While the economy continues to crumble and the news reports get bleaker every day, success stories still manage to break through like trees in Brooklyn. Despite falling broker confidence and tumbling carrier earnings reports, there is hope.
Tracy Dieterich is one such example. He insists he’s actually reached the peak of his career, and now ranks in the top one half of 1 percent of all insurance brokers in the country. Dieterich, CRPS, adds that he’s had record years each of the past three years as he blew up his book of business from $350,000 to nearly $2 million in annual commissions in three-and-a-half years.
No bailouts needed here.
Of course, he spent nearly 20 years before that laying the groundwork for his recent success. He got his first license back in 1988.
“My family was involved in the employee benefits business, and I started right out of college when I went through the Great-West training program starting in 1989,” he explains. “I chose this business because I wanted unlimited opportunity and the freedom/flexibility to sell concepts and solutions, rather than a product.”
Dieterich’s now senior vice president of employee benefits, and works with employers across the Southwest while managing their benefits programs.
So why talk now? What’s in it for him?
“I believe life is a continuous cycle of learning, and it’s easiest to learn from others,” he says. “I don’t have all the answers, but I’m willing to share my perspective if it can help others in our industry. Experience is the best teacher, but it’s also the most expensive teacher. So, it’s better to learn from other people rather than your own experience.”
Dieterich actually likes to tell the story — maybe it’s a fable — of the lion, the donkey and the fox (and don’t stop me if you’ve heard this before):
“After a real good day of rabbit hunting, the lion said to the donkey, ‘Mr. Donkey, I’d like you to divide the pile of rabbits fairly between the three of us.’ So the donkey very carefully divided the large pile of rabbits into three equal stacks. As soon as he was finished, the lion pounced on the donkey, killed the donkey, and piled the donkey and all the rabbits back into one large pile. Then the lion looked at the fox and said, “Mr. Fox, now I’d like you to divide the rabbits fairly between the two of us.” The fox thought about this for a moment, then took one small rabbit for himself and said the rest was for the lion. The lion asked, ‘Mr. Fox, where did you learn to divide so fairly?’ And the fox responded, ‘The donkey taught me.’
“So remember the donkey and learn as much as you can from other people’s successes and failures.”
So, without giving away all of his secrets, Dieterich explains that his success stems from his own 10-point program.
“It all starts with your attitude,” Dieterich begins. “Abe Lincoln once said, ‘Whether you think you can or you can’t, you’re right.’ It’s the start of 2009 and all I hear about is the economy and how bad everything is. Well, I’m here to tell you, I don’t get it. I personally don’t care what the economy does – I can choose to let it affect me or not let it affect me. All I see is opportunity, and maybe I’ll have to work harder and smarter…but, when the economy is down, employers are looking harder for creative solutions. I think some people get so focused on the negative that they fail to see the positive. So work on your attitude and wake up each day expecting great things to happen.”
“Written goals. A study showed that only 3 percent of people have written goals. But, that 3 percent earns more than the other 97 percent combined. Just hearing that would make me take out some paper and write my goals down today. So why don’t we? Because we’re chicken. People are afraid to write down their goals, because then they have to get started working to achieve them. It’s easier to just let life cruise by and take whatever happens. It’s sad, but most people spend more time planning a vacation than they do their yearly goals?
“Let’s say you were going to take a trip and drive from Dallas to Los Angeles. You wouldn’t just take off heading west and drive aimlessly. First, you’d look at a map and plan your route, maybe check weather conditions, or places to stay along the way. It’s not that hard, and once you sit down and start planning and write down your goals…your mind will figure out how to get there. You can also use goal setting to push you outside of your comfort zone.
“Goals must have three things to be real, they must be written down, specific and measurable. Thus, writing ‘I want to earn more money’ or ‘increase my business’ is way too generic. ‘I will add three new clients in the first quarter,’ is an example of a specific goal. Make sure they are measurable too, and decide how often you will measure your progress. Just make sure each goal has a deadline, or it’s not real.”
“Change yourself. What do you have to change about yourself in order to reach your goals? One thing is sure…for things to change, you have to change. You can’t change the economy or the weather or your boss, but you can change yourself.
“So, how do you change? Find a mentor, emulate successful people, read a book on how to improve yourself, go to a seminar, learn about your competition. Reach out to others who are successful and you’ll be surprised how open they are to trying to help you. Invest in yourself. You don’t even have to spend money, because you can get books to read for free at your local library.”
“Hard work. Success often looks easy from afar, because we don’t see all the preparation and hard work that came before. First we have to plow the ground – or invest our time and resources to learn, then plant lots and lots of seeds, then water and nurture those seeds, fertilize them, pull weeds, and then finally after all that hard work…we can reap a harvest. I don’t believe in good luck but I do believe in good fortune. Good fortune follows hard work.”
“Set deadlines. My mentor taught me to ‘plan your work, and work your plan.’ He also taught me that failing to plan is planning to fail. So use your calendar to set a daily/weekly structure with deadlines. Have you ever wondered why you get so much work done the day before you leave on vacation? It’s because you have a forced deadline. Another example is in football. There are more points scored during the final two minutes of a game than in the previous 58 minutes. Why? Because deadlines create a sense of urgency. Treat each day like you were leaving for vacation the next day, and you’ll be amazed how it can improve your results.
“Also, learn how to say ‘no’ and it will improve your time management and efficiency. It’s hard to let go, but say no to time wasters, gossip, prospects that don’t fit, negative people, etc.”
“BOR letter. This may sound a little strong, but I really believe it would raise the level of professionalism across our entire industry if we all used the broker of record letter effectively. First, ask yourself why people buy from you? It’s a good question and it forces you to identify what unique value you bring to the table, or what creative solutions you can deliver that clients need and want. You are a licensed professional and should be proud of the work you provide. So, don’t give it away for free…that only lowers the bar for everyone in our industry. It’s my belief that if a prospect won’t hire you in advance by signing a BOR letter, then most often they won’t sign one later after you do your work for free. Because of this, I never quote on a prospect without having a signed BOR letter. When a prospect signs a BOR letter, it’s a sign of their commitment – and I need that in order for me to commit.”
“Be willing to fail. Any successful person will tell you they failed somewhere along the way. My friend and mentor told me some things I do in life won’t work…but he said to do them anyway, because that’s how you will find out they don’t work. Not everything I’ve done throughout my career has worked well, but I learned from each experience and those lessons make you tough, smart, and strong. Eventually, you’ll figure out the right way – if you are willing to fail and will keep on keeping on.”
“Give back. To truly enjoy success and reach the next level, you must have a thankful spirit. I grew up with almost nothing and now am very thankful for everything I have, as life has been very good to me.
“Find some way to give back, both with your time and money. You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. It’s very rewarding to mentor someone, and you’ll find out that you will learn more than you thought in the process. I started giving back many years ago and am still active as a volunteer for Big Brothers Big Sisters.
“Finally, call someone today who has helped you and tell them “thank you.” You will feel better when you do this, and it will make their day.”
“Have fun. I wouldn’t keep doing this if it wasn’t fun. Ask yourself what you love about your business. For me, it’s all the different people you meet, the client and carrier relationships we develop, the different types of businesses we help, and the creative solutions we provide to help our clients grow and succeed.
“Learn to laugh at yourself, but to be serious in your focus and work ethic. When you give it your best each day, and you can go home with integrity and look at yourself in the mirror, then it was a good day no matter what happened.”
“Build a team.” To reach the next level, you need to build a great team. You’ll never get to the top alone. In my early years, I built my business mostly around me. Over time, I learned there are others who are just as smart or smarter than I am, and they can add incredible value if we work together. So, I’ve built a team of great people who I like, respect and trust.
“Be personally involved in the hiring process and go with your gut. Also, take time to train each of them and take an interest in them personally. You’ll soon find out that in addition to having a great team at work, you’ll also have some great lifelong friends.”