20 May How To Manage A Remote Sales Schedule For Insurance Agents
For many insurance agents, working from home was a new experience that started as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In fact, over the past year there was a dramatic shift to the working from home model as companies from all verticals made the transition. As conditions surrounding the pandemic shift, many insurance agencies may still opt to work remotely. However, in many cases, working remotely also means juggling other tasks and family responsibilities. Your environment can contribute to your success. Therefore it is important to design and maintain a virtual office setting that supports your goals and encourages positive behaviors.
Productivity often starts with a plan and process, and both should be a part of a regular schedule. While working from home, structuring your day and managing an effective remote sales schedule can help you scale your success. Here are a few easy tips to help you create a consistent sales schedule that can help you be more productive while working remotely.
A Winning Mindset Starts With A Winning Morning
While it might be tempting to convert that commute time into some extra moments in bed, avoid jumping from sleep to work. Instead, try to create a morning routine that sets you up mentally for success. If you were working in a traditional office setting, you would probably have a number of activities to complete between waking up and arriving at your desk. Implement that concept while you work from home. When considering activities for your morning routine, you might want to make time to eat breakfast, listen to a podcast, enjoy some light reading, read email, review your calendar of appointments and generally get your brain ready for the work day.
Check out this article for more tips for overcoming challenges while working remotely
Maintain An Organized & Tidy Dedicated Work Space
In many instances, a messy workplace can lead to disorganization in your work, while maintaining a tidy and clean work space can positively impact productivity. In addition to maintaining an organized workspace, when working from home it is important to have a dedicated work area. While it might seem convenient to work from a dining room table or grab your laptop and complete tasks from the couch, neither of these settings are optimal to support your productivity long-term. Find a location that you can separate as your work area in your home. Try to find a spot with good lighting and away from major distractions like TV or other noise.
Check out this article for more tips on staying motivated while working from home.
Budget Your Time
For many, working from home can be challenging because you don’t have external cues helping you manage your time. As an insurance agent working remotely, you need to be the master of your clock and calendar. Start by establishing your working hours. Be sure to communicate your working hours with your team and clients. Next, review your calendar. Block off productivity time in chunks throughout the day and week. This can help you manage time for tasks that require more attention, like creating and evaluating your email marketing, lead generation efforts, social media management, CRM data analysis and general customer follow-up. Make notes in your blocks of productivity time for the tasks you plan to achieve during those hours. Next try to schedule regular breaks. Aim to take at least two 20-minute breaks per day, and get up and be active during one of those breaks. Small breaks can help professionals manage stress, decrease fatigue, restore energy and generally support improved performance.
Check out this article for more productivity tips for insurance agents.
Leave Some Space For Client Interaction & Engagement
While you are creating a calendar that coordinates with your task list, remember that engaging with prospects and clients is key to your customer acquisition and retention rates. Do not over-book your calendar. Remember to leave open time that you can use for both scheduled and unscheduled calls, video chats and other customer interactions. It’s easy to get caught up in back to back calls, then realize at 6:00pm that you did not complete your tasks for the day. Conversely, it is easy to over-plan your day and realize you did not make time to connect with your most valuable resources, your clients and prospects. Make sure your clients and prospects have a simple way of setting up meetings with you based on their preferences. Consider using scheduling tools like Calendly, Doodle, Simply Book or HubSpot Meeting Tool to help you streamline the way your clients set appointments with you. Many of these tools may easily sync with your current business calendar.
Use Digital Communication Tools & Sharing Platforms
Working from home can be convenient and comfortable, but it can also lead to time when you are disconnected from others. Communication and connectivity are essential to scaling success while working from home. Communication means connecting with your team in addition to your current customers and new leads, and covers all channels from email and social media to phone calls and text messages. While working from home, make sure you and your team maintain strong lines of communication. Digital communication tools and file sharing platforms can be incredibly helpful while working remotely. Platforms like Slack for communication, Zoom for video chat and Google Drive for document sharing have become popular to help remote teams stay connected.
While you are working from home, you might also be seeking ways to increase your customer acquisition efforts without relying solely on in-person or interactive events. Whether you are back to work in a traditional office setting or still telecommuting, ZipQuote can provide you with high quality leads, reliable volume and agent-focused service to help you with your unique marketing needs.
Contact our team today to get started!
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