A Sales Instructor Who Doesn’t Close? It’s True.

Academy of Insurance Instructor, Whitley, Reveals What He Learned From Top Producers

Bill Whitley has never worked in the insurance industry, yet he effectively teaches producers how to flourish in their business. Furthermore, he doesn’t teach closing techniques. That’s right, he doesn’t believe in “closing” a deal – it’s all about the opening.

Rather than focusing on closing techniques, Whitley teaches producers how to open the conversation with a properly constructed and presented success stories. “If you know how to open, you don’t have to close,” Whitley says. “I would much rather open than close. Opening is about how I can help you; it’s about the value I can offer you. Closing is about me trying to put you in a box.”

Whitley’s first book, “Art of the Rainmaker,” introduced him to the insurance industry (and the insurance industry to him).

“[The book] Art of the Rainmaker really teaches how to develop a client attraction story,” Whitley says. “To me, a client-attraction story is a real world example of a client that had a challenge where you, your insight, or advice helped them avoid some difficulty or achieve some goal, and they got great results.”

Top Producers

Four years ago “Art of the Rainmaker” found its way into the hands of a large captive insurance company. Because of the power of the book, Whitley was invited to hold a seminar for 250 of its agents. Whitley, in preparation for the seminar, interviewed the carrier’s top 10 producers to learn their secrets of production success.

“At the end of my interviews, I was just blown away with what I learned,” Whitley says. “I was so excited I called back and said ‘I want to change my seminar. Instead of calling it the ‘Art of the Rainmaker,’ I want to call it ‘Eight Secrets of the Top-Performing Agents.’ That seminar has been a big hit.” It also inspired his insurance-specific sales book, “Eight Secrets of the Top-Performing Agents.”

What Whitley found is that all of the top producers he interviewed made a transition from simply quoting to advising clients in the best way to manage their everyday risk. “The eight secrets really are all about how to make that exact transition.”

One of the secrets to making this transition, Whitley discovered, is the importance of stories and how to present them. “What you’re doing with that [story] is you’re really communicating the value of an advisor,” Whitley says.

‘Messaging’ Seminar in January

In January 2012, Whitley is presenting a two-part seminar called “Messaging.” This Webinar covers how to position yourself as an advisor by developing and using a client-attraction story. The class dates are January 11 and January 25. Beware, Whitley gives homework.

“In class number one, we teach producers how to develop their story; then everybody’s given a homework assignment. We ask everybody to work on their story. I ask the participants to submit their stories to me; I’ll pick three or four of them, and I’ll share on the next call exactly how I’d tell your story.”

For more information, or to register for the seminar, visit www.ijacademy.com.

Topics Market