they will be right. 3. Speak Clearly and Boldly What’s a sales pitch without confident, clear speech? Practice clear diction and speak boldly on the topics you know well. When judging someone for trustworthiness, a steady gaze and a confident way of speaking are considered top indicators of honesty and capability. If you have a passion for your products and want your customers to know about it, tell them in a strong, positive manner and they are much more likely to believe in you and what you can offer them. 4. Reach Out to Your Clients Now that you have begun to reinvent yourself, it’s time to build stronger connections. Seek out new clients and rekindle relationships with preexisting ones. Clients who knew you before will be amazed at your positive change in demeanor while new clients will immediately trust you and want to be ‘on your team’. Altogether, by conquering your self-doubt and taking charge of your business life, you can massively increase your sales and relationships with your customers. Self-doubt doesn’t have to rule your life. Simply by taking charge of your behaviors and inner dialogue you can quickly begin to treat yourself with more respect, dress for success, develop a more confident manner of speaking and build stronger client connections. Through a combination of motivation, confidence, and hard work your sales are sure to see significant improvements. For more helpful advice on increasing your personal performance and relationship with your clients, check out a few of our other articles!
How Mindfulness & Healthy Habits Improve Productivity
What Is Mindfulness? Mindfulness training is like a gym for your mind. In the same way that weight and cardio training helps you cultivate a healthy, strong and flexible body; mindfulness training helps you cultivate a healthy, strong and flexible mind. Specifically, mindfulness training builds the “mental muscles” of concentration, clarity, and equanimity — qualities that benefit us in countless ways. When things are going well, mindfulness enhances your enjoyment, allowing you to more deeply appreciate ordinary activities. And in the midst of challenging circumstances — e.g. relating with a difficult client or an out-of-sorts colleague — mindfulness helps you deal with things more effectively. Mindfulness gives you the tools to skillfully face the pressures of our high-stress, modern world: to move through your day with more comfort, ease, confidence, and creativity. Sound pretty good? — It is! And more and more people are using secular mindfulness training to dramatically improve their performance, along with the overall quality of their life: “Silicon Valley companies like Google, Facebook, Apple and Twitter have instituted mindfulness programs to help their employees be happier, healthier and more productive at work (and at home.) Public school systems and universities are introducing mindfulness into their classrooms to help their students become more focused and engaged. World-class athletes are using mindfulness to optimize their performance and manage pain. The healthcare industry is turning to mindfulness to help speed recovery, reduce stress, battle addiction, ease pain & suffering and help support psychotherapy. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg…” Seven Healthy Habits To Boost Your Productivity (& Happiness!) As you cultivate your mindfulness muscles — supported by any one of the many in-person or remote audio/video training now available — consider also adopting one or more of these healthy habits, to prime your body and mind for even greater productivity. 1. Intelligent Dietary Choices. Fresh organic vegetables, high-quality protein (salmon and bone broth are especially nutritious), a variety of whole grains, and healthy oils (e.g. coconut, olive, sesame, sunflower, flax, walnut, almond, avocado) form the basis of a truly nutritious diet. Satisfy your sweet-tooth with some fresh fruit — an apple, an orange or some blueberries — rather than candy or a soda. Avoid partially-hydrogenated oils (aka “trans fats”) such as margarine, shortening or vegetable oils. Also avoid artificial sweeteners such as Splenda, NutriSweet or Sweet ‘N Low. A healthy diet = a healthy nervous system = turbo-charged productivity, creativity, and intelligence. 2. Ample Exercise. Become a member at a gym, or find another way to include strength and cardio training in your weekly routine. Physical exercise is a great way to detoxify your body, “blow off steam,” and return to your work (or your evening rest) with a clear mind. 3. Body-Mind Nourishment. Spend time in nature, even if this means just taking a walk around the block, or sitting in the company courtyard for your lunch hour. Take a yoga, tai-chi or qigong class every once in a while, to learn more about the links between body, mind, and breath; and to connect with a deeper source of power, peace, and inspiration. 4. Install the F.lux app on your laptop, tablet, and phone. Synchronizing the color spectrum of your screen with the rising and setting of the sun will support more regular sleep and waking cycles. Learn more about why sleep is so important to your overall health and wellbeing, and commit to making this happen. 5. Invest in EMF protection devices to safeguard your body and your home from the damaging effects of the man-made EMF “smog” that is now so prevalent in our urban areas. Our human nervous system utilizes information from the Earth’s electromagnetic field in order to function optimally. When this natural flow of information/energy is disrupted by man-made EMFs, we function less effectively. 6. Cultivate nourishing relationships. A network of supportive friends and family members is essential to our mental-emotional well-being. Find people who you can talk to and play with, and with whom you can share your deepest dreams and aspirations. The spacious sweetness of such connections nourishes and empowers all of our endeavors. 7. Follow your bliss. The great mythologist Joseph Campbell famously counseled his students to “follow their bliss.” Discover what it is that gives you deep joy, and carve out time (even if it’s only ten minutes) to engage in this activity every day. The creative energy engendered during this time will almost certainly spill over into your work activities — making them more creative and productive also. As you incorporate these healthy habits into your life, you’ll notice your overall attitude and mental outlook becoming more positive. With a new energy of joyful ease, as well as improved concentration and attention to detail, your skills as an annuity salesperson will naturally improve — leading to increasing sales, as well as overall joy and satisfaction.
Who’s Driving You to Be the Best Seller You Can Be?
Many sales reps have worked for a “boss” in the past. We’ve had someone who set performance goals for us. We counted on them to “breathe down our necks” until we met sales quotas. We decided to strike out on our own so we could keep our commissions. Or, maybe we didn’t like the culture in any agencies that employed us. Some of us started selling annuities because we sought more control over our own work. With annuities, it’s possible to earn as much as you want, but you must be a good seller. As a sales agent, you accept responsibility for all of the aspects of a business. It’s your job to find clients and to close enough deals to survive. With all that pressure, it’s easy to burn out. In this post, I ask you to consider the question of who’s driving you to be the best seller you can be. Digging Deeper I have worked in my own agency selling annuities and helping agents in other firms to sell annuities and other life insurance products for years. Over time, I’ve seen people start out strong and later fail because they lost the drive to help others. Something changed in their sales approach, and they couldn’t generate enough income to stay in business. When you sell, you are investing a lot of energy in understanding the needs of customers. You are listening to their stories and gauging their family’s needs (both present and future). It’s easy to get caught up in their lives, even if it’s only for short periods of time. You identify with them and you want to help them. Financial products can be short-term and long-term solutions for them. It’s a matter of helping them choose an annuity product without hurting their financial position. Be Smart When you help others as a seller of annuities, you give away a part of yourself in each transaction. You dispense energy that you cannot recover. It’s easy when doing this to feel emotionally drained. It’s easy to ask “What’s in it for me?” and come up short. If you aren’t doing things regularly to replenish your “soul” (i.e. seeing loved ones and friends, playing music, exercising, traveling, meditating, or enjoying hobbies), you aren’t keeping yourself in a prime condition to sell. The more you ignore your needs, the more you won’t meet the needs of others. You will get more easily frustrated, and there’s a chance that you will implode at any moment. I’m all about helping annuity sellers find balance in their professional lives. I want you to find tools that will help you be a great seller. You’ll always be more effective when your “self” is in a good place. Become a Problem-Solver and a Servant Salesperson If you want to increase sales, spend more time adopting a servant attitude. This means that you sit down in front of people (while feeling good inside) and listen to them. You hear their story and quickly assess their needs. You ask questions when needed and take notes. Your mind evaluates all types of feedback that customers give and then probes to learn more. You don’t jump too quickly to offer solutions. Some sellers make the mistake of issuing statements about what customers need. They come across as pushy or condescending. This approach causes customers to immediately resist. With a servant attitude, you consider how best to educate customers based on their expressed needs. You explain a range of annuity products that might fit their situation and then guide them towards their “choice.” They feel in control of the entire process. You’re available to sign them up for a product, so to speak, when they are ready. They don’t feel pushed into one choice or another, which is different than other sales disciplines. Keep yourself in a good place so you are a servant seller worthy of their business.
Why We Need Mindfulness Techniques Before a Sales Meeting
People who work in sales only succeed when they have quality interactions with clients. If you can’t close a deal, then you won’t get a fee, which means that you can’t pay the mortgage or put food on the table. This isn’t a place that annuity sellers want to be. However, in the face of competition, it’s there as a possibility. As we get older, we find it more difficult to manage life’s stressors. Our bodies are aging, and our kids need different things from us. We also tend to sleep less while we should get at least 7 to 8 hours of quality sleep per night. With all of this in mind, it makes sense that we should set ourselves up for success by adopting habits that make us feel healthy, strong, and sharp of mind. Here, I discuss the importance of using mindfulness techniques before a sales meeting because these require us to be at our very best. What It Looks Like You are sitting there at your laptop and saying to yourself: “This writer is crazy. Does he or she actually sell life insurance annuities to clients?” I assure you that I am in the very same industry, and I truly believe that mindfulness techniques make us better sellers. I recommend that people build mindfulness meditation into their daily routine, which could even include putting reminders on your Microsoft Outlook calendar or on your smartphone. With a mobile app like Calm, you can schedule alerts to tell yourself it’s time to meditate. I tend to need this alert every day about 11:00 am. I am into the thick of my day, and I am starting to stress out. There’s still an hour or two remaining until I break for lunch. I feel overwhelmed and need to relax my mind and body. I need to refocus my neurons on what I’m doing in the present moment. That’s when I close the door to my office, fire up YouTube on the desktop for a guided meditation, or just watch the inhale and exhale icons on my Calm app. What It Feels Like If you’ve ever been to a yoga class, you know that focused breathing works wonders for the body. I used to go to these classes years ago, but, it was mostly for time away from my youngsters and for the social relationships I formed with other yoga students. Now, I really need to go to yoga class, but it’s not something that I will get up two hours earlier to do before work. What does it feel like to do mindfulness meditation? When I close my eyes, I think about the fact that my mind, body, and spirit have reached a point of overload. I have too many things to concentrate on and negative thoughts won’t stop nagging at me. I tell myself this: “If I can just make two more phone calls or check my emails again, I’ll be able to put those thoughts aside.” I take the first inhalation, hold my breath, and then release it. I feel a bit of tension leave my body. Each breath makes me feel better. Suddenly, the day seems less daunting. I will be able to smile and tell the next client why she needs to consider a fixed rate annuity because she doesn’t like risking her money any more than she needs to. I will also steer her away from high-return investment options because she’ll be furious if one of them loses money. Think About Your Clients If you take 1 to 5 minutes to calm your body with meditation before a sales meeting, you can relieve tension from your being. Your face will look less strained, your shoulders will stoop forward less, you will sit up straighter, and you will feel less pain in your calves. Each of us carries stress in different parts of our bodies. If you’re so stiff that you look awkward to clients (even constipated or anxious), do a full-body stretch before showing them into the sales meeting. These steps may seem silly at first, but they can make a difference in how calm you feel. Your goal is to appear friendly and helpful so you can sell more products to clients. People want to learn about annuity products from a salesperson who is knowledgeable, of course, but also from someone who understands their needs.
Be Mindful of Sleep and Exercise Habits Because They Affect Your Sales Performance
Annuity sellers are like everybody else. We have to use our common sense when it comes to eating better, sleeping right, and exercising. Any change in our lifestyle (good or bad) can affect our work. When we suspect that something might be wrong with our bodies, we tend to consult a medical provider. At the medical appointment, we expect immediate results, and we desire to return to normal with as expenditure of effort as possible. What our bodies tell us is crucial, but we cannot expect to stay healthy over the long term without changing daily habits. The Prevalence of Sleep Apnea One of the things we’ve read much about in recent years is when people have trouble sleeping. It interrupts everything they do. Many adults suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) syndrome, but they don’t know it. This could explain why you often fall asleep at your desk. People with OSA may have symptoms such as loud snoring, daytime sleepiness, and daytime fatigue. They may stop breathing while asleep and/or make jerking motions. After they resume breathing again, they may experience another fit. People with multiple episodes like these could have mild, moderate, or severe OSA, which calls for medical treatment. The Background on Sleep Apnea According to a study published by the American Thoracic Society, there are estimates that 3 percent to 7 percent of the general population has a form of OSA. “Increasingly, obstructive sleep apnea is also being recognized as an independent risk factor for several clinical consequences, including systemic hypertension, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and abnormal glucose metabolism.” What’s more, people with certain risk factors have a higher chance of developing this syndrome (i.e. age, being of the male sex, obesity, family history, menopause, craniofacial abnormalities, and using alcohol or tobacco). If you know someone with loud snoring or trouble breathing during sleep, you could suggest seeing a medical provider. A medical physician determines if a patient should be evaluated through polysomnography, also called a sleep study. Exercise Can Help As we get older, it’s important to use exercise as a way to keep our bodies strong and to prevent disease. One meta-analysis study published in Lung found “a statistically significant effect of exercise in reducing the severity of sleep apnea in patients with OSA with minimal changes in body weight.” This study also found that the important effects of exercise on cardiorespiratory fitness, daytime sleepiness, and sleep efficiency suggest the potential benefit of exercise in treating OSA. If you are feeling sluggish, you want to get to the root cause. If you aren’t sleeping right, you might see your sales go down, but you can also develop other health problems. Get Ready and Feel Positive The best thing that people with a suspected medical condition like sleep apnea can do is to seek early intervention. As an annuity seller, I would like to think that I could choose the eating, sleeping, and exercise habits that will help me to live a long and fulfilling life. However, I know that my sales job makes it important to find a balance. Of course, I will do my best to follow my physician’s advice. When I take care of “me,” whether that is getting some extra sleep each night before work or hitting the gym four days a week, I should be ready to sell more policies. My brain will be more alert, and I will have more energy to give to my clients. How else will I help them choose the best annuity product for their specific situation? If they talk to me now, their needs might be different from when they called me a year ago and decided to wait. I want to be ready!