A short instructional video in which Andy Neary argues that insurance advisors should identify ideal prospects using psychographics (beliefs, decision styles, respect, willingness to take advice) rather than relying solely on demographics (size, location, revenue). He explains how standing for specific beliefs helps attract aligned clients, makes selling easier, and intentionally repels non-aligned prospects. The piece mixes definition, personal anecdote from his health-insurance experience, and a call-to-action to adopt psychographic targeting.
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In this video, I'm going to teach you how to identify your ideal prospect so you can sell a hell of a lot easier. You see, if you're like the typical insurance advisor right now, you do not know who your ideal prospect is. In fact, you are probably trying to sell to anyone and everyone. And you're spraying and praying a marketing and prospecting message, hoping it falls on the right person. The problem is when you try to speak to everybody, you don't speak to anybody. So in this video, I'm going to walk you through how you can identify your ideal prospect. There are two ways. One way, you and I have been taught. Another way you have not been taught. And it's this way that is going to change everything for you. So let's talk about the first way you can identify an ideal prospect. It is the traditional way we identify prospects in the insurance industry, and that is through demographics. What are demographics? Size, location, number of employees, size of revenue, size of premium. This is how you and I have been taught to identify an ideal prospect. In fact, if you're building a list of prospects for your game plan next year, there's a good chance you're doing it through demographics. But here's the problem. Demographics alone cannot identify your ideal prospect. Here's why I have never had an advisor tell me, Andy, my favorite client is ABC Machine Shop. Now, everybody there are a bunch of jerks. They treat me like crap. They don't listen to anything I have to say. But because they're a machine shop, they're my favorite client. Said no one, ever. You see, demographics alone cannot identify your ideal prospect. You know what does? Psychographics. Now, psychographics is something you and I have never been taught. Something I used seven to eight years ago to identify my ideal prospects. I didn't know was called psychographics at the time, but it changed my career. Here is what is psychographics. What do your prospects believe? How do they make decisions? How do they treat you? What do they stand for? You see, if you go look at your favorite clients today and you lay out the characteristics that make them your favorite, it is going to be tied around the psychographics. How they respect you. They take action on the strategies you share. They challenge you. When they don't agree with you. At the end of the day, the punchline to why they are your favorite client is because they let you do your best work. And they let you do your best work when your psychographics are aligned with them. Now, here's the key.
To do this well it's going to require you to stand for something. It's going to require you to believe in something. I guarantee there's something you believe in about the product you sell. There's something you stand for. But my question to you is, are you willing to stand for it? You see, when you try to be all things to all people, you don't stand for anything. You're afraid to believe in something because you don't want to offend somebody. But that's exactly why you're not writing business is because you're vanilla, you're boring, and nobody's listening to you. However, when you're willing to take the risk to go out and believe in something, stand for something, you're going to identify and align with those prospects who believe it too. This changed my career in the health insurance industry. When I had my certain beliefs about health insurance and the healthcare systems, and I took a stand for those and I stepped into those and I told my prospects what I believe, I realized my best prospects and clients were the ones who believed it too. Now, it turned some prospects away, but that was perfect because they weren't gonna do business with me anyways. But the ones who aligned with what I was telling them, man, it made selling a heck of a lot easier. So that's the advice I wanna give to you today as you sit down and drum up your game plan for next year. And you want to identify your ideal prospect, you have to do it with psychographics. Yes, use the demographics to start building the foundation of your ideal prospects, but you have to use psychographics as well. What do you want your ideal prospects to believe? What do you want them to stand for? And then you, my friend, need to go out and believe it too, and stand for it as well. It's going to change your prospecting, it's going to change your pipeline, it's going to change your sales. But my question for you is, are you willing to take a stand for something?
