Learn the ten habits successful insurance agents have, how they work, and how to implement them into your professional life.

All insurance agents want the same thing: to be highly productive, grow their business, and build connections in their field. While there’s no magical shortcut, successful insurance agents do share some common traits. Whether you are new to insurance sales or a decades-long veteran, reflecting on your professional habits is a great exercise. Some habits relate to productivity, while others are about measuring success and assessment. There are even habits that focus more on connections, learning and overall engagement. Here are ten habits all successful insurance agents have in common, and why they are important.

Create Daily Routine

It may sound simple, but creating and sticking with a regular schedule helps improve productivity. Having a daily routine, provides structure that allows successful insurance agents to manage their time and be flexible when opportunity knocks. Some successful insurance agents are strict and schedule their phone time, email time, and networking time down to the minute. Others choose to block out some tasks but leave openings in their schedules for more organic connections. Both styles of scheduling work well and it really comes down to your personality. Either way, structure and routine will help you grow your business.

Delegate

Many insurance agents get into habits of tackling everything on their own. This may come from a personality preference (maybe you were a kid who hated group projects in school!). Or maybe you think that your supervisors will think less of you if you aren’t doing everything yourself. The reality is, successful insurance agents delegate many of their tasks to assistants and colleagues. There are even opportunities to delegate by outsourcing, like using HBW Leads to generate insurance leads for you. Delegation allows an insurance agent to focus on more important tasks like relationship building, networking, and closing the deal.

Manage Stress

If you’re successful with your sales quotas but stressed and hate your job, are you really that successful? Healthy stress management is a key habit for successful insurance agents. Try to develop a work-life balance that fits your needs. Many insurance agents are working from home these days, which makes “shutting off” at the end of the day tricky. It’s important to designate your “work” hours from your “home” hours. Building healthy habits like going for a walk at lunchtime or taking a relaxing bath at the end of the day can also help reduce your stress levels, leaving you clear headed and refreshed to tackle your next task.

Set and Track Goals

Ever feel like you’re treading water at work? You do your work tasks, make phone calls, close sales, but you don’t feel like you’re progressing in your career. Time to visit (or revisit) your goals. Setting personal, professional, and team goals is a great start to building assessment tools to help you grow. Once you’ve set your goals, schedule periodic check-ins with yourself and your team. Set up a tracking system that measures your progress. This can be as simple as a word document or a more complex tailored spreadsheet. It’s helpful to look back over months and years to see your progress and areas for improvement.

Surround Yourself with Successful People

Look at the successful insurance agents around you. Whether you know them personally, or follow them on social media, try to note what is working for them. If you can, build relationships with your successful colleagues. Surrounding yourself with successful people, even outside of the insurance industry, is a great way to learn best practices and good habits for professional growth.

Ask for Advice and Guidance

A big mistake insurance agents make when they are overwhelmed or unsure of something is a failure to ask for help. For some, asking for guidance can feel like admitting defeat. In reality, asking for help, guidance, or feedback is a sign of humility and strength of character. By asking for help from team members, supervisors, and other colleagues, you’re showing confidence, class, and a willingness to learn – all strengths of successful insurance agents.

Build Relationships, Everywhere

Standing in line at the dry cleaners? Take a moment to make small talk with the person behind you. Going to a cafe? Spend a minute or two chatting with the person sitting next to you. Networking as an insurance agent isn’t just about going to conferences and workshops and talking to other insurance agents. It’s just as important to connect with your community and build relationships with those around you. You might not be selling them an insurance policy in the moment, but you’re earning their trust so that down the line when they do need a new insurance product, you’ll be their first call.

Continue Learning

In a time when nearly every resource is at your fingertips, it’s important to stay invested in your own education. From podcasts and video tutorials, to webinars and conferences, take advantage of resources around you. The benefits of continued education extend beyond expanding one’s knowledge base. Many learning opportunities involve being in a room or virtual cohort with other professionals. These are great soft-networking opportunities that can promote cross-pollination and collaboration with people inside and outside of the insurance sales industry.

Fine Tune Soft Skills

Revisit your soft skills like: communication, problem-solving, organization, and critical thinking. If you work on a team, there may be an opportunity to practice communication and problem-solving exercises. Practice with your colleagues and focus on decision-making role plays. You can even seek out other formats and spaces that can help you develop stronger communications skills. Join your local Toastmasters International group. Take a local theatre or improvisational comedy class. Many of these groups can help you think “on your feet” and make you a stronger salesperson.

Embrace Technology

Nearly every week, a new insurance sales software or update drops and it’s on you to stay up-to-date. Follow successful insurance agents and other experts to find out what tools and softwares they’ve implemented into their routines. Adopt the ones that make sense for you. Think outside the box and check out other industries and the softwares they are using. Is there something you can tailor to fit your needs? The key with technology is to make it work for you. If technology isn’t your strong suit, find someone who loves it and get their guidance. Technology should save you time and energy so you can focus on relationship building and making sales.

Successful insurance agents learn to maximize their time. Looking for ways to save time and build your business? Let HBW Leads take care of cold-calling and add double-verified leads to your sales funnel. Connect with the experts today.