Sales Lessons From An Extremely Successful Insurance Producer (with Michael Weaver)

Hey.

Hey. Welcome back to Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary and this is episode 297. I am excited today to have Michael Weaver join me. Michael is a extremely successful insurance producer. In fact, he ran a very successful state farm agency. And today he is the founder of Weaver Sales Academy, a leading sales and training organization dedicated to empowering insurance professional. Mike began. Michael began his career in 2010 and he made his mark immediately on the insurance industry, earning multiple awards as a state Farm agent. Fueled by his passion for helping professionals increase profitability, streamline their time, enhance their entrepreneurial skills, just make a positive impact. Michael has coached and trained thousands of agents fostering growth and excellence. His holistic approach to insurance agencies and entrepreneurial journeys provides an unparalleled experience promoting personal and professional development. I wanted to have Michael on. I know him personally, very energetic guys. You'll love his energy. But we talk all things sales mindset today. So in this episode, you are going to learn what keeps producers back from winning more business, Especially the chatter between the ears. But you're going to learn how to fix it. What are things you could be doing? How could you be approaching the mental side of the sales game to improve your results? And like I said, you're going to love Michael's energy. He's got some great tips. He gives away the farm, which is one thing I love about him because it's one thing we preach. But man, you're an insurance producer. Whether you're brand new to the industry or 20 year veteran, these. Michael's got some insights you're going to want to hear today. So let's dive in. This is episode 297. Michael Weaver, founder of the Weaver Sales Academy. Here we go. Hey. Hey. Welcome back to Bullpen Sessions. I am excited today because Michael Weaver joining me. Michael, welcome to Bullpen Session. My friend Andy.

What's going on, man? Thank you so much for the opportunity today.

Yeah. You were kind enough to have me on your podcast a month or two ago. So I'm excited to have Hugh here because two reasons. Number one, you also come from the insurance industry. But two, we're going to talk sales, which is a favorite topic of yours. I know. So let's. Let's level set. You're down in Missouri.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Best barbecue in the world. Best football team in the world. You know, we got a lot of best going on.

Oh, sure. Of course, it's easy to say now that the Chiefs are the best team in the world. Of course. Riding the bandwagon. I get it.

Forever. We were terrible.

Forever.

My whole childhood, we were terrible.

So now I'm a baseball guy. So where do you go when you're in Missouri? You go Royals, you go Cardinals? I think I know the answer.

So I'm close to the Kansas City side. So I'll go. I'll go Royals.

Okay.

I know Cardinals were good for a long time, but they're on St. That St. Louis side can get a little weird. So I'll stick on the Kansas City side.

That side of Missouri's claims. More like Southern Illinois.

That's right.

And I get it. I get it. And the Royals are having a really good season. Unexpectedly good season. So we'll go with that.

Hey, man, you started your career, you know. You bet. You were a state farm at the beginning. What? How did you. You know, a lot of people in our industry don't get in it by design. How did you find yourself getting in the insurance industry? You know, 10, 15 years ago? Yeah.

So I'm gonna date myself a little bit. So it's been 15 years now. I can't believe it. But I got introduced to this industry purely by luck. So in 2009, I needed an internship to graduate college. And so I went and I was going to law. I was actually had a plan to go to law school. So I actually went to a lot of banks and law firms and they felt like future funeral homes when I walked in them. So I. Then I went into some insurance agents because none of them were hiring. And I was like, good, I don't. I don't want to work for you. Anyway. So I went to a couple insurance agents. Hey, they felt the same way. They felt like a funeral home. I'm like, I don't want to work here either. And I found one shop that was full of young, energized people. I'm like, okay, I could at least see myself working here this summer. And so I interviewed and the guy was like, michael, you seem great, but come back when you actually graduate so I can offer you a full time gig. And I was like, well, this does me no good. So I actually showed up the next morning. I was the first one in the parking lot. He drives up in his Lexus, gets out of his car, and he kind of like does a side eye, like, who's this guy in the parking lot? And he walked in his office. I followed him behind him. I was like, hey, Nick, look, man, I really need this. And I'm going to show up here every single day until you give me an opportunity. And so he hired me as his marketing specialist and janitor. So basically I was a cold caller and I was an errand boy doing everything that nobody else wanted to do. But that's what got my in. And then at the end of the internship he's like, hey Michael, really appreciate everything you did, would love to hire you full time. He's like, and just to show you what's possible in the industry, he showed me a check. And the check was more than my parents made together and probably three to four months of work. And he's like, I get two of these a month. And I'm like, done deal. I'll be back here after my senior year.

That's awesome. You know, I give the guy credit hiring you as a marketing specialist. At least he had the word marketing tied to sales. Because I talked to a lot of agencies who tell me they have a marketing department and what they're talking about is their department that goes out and gets quotes. I'm like, no, that's not marketing, that's quoting.

That's right. That's right, man. Yeah. So it's. I cut my teeth, man, on just cold calls that whole summer and it was a great experience for me. Really. Cause it caused me to go through a lot of difficulties of doing the suck that nobody wants to do. And then I drove leads to the sales team, watched how they were able to help people out and then thinking back to my 21 year old self, I was money hungry, I was money motivated. And for him to be able to figure that out and show me a check, it just. All the stars just aligned. And you're right, like he did have it figured out to where you have sales, you have to have marketing. And I know we'll probably dive into that a little bit, but there are two significant differences between, between sales and marketing.

100, 100. And you know, let's be honest. I mean most people get in the industry for the money. You know, they're, they're told that the sky's the limit, you can go make as much as you want. It's a recurring revenue industry. And I think a lot of people, yeah, we come in hungry, noting that's our motivator. I want to, I was going to save this for later, but you brought it up so I just want to go get right into it. You spent that first summer cold calling and probably spent a lot of time of on that throughout your career building the very successful agency you built in State Farm. Knowing so much has changed in the last Five or six years. What are your thoughts on cold calling today? Is it still effective? Is it harder than it used to be? You know, you have. I have differing opinions depending on the day. But like, what are your thoughts about cold calling today? Has it changed?

So I believe that cold calling has changed just with some of the government regulations, but I believe that cold calling is extremely effective. Just like I told Courtney. So Courtney is my wife, when we very first got together. So I told her, if I can master the phone, we will never have to worry about income another day in our life. We'll never have to worry about money. And I still stand true to that because the reason why I believe cold calling is actually more effective today than it was just 15 years ago is because everybody has one of these. Everybody has one of these and they're on it for about three to four hours a day. And while regulations sometimes make it more difficult from a solicitation standpoint, if you can follow those regulations, depending on your state, there are providers that will actually provide you list with cell phone numbers. And my whole thing is, is all I need is a name, a number and an address as possible and let me do my job and dial the phone and make it happen.

That's awesome. Any thoughts on that? You know, again, not to go right into the tactics, but we gotta audience full of producers wanting to know, okay, what do I do to book more appointments? Any tips you have on cold calling right now for a producer out there who may be struggling to book more appointments?

Yeah, so. And look, I'm not, I'm not a proponent of one strategy being the only strategy. I'm a huge proponent of having like my, I always say five. Like you need to have five new business acquisition strategies at all times. But when it comes to cold calling, so the number one tip, the only way you're going to get better is one, by practicing with your peers and number two, by actually dialing. And so it's reps. It's just like a. It's just like a baseball. You were a baseball player. So before you step into the batter's box, you're going to take some practice, all right? You're going to take some reps. It's the same thing with your team members. And if you don't have team members, hopefully you have some peers in the industry that you could jump on a call for 15 minutes before your day gets started to where you're communicating with them and practicing before you get on the phone. So that would be my first tip, my second tip. Is, is have a goal every single day of how many cold calls you want to make. And I would, I would go a step further than that and say the goal is not to make 100 or 150 calls a day. The goal is to get three people on the phone that I can have a conversation with and present my product to. All right. So that I would be aiming at that. But have a clear, concise goal of what you're aiming for versus just like smiling and dialing all day long. Because that can get extremely old. I would say my third tip when it comes to cold calling is you need to have time blocks on the calendar. You have to be strategic with what you're doing. And one, one question I always get asked, well, Michael, is there a better time of the day to call than not call? Okay, look, without, I think without argument, Andy, you can tell me what your beliefs are on this, But I think 3 o' clock to 8 o' clock at night, 3pm to 8pm are by far the best times to call people. But, but does that mean that you shouldn't call before 3pm? Absolutely not. Like if your job is sales and you're supposed to be making dials, just make dials. My biggest feedback is, is be super intentional with your time for 30 minutes, 45 minutes, probably hour max. And then take like a 10, 15 minute break, go outside, get some air so you don't burn yourself out. And so I would have strategic call hours on my calendar to where during this time frame, this is when I'm making calls to either have a conversation with somebody, set an appointment. Whatever you're doing in your type of business or industry, you want to, you want to have strategy behind it, but more, more important, you want to have intentionality behind what you're doing during that time frame.

Yeah. I think your, your, your advice is, is well, well pointed because if you're on the BNC B2C side, maybe selling homeowners and auto evening is a great time. Right. If you're on the B2B side, maybe selling commercial or benefits, why not try to reach them before the gatekeepers arrive? Right. Early, first thing in the morning or towards the end of the day. I remember I used to target construction companies. The only time you're getting up front of a construction company, especially if you're doing a drop in, is about 6:30 in the morning or at 5 o' clock at night when they've come back to the shop.

Yep.

Otherwise no chance. So very, very well. Well, let's bring it back to your career. So you built a release before.

I'll cut. Let me cut you off just real fast though, because I feel like I'm cheating the audience right now if I like you. When cold calling, you have to have an elevator pitch that is especially the business to consumer B2C. You've got about 15 seconds of time. So you want to really make sure that your elevator pitch, like when you're making calls, you shouldn't be scrolling on Facebook, you shouldn't be checking your email. Like it needs to be on airplane mode, it needs to be shut down. Like you need to be in the call. So when somebody answers, you are ready to pounce. And so your elevator pitch needs to be who you are, what you're calling about. Your big bold statement like, why should someone spend their time with you? And then my biggest thing is specifically in the B2C sells is always assuming that conversation. So making sure you're ending that elevator pitch with, hey, is your address still? Or hey, the cars we've got on file are this or hey, is your health insurance provider still? And so having that ability to continue that conversation go for that immediate yes. And then we bounce into the rapport building conversation. So I just wanted to hit on that because that's a really critical point that I know a lot of people struggle with. And so you've got basically 12 to 15 seconds of who you are. Why should someone spend their time with you and then just assume that conversation?

Well, and I think your point is, and we could probably do a whole separate call on how to, how to craft the right elevator pitch, but it's about bringing the right energy to the.

The phone, the calls and oh, man.

I used to be the guy that says, I'm gonna make 25 calls in the next 30 minutes. But really all I was trying to do is make 25 check marks on my paper. I had no intention. I just wanted to be able to say I did 25 calls. And what I really did was waste my time for a half hour to an hour.

We. We've all been, We've all been there, right? Like, but you're right.

So you built a really successful practice at State Farm. And when you look back at that, because you've now turned it into a sales coaching business, which is, you know, very similar to me. That's why I want to have you on. When you look back at growing that agency, you know, what are some of the core pillars that. That helped you really grow that thing? I assume multiple seven figures. What allowed you to really turn the growth lever on for your agency.

That's a really great question. So I think it always goes back to.

Vision and mission within an organization. But more so I would say making sure that that vision is communicated within your team. And what I mean by that is making sure my opinion is the fastest way to grow and scale an organization was with good people. And so I had a vision for what I wanted the organization and company to look like. But when I. When I started bringing on a team, number one, this vision and mission statement that we have or that I created when I was doing my business plan, it's up for, like, of course there's going to be core components of, like, integrity is a big deal to me. Okay? Being the best service provider I can be. That's a core value of mine. But the overall vision, mission needed to be an alignment with everybody on the team. And then our business goals needed to align with my team's personal goals. So how can we tie my team or our team's goals, personal goals, what they want to accomplish in their life, with what we want to accomplish professionally? And the reason I'm answering it that way is because when you can create a team, buy in of, hey, here's our goals professionally. And when we accomplish these, this is what it's going to do for me personally. That's going to allow me to travel to where I want, buy the car I want, buy the house I want, take my family on the vacation. That is when some magic is made. And so I would say the number one, the number one reason we were as successful as we were in that business along with any other organization that we have developed, has not been because of me. It's been because of the people by my side that have bought into the vision that we've all agreed on, that have taken us to where we want to go.

That's such a good point. Because, you know, I'm growing my company and I've actually caught my employees in this. Sometimes I feel like they love what they do, but there's this belief in that they're really helping me grow my business when it's, no, no, guys, this is a we thing. This is. This is our company. This is an Andy's company that you're helping support. And I think part of that is because I've built a brand. You probably built a brand. Michael Weaver and a lot of agency principals are the brand of their agency in many ways. And so it's easy for that team to get caught into that culture of we're supporting the principal, growing their business, but at the end of the day, it's about us. It's about all of us achieving our goals. And at the end of the day, we're going to have a thriving practice. That's such a, such a good point. I hope everybody heard.

It's just, man, you never get to the top by yourself. There's no amount of, at least in my opinion, of extreme success that is achieved and you do it by yourself. You always have a supporting cast. There's always people that people don't even know about. And so that's why when you sure we can get into some tangibles around how we scale the business and how in any organ sales organization that we've built because it's been based around a few of the similar concepts. But at the end of the day, you have to have good people around you or you're always going to struggle as a business owner. And like one thing just said, anytime I hear my team say we work for you, I say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You don't work for me, you work with me. And there is a significant difference between the two.

So here's what I want to do, if you're cool with this. So you, I want to go back to your 10 year growing state Farm because you've now turned this into a coaching business where you teach others to do what you've done. And let's talk about some of the key concepts you focus on today because I got to believe they applied when you grew your agency. I love this one because I'd love your thoughts. Let's talk about why hiring a new producer will not solve your sales problem. How agencies get so caught or so they're so guilty of trying to fix an agency problem by throwing another producer at it. Talk about that.

Hey, and I was one of them. I was one of them, man. All right, because you got to think. So we built our businesses through cold calling, through social media and through referrals. All right, that was, those were the three. Now I had multiple acquisition strategies, but those were the three that we built. Pretty much every organization that we've built those three, those three acquisition strategies. When it goes to new hires, I was always the business owner that was like, I want to get to that next level. And I would hire and I would interview and I'm like, this person's going to be the next rock star that takes our business to the next level. And every single time that never happened. All right, so my belief on this is, is before you start looking to hire in new hires for your business, you should start making sure that your current team is maximizing the opportunity at hand and performing at the levels that, number one, you know and think that they're capable of, and number two, that they know and think that they're capable of. Because what I have found is most producers are producing at more than likely 40 to 50% of what they're actually capable of. In a lot of my experience of working with agents, working with producers, you probably have similar experiences. I just believe that producers are barely meeting expectation. If meeting expectation and the ability that they have to take it to the next level is there, it's just they just don't know how to do it. And you, as the agency owner, need to show them or teach them, invest in them, to show them how to get there.

I tell you what, Michael, not a week goes by that I don't have a conversation with the sales director that says, andy, my producers are great when we give them leads, they can't farm their own business.

It's prospecting is the hardest thing about sales.

And I think part of that, though, to your point, is are you teaching them how to farm their business or did you hire them with the expectation that they're just going to naturally know how to do that? Because my argument is most don't agree.

Yeah, I would. I would agree. I think in our industry, I think, and I think it has changed. I hope it's changed. But so many times we just get thrown in. Our producers just get thrown into the fire. They just get. From day one, they're like, here's a list, here's a phone. Make the calls, figure it out. And I'm actually a believer that the first 90 days of someone's tenure is their most important timeframe in their tenure with you to where you're going to either develop them to where they start getting little wins and start to grow their confidence, or by that dating day 90 mark, they're going to. They're literally going to feel like a failure and they are going to quit. Because the insurance industry, I don't care what you sell. I don't care if you're a PNC agent, you're a life insurance agent, you're a health insurance agent. This shit is hard. It is hard. It is difficult. And if you're not giving people a roadmap or a Runway for success within your business, you are setting them up for failure.

So we're going to fix it right now. You ready? Let's do it we're going to attack the mind, the habits and then we're going to follow it up with some tactics. This is why I wanted to have you on. You often talk about the daily habits for success as a seven figure entrepreneur. We're going to talk about, relay that to a producer. If a producer is going to have sales success, which equals financial success, what are some of the daily habits they have to incorporate to make sure they are reaching their full potential?

So I believe now this is just my personal belief and what I've seen with success and those that struggle is I believe that it all starts with your personal habits. I believe now whether you're. I'm a morning person myself, I'm a 5Amer, I'm a 5am Clubber. Now I know successful people that are not the 5:00am Clubbers. Okay? So I'm not saying you have to get up at the ass crack of dawn to be successful. I'm not going to draw that line in the sand because I know individuals that are successful that have personal daily habits that aren't in the 5:00am club. But me personally, I'm a 5:00am I wake up at 5:02 every single day. And so then what I do is I work out. And so what I believe is I believe the way you perform professionally has a direct, direct correlation on what you're doing personally to take care of yourself. Because if you're not taking care of yourself physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, cells is hard. And you're always going to lean back on when things get hard. You're always going to lean back on your physical, your mental, your emotional and your spiritual toughness. All right? Period. So to be successful, in my opinion, professionally and be one of the best in your industry, not only do you have to develop a skill set that we can talk about, but you have to be making sure that you take care of yourself. So physically, maybe you're working out, maybe you're doing yoga, maybe you're walking, maybe you're pushing weights. Like whatever working out means to you or that you enjoy, do it, take care of yourself physically, mentally, are you reading, are you meditating? And that stuff can also go into the emotional, spiritual side of things as well. But like my daily routine is I wake up at 5:02, I go to the gym, I work out, I come home, I sauna. During that sauna, I meditate and have my prayer session. And then during, on the way to the gym and the way home from the gym, I'm reading a book. I also listen to a book while I'm on the treadmill for the 15 minutes, warming up. So I take care of everything by basically 7 o' clock in the morning. And then during the summertime, I try to get out on the wakeboard and start my day on the wakeboard. But that's, that's only during the summer. That's seasonality.

I live in the central part of the country. Country, northern, north, Central. You only get about three months of that.

That's right. But I have that, I have that routine that I just lean on during good times, during tough times because I'm just a believer that no matter, no matter what, you got to take care of yourself personally. Yeah.

Where do you feel like producers need to make better mindset shifts? So daily habits off the field, the stuff you do off the field is really important. Now let's just talk about mindset. Where can producers, insurance producers, make more? How do I say this? What kind of perspective shifts, mindset shifts could they be making to put themselves in a more confident position to be selling?

Well, number one, quit selling out of your own pocket. Remove price from the equation. You are not their accountant. You have no idea how much money they have. And at the end of the day, 90% of people say they'll pay more for something. Insurance is no different, all right? So quit thinking that money, at least in the insurance where I'm from, the pnc, the life insurance world, everyone's always concerned about price and they sell out of their own pocket. So I would say, number one, that number two, quit judging people, all right? Quit judging the prospect. You have no idea, again, what their money situation looks like. So I would say those two things are the very first things that stick out to me that I see in the industry. I did it myself, all right, When I very first got started. So I would say those two. Also when it comes to mindset is make sure that you're surrounding yourself with peers that are positive, that are in a good mood, that are the people that are doing things within your industry. Because if you're doing coffee talk with peers that are struggling, guess what? You're probably going to struggle too, because all they're talking about is how they can't do something. All the negative stuff going on, all the customers suck, all right? Whereas if you surround yourself with the A players in the industry, what are they always talking about? They're always talking about the opportunity. They're always talking about what needs to get done to achieve their goals. And so within your industry, within your small peer group, I would really watch who you're talking to, who you're associating with and who you're hanging out with.

Great points. Great points. Yeah.

I have become more and more of a believer in that mindset than anything else over the last three years. I know. I've seen the transition to starting my own business and going, hey, if I don't sell this, it ain't growing. And you have to put yourself in that mindset that.

You can't sell with your own checkbook. That's a really good point. I was very guilty of that in my past.

You talk about a five step sales process that can help anybody sell seven figures in any business. Yeah, let's talk about that. We're going to apply it to insurance producers here.

What, what are the five steps if I'm going to have success in my insurance career, what are those five steps to a sales process that are going to help me get to the finish line most effectively?

So I can break down, so I can break down the five, the cell cycle and I could break down the five step cell system as well. So, number one, I, I believe that the number one reason.

Why, why just sales professionals in general struggle is they don't have structure within their day. They just don't have structure within their day. I kind of hit on that with the time blocking earlier in the conversation, so I'm not going to go back into that. But for those that don't understand a time block, a time block is just a designated time within your day. Let's say 30 minutes. So from 2:00 clock to 2:30, every single day, you prospect every single day. Whether that's email prospect, whether that's phone prospect, whatever it is. Maybe you're on social media and you're instant messaging people. Like whatever prospecting looks like to you, you're prospecting. So that would be a time block. So I would say structuring your day so that you have control over your day and you run your day versus the day running you. And that starts with focusing on the three things that you need to accomplish every single day as a sales producer in your industry or in your business. So I would be thinking, what are three things that I have to focus on every single day that moves the needle forward. So that would be, that would be, I would say step one. Step two is identifying, so creating and identifying your ideal customer.

This one took me a long time.

To figure out, okay, specifically, not everybody's a good fit. Michael.

Man, I used to think that specifically.

In the PNC if they're weird, who cares if they're check clears? That's what I was taught.

That's right, man. Like, I was just taught, like, look, insurance is a quantity game. Whoever you can sell to, whoever you can help, just do it. There is no such thing as bad business. That is fake news. All right? Hashtag fake news, baby. That is fake news. Don't be so creating and identifying. So number one, creating your ideal customer. So one thing that I like to do is actually write down a list when I'm creating my ideal customer who is not my ideal customer. Sometimes it's easier to determine who your ideal customer is by. By understanding the characteristics of those that you don't want to work with. So I would say create your ideal customer and then figure out where your ideal customer is hanging out. Okay? So boom, that's step two. Step three would be marketing that ideal customer.

All right, and marketing is different than sales, right?

Oh, yeah. Marketing is different than sales. Way different. All right, Some of the. If you're really great at marketing. So this is a piece where I'm trying. I'm actively trying to get better at what I do because I'm a really great at sales. But here's the thing. You can be really great at sales, and if no one knows who you are, it doesn't matter. All right? Like, it's gonna be really tough. So marketing, you gotta think of brand awareness is how. What I think of marketing. Marketing is what message are you putting out that talks to your unique ideal customer that gets them interested in having a conversation with you or doing business with you?

With you.

Andy, how do you feel about that?

Speaking my language, my friend. Good sales go to die when nobody knows you exist.

That's right. That's right, brother.

And I think it's important for people to understand marketing is different than sales. And at the end. At the end of the day, you could argue marketing. Without marketing, you don't have sales.

That's right.

And I think marketing is something that is very overlooked in the insurance industry. So I'm. I'm very glad you're bringing it up.

You have to have. So this goes back to my five. You have to have five, what I call new business acquisition strategies. All that is is five different marketing strategies. Like, how are you. Because you don't want to rely on one. Because what happens when one funnel dries up? So as a sales producer, what five things, what five marketing channels are you creating to make sure that you have different avenues to fill your prospect funnel so that you Never run out of prospects.

So right now we've structured our day. We've come up with who our ideal customer is. We're now marketing that ideal customer. Now it's time to actually have the sales conversation with that ideal customer. All right, and I'll. And I want to come back to this because I want to go through the five steps of this sales conversation that I think is really important because this is also a piece where I find a lot of professionals really struggle. At least I know I did early on in my career. So let me. Let me bounce back to this here in a second, Andy. And I would say the first, fifth piece to this puzzle is referrals. Right. Developing a referral relationship with your customers and with individuals, what I call centers of influence outside of your customers that want to help you, like doing business with you. Maybe if you're in insurance, maybe real estate agents or mortgage brokers or car financers, like, those are all great individuals that you could develop a relationship with. But don't forget about the number one relationship, and that's with your customer. If you can, if you can be referable and if you have referral processes within your sales cycle, meaning that when you help somebody out. Right. There's a really great time to ask for a referral. Doing annual reviews with clients, that's a really great time to ask for a referral randomly. I used to have a process in my agency where I'd call every customer every six months and just say, thank you for your business. And at the end of that call, I would ask for a referral. And so having consistent referral processes within your sales cycle to make sure that you're always generating referrals. Because in my experience, if you ask for a referral 10 times, you're going to get three referrals right then. So three out of 10 will convert to referrals. Right. Then the rest are planting seeds that you'll typically start to get referrals about 90 days later. So it's just like a farmer. You got to plant the seed before you can harvest the crop.

Yeah.

So I would say those are the five things that I touch base on as a sales producer. Specifically, structure. Have. Have a structured day, create your ideal customer, market your ideal customer, have a sales conversation with that ideal customer, get a referral from that ideal customer, and if you can repeat that process over and over, you will be wildly successful in any cells that you do. It doesn't matter what.

And that might be the part that's most overlooked. The consistency to do that week in and week out. It's not sexy, it's often not fun. But if you do that week in and week out, you will create activity.

Yeah, man, it's like, like kind of how you started the call earlier with my bodybuilding little thing that I did back when I was 28.

Want to see some old footage? Michael was part of a bodybuilding contest, so I believe it's on Instagram.

Hey, man, I was looking like shredded. Jesus, baby. All right, so, yeah, but, but here's the thing and why I'm bringing this back up, okay? Look, giving the people what they want, almost a half naked picture of Michael on the Internet's one thing, but we're talking about discipline here, Andy. All right? Discipline. And so the sales profession is like going to the gym. It's like, it's literally like you go to the gym one day and if you only go to the gym one day in a given month, man, you're not going to see any results gonna happen. It takes consistency. Just like consistent calls, consistent follow up, consistent ask. Like everything is discipline. You're getting me fired up now because everybody always wants to know the secret sauce, the silver bullet, like what is the special thing going on? It's consistency, it's discipline. The most successful people in any industry are those that are most disciplined and with those that are most consistent with the processes. That's it.

Bingo.

That's it. There is no secret, secret sauce. There is no magic bullet. Like it comes down to what are you doing on a daily basis, how are you stacking wins and when you don't win, when you get kicked in the teeth, when you have a bad day, how are you making sure that that bad day doesn't go into the next day?

And we just burst everybody's bubble because we didn't have any secret sauce or silver bullet script. Sorry, guys. It comes down to consistency. So Mike, as we wrap up here, talk to us about two things. Opportunity to talk about the Weaver Sales Academy.

Yeah.

As well as you've got a good book coming out that you and I talked about offline. Quote 3, how to make multiple six figures in any sales organization. Talk to us about the academy as well as your, your book that'll be coming out in a couple months.

Yeah, brother, thank you so much and I'd love to continue this conversation again because I feel like me and you go, go really well. We bounce back and forth. So Weaver Sales Academy is a sales training and coaching organization for insurance professionals, specifically your personal lines. Insurance professionals. So those Individuals that offer auto, fire and life. So auto home, auto renters and life insurance is specifically what we who we work with and what we did at Weaver Sales Academy is we created a done for you training system for agency owners to where we take the training off of their plate when they hire brand new salespeople like so for example we can get a brand new sales producer that's never sold insurance up and selling in seven days in a full blown multi line sales conversation. And we have a 90 day plan built out for them to where by day 90 on average they're producing 50 items a month, 45ish auto fire policies and about 5 life insurance policies. And then we do the same thing for tenured team members that are struggling. And so that's a. You can check that out just Google Weaver Sales Academy or weaversa.com.

And we currently work with over 5,000 insurance professionals across the country. So anybody from State Farm, all state farmers because I no longer have my State Farm agency. So all I do full time is coach. Like I have a passion for coaching. I love it. I we're always trying to take things to the next level and we help independence as well. The quote three book. Man, I appreciate you bringing that up. I'm super pumped about that book because it is not, it's not industry specific, it's not insurance specific. If you are a sales professional, I believe that this book will help you do exactly what we just talked about in this episode is understand the sales cycle. So I did a brief overview of structuring your day, the importance of discipline, how to create an ideal client, where those ideal clients are hanging out, how to market those ideal customers, what that sales conversation looks like. So I actually get into depth on every single category that I talked about today in this book. And so I believe that if you're in sales it doesn't matter. If you're selling insurance, financial planning, coaching, private jets, direct sales, it doesn't matter. I believe that this book will not only help you take your game to the next level and accomplish six figure 7 figure sales in commissions, but also if you're a business owner right now, every single sales producer that you hire, you're going to want to read this book because it simplifies success in sales and helps them understand from day one what do I need to do to structure my day to create my ideal customer, to market my ideal customer, to have that sales conversation. Because that's where I find we go back to that 90 days people fell in cells because they don't Understand the full cell cycle of sales. And that's exactly what I cover in that book. So that book, if you. It doesn't come out till October, but I'd love if you pre ordered it for you and your entire organization. You can go to quote3book.com and get that pre ordered.

We'll get that in the show notes as well. Any, any last, last question. I want to throw you Mike before we wrap up. I keep saying Mike, Michael, what advice? You know, one more piece of advice. You go back the cliche question. Talked to Michael Weaver 20 years ago. Who got in the industry. What, what sales advice would you give a young producer today who just might be brand new, just starting off in their agency. We've talked about the 90 days, you know, to, to 90 day plan. But what would be the biggest piece of advice you would throw a young. How about this, A young new producer or a producer who's been in the industry for a while that is plateaued and just looking to get back on track.

Invest in yourself. Invest in yourself. It's the number one, it's the number one investment you will ever make because your skill set and your knowledge is one thing that no one can ever take away from you. And so if you're going to be in scale in cells, cells is ever evolving. All right? And so the only way you are going to continue to evolve with cells in your future is to continue to develop, develop yourself as a sales professional. I actually have a story here, man. Like when I very first got into the industry, I sucked. I was terrible, bro, like really, really bad. Struggling. So I picked up the book Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy and I'm in my 2008 silver Shelby Malibu, man. Real nice car. All right, so four door sedan, has like a four cylinder, can barely make it up hills. I have a little CD player and I listen. I have a 30 minute drive on the way to work and a 30 minute drive on the, the way home from work. Every single day for 18 months I listened to the Psychology of Selling by Brian Tracy to the point where my first date with Courtney, she got in the car and BT's on and she's like, what is this? I'm like, oh this is my boy bt, man. He's my mentor. She's like, turn this off. What are we doing here? So, but long story short, develop yourself. It's the, it's one of my biggest, I don't even like to call it expenses. One of my biggest investments I make on any given year is in myself. With either coaches, trainers, mastermind groups, going to conferences. Like, I'm always trying to perfect my craft and get better. And so whether you're new in the industry or you're struggling, invest in yourself, get around people that are doing at a high level, and I promise you, you will also be one of those people.

People would, if they, if people saw how much I invest in myself to grow this business, they would probably. Their, their jaw would drop. But to your point, it's not even an expense, it's an investment. It's almost that has to be a part of this program in order for Complete Game consulting to keep growing. So I absolutely get it.

You have to, man.

I remember when I. My first investment was Darren Hardy. Your. Your first mentors, Brian Tracy. Mine was Darren Hardy. So I, I, that. That's when my personal development journey began. And I would never, ever, ever not think about doing it again.

So, Hardy. That's the compound effect, right?

Compound effect. Insane productivity.

Yep, yep, yep. Yeah. So I wanted to bring that book up. Yeah. Because if you're listening to this right now and you've never read that book, that is a dynamite book. All right. And Andy, I would agree with you, like, because you're a coach, just like I am coach and trainer. I believe that coaches and trainers also, like, if you're working with a coach or trainer and they're not actively investing in themselves with the coach or trainer, that should be a giant red flag from a consumer standpoint. All right. I won't get started on that. But all I'm saying is, is your coach and your trainer should also be trying to get better, because the better always.

I always say it this way, Michael. They should always be trying to stay one step ahead of you.

Yeah. Because the better they get, the more knowledgeable the better skill sets they get to pass that on to you, which is what you're paying for 100%.

Well, Michael, it's been an honor, my friend. This was awesome. I know I'm probably going to have you on again for a part two. I think this was very much what our audience needed to hear. We have a lot of people wanting to grow their business, book more appointments, have more success, make more money. And they're struggling right now. And I think what we gave them today was both very theoretical but very tactical at the same time. So really appreciate your time, man.

Hey, brother, thank you so much for your time today. This was fantastic. I appreciate every single one of you tuning in today.

And everybody else, go check out weaversay.com go check out his book'3 when it comes out in October. You can Pre order it@33.com.

But man, Mike, this was great. Everybody else take what this man just had to say and apply it. I. I felt I had good things to say about sales. You just one upped it, my friend.

Hey, thanks brother.

So everybody else, be good. Apply this. You know what happens when you're consistent? You get confident. When you're confident, good things happen. Go make it happen today. That's all we got for today's episode of the Bullpen Sessions podcast. One thing that would really help us both and other new potential listeners is for you to rate this show and and leave a comment in itunes, stitcher or wherever you tune in to listen to the show. Also, make sure to link up with us@completegameconsulting.com on social media. And please share this podcast with anyone who you think might enjoy it. Until next time. Remember, clarity creates confidence. Confidence creates consistency. Consistency makes you unstoppable.