A Task or a Tool?

I grew up in a home where each family member had an assigned list of daily chores. Maybe you had the same experience? I was one of four children and we all had our assigned responsibilities. Whether it was taking out the trash, cleaning my room, weeding the ground cover in the front yard or washing the cars on Saturday, there were always tasks to be accomplished.

We lived in a rural, country home in a sleepy little area of Southern California. Our home was surrounded by seven acres of land. As you might imagine, there was always something to be done. I remember a summer garden that demanded constant attention and various farm animals that needed to be fed and watered as well. Surrounding the home was a variety of fruit trees that provided a refreshing treat in the warm summer months. We had a private, quarter mile private road that led up to our home. Due to the size of the property, our evenings and weekends were often spent working on and around the property.

My parents tell the story that as a young child I would often hide from them on Saturday mornings, hoping to avoid the day’s line up of work projects. Clearly, the myriad of chores and other tasks were not something I was excited about. During the summer as a teenager, it was not uncommon to wake up and find a list of tasks on my bed covers. My Dad, having left early for the office, had left a list of important items for me to accomplish during the day. It was my charge to complete these tasks and then report my progress upon his return. I guess it goes without saying, but I had a far different vision of how I wanted to spend my lazy summer afternoons that he did.

I am not sure when it happen, but as I grew up I came to realize the importance of the seemingly endless supply of tasks that needed to be accomplished around our home. If the garden didn’t get watered the delicious squash and vine ripe tomatoes would never be relished. Without careful pruning, our fruit trees would not produce the apples, plums and beautiful peaches that graced our kitchen table. Of course, we couldn’t swim until the pool had been cleaned and unless the lawns were mowed, edged and planter beds weeded, hosting an evening BBQ was slim.

As an older teenager, I realized that a clean car was a fast car, so I never missed the chance to put another wax job on my latest weekend cruiser. It made the date to the movies all the more enjoyable. I began to see that all of these tasks were not really tasks at all, but helpful tools to bring about an array of enjoyable results in my life. I slowly shifted my attitude and perspective and began viewing them, not as a lengthy list of agonizing tasks, but as useful tools that could bring about pleasurable outcomes.

Suddenly the work wasn’t really work at all, but a chance to obtain a more satisfying result! When I began to shift my perspective from “task to tool” it was amazing how differently I began to view the work product in my life.

Think of all the tasks we engage each day in our professional careers, home life and in the communities we serve. It’s an amazing list of items, and yet how do most view the tasks in their lives? Consider the tremendous amount of time and effort to keep track and manage all of these pressing items. Some use simple scratch paper or post-it notes, others grease pencil scribbles on bathroom windows or for the more sophisticated we have personal electronic devices. Computers provide even more complexity with their sorting and categorizing of what matters most! But for most, the infamous yellow pad will do!

Why are we doing all this?

For what purpose do we engage all of these tasks anyway?

From my observation, most simply drone on each day with the same ole boring daily cadence and that familiar scowl that often says, “Oh, how I wish I were doing something else!” Very few have clear objectives and are often in conflict regarding the purpose and meaning for the tasks that seem to burden their lives. Most do not see the connection of how their open items relate to the big picture.

Professionally, I am a District Manager for a national insurance company. I have observed what seems to be an attitudinal disconnect with many agents between feeling forced to do a task, for example daily prospecting or marketing, with an understanding that these activities, if effectively executed, are the essential tools for producing an on-going stream of client appointments and presentations. Engaging clients is a key to practice growth and development. Without the former you do not have the latter! I have often inquired, "Are the prospecting activities begrudgingly checked off like the task to take out the trash, or are they gladly embraced tools, executed with the vision and belief that through their repetitive use, meaningful business goals can be achieved?"

I see this "task vs. tool" perspective struggle in other facets of our lives. My son Austin is an avid runner. That's him running to the left. He runs nearly 65 to 70 miles a week during cross country season. He wears out a pair of shoes every 45 days. As a high school senior and member of the varsity Cross Country and Track team, Austin runs what are called “two-a-days”. “Two a days” comprise an early 6am workout before school matched with a challenging 3pm practice after school. He is often exhausted when he returns home in the evening. I wonder sometimes how he makes it to Fridays.

Why would anyone put themselves through this exhausting and grueling process?

No one, unless of course a person had linked up the grueling schedule with a greater desire, dream or goal. A shift in attitude or perspective would be the key!

Here's the rest of the story! Austin is focused on shaving five seconds off his 800 meter time to be considered for a college athletic scholarship. He recently broke a 2002 school record for the 800 and ran the race, two times around the track, with a time of 1:59. If he can improve his time by just a few seconds, any Division One College in the country would be happy to have him. His objective is a chance to run track for his childhood dream school, Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. Suddenly, with the end in mind, a BYU scholarship, a “two-a-day” mindset becomes a meaningful tool to an exciting, rewarding future rather than a meaningless, exhausting task!

The same concept can apply to other areas of our lives. Susan and I have worked to make evening family prayer a part of our routine with the kids. I grew up in a home where this practice was observed and it has blessed my life with an increased sense of meaning and accountability to a higher power. We have struggled to be consistent, but have always worked to make this a priority. I was reflecting a few days ago, “Has this been a spiritual task or a tool all these years?” There were days I probably saw it as a task, but as the kids have grown and I have seen them grow spiritually, I have realized the importance of this tool in bringing about a greater good.

So, I ask you some inquisitive questions,

• What do you want?
• What are you trying to accomplish and what ends are you trying to reach?What tools have you selected in your life to bring about these ends?
• Do you see them as meaningful tools or as begrudging tasks?
• Is an attitude adjustment or change in perspective in order?

As we pour through our endless list of tasks, let us choose wisely and select those tools that move us closer to our highest aims. As we lay hold onto an increased level of meaning and purpose in our lives and focus on what matters most, we will claim inner peace. Of this I am certain!

Down with tasks, up with tools!

Keep Watering and Fertilizing!

Have you ever questioned a marketing strategy a few weeks after its launch and wondered if it was going to pay off? Have you ever gotten 60 days into a new prospecting effort and questioned your original intent, re-thinking if you made the right decision? Maybe you have been visiting real estate or escrow offices, apartment complexes or commercial prospects each week and by the 4th week nothing seems to be happening.

You might even be spending time on the phone making outbound cold calls or mailing another 2,000 leads to likely prospects and wonder, “Is this going to work?” We all wonder when trying something new, if our efforts are likely to produce our desired results. It’s easy to question our action plan and even consider changing course, or stopping all together, when results are not immediate. These are the times when your resolve will be tested. It’s not a time to quit, but rather a time to press on!

My advice… Keep watering and fertilizing, the results will come!

I am reminded of a story that is applicable here, when my kids were a lot younger. About 7 years ago, in the spring of 2002 we decided to plant a garden of summer squash. On an early Saturday morning we worked to prepare the soil for planting. We cultivated, removed rocks and debris, worked in some fertilizer, and prepared to plant. We planted several varieties of squash and organized them by type with small stakes identifying their scientific names. We created basins around each plant to hold a good supply of water. Squash need a lot of water! We even placed stakes around the parameter of the garden to designate our special plot of ground.

I will never forget Annie’s excitement throughout the process. She was about seven years old at the time. Watching her reactions and comments during this experience was a real treat. The next morning Annie sprang up early and ran out the front door in her pajamas to our garden plot. Once there, with her hands on her knees, she peered into the small basins of soil expecting to see squash, but there was none. She looked and looked and looked, but nothing was there. With a disappointed look on her face, she slowly walked across the yard and back into the house. Peering out the kitchen window I watched her disappointed return.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “Where’s the squash?” she inquired.

This was one of those moments a parent lives for, a chance to do some real teaching. So, we talked about sowing and reaping and the process required to yield an expected harvest later in the summer. We talked about the price and the prize and discussed her role in enjoying that delicious zucchini squash. She would be involved in the watering and the weeding as well as enjoying the harvest, but it all would take time. I remember her reaction being one of childlike acceptance, but also as if to say,

“This is a lot more complicated than I thought.”

Being halfway through this earthly experience, I can agree that life is a lot more complicated that I thought. It takes a lot more time, effort, and diligence than I ever imagined, especially in the areas of watering and fertilizing. I don’t care whether you are planting summer squash, raising a child or growing and agency; it takes hard work and diligent effort to see a worthwhile plan come together.

As you work at building your individual agencies, it is reasonable to be frustrated and to tire in well doing. Sometimes the watering and fertilizing can go on for days, months, or even years. Being committed to a consistent game plan is the key! Do not be deterred. Stay focused on what you are doing, keep your head down and the results will come! Have faith and it will come together. Overtime, as we water and fertilize we will find that our efforts will take root. Often, we will not know the timing or the moment of the harvest, but it will occur. Of this I am certain.

Enjoy the watering!

Four Important Gauges for 2009!

Feeling a little distracted with a myriad of priorities and pressures in your agency? January is behind us and you might wonder, “I just set some great 2009 goals and now with one month gone I am not sure I am off to a good start. In fact, I am feeling a little bit behind already! I feel like I am trying to do a thousand things. I need clarity in this turbulent environment of change and competing forces. Amidst all that is important, what and how should I focus on my targets?”

Okay, calm down a little bit… Let me see if I can help you sort this out!

Let me share another story from my time in the Philippines some 30 years ago. Towards the end of my two year missionary experience I had become acquainted with several people at Philippine Airlines. I can’t recall exactly how it happened, but through some people I was acquainted with, I got a chance to board a brand new Philippine Airlines 747 at the Manila International Airport. The plane had arrived from the United States a day or so before. It was so new there was still plastic on the seats and protective covering and runners down the aisle ways. It had not yet taken its maiden flight with passengers from the Philippines, and so they were making final preparations for its first flight from Manila. In short, it still had that “new car” smell!

Another missionary and I got a chance to board the plane and to check it out from nose to tail. In a post 9/11 era this would never have been allowed. Oh, how times have changed! The culmination of the tour was an opportunity to sit in the cock pit. What an incredible experience it was to sit in the control seat of such a large plane. It was a beautiful work of engineering. I was overwhelmed with the number of gauges, levers, toggle switches and indicator lights that made up the controls to this large aircraft. As I sat in the captain’s chair it seemed no matter where you looked you were shrouded in navigation equipment and controls. To your left, to your right and all across the ceiling lay dozens of indicators and switches of every kind. My mind wandered to the intense training and knowledge a pilot must have to safely fly and manage such a large aircraft. As I gazed out the front window, I wondered what it would be like to be at its control and to know just what to do to guide it from destination to destination.

Sitting at the main controls, you would view a very organized main dashboard with just a few gauges and dials. No doubt these gauges were the main indicators that guided, and controlled the aircraft. I haven’t ever been trained to fly an airplane, but I would imagine that although all of the other lights, switches and toggles were very important, the main stick and that main "eye level" cluster of gauges were probably the most critical. They were the ones that captured your immediate attention, and most likely the ones that needed to be monitored most frequently to insure a safe flight.

Over the last year and certainly at our last District Meeting you have learned a variety of helpful agency building tools that if implemented can have a positive impact on the growth of your agency. Amidst all of these ideas it is easy to reach a point of overload. All of these options, initiatives, strategies and counsel might seem rather overwhelming, similar to my feelings when sitting in the cockpit of that new 747. Like the dashboard of that huge aircraft, there are also important gauges and indicators to watch as you lead and guide your agency. It’s important that you pay attention to these gauges. Their observation can determine your the success of your course.

I am not referring to the online Farmers Dashboard that we all are quite accustomed. Quite frankly, there is so much information there that a lesson in simplicity is in order after logging off each day! I am referring to a personal set of business building gauges that can guide your agency. Focusing too broadly can result in frustration and falling short of your desired objectives, and yet if you zero in on just a few indicators you will find a greater sense of confidence, a calmer spirit, and measured progress towards your goals. As you monitor and carefully monitor these gauges you will obtain meaningful feedback as you chart an exciting course in 2009. I would recommend narrowing your focus to four specific, simple gauges this year.

What are these four key gauges?


Gauge Number 1: Understand Your Sales & Marketing Pipeline

A key to your success is understanding and driving an effective Sales & Marketing Pipeline. How is it flowing? Is it producing the results you desire? Your sales pipeline will always be predictable. A certain percentage of whatever you load in the top, will most assuredly trickle to the bottom. The key is whether you want a trickle or a rushing current! Spend some time developing your marketing sources and methods. Your sources are Lead Generation, Circle of Influences, Referrals, and Existing Policy Holders. The methods that are applied to these sources are Direct Mail, Face to Face, Event Marketing, or Telemarketing.

It is really quite simple, but you must spend time planning out what specific sources and methods you elect to use and how those strategies are reflected in your daily action plans. I find that most agents do not spend the necessary time in effective planning to ensure success. The old adage, “Plan your work and work your plan” is in order. These key sources and methods are the raw material that drive the resulting contacts, prospects, appointments, presentations and closed sales.

If you are not hitting the revenue goals you expect then work backwards in your Sales Pipeline and pin point where you need to increase or improve the quality of your activity. Remember, the goal is to “See enough people and to say the right things.” When you diagnose a resulting revenue short fall from your pipeline, the cause is either a lack of people (volume) or your what you are saying (verbal expression). If you need some assistance with a volume problem, ask for my Marketing Hook Worksheet which can help you develop an effective layer of sources and methods for your agency! As you drill down, using S.M.A.R.T. Goals, you will see an added measure of detail that, when implemented with a consistent work ethic, will yield impressive results.

If you need help with improving your verbal skills, immerse yourself in the Consultative Selling Approach. There is ample training on this topic at the University of Farmers as well as online or classroom District Reserve Business Builder modules. Sometimes just a change in langage and verbal posturing can mean a huge difference.


Gauge Number 2: New Business 3:2:1

Once your sales pipeline is set, the next gauge to watch is your effort to execute on your sales and marketing plans. Driving towards this goal each day with a measured, consistent and persistent cadence is critical to success. Activity means results, but it must be the right activity! A key mental target that can keep you focused is a concept called 3:2:1. What is 3:2:1 and what does it mean? Consider its simplicity!

- Every day book 3 client appointments for the future
- Every day hold 2 client appointments
- Every day close 1 client appointment

Making 3:2:1 a daily focus will keep you on track and will yield meaningful results! Because the average closed VIP client appointment yields 2-3 property & casualty policies and 1 life policy, consider the idea of closing just one VIP sale a day. Run the resulting gross written premium and commissions on your own calculator. You will be excited with what begins to happen! Consider wrapping your staff around the 3:2:1 concept as well. Set goals and hold them accountable! At the end of each day ask yourself “Did I follow 3:2:1 today?” If not, make the necessary adjustments to your schedule and priorities for the next day. Over time you will begin to hit your goals!


Gauge Number 3: Retention

As you drive new business growth through your efficient Sales & Marketing Pipeline and use 3:2:1, don’t forget to keep your eyes on the retention gauge of your agency. There are many tools to improve agency retention, but here are just a few:

- Sell the Farmers Way! Simply said, “Do VIP’s!” As you sell more lines of business per household your retention rate will go up. It’s a proven fact!
- Don’t just have your e-CMS Campaigns turned on, work the out-going direct mail with meaningful follow-up phone calls. They want to hear from you!
- Don’t just talk about being the agent who cares about his/her clients. Implement an effective Farmers Friendly Review program to show your clients that you care!


Gauge Number 4: The Why?

I have often asserted that we spend entirely too much time discussing the "How" and never enough time talking about the "Why!" Clearly the "How" of building a successful insurance agency and most vocational disciplines is well chronicled. The last three recommended gauges fall into the relm of "How?" Although vital, understanding the "How" is not the most important element to building a successful business.

By themselves, proven business building steps and techniques will not build anything. The "How" cannot and will never implement itself! It needs the energy and passion of a spirited entrepreneur to bring it to a reality. This energy and passion comes from a core motivation, a dream or desire that becomes the high octane fuel that propels the "How."

What is this high octane jet fuel? I call it the "Why!"

You must ask yourself, "Why am I doing this?" Once you have answered this question you must develop an emotional relationship with your "Why?" There are endless strategies and details for how to become a great agent. There is no possible way to implement or emulate even a small percentage of these methods. You simply must get in touch with the core motivations in your life and then learn to push those buttons, keeping the gauge pegged to the right throughout flight! There are many ideas and tactics to keep your "why" a strong source of will, but I will leave that insight for another post...

As you watch and monitor these four important gauges you will see a measured increase in your results. You will feel an increased sense of control and excitement. You will sense that if you simply remain consistent, your desired results will come over time. And finally, you will feel a calmness that if you remain diligent, all will be well!

Have a great flight!