My Top 3 Game-Changing Lessons Of 2023

Hey. Hey. Andy Neary here. Before we dive into today's podcast episode, think back to how you came upon this podcast. Maybe it was through a post, a share, or one of your own peers shared this podcast with you. I don't take any ads. I don't take any sponsorships. The only way this podcast grows is through word of mouth. So if you would be so kind to share this with a peer, with a teammate, with a friend, a family member, I would be forever grateful to you. This is how we impact more business professionals, and this is how this podcast grows. All right, let's dive into today's episode. Hey, welcome back to Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary, and this is episode 267 in today's podcast. I am just going to reflect on three lessons I've learned from 2023 that I think are going to be very beneficial for you. So as this podcast airs, it's Friday, December 29th, and we are about to close the chapter on 2023 and embark on a new year. Now in the insurance industry, this week is very pivotal because you have a lot of insurance advisors who are contemplating their futures. Some are looking to sit down right now and create some exciting goals for 2024. They're happy with where they're at. They're excited for what the new year is going to bring. You have others who are thinking about changing insurance agencies, thinking about making that move to another employer. And frankly, you have some who are just trying to figure out if they even like selling insurance in the first place. No matter where you are on your journey, I think today's episode is going to be super helpful for you. So I'm going to reflect on three takeaways for me this year that were huge and how I think they are going to impact your future as well. This is going to be short and sweet. It's the holiday week. You might be taking some time off, so I wanted to give you a quick dose of the podcast this week, but we're going to keep it short, get right to the point. So let's dive into these three lessons, shall we? Lesson one.

One of the biggest takeaways I had from this year was putting passion behind your selling. When I look at the growth we've experienced at Complete Game Consulting and I look at what I've done to become a better salesperson, because I am still our lead business development rep here at Complete Game Consulting today. Side note, we are looking for a sales rep. If you know somebody, maybe it's you, who is interested in learning more about how you can become part of our team, make sure you reach out to me. But today, I am still the lead business development rep here at Complete Game Consulting, and I look back on the last year, maybe two, and really reflect on how I've become a better salesperson and what has gone into that to help me become a better salesperson. And hands down, the number one thing that has helped me get better at closing sales is being passionate about what I'm selling. Now, it's easy when I am the founder of Complete Game Consulting, I am selling a product I created. This is my baby. But I've noticed that passion, that confidence behind what I sell has naturally made me a better salesperson. And when I look out at the insurance landscape right now, I realize there's a lot of insurance producers who are not passionate nor confident about what they're selling. I hear it every week when I get a chance to coach some of my advisors or talk to other producers in the industry. One, you may not believe in what you sell. You're just not that fired up about it. I have a lot of producers who doubt their ability to sell because they know how overwhelmed their team is. And this kind of energy is a big, big hindrance to your ability to sell. I think a lot of people think it's all about the product and the knowledge of the product that leads a sal. Your energy you put behind the sale is as important, if not more important, than anything else. So one of my biggest pieces of advice for you heading into 2024 is figure out how you can build a product that you can get passionate behind. Now, I'm not saying going out and start your own company and create your own product, but how can you take what you are doing and productize it right? You might be selling health insurance, you might be selling ancillary products, commercial insurance, and you might be sitting there saying, andy, how do you want me to productize this? I already sell insurance products. Here's my advice. I want you to think about how you sell to your prospects. I want you to think about the steps you take to turn in a frustrated prospect into a happy client and create a process around that. Build a step by step process that you can repeat that is scalable, and then give it a name with a name. Your process is now essentially a product. And trust me, when you build the product, you're going to be passionate about it. And so my advice to you going into next year is get out of the rat race or the hamster wheel. Just feeling like you're selling a bunch of insurance products. Create a process for what you do, give it a name and then throw your passion behind selling that process. It will naturally make you a better closer. I know it did for me. So my first big takeaway, my big lesson from 2023 is the passion you have behind selling determines how good you become at selling. Lesson number two, simplify. One of the biggest wins Amy and I had this year was our move back to Wisconsin and we moved over Memorial Day weekend. And what I realized that move brought was simplicity. You know, I've talked about at length in some of my content how moving back here is just created an easier way of life. It's 10 minutes to get anywhere we want. I can just hop in the car and be over by my mom and dad in 50, 15. It's just a slower pace of life and it's been good for us. However, I have taken the same approach to our business. When I look at what we do at Complete Game Consulting today, our North Star is simplicity. In fact, our tagline for 2024 is simple but sophisticated. Keep it simple, but make it good. And when I think about that, I look at what we do here at Complete Game Consulting and.

I view us at that moment just like Apple was years ago when Steve Jobs came back. Now, I am not saying we are Apple by any means. However, the analogy will make sense. When Steve Jobs came back and took over the reins at Apple for the second time, Apple was selling something like 300 products. And the first move Steve Jobs made was to literally eliminate every product except four. And he said, moving forward, we are going to focus on the following. Our imac laptop, desktop, our iPads, our ipods, and then the legendary iPhone. The second they got clear, they simplified, but they made those four things they sold so good. That's when Apple became the Apple we all know today. And we have taken the same approach with our business model. Here at Complete Game Consulting, we offer four products. We offer our community, which is our Complete Game university platform, which is rolling out here in a few days. We offer our course, the Social Media Sales Academy, which will be launching in 2024. We offer our coaching and consulting services. This is where we work with agencies. We work with producers one on one. And then we offer our content creation which is agency brand mastery. That is content done for you. That is all we do. We do nothing else. We say no to everything else. So my advice to you going into 2024 is figure out how you can simplify your process. Hi, it's Andy Neary. And thank you for listening to the Bullpen Sessions podcast. Did you know the ideas shared on this show are things we actually specialize in helping you implement? If you're an insurance professional and you want to turn your credibility into into consistent client acquisition, visit completegameconsulting.com and schedule a free strategy call. Again, that's completegame consulting.com to request your free strategy call. All right, let's jump back into today's podcast episode. Your mindset. How can you get really clear on who you serve? How can you get really clear about what you do best? It's so easy in the insurance industry to get caught up in trying to be all things to all people, trying to create as many revenue streams as you possibly can. Get good. Get really good at one or two things and then grow from there. So my advice, figure out what it is you do best. What is that one thing? What is that one product, that one process you do better than anybody else and go all in on that and then scale from there. That was one of the biggest lessons I have taken away from 2023, and it's why we're so excited about going into 2024. I apologize. I need a drink.

Now, let's talk about lesson number three.

This is more of a lesson moving forward. It's one thing I look at that's going to only speed up as we proceed into the future. But Looking back at 2023, one of the biggest lessons I've learned in growing complete game consulting is how to create leverage. And when I think about the word leverage, it's how can I get more done in less time? And what is it going to take to allow me to get more done in less time? Is it going to take money? Am I going to have to invest something to get more time to buy back time? If I'm am I going to have to get people hire people to allow me to buy back time? It might be a combination of both paying people by hiring them so I can get time back. But there's a third area I want to talk about with leveraging time that you have to be utilizing next year or you will get left behind. And that is artificial intelligence. I hate to tell you, AI is not a nice to have. It is a must have. If you do not use it to grow your business next year to leverage time and money, in some cases, you're going to get left behind. And I look at what we do on a weekly basis here to leverage artificial intelligence so we can get more things done Faster. Whether it's our content, whether it's creating our email campaigns, our sales pages, you name it. Using AI has to be an integral part of your business today. And so as you look at 2024 and look at how you're going to hit your sales goals, are you going to grow your agency? You have to ask yourself where and how are we going to leverage artificial intelligence to make this happen? Hey, we're going to be at a day and age in the not too distant future where the producer role is going to be less important because AI will help your agency book appointments. Think about that. It's coming and when. I'm not talking about years, I'm talking about months. So.

Creating leverage for your business is one of the most important things you can do. I work with advisors right now who are the kink in the hose keeping their business from growing because they aren't willing to make the investment in money or people so that they can scale. They continue to stay small and prohibit their growth because they don't want to make those investments. Sometimes you gotta grow horizontally before you can grow vertically. And that requires investing money and time or money and people to get time back. So that's my urge to you. I still struggle with it here. Today we are in a position where we have got to hire a sales rep. We need to hire more coaches as we continue to grow. I won't lie. Sometimes I make that fatal flaw of saying, no, we're just going to keep doing what we're doing. Now I'm getting in the way. So my advice to you, lesson number three, leverage. Figure out how you can create more leverage in your business. There are no medals for working 18 hours a day to get what you need to get done because this is about growing a business business you love. So my big three takeaways for 2023, putting your passion behind your sales. Get fired up about what you do. Your prospects will feed off that. To simplify, do fewer things but be so damn good at them. And number three, where can you create leverage in your business? Where do you have to make investments in time, in money, and so you can buy back time and scale your business easier and faster. Now, before we wrap up, I do want to talk about one investment I think you should consider making in 2024, and that is incomplete. Game University. This is our membership platform that is rolling out in literally three days. And we are excited about this. Our goal is to help advisors get to their first seven figures in this business. If you are a driven insurance professional who is willing to put in the work, the time and the effort to hit seven figures. I'm not saying seven figures is the destination, but you're driven to grow. Complete Game University is for you. We are going to be including our entire online course, the Broker Branding Academy. We have our bi weekly coaching calls with yours truly that you will get the jump on and get coaching from. We are going to give you complimentary access to all of our half day workshops in 2024. Plus we'll have marketing and sales tools and resources. This is going be a membership unlike anything this industry has seen and we are so excited about that. So here's what I want you to do. If you want to learn more, go to the Show Notes. There's a link in the Show Notes of this podcast where you can learn more. Hit me up. You probably got my email if you've got any questions. Otherwise, do yourself a favor. We are days away from 2024. You might be sitting there contemplating your future. Maybe you're creating some exciting goals. Maybe you're thinking about changing agencies. Maybe you're thinking about a career change. No matter where you are at right now, take these lessons I learned in 2023 and apply them to your 2024. When you do it, you are going to get more done in less time. You're going to have fun doing what you're doing and your business will grow faster than it ever has before. Be good. Thank you for taking the time to listen to today's podcast episode. Remember, if you found value in this episode episode, do me a favor. Give it a like, share it post about it. Go subscribe to make sure you get every episode from us every single week. And my only ask from you is that if you have anybody in your life, whether it be a teammate, a peer, family member, or a friend, please share this podcast with them. That's how we grow. We only grow through word of mouth and I would be forever grateful if you take the time to do that. All right, now it's time for you to take what you learned and it's time for you to go out. Share your message with the world. Execution, clarity and consistency is everything. Be well.