A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats

At this point you may be saying, “Bob keeps running his skimmer about this ‘Sell More Bonds’ thing.” I am going to level with you: since my first cold call experience when I came over to the Dark Side (i.e., the agency side), I have loved the sales process. My mentor, Jack Warnock (also known as JT133), was the best. The first time he took me out cold calling, there was a No Soliciting sign on the door at our second stop. I was ready to turn around and leave. JT was ahead of the curve, though, because we had Robert Driver Agency bid sheets and mechanical pencils. Jack told me, “we aren’t soliciting; we are giving them something” and in we went. We spoke with the receptionist first, got 15 minutes with the owner, and eventually wrote the account. The mental barrier was broken, and my self-confidence went through the roof. Any time we have something to give, our job becomes a little easier. The NASBP #BeGuaranteedToSucceed campaign gives you more arrows for your quiver–some pieces to leave behind and some videos to attach to an email or to put on your corporate social media pages. Remember that if you login to the webpage, you can access the NASBP Producers Communications Toolkit.

In a perfect world, all of our members would be involved educating, advocating, and marketing for surety bonds. But in the real world, as I had a member tell me, “you guys (at NASBP) are going to do all this stuff with or without me.” At first I was ticked at him because he was right. Then the words of a NASBP icon came to me (I won’t tell you the icon’s name, but it begins with M and ends with Cashion). When he was asked during a NASBP Surety School class why we teach our competitors, his reply was “because it’s better for all of us if our competitors are doing surety the right way.” “It makes us all better.”

With that in mind, I hope that all of our NASBP members take advantage of the marketing and sales tools that are in place and being developed. To take it one step further, we are committed to keep this program fresh by providing new ideas and tools to help your business move forward. In that vein, we would appreciate receiving any ideas and feedback that you would care to give.

“All for one, and one for all.” — Alexandre Dumas

“A rising tide lifts all boats.” — John F. Kennedy

I wish you, your families, friends, and employees a great holiday season and a fantastic New Year!.

#beguaranteedtosucceed

The Sales Nugget Provided by Donald Appleby of Holmes Murphy in Greenwood Village, CO

It took me a long time to come to the realization, then acceptance, that I’m a salesperson at the end of each day . . . and the start of each day too. I had help along the way.

Robert E. Shaw is President of Skillings Shaw & Associates, Inc. in Lewiston, ME . He can be reached at RShaw@ssasurety.com and 207.753.7300.