Have you ever seen someone in your industry have tremendous success that had so far eluded you? I’ve had a number of conversations with entrepreneurs over the years where the main topic of conversation was “how did he do that”? I’ll bet you’ve had a few of those head scratching moments yourself.
The other evening our company OAA held a gala party to celebrate the collective success of our insurance agency partners. We toasted each other’s success that resulted in checks totaling over $5 million dollars being handed to about 75 agency owners. What a night it was with the average agency receiving over $45,000 and the top earner nearly $500,000!
This kind of success is dramatic to be sure, and it’s very unusual in our industry so we are very proud of our individual and collective achievements. Because it’s unusual, and because the success rate is uneven, I think it’s worth looking at how these business owners did it. How have they out performed their peers?
Let’s answer the question “how did he do that?”
I think the first thing which set these high achieving people apart is understanding the rules of the game. There are certain keys to success in every business. In the insurance agency business one of them is maximizing bonus opportunities presented by insurance companies.
The most successful agents understand how they get paid.
They organize their business to maximize revenue on every opportunity.
Another key for the most successful agents is a relentless focus on quality. This shouldn’t be surprising. As we look at success in any form of business, or human endeavor, we always see commitment to quality, to best efforts and respect for best practices.
When I examine the traits of highly successful entrepreneurs I always see flexibility, a keen sense of opportunity and a willingness to modify business practices to achieve goals. This was very evident the other evening as the most successful agents, among a group of fabulously successful agents, were those that had continued to try new tactics, new marketing efforts and were never satisfied with the status quo.
You’ve undoubtedly heard it said all your life that a key to success is to work smarter not harder. While there is a lot of truth in that statement the business owners who were the most rewarded financially at our party never ignored the need to work hard.