By Brent Kelly

“Security is mostly a superstition. Life is either a daring adventure or nothing.” — Helen Keller

If you have been an insurance sales producer longer than 10 minutes, you know all about risk.

Risk is defined as “exposure to danger.”

Danger surrounds insurance producers everyday. It could be in the form of a manager, company, prospect, client, product, or service. That list could go on and on, but the key point is that risk is clear everywhere you turn.

I believe you could categorize sales risks into three areas:

1. Risk of rejection
2. Risk of failure
3. Risk of financial hardship

These three risks highlight that even though the sales profession is the highest paid industry in the world, only a small percentage of the population enters this line of work. Furthermore, this is why even a smaller percentage of sales producers survive.

I have dealt with these three risks consistently in my own sales career. Although the context of these three risks...

By Brent Kelly

Have you ever felt like you have delivered a powerful and effective sales presentation only to realize that it did not connect with the prospect?

This has happened to me on several occasions. I came into a prospect meeting energetic, ready, and full of answers. Unfortunately, I later realized that my answers did not address the prospect’s problems.

If I asked you what is the most important information to understand when you are meeting a prospect for a sales appointment, what would you say?

Typically, I hear answers like, “Product knowledge, features, benefits, competitive advantages, service philosophy, and more.

These aren’t necessarily bad answers. In fact, I have written and spoken about understanding the importance of these details.

However, none of this information has any impact or carries any value if you don’t first understand the prospect, their situation, and their perspective.

Building solid rapport is the foundation of every great...

By Brent Kelly

I rarely frequent fast food restaurants, but on one particular Saturday morning, I took my kids for breakfast at a local McDonalds. Besides their awesome and underrated coffee, I found something even better.

There was an employee I noticed who was in charge of sweeping the floor, cleaning up trays, and other typical unappreciated jobs. I would assume he makes minimum wage and gets little to no benefits. However, you would never know that by watching him.

In twenty minutes, he struck up countless conversations, engaged the customers, and put smiles on their faces. It was awesome. As I sat there listening to him talk to other customers, I couldn’t help but think; How come most salespeople don’t do this?

No, he wasn’t selling anything. He wasn’t making a commission. He just genuinely cared about the people in the restaurant. It wasn’t fake, rehearsed, or manipulative. It was simply from the heart.

I learned more in 20 minutes watching...

By Brent Kelly

You want others to believe in you, your company, your product or service, and the value you provide. However, the most important question to ask yourself is, “Do you believe in you?”

Do You Breed Confidence in Others?

How others perceive you is in direct correlation to how you view and carry yourself.
You must project your self-image in a way that breeds confidence in others.

Have you ever met someone who looks sloppy, give a wimpy handshake, or can’t look you in the eye? They portray little to no confidence in themselves and therefore portray minimal confidence in the product or service they represent.

I am sure you have heard the phrase, “You never get a second chance to make a first impression.” Although that made a great Head and Shoulders commercial, it is also true.

Whether fair or not, people make quick judgments and those judgments are difficult to alter.

How you think about yourself translates directly into how you act and...

By Brent Kelly

Technology is changing at such a rapid pace that none of us can imagine what new technologies will be available in the next 20 years.

I found a clip on YouTube recently, and it absolutely blew me away. Not even 20 years ago, some of the “smartest people” on television didn’t know anything about the internet. I am not making fun of them, because in 1994, none of us really did.

In 1994, a new technology was surfacing that most of had no clue about. Today, we use the internet for just about everything and businesses would be crippled without it.

What’s my point?

The point is that new technologies are being developed right now that will completely change how we do business in 20 years. We don’t know exactly what they will be, but I guarantee you the face of business will change again in 20 years.
How do I know? Think about the changes made from 1934 to 1954 to 1974 to 1994. Does the automobile or television come to mind?

With that...

By Brent Kelly

The idea of creating a niche to grow your book of business for insurance agents is certainly not a new idea.

However, I often hear from insurance agents wanting to find their niche market, but unsure of where to start.

This is a common question as there is no perfect science to establishing yourself as an insurance expert in a particular niche. While that may seem frustrating, discovering a niche market that may work for you only requires four key components.

If you can tie these four components together, you will be well on your way to becoming an industry leader in a niche you love, understand, and provides long-term opportunity.

1) Passion
Passion for a specific industry or type of coverage is how most agents begin the process of discovering their niche. I agree that this is the most important aspect, but it’s not the only qualification.

Having passion or love for a certain industry or segment is vital because you will be...

By Brent Kelly

Over 50% of People Now Shop For Insurance Online, Is the Independent Agent Doomed?

A recent article found that over 50% of people looking to obtain auto insurance quotes now go online to shop. This trend will probably continue as insurance buyers are looking for convenience and competitive pricing.  Large companies like Geico, Progressive, and Allstate are spending millions of advertising dollars to get these customers.

Does this mean the local independent agent is doomed? 

Quite the contrary in my opinion. I think this presents one of the greatest opportunities independent agents have had in a long time.  What do I mean?  Let me back up and point out a couple of things relating to that article first.

1) The article stated that 54% of consumers turn to the internet for a quote, but most still purchase through an agent or call center.

2) Customers still highly value customer service and typically will still only move to a new company...

By Brent Kelly

In 2013, I focused a large portion of marketing, research, networking, etc. on cyber liability and data breach issues.

Why? There are many reasons why this topic is so important so let me explain.

1) Cyber liability and data breach will not just be trendy catch phrases in the coming years, but there will be organizations crippled because of a cyber liability loss.
The amount of data breaches and cyber liability claims continue to rise.  Large companies with good risk managers are already aware of this, but who is looking out for small and medium-sized business owners?

Most business owners and organizations are unaware how susceptible they are with cyber liability.  Business owners work way too hard to have everything taken from them.  I feel a calling to educate, advise, and help all entities understand their cyber exposures and work with them to provide solutions.

2) Cyber liability is complicated and it will take...

By Brent M Kelly

Use creativity and differentiation when asking questions to stand out from your competition.

Do you remember the game Scattergories? It has always been one of my favorite games.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, let me briefly explain how the game works.

Every player has a list of items on a sheet. They could be items like cities, dog breeds, actors, automobiles, etc. One player would roll a funky looking die with letters on it. Players would then have to name every item on their list starting with the letter rolled in a short period of time. For example, if the letter “B” came up, every item on you list would have to start with “B.”

What I love about this game is that you have to be extremely creative because the only way you can score points was if no other players have the same answer as you. The more players, the more difficult the challenge was to create answers that are unique.

If the list item was...

By Brent Kelly

They may like you, your agency, or your funny commercial, but they don’t like insurance.

When I attended my very first insurance training course back in 2000, the instructor said something to us I will never forget.  He said, ”Congratulations, you get to sell a product that nobody likes, understands, thinks is too expensive, and only use when something bad happens.” Talk about a kick in the pants for a young guy getting ready to take on the world.

Looking back 13 years later, there is actually quite a bit of truth in what he said.  Most people I talk to about insurance don’t like it, don’t really understand it, always tell me it’s too expensive, and only get to use when they suffer a financial loss.

I started thinking a little bit more why most people have such disgust for insurance, and I came up with a list of my top three reasons.

Brent’s Top 3 Reasons Why People Hate Insurance

1. It’s...