As benefits producers we sell and service health and financialsecurity. When a child is sick or a spouse is in pain, we providethe means of treating the illness and easing that pain whileprotecting the family’s fiscal well-being. When the differencebetween business success and failure is a healthy, productiveworkforce, we provide important tools needed to build one.

Given the importance of buying decisions in this context, it’sunderstandable that most shoppers want help from an expert beforemaking a purchase — someone who understands the stakes, risks andopportunities. They want someone who can help guide them to thesolutions that best fit their unique needs. This desire for helpfrom a capable counselor and advocate is especially true forbusiness owners making benefit decisions not just for their ownfamilies, but for those of their employees as well.

Not surprising, then, are the results about key drivers forsales success identified by the “Trailblazed Sales Project Study.”It found that sales professionalism — by being worthy of the trustclients place in their brokers — goes hand in hand with salessuccess. (The study surveyed producers in order to isolate thosebehaviors and characteristics shared by high-growth producers, butnot as common amongst their less successful colleagues.