The Only Way to Reach Your True Potential

So as an insurance professional, whether as maybe agency leadership or as an insurance producer, how can you really reach your true potential? Well, I'm going to talk about what I feel is the most important thing you can do to reach your potential in today's Biz Growl. Hey there. This is Brent Kelly of Biz Grizz with another daily Biz Growl. So how do you reach your true potential? Well, let me just start off with this statement and I think you'll get the gist of what I will talk about in today's Biz Growl podcast. Connecting with others will make or break you. Connecting with others will make or break you. Right. Seems obvious, yet not many do it very well. Gerald Ford said this. He said if I went back to college again, I'd concentrate on two areas, learning to write and to speak before an audience. Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively. Now, when I work with insurance agencies and I work with sales producers, everyone wants to learn how to find more prospects, close more sales, keep more clients, higher retention. Right? All makes sense. And oftentimes the agencies or the insurance producer I'm working with say, give me a specific process or system that will cure all of my sales ills. Here's the thing. Having proven sales and marketing systems, there's a lot of really good ones out there. I mean, there really are. And I teach some myself. They're very important. But even the best system can't fix what many businesses and sales professionals are missing. The ability to effectively communicate and connect with their prospects and clients. You probably heard that the phrase many times, whether it's in business or of course in politics. But you can't put lipstick on a pig, alright? And that's really what connection comes down to. You could have the best process or system or whatever it may be. But if you don't understand or have the inner nature and desire to connect with those people through those systems, you're often missing the point. My mentor says this. He says that when you connect with others, you position yourself to make the most of your skills and talents. When you don't connect, you have a lot to overcome just to get to average a neutral starting position. See, connectors have better relationships. Connectors experience less friction. Connectors are simply more productive. They get more done because they deal with less junk. Connecting is a skill that every agency and every insurance producer must improve upon if they truly seek growth. Here's the bottom line that John Maxwell, leadership expert I talk about frequently, writes in his book, Everyone communicates, few connect. He says this, you'll only be able to reach your potential, regardless of your profession or your chosen path, when you learn to connect with other people. And goes back to my opening tease. You will only be able to reach your potential, regardless of profession or chosen path, when you learn to connect with other people. It's really that simple. No process, no system, no sales tactic, no technique will suddenly make you a better communicator. It may help you communicate a poor message more effectively, but it doesn't necessarily make you a better communicator, a better connector. See, here's the thing. You've got to be intentional to connect with those you wish to serve and influence. You got to be intentional. And I talked about this a little bit yesterday in my, in my daily biz growl. There's no shortcuts in great communication. To connect, you've got to pour your heart and your soul into the other person. It starts with your attitude, doesn't everything. It doesn't matter if you're communicating face to face, if you're talking on a phone call, if maybe you're sending an email, you're writing a blog post like I do, or you're using social media for a social media update. Because at the heart of every interaction, the focus must be on the value of the other person. Every company in the world, especially insurance agencies, has the ability to automate and delegate, but rarely do they succeed when they communicate. Have you noticed that? That's because the focus ultimately is about factors that help their business, not the person that they serve. Oftentimes, when we think of ways to communicate, I think back oftentimes, and this comes from the digital world where people would say, well, that's not the way that I want to communicate. That's not how we do things. Now, again, I always tell people to be in their strength zone, but I have to ask the question, how do your prospects and clients want to be communicated with? Because that's the real important thing, isn't it? See, connecting is hard work. Just like anything in life. If it were easy, more people would be doing it. That's why so many insurance agencies are struggling, right? Because it is hard. Connecting requires that you are proactive with your thoughts, with your words, with your actions. Connecting doesn't just happen. Connecting occurs because you make it happen. Now remember this. And again, I've said this before, but connecting increases your influence in every situation. And it gets easy to kind of walk past that. I did for years as an agent. Like, I didn't, I didn't understand how important connections are talking about rapport and building trust and all those things, right? But how often do we take the necessary steps to really do those things that we know are important in our lives and our business and our relationships? The ability to communicate and connect effectively. It's going to make or break you. No system is going to do that for you. If you want to reach your full, God given potential, invest your time and energy in making a powerful connection or connections today. If you're frustrated by not having positive influence in your agency, or frustrated that your experience and knowledge is not transitioning to more closed sales, it's likely based on your inability to connect. So my question for you today is this. What actions are you taking to improve your communication and build better, stronger, more powerful connections? I'd love to hear from you. Go to my website@brentmkelly.com or bizgris.com also if you enjoy this podcast, my daily podcast. Please leave a review please Always looking for feedback from others and certainly will help spread the message. So until next time. Again, this is Brent Kelly of Biz Griz challenging and encouraging you to go face your grizzly.