Filed under: BenefitsPro, Broker Innovation Lab, Combs & Company, Combs & Company Blog, Happy Holidays, Health Insurance, Innovation Broker Lab, Innovative Broker Lab, Insurance Education, Insurance Women, Marketing, Motivational, Susan L Combs | Tags: BenefitsPro, Chelea Rykis, Cingeworthy Sales Tactics, Colleen Blum, Erika Ensign, Nancy Giacolone, Pancakes for Roger, Paychex, Sales Tactics, Susan L Combs, The Syrup
Original Article on BenefitsPro
It’s 4th Quarter, which means it’s also open enrollment. We are all tired, overworked and keep saying over and over to ourselves, “Just get through it.” But then…as my friend, Allison Cohen De Paoli put it so perfectly, you get “assaulted” by yet another vendor trying to sell you during the absolute busiest time of year, and you just can’t take it anymore.
After sharing some texts with my crew (Erika, Chelsea, Colleen & Nancy), it got me thinking that we can’t be the only ones. This prompted me to send an email to my list of about 300 women who have been featured in the “What’s the Good News, Ladies?” series over the years and see if others had stories to share.
Boy, did they! In less than 48 hours, over 50 women responded back with annoying, rude and downright appalling examples of how salespeople have approached them during this time of year.
So maybe this is a little bit of a public service announcement; maybe it’s a little eff you; or maybe it’s a little “how to sell to a woman 101.” Because people, you are missing it, and you are missing it big! You know why? I’m dropping some knowledge on you right here in case you didn’t know: According to American Express and the SBA, over 42% of businesses in the U.S. are owned by women and women make up over 51% of the U.S. population! And according to Forbes, 85% of women control or influence consumer spending. That means there are over 330 MILLION women who will sing your praises if you get it right, but they will run the bus right over you, hit reverse and do it again if you get it wrong. We will screenshot your email, text, LinkedIn DM or forward the voicemail to each other and we will remember to avoid you and your company’s services at all costs, because what’s the rule you should never forget?
Hell, hath no fury like a woman scorned.
Buckle up and take note, because you are getting a golden list that is the compilation of many uber successful women in our industry, including award winners, top producers, business owners and badasses. If you are in sales, print this out and put it where you can see it and then never do these things.
- The Gift Givers: Not the ones who are sending you a thank you for the business; we mean the ones who are trying to bribe you for a meeting. Gift cards and even shoes were offered to some of these women. What’s wrong with this? It can be looked at as rebating in some states and if you are a vendor with a license, you can lose it. And just as importantly, you make us feel gross.
- Bate and Switch – Recruiting: More than one woman emailed and said she had recruiters pose as a potential client. The meeting is booked, but once on the call, they realized it was a recruiter trying to hire them away. Do you really think someone worth their salt is going to come work for you when you have basically lied your way into a meeting and showed your ethical character?
- Bate and Switch – “I’m Interested in Your Services”: I’ve heard a few people bring this one up: Someone reaches out to you via email or social media, saying they’re interested in your services, so you set up a meeting. But once you get on the meeting, they have a full PowerPoint presentation on selling THEIR services. So not only did the vendor waste the person’s time as they prepared for what they thought was their own prospect meeting, they completely disrespected them by pushing the vendor’s agenda over theirs.
- Beauty and the Beast: I know you have all gotten this one, if you take a second to think about it. A breath of fresh air enters your inbox: finally, a well thought out email or message from someone that has done their homework! You accept the connection, but five seconds later, you get a spam sales pitch message and a link to set up a meeting. I had this happen recently and ignored it two times. By the third one, I was a little less than nice and said, “Dude, read the room. It’s open enrollment and if you really work with brokers, you’d know asking for a meeting right now is the kiss of death.” His response was basically that OE ends in 2 weeks (is he out of his mind?) and he wants to be one of the first people I reach out to. My response? I deleted the connection, took a screenshot and sent it to my friends, who won’t ever meet with him. Bravo.
- Badmouthing: You know how your gramma always told you, “If you don’t have anything nice to say, don’t say anything at all”? If the only way you feel that you can get business is by throwing others under the bus, are you really that good of a salesperson? One guy basically told one of woman that she was dumb because of the software she was using!
- Spam: “Hi…your profile looks interesting…” Raise your hand if you get 10 of these a week. Do you really feel like this is a differentiator? If someone makes me laugh, I always accept, even if I have never met them. But if it’s the same canned outreach, I delete it. And most others do, too!
- Not Knowing Your Audience: Man, this one came up a lot. Salespeople basically throwing spaghetti to the wall and hoping it sticks, but missing the mark because they didn’t take any time to really look at who you are as a professional. The sad thing with this one is, that they probably could have gotten a meeting if they did a little homework.
- Lying: I have to give a big shout out to the sales training I got from Paychex (I know my girl Rachel McLauchlin will echo this) as I really feel like it was some of the best. Two things I always remember: 1. If you sell on price, you’ll lose on price. 2. Never lie. One example I got of this was someone basically swiping a mutual connections LinkedIn list and pretending that the mutual connection recommended that they connect. When she called the mutual connection to see what was up, she discovered the deception and said, “I will not do business with him now.” So, this guy not only burned one bridge, he burned two, along with all the other people they will tell! (Gas up the bus, girls!)
- Did you Get My Email?: This one came up like 10 times. It can also be worded as “Let me bump this up to the top.” Most don’t get the hint that you didn’t respond for a reason and so keep on sending. Or they get a read receipt when you open the email, so then they have someone else who is supposed to be higher up in the firm reach out to you and say they know “you’ve been talking with their colleague.” So many of these do not have an “unsubscribe” feature, so you just end up blocking them.
- The Unapproved Meeting Request: Nothing grates on me more, and this was brought up by over half of the women who responded. If you are doing this, stop. Just stop. I don’t know who taught you this, but it’s wrong. It’s intrusive. It conveys that you think their time and schedule should be controlled by you. It’s dishonest. Think of the other person. Would you be thrilled if someone you had never met walked into your house, sat down at your dinner table and said, “Oh, is now a bad time?” I generally have a “three strikes and you’re out” rule, but this one is an immediate banishment in my book. I will never take a meeting from them and everyone I have talked to has similar feelings. Especially this time of year, we are all tired and overworked. When a funny meeting appears on our schedule that we don’t know anything about and we respond to the sender to get a little more information and find out it’s a sales pitch,, queue explosion. Hell, hath no fury….
If you couldn’t tell, I had a lot of time writing this and I hope you had fun reading it. I know we are all running on empty right now, so hopefully this gave you a little reprieve from the stress we all have this time of year. Maybe you got a little insight into how to sell to a woman and realized you might be doing some of these things in one way or another. Or maybe you just nodded your head throughout because you felt a connection to others in our industry. My hope is that it gave you a few laughs, headshakes and maybe a face palm, too.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank those who helped with this article; the emails that came in were just so much fun to read! Hang in there, ladies, and if you need a bus driver, I got you!
Filed under: BenefitsPro, Branding You, Broker Innovation Lab, Combs & Company, Combs & Company Blog, Insurance Women, Motivational, Successful Women, Women in Insurance | Tags: BenefitsPro, Broker Innovation Lab, Business Owner, Colleen Blum, Combs & Company, Eric Silverman, Insurance Consulting, Susan L Combs, Working On Your Business
Original Article on BenefitsPro
By Susan L Combs | November 01, 2023 at 07:38 AM
Before we dive into our next topic, I want to just say “thank you”. I received countless emails, texts, direct messages and comments on the last edition, The Syrup – Mental Illness and Seeing the Unseen, from people who felt brave enough to share their own stories with me. It deeply touched me and as a contributor to this publication for over a decade, I can honestly say this is the most feedback I have ever received on an article. I’m glad it struck a chord with some and hope you felt a little more “seen” in this crazy thing called life.
Our next topic was brought up by the legendary Eric Silverman, who is also a frequent BenefitsPRO contributor, podcast host and enhanced benefits guru. He brought up the age-old topic of working on your business versus working in your business, something I think many entrepreneurs and business owners struggle with.
Before we tackle this, let’s first define and clarify so we are all on the same page. I think of working “in your business” as more about managing the immediate tasks and responsibilities necessary to keep the wheels on the bus, while working “on your business” involves strategic thinking and planning to ensure its long-term success and growth.
Some examples that might make it easier to think about would be:
- Working In Your Business: The hands-on stuff like selling or consulting on insurance, customer service, admin work and managing the day-to-day operations.
- Working On Your Business: The big picture work that looks more at the future, both near and far. Things like strategic planning, market research for opening a new office location, business development strategy, marketing, and long-term goal setting.
Some of the most successful people in our industry have found a way to balance these two approaches or to bring someone in to help. Because let’s face it, not all of us are good at doing both. If you are a person that is a bit of a dreamer and known to say things like “What would it look like if…”, then you are probably good with working on your business. But you also need to have people in your company that who keep the wheels on the bus while you have your head in the clouds, or you won’t have the revenue coming in to implement your dreams and reach your goals. These are the “In Your Business” people. Typically, your Type A’s that have to-do lists are the ones that are great on implementation and structure to hit your dreamer goals and can pull you back down to earth when you need a healthy dose of reality.
Honestly, I can be a bit of both when I’m in the right environment and surrounded by the right people. I love dreaming and I’m a taskmaster and a freaking machine when it comes to work, but I need the balance of others to run a successful company. When we brought in Sean O’Rourke as CFO over seven years ago, it became a gamechanger for the company. He has a much different approach, comes from outside the industry and was exactly what we needed to get us to the next level. Our revenue has grown steadily year after year since I opened the doors in 2005, but his strategic approach and high-level thinking put us in a financial position where we didn’t even blink when a national pandemic hit.Andhe has pushed my business Partner, Colleen Blum and myself to think about taking on new opportunities, to grow our consulting arm and to become one of the leading expert witness firms in the area we practice. All because we have an internal balance within the company.
One of my favorite things is when the three of us are brainstorming, because you get the logic, the passion and the money aspects looked at and it makes for a better way to set and accomplish goals, both short and long term.
I know many readers are sole props who are struggling with doing it all and figuring out how to take things to the next level. To be honest, you probably can’t do it alone. Eric and I talked about this recently and discussed how many business owners talk about not being about to afford bringing someone in. We both remembered when we made the decision. Eric said he had the same mindset 20 years ago, but “Once I finally made the leap of faith to hire someone to help, my business took off like a rocket. Making the decision was the hardest part. But once the decision was made, the ‘doing’ became effortless.”
As I close out this edition of The Syrup, I’d like you to think about when Eric made his leap. Very rarely does an entrepreneur have someone come up to them and hand them a few million dollars to start a company. Most of us started our businesses on sweat equity and the change from our couch cushions. And while moxie and grit can get you far in this industry, also remind yourself to be smart enough to know what you know, and to know what you don’t know. Check your ego and bring in people who aren’t just like you, but can help you soar; most successful business owners find a balance between working In and on their business, as both are crucial for the overall health and sustainability of a business. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we all strive for?
This year’s Faces of Change panel at the Broker Expo featured an all-female lineup sharing their unique industry insights.
By Emily Payne | August 18, 2021 at 10:18 AM
The benefits industry has been increasingly struggling with a diversity issue as other industries embrace it. Thus, it seemed apt that this year’s Faces of Change panel at the BenefitsPRO Broker Expo featured an all-female lineup. Moderated by WellNet Healthcare’s Megan Chiarello, brokers Jessica Beames of BOK Financial Insurance, Stephanie Berger of Centered Insurance Solutions, Colleen Blum, Combs & Co., and Robyn Tikia of Risk Strategies Company were able to have a candid conversation about what it means to be a woman in a male-dominated field and how they’re forging a new path for others.
“It’s our job as females in our industry to tell younger generations that even though it is hard, it’s not as hard as it seems,” Blum said. “If we can find females who are good at talking to people and having organic conversations, you’re going to win business. It’s not as scary as we make it seem to be, as long as you have the work ethic.”
Related: What’s the good news, ladies? 5 years of highlighting women
Between discussions of alternative-funding strategies and marketing tips, attendees learned how each advisor’s career path had been shaped by being a woman. “When I started out, there was a consultant that had amazing self-funded experience,” Beames said. “He had all of this knowledge, and I had the privilege of working with him, and I would just sit in his office and pepper him with questions. Hearing that information that seemed meaningless to him helped me in a meeting with a client or a prospect.
“That was not an easy mentorship to build,” Beames added, due to the hesitancy many older men have about the optics of spending too much time with a younger woman–even a colleague. “Feel comfortable meeting with your female colleagues regardless of their age. The simple fact is that there are many more men in this industry than women, and there is so much we can learn from you and we want to. Give us the opp and a safe place to do that.”
The panelists also had some tips for current female advisors shaping new recruits. “From a mentorship perspective, it’s important to teach assertiveness, persistence, resilience–and, truthfully, working harder than your male counterpart,” Tikia said. “Women really have to face a lot of isolation in this industry. But we’re also creative, out-of-the-box thinkers.”
Whether we want to admit it or not, there are some innate differences between the way men and women approach business–ones that female advisors can play to their advantage. “We’re more nurturing with those relationships,” Tikia said. “We’re also able to be more technical whereas men come across as more salesy.”
Berger stressed how important simply listening to a client is. “Sometimes it’s best to not even open the presentation and just ask, if we’re in the room, there’s a reason. What is it?”
Blum agreed that it’s important for female advisors to play to their strengths, rather than mimicking their predecessors. “If we can come to the table with a different perspective, we can change the dynamic of this industry,” she said. “It’s mostly HR that is talking to us. They can have a deeper conversation with us. Our clients know that at the end of the day we’re going to have their back.”
_______
Want to check out the original article? Click here!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Colleen Blum, Combs & Company, Successful Women, Tara Faquir, Tenacious Tuesday, Trustate, Try and Stop Me Podcast
Your Skills Are Transferable:
There is a common trend in some incredible successful women these days, they tend to start in one industry – build some serious life skills & then are able to pivot into a totally different unrelated field that they never thought they’d end up in.
Today’s guest Tara Faquir Co-Founder of Trustate sits down with us to tell us all about her journey from her widely successful, exciting retail life at Nordstrom & Rent The Runway which led to a huge pivot into a little non-profit called Girl Scouts & landed her right to where she is at today – running a remarkably untouched industry with her best friend whom she met during a college transition.
Tara, like all of our guests defines unstoppable. She knows her strength & more importantly when it’s time to pivot to her next challenge. Listen along as she shares her journey & teaches us how although we may not see it now but our skills are incredibly transferrable if we just took some time to look harder into our day to days.
Check out Tara on LinkedIn and https://www.trustate.com/
Click here to listen to the lastest episode!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Colleen Blum, Combs & Company, Gretta Zutz, Tenacious Tuesday, Try & Stop Me Podcast
Fertility Isn’t A Dirty Word – How Opening Up About It Changed Everything
Fertility is a hush hush topic that unless you’re in it, many don’t understand. Time to shake that up.
Gretta Zutz sits down with us today to share her journey, how opening up about her story changed everything for her and her family and how she is now dedicated to implementing fertility in her financial services practice in order to support her clients & friends. If you’d like to have a conversation with Gretta about support groups, any doctors she used etc., feel free to connect with Gretta directly on LinkedIn by clicking HERE!
To connect with the Try & Stop Me Podcast host, Colleen Blum, click HERE!
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Colleen Blum, Lester Morales, Tenacious Tuesday, Try & Stop Me Podcast
Choose Your Own Adventure With Guest Lester Morales
“Take the next step or choose to let it cripple you.” The wise words from the incredibly impactful man himself, Lester Morales is our next guest.
Lester is no newbie to the game of a go-getter. After many years as a super successful sales leader, he took a good look around and knew there was a bigger impact to be made in his industry & more importantly his life. With the help of wise words from his mom and a strong belief in himself, he chose to take the leap of faith and opened the doors of Next Impact, LLC.
What happened would be enough to knock many others of course, still after major hits he has proven to never back down and is as successful as ever running a now 7 figure business he gets to call his own.
Lester’s journey is a true definition that you don’t get to choose the cards you’re dealt on the journey in life, what you do get to choose is how you move forward to make an impact from that.
Connect with Lester on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lester-j-morales-5064b91/
Instagram: @collblum & @tryandstopmepodcast
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Christina Passmore, Colleen Blum, Try and Stop Me Podcast
Check out the latest episode of the “Try and Stop Me” Podcast! Learn about Christina Passmore’s inspirational journey as Colleen Blum talks to her about travle, beauty and when she realized: “I Can Kinda Write”
Flight Attendant, Beauty Brand Amazon Seller turned Successful Copywriting Business CEO
Christina Passmore travels the world as a seasoned flight attendant for a large Canadian Airline, during some big life changes she set out to make some side money and dove into the Amazon world where she she quickly gained good traction in becoming a Beauty Brand Amazon Seller. She was still paying the bills with the airline salary while building her Amazon business all until COVID hit and travel came to a screeching halt. Christina knew she needed to pivot quickly so she teamed up with a mentor of hers where she was asked the question I’m sure we’d ALL dread:
What are you good at?
Who can honestly answer that?! + Add a meaningfully response, when you’re already feeling down? Not many of us.
Christina’s response: “Well I can Kinda write”.
Listen in as she shares her journey & how that “kinda” turned into on going success and continued future dreams. She even drops in some pointers for anyone looking to get started in the e-commerce space.
Give her a follow on IG @copybychristina
Now Available on your Favorite Podcast Platform
Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/try-and-stop-me/id1525146944?uo=4
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/4h8CgliCHvAZvYl3kXQGOa
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwOj_bbR_Wq2TDdWxtIeG0g
Google Podcast: https://www.google.com/podcasts?feed=aHR0cHM6Ly9hbmNob3IuZm0vcy8yYjYzNDViOC9wb2RjYXN0L3Jzcw==
YOU’RE NOT FOR EVERYONE with Guest Kristin Andree
“Have you ever felt you spend so much time living your life, that you forget to enjoy it?
That the place you find yourself in seems almost unrecognizable, leaving you to wonder, how did I get here?”
Our next guest, Kristin Andree is helping us get right down into it!
Kristin is an Author, Speaker, Business Coach and Podcast Host.
Today’s episode we are diving deep into her new book “You’re Not For Everyone, But You Can Be For Everyone.”
Like the episode? Be sure to grab the book on Amazon.
Kristin Andree Contact:
Website: https://andreegroup.com/about-us/
LinkedIn: Kristin Andree
Instagram: @andreegroup
“Where I was born and where and how I have lived is unimportant. It is what I have done with where I have been that should be of interest.” Georgia O’Keeffe
Episode 2021:9
Je ne sais quoi… an indescribable quality that makes someone or something so appealing. The “it” factor. It’s elusive, can’t be taught, but you know it when you see/hear/taste/smell/feel it.
As you’ll learn pretty quick during the next episode of Did You Know That?, Colleen Blum has all the “it” qualities you can envision. But she is where she is today because those qualities aren’t idle; she has put them to work for the last decade to reach a point of daily happiness. That is an accomplishment worth talking about, which we do.
Join us for a fun, engaging conversation and then go check out Colleen’s own podcast, “Try And Stop Me” (both on podcast platforms & YouTube), and other online accounts.
Try And Stop Me (YouTube): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwOj_bbR_Wq2TDdWxtIeG0g
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenblum/
Instagram: tryandstopmepodcast
Combs & Company: https://combsandco.com/about__trashed/colleen-blum/
Music: “You Can’t Stop Me” by RocknStock via Artlist
#perseverance #ambition #drive #courage #tryandstopmepodcast #didyouknowthat #indulgeyourcuriosity #youtubechannel
Filed under: Colleen Blum, Combs & Company, Mental Health, Motivational, Try and Stop Me Podcast | Tags: Bryan Cush, Colleen Blum, Combs & Company, Mental Health, Mental Wellness, Try and Stop Me Podcast
Bryan Cush, Co-Founder of Tidal Health Group is on a mission to change the way consumers find providers.
Backed with a strong purpose and the courage to try, he and his team are tackling the large task at hand.
Listen along as Bryan shares a bit on his background, the company’s mission and some key valuable lessons he’s learned along the way so far.
You can Click Here to check out the podcast on Apple Podcasts!
combsandco 