Summer’s coming, are you ready to work?
Proverbs 30:25 reads, “Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer”.
Ants are really small, but they have mastered the ability to work together, focus on their work and work hard while they have the chance.
I remember when I was getting my sales start in this industry Bill Pritchard, of Pritchard and Jerden, said to me, “Almost everyone you know will slack off during the summer months and around Christmas time. That’s when you need to hit the phones! People are still having claim problems, wanting to reduce their costs and wondering why their agent hasn’t called in so long!”
At that time, friends of mine in the industry kept telling me how “fruitless” it was going to be to pursue business in the summer, since everyone would just want to wait until school starts back.
I also remember how happy I was (and had I known how young I truly looked and acted, I should have been even more grateful) when I wrote that first “June 1” group. My guess is their more experienced agent was taking it easy for the summer and it was just the sort of advantage I needed to get my start.
I worked almost every day that summer and even told my parents and relatives that I would have to work through most of the Holiday’s as well.
Obviously, having kids of my own now helps me balance my time with family, but I still have not forgotten that lesson. I obtained some good business from agents who, I am sure, were more knowledgeable than I was at the time.
Of course, I am not suggesting that we should not take vacations or fear taking them. What I am suggesting is that sometimes we talk ourselves out of successful opportunities. We erroneously convince ourselves that certain things are going to happen, whether it be for a few summer months or for a multi-year Congressional term, and we stop doing our best work. We then fulfill our own prophesy and our sales and retention drop.
Bottom line, we still have the same opportunity today that we had 5 years ago, but we must do our best to serve our customers. They need to see the difference between the private insurance industry, with our reimbursements, services and response times, compared to Medicare and Medicaid and the government’s reimbursements, services and response times.
No one can compare to us when we are at our best. Let’s work hard and show our customers, and this nation, all they stand to lose if they allow the government to ration their healthcare.
