A Trio Of Advisors Share Tips For Success With NAIFA Members

Two veteran advisors and a young advisor who joined the ranks of management at a young age gave their secrets of success Thursday at the NAIFA Performance + Purpose convention.

Mark Acre, owner of One Source Financial, was the youngest regional manager in Torchmark's history at the age of 26. His success came after he analyzed how many calls he needed to make to hit his sales targets.

"You need to write those numbers down and know your metrics," he said. "What do you need to do to win your day, your week, your month? What are you doing daily to achieve your end?"

John Wheeler, executive vice president of MassMutual Chicago, described the three stages of an insurance career: starry eyed enthusiasm, complicated sophistication, and matured simplicity.

Wheeler spoke of growing up in a town of 54 people. He said he noticed a man in town who wore nice clothes and drove a nicer car than everyone else. When Wheeler asked what the man did for a living, he was told the man sold insurance, and that inspired him to go into the business at the age of 18.

"The great thing about our industry is the more people we help, the better we do," he said. "There is no more noble calling, except for maybe medicine or the ministry."

Steve Cassaday, CEO of Cassaday and Company wealth management firm, said he made "every stupid mistake in the book in managing a practice," but is good at hiring talented people for his staff.

Cassaday's practice took off when he tracked his daily activity in 15 minute increments, and eliminated any activities that didn't generate at least $500 an hour in income.

The rest of his activities were subject to what he called DEA: delegate, eliminate, automate.

Susan Rupe is managing editor for InsuranceNewsNet. She formerly served as communications director for an insurance agents' association and was an award-winning newspaper reporter and editor. Contact her at Susan.Rupe@innfeedback.com. Follow her on Twitter @INNsusan.

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