The financial year 2020-21 has ended and a new year begins. India is a wonderful nation. Take the case of celebrating new years. We have new years throughout the year. New years bring celebration, happiness and hope.

New year celebrations on 1 January is very popular, especially in the modern era, across the nation. But, traditionally, in different parts of the country and from different communities, there are many new year celebrations. Gudi Padwa/Yugadhi/ Vishu/ Baisakhi/ Puthanadu/ Bohag Bihu/ Pohela Bhoishak/ Navreh/ Cheti Chand/ Hijri and so on are celebrated as the beginning of the new year. Deepavali and Bestu Varas are also considered as an auspicious new year beginning in another part of the calendar year. The Lossong festival in December heralds the new year for our brothers and sisters in Sikkim. Our Parsi brothers and sisters have Navroz. And there may be many other new year traditions in India that I am not aware of. In our country, we have one or the other new year celebration throughout the year, in some part of the country or the other.

India is great

What a variety!!!!! I wonder if there is another nation in the world that can lay claim to this variety of new year celebrations. We are a nation of hope. Every community brings a charming colour to our Nation.

Our own New Year

While we are accustomed to cultural celebrations mentioned above, for new year, in life insurance selling we have added our own professional touch to creating our own new year. The professional new year. A new year that comes after the hard work of the old year that went by. A new year created by the need to continue our good work year after year. A new year to create a new hope, a new direction, and a new resolve to achieve our dreams.

For those of us in life insurance selling, the New Year is the New Financial Year.

Happy New Year to all sales and marketing persons engaged in the noble work of selling life insurance! May the financial year 2021-22 bring all the professional success, personal joys, and give you a life full of positivity, energy and luck.!!!!!

Every new financial year brings us hope. We look back at the previous year and analyse where we need to improve and prepare our plan for the new year. For the year 2021-22 too, it will be no different.

Think Positively

There is enough negativity in the society around us. There is no need to add to it. The COVID situation does not seem to be getting better. Last year we had a number of restrictions to move around in the market. We may have tried our luck with online selling and found out that it is not very encouraging. Life insurance selling requires that personal touch and face-to-face meetings. With the cases rising, the opportunity to go to the market to sell is again restricted at the beginning of this financial year. But in spite of all the depressing things around us, we should have a positive outlook.

The Pandemic Situation Will Only Improve

The days will only improve from here on. This is the lesson we learn from the worst pandemic to ever hit the world. In 1918, the world was struck by a pandemic. At that time World War 1 was going on. Nations did not want to scare soldiers by declaring a pandemic. The nations that were at war wanted to continue the war at any cost. Millions of persons died. It is said that more people died because of the pandemic than because of the war. But data on this is not available, because all governments kept it a secret. It was also a period when medical science was not developed. As a result, there were no medicines, no vaccines and no scientific treatment.

Today we are much better off

Today the situation is different. Vaccines were developed in a record time of 1 year. Medicines are available. Doctors are better educated on treatment procedures. More persons are following the pandemic rules of social distancing and masks than it was done in 1918. Hope comes from all this. While the 1918 pandemic lasted 2 years before it started subsiding on its own, experts are saying that the current situation will start improving in a a couple of months.

What should you do for the next 2 months?

We should plan for this period 2 months later, when the situation will improve and you can again go out to the field. In the next 2 months make yourself market ready. Prepare now so that you can conquer the market in a couple of months.

(Also read my article Corona Strategy 4 by clicking here)

First, prepare a list of prospects you will make sales calls to. The list should be at least 500 in number. If you have any difficulty preparing the list please contact me.

Second, profile the interests of 50 persons per week. What do the prospects like? Do they like cricket, football or any other sport or movies? Do they have any special interest in civic matters or environment protection? Are they interested in social work? Do they have children for whom they need to plan their education? Do they have a need for tax planning? Are they receiving government aid during the time of COVID? Anything that can potentially interest each and every customer should be written down in a prospect register.

Third, send one communication per week on the subject of interest to your customers. The communication should be personalised, not mass produced. The communication should be on the topics of interest that you have profiled. Communicate with the customer on things that interest him or her, as you have profiled. Keep the communication going for the next 2 months. Every customer should receive one communication once a week. Remember, out-of-sight is out-of-mind. If you do not present yourself in the customer’s mind, in his or her mental vision, or mind-space, or in his or her thinking process, you will face competition from many other agents. Keep in touch is the principle. But keep in meaningful touch. Every communication should add value to the customer.

Do not communicate your products and your organisation. If you attempt to sell, through these communications you it will backfire. The communication is not meant for selling. The objective of the communication is to keep in touch. You can communicate the services you offer. The service cannot simply be selling life insurance. In fact communicate all other services other than product selling. Communicate policy servicing, for example, in full detail.

Fourth, prepare your back office systems. Back office plays a very important role in getting new business. You need to maintain customer records. Please watch the following video ( click here for the video ) of a COT agent, Mrs. Sharmila Godke, on how customer record keeping helped her grow her business. This is the time when you can spend time on creating your back office systems and records.

In case you find that the link to Mrs. Godke’s video is not working, the URL is: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWMxCROFzvg&t=318s . You can copy and paste the URL in your browser search.

Fifth, start attending training, read books, watch videos and write down what you learnt and what you will implement. A sales person who does not train himself or herself, will rarely succeed. Training is essential to survive and to grow. You can train yourself on how to present customer benefits, on how to conduct needs analysis, on how to handle objections. Even if you think you are good at all this, going back to basics will give you a major boost to your professional life. You can also train yourself on how to sell life insurance in a world where customers are talking of returns. You can also learn what are the concerns of those whose income is greater than Rs. 7.5 lakhs, greater than Rs. 10 lakhs, greater than Rs. 20 lakhs, greater than Rs. 50 lakhs, etc. And learn how to approach each of these segments. Training is an endless activity and you should attend training continuously.

Sixth, prepare an action plan to meet them once the situation improves. You are now communicating with your customers regularly. You are in their mind space. When they think of investing your name will come to their minds. When the current COVID situation improves, make the best use of this investment you have made. Do not waste time thinking. Go to the market daily. Get your appointments and make a note in your diary and meet people. Ensure you meet at least 5 persons daily.

Happy New Financial Year 2021-22 to you!