In this episode of the Accelerate Your Insurance Sales Podcast, Andy Neary, CEO and founder of Complete Game Consulting, delivers three actionable sales tips aimed at insurance producers, agency executives, and sales leaders for the second half of 2026. He begins by acknowledging producers who are either on track or behind their sales goals, urging them not to give up and promising practical guidance. Tip 1 – Don’t underestimate the power of sales energy – Andy explains that beyond scripts and activities, the confidence and conviction a producer radiates (positive sales energy) directly influences a prospect’s willingness to engage. He contrasts negative energy (desperation, lack of confidence) with positive energy (confident, helpful, giver‑mindset) and shows how elite 7‑figure producers use this energy to achieve 60‑70 % close rates. Tip 2 – Be human in prospecting – In a world saturated with AI‑generated text, Andy advises using video and audio to convey humanity. He recommends LinkedIn video DMs, audio notes, and phone‑based video messages, citing personal case studies where video outreach never received a negative reaction, unlike written messages that are often ignored. Tip 3 – Ask for the business – The final tip is a call to be assertive: producers must explicitly ask prospects to move forward, framing the request as a clear “yes or no” decision. Andy shares his own experience of staying in the “friend zone” and how a mentor’s advice to “believe in what you sell and tell people” shifted his mindset to become an “asshole” who asks for the deal. Andy wraps up by encouraging listeners to assess their current sales energy, adopt human‑focused communication, and practice asking for the business, promising that these steps will help them close the year strong.
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You gotta ask for the business. If you want the business, you have to ask for it. I know that sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many times producers don't win an agent of record because they don't ask for it. Don't assume. You have to be able to ask for the business confidently. And I know what the fear is. By asking, they could say no. That's part of sales. Hey, hey, welcome back to the Accelerate Your Insurance Sales Podcast. My name is Andy Neary, CEO and founder of Complete Game Consulting. Welcome back to the show. Today, I'm going to share 3 sales tips that I think are going to help you out here in 2026. Today, I wanted to reflect on conversations I've been having with a lot of our clients, comments, coaching nuggets that I find myself repeating often in the coaching calls and the workshops and webinars that I'm leading lately. So, since these have come up so commonly, so frequently in the last few months, I thought, hey, I'm guessing there's a broader audience out there that could probably Stand to hear these tips. So, you know, I'm recording this on the last day of July. So before you know it, fourth quarter will be here. Some of you tuning in either have production goals that you are trying to hit. If you are in a lucky position right now where you've already hit yours, congratulations. But I am going to urge you to not take the foot off the gas. Let's keep pushing. But if you're behind on your sales goals, Especially if you feel like you're really behind on your sales goals, I don't want you to give up. And I hope today's episode is a little encouragement to maybe give you a few tips that can get you back on the fast track to success. And then if you happen to be an agency executive or sales leader tuning in, I hope today's episode becomes maybe a blueprint for you sharing this episode with your producers because of the tips that were offered up here. And so, yeah, let's just dive right into it. 3 tips that I would be giving you right now if you were a client of mine, midsummer 2026. Let's start with tip number 1. Don't underestimate the power of sales energy. That's my first tip. Don't underestimate the power of sales energy. When you look at how we train most producers, we don't talk about the confidence and conviction by which they should be delivering their message. We often focus our training on what you should be doing, right? The activity. We think we're helping them by giving them a script. Talked about this in previous episodes. You gotta help them create a script that is truly their own, not something done by somebody else. But the biggest thing you got to focus on today to have sales success is you have to be cognizant of the energy you are giving off to the prospect in the sales process. And we do not think about this enough. It is, it is a skill that we do not appreciate enough in this industry right now. And it is a skill that I think a lot of elite 7-figure producers have that they may not even realize. And that is that positive sales energy, or better said, confident sales energy that gives the prospect the confidence to want to do business with you. So let me give you some counterexamples. You know, bad energy. Let's talk about bad energy first. You know, if you're going into a sales opportunity, a discovery meeting with a prospect, and you're not confident, you're not confident in Maybe your ability to help them. Maybe you're going into an opportunity that's bigger than you've gone in before, or happens all the time. You're not confident in your team's ability to possibly execute if you were to win that business. Those are forms of what I would call negative sales energy, and I'm here to tell you with that energy, there's no way you're ever going to win. So bad sales energy is. Just a recipe for failure even before you get started. And I think a lot of that comes by way of just a pure lack of confidence. Now, understandable if you're early in your sales career here in the insurance industry, you're probably not going to have as much confidence as you will down the road. But just conveying that lack of confidence energetically in your sales message to your prospect is damaging to your, your ability to win. And then the example of the team, not having the confidence in your team and their ability, its ability to execute, is also damaging to your ability to win an agent of record letter. So if you have lost a couple prospecting opportunities lately, I do take a minute and reflect on those losses. And I want you to go back and reflect on the kind of energy you were giving off in those presentations. And I think you would see some common themes there. Now, on the flip side, positive sales energy. You know, when I look at some of the 7-figure producers we get the chance to work with today, and there's a reason why their closing ratios today are north of 60%, 70%. And yeah, they're talented. They know a lot about insurance, but I don't think that has anything to do with it. I think they have conveyed an energetic confidence that gives the buyer the confidence to say, This is my advisor. What does that energy look like? Well, first it looks like going into meetings with the confidence knowing you don't need that win. That's number one. Walking into a discovery meeting without desperation is a huge advantage. And walking into opportunities with a pure desire to help that prospect, whether or not they end up hiring you, is positive sales energy. 7-figure producers, they walk in with a pure— with that desire to just want to help educate that prospect. Whether or not that prospect actually hires them is almost a moot point. I know that sounds strange, but I think it's true. They have a giver's mentality and they're willing to give it all away, and even at the risk of that prospect using it to make their broker better. But then there's that confidence in being able to look at the prospect in the face and saying, listen, you're a perfect fit for what we do. I know we can help you. Or, hey, based on everything I'm hearing right now, I don't know if we're a good fit. That confidence goes a long way too. That's the type of positive sales energy I'm talking about. Positive sales energy is not, we're the greatest. Let me show you how awesome we are and look at all our accolades. No, no, that's not positive sales energy. Positive sales energy comes off as a confident ability to help a prospect. You know, if you really think about the goal of sales, it's not to win business. The goal in sales is to help a buyer make a clear decision. That could be a yes and that could be a no. The place none of us want to be in is, is the, the gray of maybe, right? So confident producers go in saying, hey, my only job here is to help you make a clear decision, yes or no. Whether you decide to work with us or not, that's up to you. But at the end of the day, I know we can help you. I've identified a problem. I know we are a good fit to solve, but at the end of the day, all I want to do is help you make a clear decision. And then when you are confident you have the ability to help that individual or that company, it's looking them in the face and saying, listen, this is the problem. This is— you are a great fit for what we do. This is something we'd love to help you with. All those subtleties that energy you're bringing to that conversation matters. It supports your ability to win that business. It's that simple. People who have $2, $3, $6, $7 million books are not more talented than you. If you're struggling right now, they are not more talented than you. It is simply the energy they're bringing to the meeting you're not. You're probably bringing an energy of desperation, to be honest, with So tip number 1, don't underestimate the power of your sales energy. Tip number 2, this one's going to be tactical. This is a tip I have been giving a lot of our clients lately, and it specifically relates to content. Content can come in any form. Content is a medium, a mode of communication. With the goal of advancing a potential conversation with a buyer. And so that could be social media, it could be LinkedIn content, it might be an email, might be a text, whatever it is, however you're trying to communicate with your client or your prospect. My number one tip for you right now is be human. Bring a level of humanity to your prospecting. What does that mean? Well, written communication right now, is very tough simply because of the presence of AI. When you get an email from a name you may not recognize, when you get a DM on LinkedIn from somebody you don't really know, maybe just connected with, and it's written, the first instinct most people have today is that was AI generated. Sadly enough, it's often true. So if you want to have success prospecting today using content to get a prospect's attention, make it human. If you're producing LinkedIn content and you're not doing video, I would highly recommend you consider that. I know video can be AI-generated. I get it. But you need to start recording video. Why? Because we know it's you. It's human. You want to send some DMs to prospects and connections on LinkedIn? Be human. Use the audio and video notes. Don't send written messages. Those are getting completely ignored right now. But if I send a video to a prospective buyer, they know it's me. They know it's human. I'll tell you, I've never— you know, people are so skeptical about sending video messages to prospects. I hear it all the time. Andy, What do you think the prospect's going to say if I do this? Well, here's what I know. I have sent written DMs to people on LinkedIn, to prospects. I have sent thousands of emails in my career to potential prospects. And in written communication, there have been plenty of times I've been told to go pound sand and go away. I have yet to have a prospect Cold or warm? Tell me to go away after a video message. I think it's that simple. That's, that's the case study right there. So how, how are we using video messages right now? Well, number one, LinkedIn DMs. If you're connected to me and you've been connected with me for a while and you could be a potential prospect of ours, or you looked at my profile, you're getting a video DM from me. And here's a case in point where I know it's valuable. I sent a video DM to a prospective agency executive A few weeks ago, and it was because he looked at my profile. And I said, "Hey, John, insert name John. I know you looked at my. I was on my in my LinkedIn profile recently and know you had checked it out. Let me know if there's anything I can do to help you out. If there is, happy to chat. If not, no harm, no foul." He replied with a written message, and he said, "Hey, Andy, I do not have an interest in talking to you right now. We're good. But I will tell you, if I did." That would have done it. Sometimes the best case studies come from the ones you didn't win. But I have never had somebody negatively react to a video message. So I'd be using them in LinkedIn DMs. If you have access to a prospect's cell phone because it was publicly shared, meaning it was in their email signature, on their business card, they are giving you the ability to use that. I'd be shooting audio video notes. Why? They know it's you. So tip number 2, if you want your prospecting to be better, be human. Tip number 3, you need to start becoming an asshole. What does that mean? You got to ask for the business. I can't tell you how many times I've said this to clients of ours lately who are frustrated because they've got all these prospects in the pipeline, but they feel like they're not going anywhere. Or hell, they've proposed their services. They've made it to the finalist meeting, but now the prospect has kind of gone radio silent. And I said, did you ask for the business? Did you look them in the face and say, hey, what would it take to earn your business? Or hey, do you want to move forward? They didn't say it very clearly. If you want the business, you have to ask for it. I know that sounds simple, but you would be surprised how many times producers don't win an agent of record because they don't ask for it. Don't assume your prospect knows how to hire you. You got to show them you want it and you got to ask for it. You got to be able to look them in the eye and say, listen, we've identified what your problem is. I know you are a perfect fit for what we do. Do we have an opportunity to work together or not? You have to be able to ask for the business confidently. And I know what the fear is by asking. They could say no. That's part of sales. What did I say in tip 1? The goal in sales is to get a clear yes or no. Hard to get a clear answer if you don't ask. So that's my advice for you, struggling producer, wondering why you've got a lot of activity but no final results. I guarantee if you go look at what's in your pipeline, you're just not asking for business enough. I learned that the hard way. I was the same way early in my insurance career. I wanted to become every prospect's friend, so I would get caught in the old friend zone. And I had prospects who loved me, who would meet with me whenever I wanted, but I never actually asked for the business. So no wonder I didn't hit my sales goal. But everything changed for me actually towards the end of my insurance career when I started Complete Game Consulting as a side hustle, I was in an entrepreneur mindset mastermind where the mentor there, the coach, mastermind coach, made a comment to me in a hallway conversation that kind of changed everything. He said, listen, do you believe in what you sell? I said, yeah. He said, do you believe that you can help people with it? I said, yeah. He said, then damn it, you have a right to tell as many people as you possibly can, because if you don't, you're negating them from getting the help they need. And that just—he's right. By me not saying I can help you, please hire me—I'm negating them from getting the help they need because the only reason we're talking is they're not getting that help now. So be an asshole. Ask, ask, ask for the business. If you're afraid to be pushy, sorry—you are in sales. You're gonna have to be pushy sometimes. There are people who are going to tell you to go pound sand. That's the name of the game. You can't get to a win without getting punched in the face with a bunch of nos. But your number one goal is to get these prospects to make a clear decision. Stop filling your pipeline with a bunch of maybes that never go anywhere. So those are my tips today. For my clients I work with, I love you. I hope when we had these conversations, these nuggets hit home for you and have helped you turn the corner. But yeah, one, don't underestimate the power of your sales energy. Check your sales energy right now. Would you call it negative or would you call it positive? 2, be human with your prospecting. Video, audio, those kind of things go a long way today, especially when we're in a trust recession. Build trust by letting people know you're human. And number 3, you want the business, you gotta ask for the business. So hope these help today. I hope they make your sales success a little more approachable and a little more realistic. And hey, maybe you're already having a ton of success and these nuggets just created you a little spark to take it to the next level. That's it for now. Hope I help your sales here. Let's make it a great second half of the year. You still have a long way to go if you're behind. Don't give up. There's still plenty of room or plenty of time to make up room. But on December 31st, I want you to look back and know you left it all on the field. Be good.
