A New Year is indeed upon us and the book that Pierce calls Opportunity is just begging to be opened.

The Opportunity to reach higher goals, build your book of business, grow your agency, and ultimately, make more money!

As we enter the New Year, we have added some new features to our newsletter in the hopes that you are able to utilize its contents to close more deals and make your agency more successful than ever.

Authors are contributing great articles on topics from sales to management, to business advice and self-fulfillment, including Brian Tracy, one of America's leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness, and Dan Miller, the President of The Business Source, located near our new offices in Franklin , TN , who specializes in creative thinking for personal and business development.
We believe that these experts will provide an additional boost to the genuine content of our newsletter and its efforts to help you grow your agency each and every day.

“Whether you think that you can, or that you can't, you are usually right.” – Henry Ford

You have to think that this year is going to be your best year ever, and we believe that it will for you. Your sales force and other staff have to have this same positive outlook for your agency, as well as those people closest to you; your family and friends. These can be your most powerful support staff of all and their belief in you and your goals is a very powerful force. Surrounding yourself with the right people in and out of the office is the surest way to success.

And remember, we are always here to help with whatever you may need! Whether it’s your first full year in business and you need help getting started, or if you are a seasoned pro looking for some fresh ideas, please do not hesitate to call us if we can help.

All the best,

Elaine Fearn
Vice-President
Customer Relations

While not quite moving on up to the east side just yet, we will be moving our main offices next week across town in Franklin, Tennessee.  Our regular hours will be cut back slightly next Wednesday, January 25 and will be from 8:00 am - 5:00 pm Central Time as we move that evening.

Mostly the move allows us to expand our staff to better serve you, but also allows us to be closer to our favorite Chinese Restaurant, which may or may not lead to increased productivity.

An insurance agent was reviewing a potential employee's application and noticed that the man had never worked in insurance before.

He said to the young energetic guy, 'For a man with no experience, you are certainly asking for a high salary.'

'Well Sir,' the applicant replied, 'the work is significantly harder when you don't know what you're doing!'

Q:  I just signed up and was wondering what the automatic follow-ups were?  Who do they come from?  When are they sent?  How can I manage those?

A:  You control everything about the automatic follow-ups.  When to turn them on and off, what name and email they come from, when they are sent, even the content of the email.  To the customer, the email comes from you, at a time of your choosing, with the text and personalization (using their name in the email) that you wish to use.  We have some suggestions, but you will most certainly want to write them in your own manner and style.  For more information about Automatic Follow-Ups, visit the FAQ page.  Then login into your account to set everything up!

Q:  Speaking of automatic follow-ups, how can they help me?

A:  Feedback from over 100 agents currently using the follow-ups shows that it has improved close ratio.  That is the bottom line.  When you call a lead that has received the follow-up right away, they already know your name and have some level of expectation to receive YOUR call.  Similar to name recognition in politics, it sure helps for the customer to already have seen your name and readied themselves to talk with you before you even call them.  Imagine having a politician ask for your vote over the phone when you have never heard of him or her compared to one who had mailed you before.  You already know of that person and are more open to their pitch.   The same thing applies to the follow-ups and their effectiveness.

Q:  I got a lead from HometownQuotes twice, what do I do?

A:  Please let us know.  Just forward the email to us at service@hometownquotes.com with a quick note telling us that it is a duplicate.  We will instantly delete the lead and credit your account.  This should not happen too often, but occasionally the customer will submit their information twice in a short period of time.  We don't want to charge you for the same lead twice!

Q:  What new lines will you be adding soon?

A:  We have no exact timetable for introducing new lines this year, however, we have requests from many of our agents to do so for many different lines.  If you are interested in having us add a new line, please let us know.  The more requests we get, the more likely for a particular line, the more likely we are to add it.  Current plans call for the likelihood of 1-3 new lines this year.

Q:  Our company just changed its underwriting guidelines in my state.  There is a particular filter that I need that you don't offer.  What can I do?

A:  Ask us to add it!  While we certainly cannot promise that we can add a certain filter due to the technological side of things, we will do everything we can to accomodate your needs.  Of the 50+ filters we offer now, over half of them are used by less than 5 agents nationwide.  Almost half of our filters were the result of an agent asking for such a filter.

Q:  Who is my account manager?

A:  You can find this information and more easily by logging into your account and clicking on 'My Account.'  Your account manager is listed there along with his or her direct phone number and email address.

The Power of Pausing

All the top salespeople ask good questions and listen carefully to the answers. One of the most important skills of listening is simply to pause before replying. When the prospect finishes talking, rather than jumping in with the first thing that you can think of, take three to five seconds to pause quietly and wait.

Becoming a Master of The Pause
All excellent listeners are masters of the pause. They are comfortable with silences. When the other person finishes speaking, they take a breath, relax and smile before saying anything. They know that the pause is a key part of good communications.

Three Benefits of Pausing
Pausing before you speak has three specific benefits. The first is that you avoid the risk of interrupting the prospect if he or she has just stopped to gather his or her thoughts. Remember, your primary job in the sales conversation is to build and maintain a high level of trust, and listening builds trust. When you pause for a few seconds, you often find the prospect will continue speaking. He will give you more information and further opportunity to listen, enabling you to gather more of the information you need to make the sale.

Carefully Consider What You Just Heard
The second benefit of pausing is that your silence tells the prospect that you are giving careful consideration to what he or she has just said. By carefully considering the other person's words, you are paying him or her a compliment. You are implicitly saying that you consider what he or she has said to be important and worthy of quiet reflection. You make the prospect feel more valuable with your silence. You raise his self-esteem and make him feel better about himself.

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Understanding With Greater Efficiency
The third benefit of pausing before replying is that you will actually hear and understand the prospect better if you give his or her words a few seconds to soak into your mind. The more time you take to reflect upon what has just been said, the more conscious you will be of the their real meaning. You will be more alert to how his words can connect with other things you know about the prospect in relation to your product or service.

The Message You Send
When you pause, not only do you become a more thoughtful person, but you convey this to the customer. By extension, you become a more valuable person to do business with. And you achieve this by simply pausing for a few seconds before you reply after your prospect or customer has spoken.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action.

First, take time to carefully consider what the customer just said and what he might mean by it. Pausing allows you to read between the lines.

Second, show the customer that you really value what he has said by reflecting for a few moments before you reply.

About Brian Tracy:  Brian Tracy is one of America's leading authorities on the development of human potential and personal effectiveness. He is a dynamic and entertaining speaker with a wonderful ability to inform and inspire audiences toward peak performance and higher levels of achievement. Brian Tracy has produced more than 300 audio and video learning programs covering the entire spectrum of human and corporate performance. These programs, researched and developed for more than 25 years, are some of the most effective learning tools in the world.  More information available at his website.