Interview: Overcoming Burnout in Insurance Sales

I think it looks different for every person … But with my experience in the insurance space and leading large, very diverse, cross-generational teams, burnout rarely looks like quitting … Ultimately what happens is conversations start to feel transactional instead of meaningful…

One of the things I try to hold myself to is if you have the definition [of burnout] and you understand it, how do you identify when it [burnout] is happening? … You’ll see shorter client conversations, you might see less follow up, or the avoidance of new prospecting … What ultimately happened is their [agent’s] pipeline, passion, and purpose started fading pretty fast…

I would say there are three areas I was able to observe and was taught over time, and in some cases, lessons learned:

1. Reconnecting to a purpose – You’re not just selling policies; you’re protecting families and businesses.

2. Rebuilding community – Isolation will accelerate burnout much faster than rejection.

3. Creating a sustainable rhythm and cadence – What are you doing to amp up your self-care? What is it that you’re ultimately creating to recalibrate your own algorithm?

Those three things I watch play themselves out over 25-plus years to be somewhat successful for those who are struggling with some latent burnout.

From an insurance perspective, I want to make sure we frame it up to some things … and this would be true of anything commercial related, especially those that are working on a commission structure … You don’t have a ceiling for compensation.

You can make as much as you can sell. It all sounds great until you start going out and chasing this ceiling that doesn’t exist … So, you’re thinking about bigger numbers, faster growth, and more policies. The one thing that ultimately gets lost in the instant gratification chase is that the foundation isn’t strong. It [the foundation] is about:

• Mindset
• Habit
• Support
• Belief

Those are what ultimately sustain and last, and those are the boring things. Those are not the things that you want to talk about a lot because they’re boring … The observations that I have made over time is the strongest leaders and producers, they protect their ecosystem and the people around them who are producing in it. And that connects back into the foundation. Raising the floor is where we are today. That’s real.

The ceiling is fictitious because:

A. We’ve never been there

B. We can’t see it

C. Quite honestly, the “no finish line” mindset is exhausting

Building the foundation is, how do we get one percent better every day? That’s the idea of raising the floor and all of the fundamentals that go into creating a strong floor. As the floor elevates, you start thinking less and less about the ceiling because you’re improving every day.

The acronym of C.O.A.C.H. played itself out over time, and it’s actually what sets the foundation to raise the floor.

1. Culture – Building environments or ecosystems that are rooted in trust, accountability, and shared purpose.
   
   That’s ultimately where it all starts, and you don’t have to be a leader of a large team or even a small team. You can be an individual producer across any commercial space. Your environment is what you work in every single day … The culture of which you’re working is a vital piece of being able to raise the floor.

2. Opportunity – Creating pathways for others to grow, contribute, and succeed.
   
   As it relates to the insurance space in general, it creates a deep-rooted purpose for others as to why the work matters. And it’s connecting into the protection of a family, the protection of a business … taking these opportunities that you’ve, earned, that you deserve and helping to create that pathway for some who might follow you.

3. Authenticity – Leading with honesty and clarity and having the courage to be real.
   
   Take the mask off … Because what I have found in any kind of sales space is clients buy trust before they buy coverage … Authenticity sometimes, and it’s not even intentional, kind of falls by the wayside because you’re, going, going, going, you got your head down, you’re sprinting and you have to get it done…