Don't be shocked when you learn the three things you should never do are exactly what you're told to do. These three things are setting you up for failure. It's no wonder over 90% of the people entering the insurance and financial services industries fail in less than three years. You never want to cold call even though that's exactly what you're told to do. Cold calling has never been productive activity, but rather a shot in the dark approach, and with the combination of the current legal ramifications and people's increased intolerance it's an even worse waste of your time.

When you cold call you immediately put yourself in a bad position. You wouldn't be calling absolute strangers begging for an appointment if you weren't desperate and the people you're calling realize this. People aren't going to buy so they can help you out. They'll only buy if they're the ones with the need.

When you make those 100 cold calls it takes hours. At the end of the day if you're lucky you've talked to 3 people and scheduled an appointment with one. Then after all that work your one appointment either stands you up or isn't likely to work with you. They aren't likely to do business with you because they're defensive and don't trust you. You keep wasting your time and theirs chasing after when you know they aren't going to work with you. You've invested all this time in low-value activities without any results to show for all your hard work.

The second thing you never want to do is hang out at chamber networking events. The reason is obvious. The only people at those events are other starving sales people who are desperate for a sale.

Pitching someone is the third thing you never want to do. A "presentation" is nothing more than a pitch with the intent of manipulating the sales conversation. No one wants to be sold and a presentation makes the buyer feel they're being sold and decreases their trust in you.

If you want to excel in the business you have to do the things that get you business. Rather than spinning your wheels wasting time learn how to do the things you should do and do them. Focus on learning how to: get people to reach out to you, interacting with your ideal prospects on their turf, building connections based on mutual respect and trust, holding sales conversations that help prospects buy.

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Author: Cheryl Clausen can help you get where you want to be. Look here to see how your Sales Skills measure up. Could you succeed faster if you just had more time? Enhance your Time Management Skills, check this out.