Ask a lot of questions and then listen, listen,listen.

As my previous career was that of a commodities floor traderwhere yelling over someone was a means to success, listening wasnot a practice I abided by when I entered the employee benefitsbusiness. Whether it was remnant of my previous career or having toshow whoever was in the room that I knew everything (which Ididn't), my lack of listening in the early days of my professionaldevelopment was a trait that I needed to overcome.

As I set out to change this, I fought the urge to speak out andinstead listened when a prospect, client or a fellow professionalspoke. At this point in my career I see many others making the samemistake of not listening and missing opportunity.

Learn everything you can that affects yourbusiness.

Be a sponge for information. Learn from everyone: mentors,co-workers, fellow professionals and, most importantly, clients.The people within this field will teach you (whether they realizeit or not) about everything that is relevant to our field. Clientswill keep you grounded and will be a constant reminder that thereis a whole business world out there that doesn't revolve aroundbenefits. The challenge is making sure you become the student.

you earn your living in the last 15 hours of work each week.

While averaging a 70-75 hour work week is not my idea of fun, Ihave found that my business success often starts with hour 60 ofthe work week. Whether it's out working, out learning, outservicing, or out hustling others, making sure that I have enoughtime to take care of the bull that comes with a long career andstill dedicate time to growing the business is of paramountimportance.

The easiest sale is the one you've alreadymade.

There is a saying in sales that the easiest sale that you canmake is to an existing client. While this concept has merit, Ibelieve that the easiest sale is the one you have already made.Nowhere is this truer than in a sale of voluntary benefits.Although it's great when the CFO or HR director awards you thebusiness, it's meaningless if the enrollment and implementation arenot executed correctly. Each mistake that is made in enrollment andimplementation can be a loss of a sale that was already made.Considering the expense of generating business via a new employersale is very costly, it pays to make sure you actually “sell thebusiness that you have already sold.”

Remember, employers don't have to offeranything.

This has always been the case with voluntary benefits andessentially is now the reality of health insurance in manycircumstances. As I have been dealing with this for years, I'vefound that a consultative approach as opposed to a sales approachworks best. As I wrote above, it goes back to asking questions andlistening. I find that if I do this enough the prospects will helpmake the sale.