Setting goals is a great way to keep your business on track with a clear path ahead. Fresh goals at the beginning of each year can help you flourish all year long.
While big and small goals are useful for different purposes, setting SMART goals may be the extra step you need to take to help your business thrive.
What Are SMART Goals?
To be considered a SMART goal, it must fit the following criteria: specific, measurable, achievable, relative, and timely. We’ll show you how this pertains to you as an insurance agent and how setting them could take your business from mediocre to booming.
Specific
A goal that is too large or too broad may be difficult to achieve. While we want to encourage you to dream big, setting specific goals to propel you forward may be more effective.
When trying to specify your goal, see if you can answer these five questions:
- What do I want to accomplish?
- Why is this goal important?
- Who is involved?
- Where is it located?
- Which resources or limits are involved?
While we want to encourage you to dream big, setting specific goals to propel you forward may be more effective.
Let’s say your goal is to build client loyalty. Define what you need to do to accomplish that, what additional resources you may need, and why you want to do so.
For example, you could make a goal to wish each of your clients a happy birthday when the time comes, which will make them feel connected, appreciated, and more likely to choose you as their agent again in the future.
You could accomplish this goal by setting up a birthday marketing campaign through IntegrityCONNECT!
By having specific answers to the above questions, your goal will be more clearly defined and attainable. That way, you won’t feel like your goal lacks direction or purpose.
Building Loyalty through Retention
Learn the ins and outs of how to retain clients for life with Lisa Lynch, Marketing Director at Ritter, & Luke Acree, President of ReminderMedia. Discover the tools Ritter can provide that can help you build your client base.
Measurable
Being able to measure your goal comes with similar benefits as mentioned above, such as providing you with an objective. One of the great reasons measuring your goal comes in handy is because you will be able to clearly track your progress.
When making sure your goal is measurable, think in terms of “how many” or “how much” and the indicator you’d like to use to quantify your progress.
When making sure your goal is measurable, think in terms of “how many” or “how much” and the indicator you’d like to use to quantify your progress.
If you want to increase your production, you could say, “This month, I’d like to submit 20 applications.” A good way of breaking that down could be five applications per week. You could go a step even further and say you want to submit one application per business day.
Breaking a goal down into measurable, trackable sections helps you hold yourself accountable and know where you want to be each day/week/month to achieve your goal.
Achievable
One way to think of making a goal achievable is to consider if it’s realistic. Contemplate if you have the necessary resources to achieve your goal in mind. Has it been done before? Or is it completely out of reach?
It would be unrealistic to want to submit 2,000 applications in a month. While you can make this goal measurable, it would break down to about 66 applications per day. That is simply an unrealistic sales expectation for an individual insurance agent.
Determine a realistic and achievable goal for your insurance business. This number may vary based on the number of clients or amount of time you’re willing to dedicate to sales.
We want you to be the best agent you can possibly be, but it’s important to take care of yourself and know what you are physically capable of doing.
Relevant
Making sure your goal is relevant means it has to have meaning to you. A relevant goal is one that is worthwhile to you and will help you feel fulfilled once it’s achieved. It can also be related to your personal or professional growth.
A great example of a relevant goal would be passing your AHIP certification.
You need your AHIP certification to sell most Medicare Advantage or prescription drug plans to your clients during the Annual Enrollment Period (AEP). Without it, you’d be selling yourself short because it would limit the plans you are allowed to sell. Obtaining your certification would make you a more versatile and educated agent — something clients love to see!
Are there additional certifications you wish to complete? Or perhaps certain products you’d like to learn more about to be able to meet the needs of your clients? Think about how extending your knowledge base could expand your potential and make goals that outline progress towards these areas.
Timely
When considering if a goal is timely, think to yourself, “Does it make sense for me to do this now?” If yes, proceed! If not, maybe rethink and rework the goal you had in mind.
In the same way that you quantify your goal in numbers, you can also have a start and end date to keep you on track.
Most carriers have a deadline for which you must complete the AHIP certification, so the deadline has been decided for you. Be sure not to miss MA and PDP carrier certification start dates!
If the goal’s time constraints aren’t quite as strict, create them for yourself to keep you motivated.
What if you want to set up a fully equipped home office? You could say, “By next week, I want to have a printer set up and working.” The week after that, you could have a desk put together and so on.
Breaking down your goal into smaller time-bound sections will make it seem less daunting and more achievable.
Breaking down your goal into smaller time-bound sections will make it seem less daunting and more achievable.
It’s OK if not every single goal you set for yourself checks every box. Setting goals can be intimidating, especially if you put a lot of pressure on yourself to accomplish them. By following these guidelines and asking yourself the right questions, you can reach the goals you want to achieve.
It never hurts to have a great FMO like Ritter Insurance Marketing in your corner to help you set and meet your goals! Registering with our site is completely free. We are here to help you fulfill your goals with our technology and partners and provide you with guidance every step of the way!
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Medicare or any government agency.
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