The insurance industry is no different than any other industry when it comes to the fact that the hardest sale to make is the first sale. You can greatly increase your sales and reduce your efforts if you'll just focus on trying to gain sales from the right sources. And that means you have to treat your business like a business, and take control of how and where you invest your time. Yet, most agents erode away their valuable time responding to and chasing after the wrong sources. Consequently, you have little time to actually invest in the right sources and your earnings reflect this fact. But you think that because you're busy you're doing the right things with the right sources.

Increase your focus on the money by focusing on your existing customer base and their future potential. All existing customers as not equal in their potential. Recognize that there are three ways this potential varies.

Within your customer base there is a potential for: development of a highly profitable target market for you, repeat and expanded business, and referral to high potential prospects. Failing to identify and recognize highly profitable potential target markets among their existing customers is a costly mistake. Development within a specific target market is one of the easiest ways to develop a highly profitable solid business for you. You have to look beyond product purchases to customer demographics to discover the potential you have for target markets among your customers. Pinpoint the commonalities among your customers with the highest potential so you can find more people just like them.

Each year you conduct an annual review with your customers to identify opportunities for business expansion. All of your existing customers won't do additional business with you this year. Do a good job taking notes and asking good questions, and it will be easier for you to develop a list of the customers who are most likely to do additional business this year. Invest more time with these customers than with customers who aren't likely to have additional needs. Most agents don't take the time to make this evaluation so they invest equal time in customer who aren't likely to expand the business they do with you this year.

Never ignore or neglect customers who don't have an immediate potential for additional business. Doing so would result in low retention rates and dissatisfaction. Stay connected with every customer to maintain that relationship you've started, but develop ways to make this process automatic. A referral system shores up your insurance sales success by ensuring you properly take care of your customer relationships.

You know you're supposed to ask for referrals, but you hate doing it because you feel like you're either pressuring your customers to cough up a referral or you're begging for them. That's because your current approach isn't a very good one. And because you don't know what to really ask for. When you gain clarity about the target market you want to focus on and who within that target market has the greatest potential for you it will be easier for your customers to help you to make connections and they won't feel pressured to do so or like you're begging because you approach it differently.

About the Author, Cheryl A. Clausen:

About the author: Cheryl A. Clausen can help you get where you want to be. Find out how your Sales Skills match up. What if you just had more time? Enhance your Time Management Skills, check this out. Web directory.