It’s a good question for you to ask . . . of anyone you might be considering to work with as your coach.
So, permit me to share a brief background with you . . . if you like what you see, great. If not, I’m not a candidate for you.
My first ‘real job’ was selling life insurance to other students in college. Prior to that, I was caring for timber wolves who were being studied in the bio-behavior laboratory at the University of Connecticut.
(FYI: Wolves are magnificent, social beings and I love them!)
At first, I sold enough. To survive. Barely.
I wasn’t formally taught how to sell and the training I did receive was more about technical and legal aspects of products than the psychology behind why people buy them. Agents who knew a lot but weren’t selling a lot were called ‘educated derelects’.
That’s when I began to realize that being competent was no guarantee of success. In fact, in a profession like financial services — being technically competent — knowing your stuff — is only going to get you ‘down on the field’ so you can ‘play in the game’. It’s not enough to get you ‘into the Super Bowl’ of success.
Knowlege alone won’t make you financially comfortable in a career where you’re responsible for revenues.
Actually, that’s where my tag-line “Converting Competence Into Compensation” came from.
I learned, fairly quickly, that you and I aren’t paid well because we know our stuff. We‘re paid well because we can help people make a decision to work with us and use our expertise to solve their problems and turn their dreams into reality.
Converting YOUR competence into compensation relies heavily on two factors:
- Marketing Skills . . . to make meaningful contact with people who can best understand what you do, value the services you offer, desire the benefits you can provide and afford the fees you require to deliver a desired result, and
- Selling Skills . . . to help someone, when they’re ready, make a decision about buying the services you provide.
By way of example, let’s say you’d like to DOUBLE your income. Not a bad objective, right?
Well, to do this, you just have to change ANY one (or, more) of these three (3) factors:
- The number of people . . . you’re meeting . . . who may want to work with you
- The average amount . . . a client is likely to spend . . . with you
- Your skill . . . at helping people make a decision to work with you . . . when they’re ready to do so
BILL DOERR, CCO