The Top Sales Secret No One Teaches You

Hey. Hey. Welcome back to Bullpen Sessions. My name is Andy Neary, and this is episode 302. Today we are talking about one of my favorite topics. Consistency. Yes, it is the one secret to sales no one teaches you but is going to have the biggest impact on your success. In this episode, you can expect to learn one, why you're not being consistent right now. You can expect to learn what you can do to get some consistency back on your side. And three, you are going to learn how to a more consistent weekly prospecting blueprint because consistency is going to determine how far you go into your insurance career. And I want to help you do that today. Episode 302 is definitely about motivation. It's about. It's about lighting a fire under your butt because I want you to have a successful second half of the year. We still have a long way to go before the end of the year, and we know what happens with Q4 picks up. It gets crazy. But I want to give you some clarity, confidence, but most importantly, help you be more consistent so you can achieve your goals. All right, episode 302. Here we go. Hey. Hey. Welcome back to Bullpen Sessions. Today I'm going to share the one sales secret no one teaches you. What's going to have the biggest impact on your success. What am I talking about today? We're talking about the good old word behind my head. Consistency. Yep. I'm going to keep talking about it until I'm blue in the face, and I'm going to keep talking about it until you actually execute it. And I say this because one of the biggest frustrations I have as a coach and a trainer and a guide and a consultant, whatever the heck you want to call me, is.

Coaching people who just aren't consistent. And.

It has me sitting there looking at what they're doing, and I wonder.

How successful they could be if they would just show up a little more consistently every week. And I want to talk about this because I want to be very clear that there is no secret to selling. No matter what cold call script anybody might give you, no matter what new cost containment strategy you're leveraging, that's going to become. Going to become your new sales wedge. None of it's going to work unless you show up consistently. And I will tell you today at large, most producers in the insurance industry are not consistent right now. The number one reason most producers are not hitting their goals is because they're not consistent. They get hot for a couple of weeks, so they show up for a couple of weeks. But then before you know it, they've let their foot off the gas again and they, they oscillate between going hard, letting off, going hard, letting off. And this is why they're not winning. It's as simple as that. Now I understand. I have some empathy because the insurance industry is a very impatient industry. You're hired by an agency, they give you a lofty sales goal, they don't give you very much time to hit that goal, and then they just expect you to go figure it out yourself. So I understand why you are very impatient, but this desire to seek short term wins is the number one reason you are not consistent. You know, when you think about the stuff I share every week here on the podcast, you tune in every week and take the information I'm sharing. I hope you find it useful, whether it's me going solo or I'm interviewing a guest and you try the, the information I'm sharing, whether it's a LinkedIn strategy, a sales strategy, you know, you name it. But then a couple weeks later, you're already giving up on that, that idea because it didn't come to fruition, didn't create the results you were expecting, which was a quick agent, a record or two. And before you know it, you're frustrated again, you're thinking near these strategies suck, or you're blaming your market, your prospects, your boss. But the reality is you're just so damn focused on quick wins that you're not willing to be consistent enough to see success through. And I get it in the insurance industry, you know, the, the, the biggest recruiting tool the industry has used historically has been money, right? I know when I got in 23 years ago, I was told, hey, sky's the limit. You work hard, you can make a lot of money in this industry. I remember when I started with Federated Insurance and I got the brochure that the average marketing rep, their sale, their version of a sales rep, was making about 150,000. After three years as a 23 year old, I was excited, right? And so I got in the industry, as with money as my North Star. And I know a lot of producers did the same. Well, when money is your North Star, you're not actually that passionate about what you do. That's where inconsistency starts because all you want to do is make money. I know there's a lot of producers out there that actually don't like selling insurance. They just know it's an avenue to make a lot of money, to live the lifestyle. And so the first thing I want you to think about is that right there, do you have a passion for what you do? Because that's where consistency is going to start. That's the foundation of consistency. When you actually enjoy what you do, it becomes a lot easier to show up every day. So I want you to gut check yourself right now and think about your current career. Do you enjoy it? Do you enjoy waking up and selling insurance to people and to businesses? Do you have a passion? Do you have a reason why you do it? Because that's where consistency has to start. That's what's going to make you see it through when things are tough. Because the one thing that is guaranteed in this industry is you're going to get kicked in the face. And if you can't, if you don't have that burning desire for what you do, you're not going to see that through. You're going to give up. And this is where I get really frustrated. As somebody who works with the industry. I see too many good producers who are talented, who unfortunately don't have the passion. And before you know it, two years later, they're off selling some other product because they didn't get the support. They were impatient. They were seeking quick wins, and they just didn't give themselves a chance to see success through. You know, it's the old story, the famous story of the miner who sells everything. He has to move out west to take advantage of the gold boom, right? And he's digging, you know, his vein to go find that, that vein of gold that he's looking for. And, you know, it takes him a year. He's digging and he's digging and he has nothing. And then eventually he gives up. He's so pissed off that he hasn't found anything. A year later, he gives up. He goes back home and he has nothing left. No money, no belongings. And the man who owns the land that he was digging on, after this man decides to give up and go home, hires a surveyor and they go survey the land. And sure enough, about three feet from where this man stopped digging, they found the largest vein of gold in the country. Now, whether that story is true or not, it makes a good point. How often do people give up for a lack of consistency? They give up three feet short of reaching their full potential because they don't have a passion for what they do. So the first problem I see right now that is leading to a big lack of consistency in the insurance industry is a lack of impatience and a desire to see quick wins. This is why you listen to my podcast. Maybe you're hoping that I share a secret. Share the secret sauce that's going to lead to your success. This is why you attend one conference after another. You're hoping at that conference you're going to. You're going to find the perfect sales wedge that changes everything.

Has nothing to do with what you're selling. It has nothing to do with the scripts you're using. It has everything to do with your consistency. The second challenge I see right now, the second problem is this desire to be perfect. I coach a lot of people right now who are paralyzed by perfection. I'm trying to get them to be more consistent with LinkedIn content. I'm trying to get them to reach out to the big prospects they've been afraid to reach out to, to network more, to ask for referrals. But the number one thing of for holding them back is they're just trying to be perfect. They're waiting for the perfect time to get on LinkedIn. They're waiting for the perfect time to pick up the phone. There is no perfect time. They end up sitting on the sidelines their entire career, watching everybody else have success but themselves. So if you feel the same right now, you're feeling like, man, I know I should be moving more, but I'm just paralyzed by this fear of wanting to be perfect. We need you to get off the sideline. Consistency requires failure. Believe it or not, the more consistent you are in putting in the work, the more you're going to fail. It's just the truth. But it's your desire to keep going even after your fail that's going to determine how successful you're going to be. So I'm gonna help you out today, but this is the biggest thing I wanna stress. You might be sitting here saying, andy, you know, I've tried everything you teach on this podcast. I think it's kind of horseshit because none of it works. Whether it be your LinkedIn strategies, your sales strategies, how to run a discovery meeting, any other marketing tips you've been sharing, I wanna ask you, is it the strategy or is it your lack of consistency? That's what we're gonna talk about. Because the biggest inhibitor to inconsistency is that breeds a lack of trust. When you're not consistent, people don't trust you. And those people could be your prospects, your own teammates, your boss.

A lack of consistency leads to a lack of trust. And believe it or not, in your prospecting efforts, when you're not consistent. So when you Go hard for two weeks and then you let your foot off the gas for two weeks, you go hard and you let your foot off the gas. That inconsistency is why prospects aren't getting back to you. It's why prospects aren't moving ahead in the pipeline. It's that inconsistency. It's that energy you're giving off. People distrust inconsistency.

So today, what I want to help you do is be more consistent. And all I want to do is walk you through your current prospecting blueprint, what you're doing today to open doors, and I want you to figure out where you can be more consistent.

You know, when I work with our clients on building a prospecting blueprint, here's where I want you to start. Number one, do you know who you're targeting? Let's start there. Do you know who you're actually targeting, who your target prospect is? Are you clear about that or are you just hoping anybody is open to a conversation with you? I think consistency starts when you're clear on who you're actually trying to target. So number one, get clear on who you're targeting. Now, if you've never done the exercise, we have the five star prospect profile that we do with our clients. I've done plenty of coaching videos and podcast episodes about that. You can go check it out in previous episodes, but it's basically coming down to who are your best clients, who lets you do your best work, figure out who that is, and that's who I want you to target. Now, with that being said, what does your weekly prospecting blueprint look like? Now, there are four ways to reach out to prospects. This came from reading the book $100 million leads by Alex Hormozi. There are four ways we can reach out to prospects. We can reach out by cold one to one, warm one to one, warm one to many, and cold one of many. So to give you examples, phone call, cold calls, cold emails, going door to door, that's cold one to one, right? Examples of warm one to one would be networking, referrals. Right? Very clear ways of warm introductions. Warm one to many would be social media, podcasting, webinars, public speaking. This is a way to get a message in front of people who kind of know you and get one message in front of a lot of people at one time. And. And then cold one to many is what we probably would refer to things like advertising. Advertising allows you to put a message in front of a lot of cold suspects quickly. Now, a good marketing strategy Good prospecting blueprint actually deploys hits all four of those categories. But here's what I want you to think about.

A good prospecting blueprint has to have a very high volume of direct outreach. Direct outreach is anything that's one to one, that could be cold one to one, warm one to one. So it could be cold calls, cold emails, drop ins, referrals, networking. A good prospecting blueprint has to have all of those. Now, the warm one to one, the stuff that we're known for, LinkedIn, webinars, public speaking, they are very effective, but we have to remember why we do those. The warm one to many is executed to support and build brand recognition. For all of the direct outreach above, you see, when you do put out more consistent LinkedIn content, you do host webinars more consistently. Maybe you host a podcast or you're out speaking at associations. That's all building brand awareness and brand recognition. So that when you do pick up the phone and you call them, you send them an email, you possibly drop in at their business, they know who you are. It makes your direct outreach more effective. So with this being said, I want you to think about how you can develop a more consistent weekly blueprint Number one phone calls. Yeah, you still got to pick up the phone. In fact, I just read a statistic that phone cold call success is actually back on the way up. It's up 4% I think is what I heard last. So yeah, you should have cold calls as part of your prospecting blueprint. Unless you are an industry veteran who is at a point that you're getting so many referrals you don't need to pick up the phone. Yes, you probably should pick up the phone a little bit. I know the numbers are still against you. I think it takes 18 calls today to get one prospect on the phone. But you have to be consistent about how often you pick up the phone. So my challenge to you is set a goal. How many cold calls are you going to make every week? There's no perfect number. Just pick a number. But here's what I'm going to give you as a piece of advice. Don't make that number so low it's too easy to hit. And don't make it so high that you know you're not going to be consistent. Set a number that's going to challenge you, but allow you to be consistent every week.

How about sales and nurture emails? Do you have a consistent cadence of sales emails that are going out to your prospect list that have the goal of Trying to open a conversation.

It's key that you have a strategy, a sequence, not a bunch of spray and pray emails you hope land on somebody on the right day? Or what's your strategy from a sales email standpoint? So you are hitting prospects on a consistent basis. Remember, whether it's cold calls, whether it's sales emails, whether it's drop ins, it takes about 12 touches before a prospect does anything with you. You can't call them once and let it go and then move on to the next prospect. You have to deploy a sequence of calls and emails and drop ins and mailers. Whatever you do, you have to deploy a sequence to try to get their attention. Are you doing that consistently enough? What about nurture emails? Nurture emails are not done with the intention to sell. Nurture emails are done with the intention to inform. What are you doing to put out consistent nurture emails to your prospects that deliver them a lot of tactical, useful information that when in the inbox on the right day has them thinking of you? The purpose of the nurture emails are to inform and ensure your prospects do not forget who you are.

So how are you deploying a consistent mix of sales emails and nurture emails? Networking. Are you out networking consistently now? I don't want you to just go out and network for the sake of networking. Are you networking in the right groups where you could open doors with your target prospects?

Now this is one I'm bad at. If I'm being honest with you. I'm kind of an introvert. I like to stay at home. I had to force myself to go network because it's not easy for me. I lose a lot of energy when I'm out networking. But it has to be part of your consistent weekly blueprint referrals. Ho ho ho. This is the one that so many people fail to do because we're humble. We don't want to be salesy to our clients or our friends. But.

What'S your goal when it comes to asking for referrals on a weekly or monthly basis? Are you asking on a consistent basis? One thing we started doing at Complete Game Consulting to be more consistent with asking for referrals is we set up an automated email campaign to have an email go out once a quarter to all of our clients that just says, hey, we're always looking to work with more great people like you. If you can think of any peers who you believe could use our help, hit reply, let us know. That just ensures we are sending out that email every quarter because it might hit our Clients on the right day, they got somebody they they're thinking of and boom, we get a reply with a referral. What are you doing to ask referrals of from your centers of influence.

If you're not consistently doing it? If you don't have a system for doing it, you're always going to forget to do it. You're going to wait for the perfect time to do it and you're never going to do it. One thing we've started doing in addition to making referrals easier is writing an email that we can give to a center of influence or a client to introduce us to that referral. Make it easy on your, your clients and your centers of influence to introduce you.

Go on LinkedIn, see who they're connected with. If they have any people in their connections that could be prospect of yours, ask them about it. But you have to have referrals be a part of your blueprint. And that's one of the most overlooked opportunities in prospecting right now. The quickest path to cash is referrals. So if you are seeking short term wins, hey, maybe you should ask for more referrals. Now let's talk about LinkedIn prospecting. This is the one that I get the most pushback on. Andy, LinkedIn doesn't fricking work. In fact, the day I record this, I got a message, a comment on one of my posts this morning saying that, you know, Andy, I understand what you're saying about being more consistent on LinkedIn, but man, there's nothing that beats the face to face meeting. And LinkedIn, it can be a fun platform, but there's nothing that will replace being in front of a person. I said, hey, I don't disagree. But the thing I'm going to challenge about your comment is you just called LinkedIn a fun platform. You see, this is the problem with LinkedIn, you're not taking it seriously enough. This isn't your old version of Facebook so you can hang out with friends and show pictures of you at the beach. LinkedIn can be a serious opportunity if you use it the right way. So when you look at your LinkedIn activity right now, how many invites are you sending out every week? How many thank you notes are you sending when people accept your invites? How about your content? Are you showing up every single week to post content for your prospects, not your peers? And then how many DMS are you sending? Are you working the DMS to try to turn connections into conversations? See, the number one reason LinkedIn doesn't work for people is they're not consistent or they're posting content for the wrong people, or they're just posting content and hoping the content creates all the activity. It doesn't. It creates awareness. But you sending out invites and thank yous and DMs is what creates the activity. Is that part of your weekly blueprint? How are you challenging yourself to get outside your comfort zone and find opportunities to speak at associations where your target prospects exist?

You see, if you want to take your career seriously, if you want to absolutely blow through your goals, it comes back to how consistent are you willing to be.

If I were you right now, and you're still very much gung ho about having a lot of sales success before the end of the year, I'm going to challenge you to sit down after listening to this episode and look at how many calls you're making a week right now. I guarantee it's not enough. Set a goal. Set a number, a numerical goal. Number two. Are you sending out sales emails on a consistent basis? I bet you're not. Do you have a nurture email going out every couple weeks to keep your best prospects informed? Are you networking? Are you attending events in your local market to get your face out there? Are you asking for referrals every single week? What are you doing to make asking for referrals easier for your centers of influence and your prospects? LinkedIn. Are you showing up, sending out invites, sending thank yous, sending dms, posting content? None of this is sexy, but this is what creates success.

We work our ass off here to grow our presence on LinkedIn. I am posting content two to three times a day to build our awareness. And I know for some of you we're annoying, but you know what? I don't care. Because this is how we grow our business. Between Chris, Amy and I, we have grown our connections by more than 500 people in two weeks.

This is what it means to put in the work.

And I know I am often accused of being too hard too, too in your face, but dang it, how bad do you want it?

This is why we teach how to use LinkedIn to grow your business.

Now, when you look out at some of the folks we have had a chance to work with, we have been blessed to work with the people you see on LinkedIn all the time. Chris Hamilton, Chris Buyer, Chris Bolling. This is what they're doing. You want to know why they're having so much success right now? They're consistent. Chris Hamilton sold more than a million dollars in 2023. A lot of it came from his influence on LinkedIn. Chris Buyer, Chris Bolling. We have them joining our workshop later this week. As of the day I'm recording this, by the end of the year, they will have doubled their business in the last three years. Why? They are showing up every week on LinkedIn putting out content they know their prospects will find useful. But you know what's interesting? Chris Bolling told me this. He said, andy, what's interesting is in the last three years of all we've done, we have actually only generated one direct lead directly from LinkedIn because of a piece of content? 1. But do you know how many other AOR we've earned in the last three years that were generated because the prospect went to our LinkedIn profile to vet us before hiring us, and they saw everything they needed. Think about that.

You see, when you develop a consistent blueprint.

Here'S what happens. You're no longer searching for the secret bullet, the secret sauce, because you have a game plan you're confidently executing. And Chris Bolling shared something with me that I want to share with you because I thought it was very powerful when it came to executing a process consistently. When they joined our academy three years ago, they came with their doubts. They were hesitant that social media would work for them. But he said, andy, the reason we were willing to give it a shot and make it a part of our blueprint is because we were already confident in our ability to sell.

Think about that. Are you confident in your own ability to sell? Because I guarantee the more confident you are in your ability, the more you're going to leverage these strategies and actually be consistent and patient with them. The people who are not confident in their ability to sell are the ones chasing the quick wins or the secret sauces, the silver bullets, because they're not that confident that they can actually sell. So they're hoping, they're hoping some lucky strategy falls in their lap. I witnessed this with people I worked with and for over the years. They wanted exclusivity. They wanted the one thing nobody else had. Why? Because they didn't actually have confidence in their own ability to sell. But because Chris and Chris have confidence they can sell.

They were able to take the strategy I taught them about social media and leverage it consistently. So I leave you with this. I don't know where this episode lands on your usefulness meter, but what I want you to do right now is really look in the mirror and ask yourself, hold yourself accountable and ask yourself, are you being consistent? Are you waking up every Monday morning not quite sure what you're going to do as far as getting the attention of your target prospects. Sit down and create a plan. And I'm here to tell you there is no perfect plan. You just have to have a plan. So decide how many cold calls you're going to make. Decide how many drop ins you're going to make, how many sales emails you're going to send out. Be more consistent with putting out some kind of nurture email that provides great information to your prospects. You got to start asking for referrals more consistently from clients and centers of influencers. You gotta be networking more because that's how you build more centers of influence. And then be more consistent with some of the tools we have at our disposal today that we didn't have before, like LinkedIn. Show up every week and send out those invites. Connect with these people, put out the content that's useful, send them the message and ask them to see if they'd be open to a conversation. This is what drives activity. It has nothing to do with your knowledge, your skill. It has everything to do with your consistency. So I hope you take what you heard today. You, you use it, you run with it. Because I know what it's done for us. I know what it's done for some of our clients who have literally changed their careers because of their consistency. And I know it can do the same for you. Just be consistent. Your consistency will lead to confidence and that confidence will take you to great heights. So be good. You know where to find me if you need help. 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.