Do Insurance Agents Ever Get To Enjoy Christmas?

When Kathy and I had our agency, I used to get super frustrated in December. Besides the usual pressure of the Christmas holidays, it felt that the pressure within our agency increased ten-fold this time of year.

Why? Well for one, the company we worked for cut off sales goals on December 31. And while we usually were ahead in P&C production, there were a few years when we were scrambling for a few more life insurance sales. (Just being honest!)

Missing those numbers didn’t put our contract in peril, but it meant a loss of THOUSANDS of dollars in bonuses. A devastating loss. And for that reason, it simply had to be hit in time.

Commissions were usually a little lower in December, sales a little slower, the phones didn’t ring as often. Everything around us tempted us to slow down too.

When you’re distracted by holidays, focused on goals, and yet wanting to relax, it creates an imbalance. And imbalance usually means stress. At least it does for me.

I can remember feeling a little angry one year. Couldn’t I just enjoy Christmas like a normal person for one year?

And that’s when I made myself a promise. That would be the last year I let myself and the agency feel behind for the holidays.

We made a plan for our next year’s goals and changed one MAJOR item. We didn’t factor in December AT ALL.

All the P&C annual goals were divided by 11 months. Our financial sales goals (including life and annuities) were divided by 9 months. I wanted to be AHEAD at the end and not scrambling. And I sure didn’t want to put our bonus dollars at the mercy of stressed out clients and the holidays.

This is what is known in the tech world as a “hack.” You trick yourself. You make something fool proof. You don’t do it the conventional way, but the SUCCESSFUL way.

For me, as a grandfather wanting to spend time with the kids, visit Santa, and volunteer at their school, it was important to be able to step back. We made December a time to plan and focus on the upcoming year (as well as cleaning up and out our current business).

And it worked! The following year our life sales goals were done in October. (We missed it by one month on our 9 month goal, BUT we still had 2 carefree months left!) And all of our P&C goals were hit early too.

This is not an excuse to slack in December, but rather a way to give you extreme work-life balance. Being an insurance agent can suck the life out of you. Find ways to make your business work for YOU and no one else. Make a plan to ease the stress and enjoy your holidays.

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