In every profession, there is room for growth. Growing as a professional, a leader and a person is important for anyone who wants to reach their highest potential in the insurance field or with building an agency. Books can be a great facilitator of that growth; whether it’s a guide to helping you close with clients or a framework for creating and keeping good habits, a book exists to help you get to the next level of your career .
One of our core values at Symmetry Financial Group is the relentless pursuit of growth. Below, we will go over five books that every insurance agent can benefit from in their professional and personal lives. This list is in no particular order, but each suggestion has its own angle that can help shift perspective and allow you to better interact with your clients, fellow agents and neighbors.
Our first book, “Never Split the Difference,” is written by Chriss Voss who is a former FBI hostage negotiator. With that knowledge, Voss’ book gives readers nine key principles to help you keep the upper hand in any conversation.
Because of Voss’ background, this book uses his experience to provide proven tactics to improve your communication skills in any situation. By leveraging emotion, Voss provides methods like mirroring and tactical empathy to find what the other person wants and the best way to navigate a no. In fact, Voss’ book explains that one of the most important steps of any negotiation is getting the other person to say no. By doing so, you are eliminating any sense of them feeling cornered and able to get to what that no means and what their fears or concerns are.
Voss’ book can be a crucial playbook for any insurance agent looking to hone their negotiation skills. He explains that sometimes a no is really a hesitation produced by some hidden worry that the agent can then address and find a solution for. “Never Split the Difference” uses behavioral psychology to help readers elevate their communication skills.
Our next book, “Atomic Habits” by James Clear, is an excellent framework for improving every day by creating good habits and eliminating any bad ones. James Clear is an expert in habit formation, and in this book, he helps his readers discover the best habits to meet their goals while saying goodbye to habits that do not benefit them.
Throughout the text, Clear explains how to overcome a lack of motivation and willpower, design an environment to make good habits easier and how to get back on track when you stray from those good habits. By changing small behaviors in your day-to-day routine, “Atomic Habits” walks you through proven ideas from biology, psychology and neuroscience that make good habits inevitable.
Clear’s book is an excellent resource for agents who are looking to outline the best methods for growing their business. Whether you’re hoping to master the craft of setting appointments or recruit more agents to your agency, there are habits that can help you achieve those goals. “Atomic Habits” is an excellent resource for any agent looking to find success one habit at a time.
To be honest, this entire list could have been covered with one name, Brené Brown. A professor of social work, Brown has dedicated her career to authentic leadership, helping schools, businesses and nonprofit organizations develop leaders. Of all her books, one of the most impactful is “Dare to Lead.”
“Dare to Lead” is Brown’s examination of what it takes to build brave leaders and strong cultures. In the book, she outlines what it takes to become a daring leader and how courage can shape your organization’s culture. Brown points to the value of vulnerability as a leader and how it can help cultivate an ideal culture. Through her conversational prose, Brown gives personal experience on the best ways to lead.
As an agent, “Dare to Lead” is a great outline for anyone wanting to build an agency. Brown gives example after example of how to be courageous with your leadership and team. By doing so, you can grow a culture and team to be proud of.
In Oren Klaff’s “Pitch Anything,” readers will get detailed methods for delivering exceptional pitches in any business situation. With his S.T.R.O.N.G. method, Klaff outlines the best strategies and tactics to sell your ideas. Whether you’re negotiating for higher pay or pitching a product, “Pitch Anything” gives you tips to navigate it all.
In the book, Klaff guides readers on the best way to engage your audience and keep their attention. His background as a Director of Capital Markets has left him with a lifetime of experience in the science of the pitch.
Agents will find a list of resources in pitching products to their clients in this book. Whether you’re hoping to sharpen your pitching skills or read rooms and meetings more effectively, “Pitch Anything” is a great resource for agents.
Written in 1983, Andy Grove’s “High Output Management” is as relevant today as it was back then. This book has become legendary in Silicon Valley for its invaluable guidance in leveraging data to manage your business.
Grove’s book outlines the key factors to effective management. He goes over organizational structures, holding effective meetings and using managerial leverage, all of which can boost your teams’ efforts while using data to track them. Grove also details the best tactics in motivating your team and having them operate at their peak performance.
This book is an excellent resource for any agent who’s looking to recruit and build an agency. With Grove’s advice, you can learn the most efficient ways of growing and managing your team of agents.
At Symmetry, we believe the desire for growth is what leads to continued success for every agent. To that end, we hope this list will give you the extra edge you need. Whether you’re hoping to create a positive culture through daring leadership or learn the best way to pitch a product, this list should have something new for you to learn from.
As a Symmetry agent, you will have access to high-quality life insurance, disability income insurance, critical illness insurance, and annuity products from more than 30 well-known insurance companies. This gives you the flexibility and reach you need to tailor plans to meet clients' individual coverage needs.
To learn more about how to begin a fulfilling career as a life insurance agent, contact us today .
