How To Train ‘Greenies’ To Be Insurance Sales Stars

CHICAGO - Anyone can sell insurance, Patrick Bet-David says. He is out to prove it by creating a 500,000-strong sales force within 10 years.

Most of them will have little experience selling insurance, he insisted during a summer interview with InsuranceNewsNet Publisher Paul Feldman.

Bet-David is sharing his approach to selling today at the InsuranceNewsNet 2018 Superconference outside Chicago.

That approach includes plenty of modern office dynamics, as seen at Bet-David's Dallas home office complex.

Beyond the reception area, playroom for clients’ children and meeting rooms, you step into a warehouse-sized area containing the usual cluster of cubicles. But then there’s the game area next to the gym and the full-sized classroom on the second-floor balcony — all within the same huge room.

Within that room is a bustling, diverse, young hive that any marketing organization or brokerage would die for. In the corner is a glass-walled room that serves as Bet-David’s office and video studio.

And this is just the home office. Across the country are more than 5,000 agents not only selling but also relentlessly recruiting, ensuring exponential growth.

His hiring plan is based on maximum training and attention, Bet-David said.

"At first, you have to hold their hand, walk them through each step, give them proper direction and make sure you’re as hands-on as possible," he explained. "I saw that a lot of my competitors didn’t want to do that because they didn’t have tolerance with people and they expected everybody to get it as they got it."

Ease Into It

Bet-David's program avoids throwing new salespeople into the pool to sink or swim with a sales mandate. Instead, he wants his team members to get comfortable first, sans the pressure to perform.

After all, how can you sell like a rock star when you're still learning how to sell?

"Taking them part-time allowed me to retain more people. Maybe they made $800 in their first month. It’s cool, but it wouldn’t replace their $4,000 income," Bet-David said. "The next month, they might make $1,200. Next month, $2,200. Then it’s $6,000. “Oh my gosh, I just made $6,000. I’ve never made this kind of money in a month before.”

Simply put, Bet-David would rather work with a clean slate than deal with salespeople full of war stories from other jobs. He calls non-sales candidates "greenies."

"I would much rather bring in greenies because I can direct them with the culture that we have and that gets them to move at the speed that we’re growing versus having any hiccups," he said. "So I’m a fan of speed and efficiency. With greenies, we tend to work a lot faster than with people who are not greenies."

InsuranceNewsNet Senior Editor John Hilton has covered business and other beats in more than 20 years of daily journalism. John may be reached at john.hilton@innfeedback.com. Follow him on Twitter @INNJohnH.

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