We know that producers who accomplish their goals do these things consistently:
- Their goals are written down and they have a plan to achieve them
- They have a timeframe that they stick to and their goals are defined and measurable
- And lastly, they have an accountability partner or a coach to keep them on track
A sustainable sales goal plan is more than just thinking about and writing down goals. Goals without actions and a strategic plan are just thoughts you have about what might happen. Writing goals with action items is a waste of time if you and your producers don’t commit to time frames. And ultimately you have to inspect what you expect. The joy of accomplishing goals is what will keep you moving forward. This is true for you, the manager and sales leader and also of your producers.
But keep in mind this one very important idea – any sales goal plan has to be tied to your producer’s personal goals. It must be a number or objective-driven by their needs and not the needs of the agency. For example, maybe one producer wants to pay off your credit card debt, a hefty sum of the mortgage on that new house they bought or pay for an upcoming vacation in full. When their work plan is directly tied to one or more of these personal motivators and objectives, they are much more likely to put in the effort and to achieve the success they want and the agency needs.
Get started by downloading our Personal & Business Workplan template!
The Manager’s Role in Sales Goal Planning
When asked, most sales managers say that one of their greatest challenges is their ability to motivate their producers. If a sales manager can figure out what makes his people “tick”, he can better help them hit their goal numbers. Motivation seems like hard work because producers often value different things. There are however, several steps a sales manager can take to establish a motivating environment.
The first step is to recognize that motivation is an “inside-out’ job. When the topic of motivation is discussed, we typically think about incentive compensation, sales contests and recognition programs. All of these certainly encourage your producers to focus on generating new business because these are rewards. However, you will gain true engagement and enthusiasm if you create an every-day environment which encourages each individual to identify and visualize his own internal motivation.
Do you remember Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs pyramid? The bottom two largest tiers are Physiological and Safety because these are the most basic needs of every individual. This same concept holds true for new salespeople. Hopefully they will make their way up to self-actualization at some point, but they must first have income for food, shelter, safety, etc. Only once they realize they have attained all of these basic necessities and have established a cushion, can they turn attention to the higher tiers of Self-Actualization and the bigger dreams and goals to which they might aspire.
To put it another way, producers do not really care about shareholder value unless they are shareholders themselves. What they care about is food, shelter, clothing, recognition, paying for college education or wedding, buying a vacation home, etc. These are personal desires and make up the vast majority of things that are important to people. So, the solution is to create an environment where this internal motivation can take place. (Read The Dream Manager book by Michael Kelly.)
This means that it is up to you to help your producers identify what is important to them. Make the effort to set up time off-site that is dedicated to planning and spend time developing each individual’s dreams and sales goal plan. This is time that you and they will spend ON the business instead of in it. Take a day or two that will help you and your team take a giant step forward to plan for the future.
Create a process where people can establish personal goals because this is where true motivation, passion and desire are born. Hence, it is from this process that each producer’s business plan must evolve.
Create an environment where people get a chance to unplug, sit down and outline their goals and dreams; a time when both of you can establish timeframes and attach financial values to these items. Once you have attached financial values, you will know what level of prospecting and selling activity is necessary for each producer.
Reward yourself and your people when they have a success. As your people go through this process and identify their sales goal plan; as you sit down and establish your own personal goals, be sure to specify how you will reward yourself and your people as each of you achieve these goals. Make sure that you take time to find and celebrate the joy of this wonderful world of selling and helping clients make sound insurance decisions, as that might just be the most rewarding goal of all.
learn more about our insurance sales training
