Unfortunately, I couldn’t feel any more out of place. Each meeting I went to started with building up momentum. Everyone was talking and networking with each other to loud techno music before we would break out into smaller groups.
When we broke into small groups, we were actually taking classes on how to do our jobs. They had a program in place for getting new recruits off the ground. You had to recruit three new people and drum up three sales within one month before ranking up to the next level. After getting the life insurance license, completing the training would get you a higher commission on sales. During our classes, they explained to us the products we were selling along with how to recruit more people. To get new recruits, we were encouraged to keep a notebook and write down anyone we could think of who would be interested in hearing about the business and might be a potential recruit. They encouraged us to list down family, friends, relatives, coworkers, friends, and neighbors. Ideally, our first list should have 50 people on it. We would then go to our marketing directors and try to narrow down who to target first. Our notebook was our book of leads. When they encouraged us to go out into the field, they told us that we would get shot down over and over again however it was important to be persistent. Two common techniques they taught us was to approach a friend and tell them that you were practicing giving a presentation. After finishing the presentation, make sure to ask them if they knew were interested in learning more about the company and joining. If they said no, the second technique was to ask for referrals. Ask them for family members, friends, coworkers, or anyone they might know that was ambitious and wanted to make more money.
During January, I had a very “one foot in and one foot out of the door” approach. Actually, It was more like one toe in the door and everything else out. I really wasn’t a people person and I said I would take it more seriously after getting my insurance license. Still, I did attend biweekly meetings, attend the courses, make a prospect list, and tried to recruit some people.
When you go into sales, becoming successful means committing your whole life to the business. After courses were complete, we gathered in the large room for the ceremonial passing out of the checks and applauding those who got their insurance license. During two months exploring the organization, I was only able to get one person to check out the business. I tried setting up a meeting with a different friend but he ducked out and told me he thought I was trying to sell him something. I do recall talking with more than 10 people about the organization. Getting a plane off the ground is the hardest part of life. I do recall how excited one of my team members was when she got her first sale. She had to work as hard as she could for a whole month to get it. While I was exploring the organization, I was also looking for work elsewhere.
The second time around, the job market was exactly how I remembered it. It was miserable. Accounting jobs were scarce and no companies called me back for an interview. There were not a lot of good positions available. Once again, I sent applications out to anything that looked remotely close to accounting.
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