How to use a crutch - and why I value listening in the sales process

To rely on something unreliable is worse than to rely on nothing at all. Because, if you have a broken leg that's in a cast and you're walking around with a crutch, if that crutch breaks, there goes your leg. It'll have to be set again, to say nothing of the pain of breaking an already broken leg!

So, if you rely on something, test it with a partial load first, to make sure it can withstand the full load. Then, each time you're using it, consider it a retest of the reliability of that crutch - or whatever it is you're relying on.

On the matter of crutches, they can be an aid or a hindrance to healing. It just depends on how you're using it, which is an emanation of WHY you're using it. Are you using it as s prop to do what you couldn't otherwise do? Or are you using as a replacement to do what you previously could do?

Your WHY makes all the difference. This is true of the saying "religion is a crutch."

So, what is my WHY for insurance sales? It is a prop for my favourite thing: listening and connecting with people, and helping them get to their goals in life.

I truly listen. You might have the world's top artist paint a mural for you, but what's the use if he just repaints a mural that he's famous for?

What if he's famous for painting horses but you want a mural of giant pandas?

What if you need a surgery on your foot but you're talking to the world's foremost neurosurgeon? Sure, there are transferable skills between brain surgery and foot surgery, but only to a limited extent. If the brain surgeon applied his expertise to diagnose your foot problem, he could be of help- or at least know how to refer you accordingly.

That's why I value listening.

To me, sales is not so much about telling you what you need, but it's about asking you what you feel you need, to discover what you really need, and showing you the solutions I have available, to help you ideally to answer your needs.

And that, to me, is a beautiful and powerful thing.