The results of insurance career sales training are a never-ending nightmare. The results of my professional insurance training were no exception. An untrained insurance manager expects magical sales results from career insurance agent trainees. This relentless training pattern I observed over and over again. I dressed like a professional and worked like a slave without freedom.

In fact, I had a dream vision of a completely different training scenario that never materialized. Passing a state licensing exam should have given me credibility, instead of information overload that I would never use. Alternatively, my agency instructor would place the entire burden of the results and fate of my professional sales training on my ability to follow the company’s training procedures. Since my first company didn’t even have a trainer, any sales instruction was learned from the office manager, the general agent.

My initial education in insurance skills consisted of going out on a date as an observer with a thinking agent from the old days. This was supposed to have prepared me for everything that was thrown at me. The next time I was alone and sweating through my clothes. After a few months, I realized that no matter how much I learned, I was going to burn out. A dozen agents hired after me were long gone, and I was on my way to the grave of the missing body. It was my sales determination to go ahead and sign with a reputable company that rescued me. I felt more comfortable financially, but I quickly learned that in a big company, a small company, I was just a pawn.

I never allowed myself to be waterboarded or sold my soul to the company. Making enough sales for a new agent was a sink-or-swim situation without a lifeguard manager to rescue. Every week, agent trainees I barely had a chance to get acquainted with left, while new employees continued to appear. The office entrance was like a revolving door of new agents coming in with thoughts of profitable careers on the entrance side. At the exit there was a succession of representatives who left with a greater debt than when they started.

I almost had to be thrown alive into a pit of bodies of hopeless officers and wander among the dying only to be startled awake. No insurance company cared for me personally. The office management was concerned about how my cousin might write. The insurance hierarchy had their primary interest in how much profit they could make. Deadly agent turnover is irrelevant, as agents don’t have to worry about getting fired. Putting groceries on the table and paying bills soon overwhelmed them to the point where the agent looks for greener opportunities to save lives.

That’s how I crawled from the grave. My results sparked a very financially rewarding insurance career. Here are insurance career sales training tips to keep your results above ground.

1. You must read many books or e-books on positive thinking, self-confidence and motivation on a consistent basis. The odds are against you, so constantly determine that you must keep them in your favor.

2. Spend as much money as you can to get quality leads. This money is an investment in you. Poor leads mean a 20% to 30% close ratio. Quality leads result in close rates greater than 60%, automatically doubling your revenue.

3. Spend your time on presentations and business social media development. Internet group, LinkedIn can help you start making good connections for future business. Cold calling only provides frostbite.

4. Become a specialist in selling to certain customer groups, such as seniors, freelancers, construction workers, medical providers, etc. Pick a few core products and leave the other 50 product brochures in your trunk gathering dust.

5. Release the handcuffs as quickly as possible from being manipulated by an insurance company. Professionals need more than a single sales tool. Being independent and earning, say, 30% more sales dollar commissions will increase your career income by at least 30%.

6. Increase your training in sales skills and strategies by reading a variety of insurance and other sales articles. You’ll often find helpful hints, tips, tricks, and ideas to provide new sales training results you can apply.

7. Think outside the box. You won’t learn much by following what the stars of insurance sales do. You must develop your own patterns and constantly adapt your prospect base or pipeline to maximize your performance.

I crawled from the graves of failed insurance agents who perished on false hope. They thought that the company was going to be their salvation. It took me a few years to reach millionaire status, and the journey was initially very rough. If you want a parallel path to success, follow the seven steps above. You will find that the results of sales training in an insurance career are well worth the price to obtain.