When asked what attracted them to the insurance industry, newproducers taking a recent survey identified “freedom andflexibility” as the most appealing features. Interestingly, thatsame survey indicated “time management” as the biggest challenge toinsurance producers once they entered the business. This has notchanged in at least 30 years, when the Johnson-Dauner surveydetermined “poor time utilization and the lack of planned saleseffort” as the No. 1 reason for sales failure.

Related: Read Ken Fields' previous column, “Consistency is key for salessuccess.”

Time is a non-replenishable resource. It can't be saved,invested or borrowed—but it can be spent more effectively. Becausetime literally is money to commissioned insurance producers,effective time and self-management is essential.

Make a plan

There's an old saying that cautions, “If you fail to plan, youplan to fail.” Top producers start with planning their year, andcontinue the process until they know exactly what needs to be donetoday—this morning. Do plans change from time to time? Of coursethey do, sometimes to make mid-course corrections, sometimes to putout fires. But once the correction has been made, or the fire isout, they return to The Plan. An integral part of planning is goodrecord keeping. Knowing your “numbers” is what makes it possible toeffectively plan. Your close ratio, average premium sold, number ofinitial appointments required to make one presentation, number ofphone calls to get an appointment, etc. will help you understandthe value of your time and keep your plans realistic.

Give them what they want

Does it sometimes seem as if your companies are constantlydeclining to quote on your prospects—and when they do, they're notcompetitive? Look carefully at the companies represented by youragency to determine what they like to write. Then look at yourmarketing territory. Are there plenty of good prospects that fityour companies' underwriting appetite? If so, the solution is easy:target those prospects your companies like. If not, it could bethere's not a good market match between the kind of business yourcompanies like to write and the prospects available in yourmarketing territory. This means it may be time to look for carrierswith a closer match.

Plan sales and prospecting time

Block out time for critical prospecting and sales activities,then fill in the remaining time with non-sales activities. Approachit any other way and the non-sales activities will almost alwayswin out. If you've planned to make prospecting calls Monday morningfrom 8 a.m. to 10 a.m., and a prospect asks to meet you at 9 a.m.,your response should be: “Sorry, but I already have an appointmentat that time. Can we get together that afternoon at 2 p.m., orwould Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. work for you?” Not only does thishelp you to stick with your prospecting plan, but it also suggeststo your prospect that you are a busy, successful insuranceagent.

Stay out of the office

One top producer told me it was his goal to never be in theoffice during business hours. If he needed time in the office, hestopped in before the agency opened or after it closed. Why?Because he wanted to be in front of prospects, clients and centersof influence during business hours. Outside producers need to be“road warriors.” Cell phones and laptops are their “weapons.”

Work by appointment whenever possible. Make appointments withunderwriters and agency support staff just as you do with prospectsand clients. If you need to talk with an underwriter, use e-mail tofirst make an appointment. Your call will be expected and theunderwriter will be prepared for the discussion. Or the underwritermay resolve the issue by e-mail and the meeting won't be needed atall. The same approach works with agency support staff. Rather thanwaiting for a CSR to get off the phone or finish up with acustomer, make an appointment via e-mail. You'll be surprised howmuch more you can get done when you work by appointment. And try tohave these conversations from the field on your cell phone, ifpossible. This will help you minimize office time.

Cluster prospecting activities around scheduled appointments.You probably pass a number of excellent prospects on the way to andfrom appointments every day. Why not leave the office early andcall on those prospects and clients? This helps maximize yourprospecting time. Consider purchasing Microsoft's Streets and Tripssoftware. This product makes it possible for you to visualize allyour prospects and clients on a map so you can better organize yourday and be aware of opportunities in areas near your appointments.It will even plot the most effective route from one prospect to thenext.

Work smarter and harder

Working smart is good, of course. But if you want to earn liketop producers, 40 hours per week is probably not going to cut it.Most top producers start early, say 7 a.m. or 7:30 a.m. eachmorning, and they know when they're working and when they're not.Beginning each day drinking coffee with your buddies at Starbucksor reading the newspaper from cover to cover is not effective.Neither are agent golf outings and civic club monthly socializersat the local watering hole. Don't fool yourself into thinking youare “networking.” How much business did you write last yeardirectly attributable to these activities?

It's important to know which activities are moving you towardyour business or personal goals, so try this litmus test:

• Is this activity clearly moving me toward a business goal?
• Is this activity clearly moving me toward a personal goal?
• Is this activity fun?

Work toward eliminating activities that don't meet any of thethree qualifications. You may find you can actually work fewerhours, get more of the important things done and have more time forfun if you become more aware of how you are spending your time.Once every 6 months or so, keep a record of exactly how you spendyour time for one typical week. This helps identify any work habitsyou've fallen into that don't support your goals.

For years, I've heard producers excuse Mondays and Fridays asbeing bad for prospecting. Surprisingly, when we recently surveyeda group of top producers, they responded that the two best days forprospecting businesses were Mondays and Fridays. If your Mondaysand Fridays are often non-productive, you could be losing as muchas 20 percent to 40 percent of your work week. Can you affordthis?

Get more referrals

Referrals save you time because they shorten the sales cycle.Appointments are easier to get, sales are easier to make andreferrals are more likely to give you referrals when they buy. Inaddition, clients who give you referrals are more likely to stickwith you. So why aren't you getting more referrals? Probablybecause you're not asking for them. Try this: Identify thecompetitors and neighboring businesses of one of your clients. Thisinformation is available at ReferenceUSA.com. Present the list toyour client and say, “I'm going to be calling on these businessesover the next few weeks.” (Notice you are not asking permission tocall on them.) “Would you mind looking over the list and letting meknow which of them you would not call on if you were me?” Nowlisten to what your client says. When he's finished, say: “When Icall on these folks, would you mind if I mention that we dobusiness together?” A positive response means you now have a listof referrals. And who selected them? You did!

Know when to walk away

Most accounts will renew with the incumbent agent this year. Soit's easy to spend a lot of time working on accounts you're notgoing to write. Yet some top producers have close ratios above 90percent. How do they do it? They've learned how to identify thoseprospects that are likely to move their account this year andthey've developed the discipline to walk away from those who arenot. The tool they use is called the Diagnostic AppointmentQuestionnaire (DAQ). Through a structured questioning process, theDAQ sorts out those prospects worth pursuing. You can learn aboutthis technique in

The National Alliance's Dynamics of SellingSeminar.