When asked how he was able to score so many goals, hockey legend Wayne Gretzky replied, “A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be.”

The same is true for great producers. The puck has moved to 2008; 2007 is over. If you haven't already booked the business or have the client committed by year-end, then you're not booking it this year–unless you get lucky. And no sales manager wants to hear that you can make your 2007 numbers if you “can just get lucky.”
As producers, we work on a minimum lead time of three months and, more often, six months. If you're not presently engaged in conversations and collecting commitments for the first quarter of 2008, you're not going to have any bookings for the first quarter of 2008.
So: How are January, February and March looking? If they're looking good, congratulations. If the question brings a little anxiety or even terror, however, you need to change some things and change them now. You need to begin work immediately on the last three quarters of 2008, or you're going to face a disaster.
Whenever a sales manager or agency principal is asked what they look for in a producer, the ability to self-motivate and self-manage always heads the list. Therefore, beginning now, you need to become your own sales manager.
Suppose your job depended on the sales success of other people. What would you look for in their day-to-day performance? What evidence would you need to confirm they were on the right track? You must ask the same questions of yourself. You can fool a sales manager for a period of time, but you can't fool yourself. You always know full well what you're doing–and not doing.
So here's a simple truth: If you have no new-business appointments, you will produce no new business. How many new-business appointments are on your calendar for next week–not networking, carrier, internal or current client meetings but genuine, bona fide new-business appointments? If the answer is zero, then page forward six months in your calendar and draw a line through the corresponding week. You will be selling nothing that week in 2008.
Here's a suggestion for using your calendar as motivation. When you schedule a first-time prospect meeting, write it on your calendar in capital letters. When you schedule a follow-up meeting with a new-business prospect, write it in all lower-case letters. Use standard upper- and lower-case lettering for all other meetings. When you glance at your calendar, you'll be able to immediately see how much new business you're pursuing that week. You'll also be able to generate sales reports for the sales manager more easily, and provide him or her with a quick snapshot of how much new business you're after in any given week.
In addition to the calendar, you should maintain your own pipeline report. Update and review it every Monday morning. In fact, consider meeting with a fellow producer over coffee and reviewing each other's reports. Or review your report with your sales manager or agency principal. Your peers and sales manager can coach you on turning those prospects into clients.
Each entry should include the following information:
o Name.
o Expiration date.
o Presentation date (does not have to coincide with the expiration date).
o Date entered on the pipeline report.
o Estimated revenue to the agency.
o Probability of booking.
o Weighted revenue (estimated revenue times the probability of booking).
o Source (cold call, client referral, network referral, other).
o Next action required.
Now, some pipeline “rules”:
1) Nothing goes on the pipeline report until you have a 25% or greater chance of booking the business in the next 12 months.
2) Don't kid yourself. My father once told me that the most dangerous you become to yourself is when you start believing your own line of bull. He was right.
3) Take the prospect out of the pipeline when the chance of closing drops below 25%.
If you have no new-business appointments and your pipeline is empty, then welcome to the precipice of failure. As your own sales manager, what would you say to yourself? You're going to lose your job if you don't achieve results. Excuses offer little comfort when you're cleaning out your desk, so you'd better have a plan. And here it is:
o We work with three to six months' lead time. Plan on six. It is now December 2007. How is next June looking?
o No new-business appointments equals no new business. Period. Sales isn't magic. Nothing happens until you make it happen.
o A full pipeline is your only measure of future success. Keep it current, keep it accurate, keep it real.
o Don't kid yourself. Are you set up for failure or success in 2008?
Remember, to be your agency's top producer, you need to be the top booker of new business–not merely have the largest book. Providing your own sales management is the crucial first step.
Fritz Koehler, CIC, CRM is vice president and a producer at Acordia in Houston, Texas. Mr. Koehler conducts seminars for CPAs on business insurance, performs risk management consulting and is an instructor for the Dynamics of Selling program. For more information on Dynamics of Selling, call (800) 633-2165 or visit www.TheNationalAlliance.com.