I want to know the name, address, and phone number of the crazy scientist who decided to implement the daylight savings time system.  If you are like me, you hate this time of the year because of the lack of light past five o'clock in the evening.

It is, without a doubt, a problem to work between the hours of 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. during daylight savings.  People get home from work and no matter what time of the evening it is... they throw on their pajamas, lock up their doors, and get cozy for the evening.

So how do we as, final expensed agents, make the best use of the hours between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m?  Here are three proven techniques I use to help me maximize the best-selling hours of the day.

1) Set Appointments
Setting appointments is not a new idea but if you are like me, you probably don't do it as much as you should.  There is no better way to maximize  the most profitable selling hours of your day then by calling your prospects the night before and setting up three to four appointments for the next evening.  It takes 10-15 minutes and is way worth the time.

2) Use Door Hangers or Sticky Notes
As you are going around making your visits during the early hours of the day, you will find that people are not home.  Duh!  When you find that somebody is not home, all you have to do is take out a slip of paper and write on it, "Sorry I missed you to deliver your information. I'll try back later tonight between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.."  This does two things for you.  First, if you see that the sticky note is gone, then you know they got home.  Second, is alerts the prospect that somebody will be coming by during the dark evening hours to complete the request they had previously made.

3) Set Up Callbacks for After 5 p.m.
Multiple times during the day you will run into somebody who you catch home but for whatever reason, cannot attend to you at that exact moment.  What you do is ask them what time they will be home.  9 times out of 10 the prospect will say after five o'clock.  If that's the case, then set up three or four appointments for the dark evening hours.  Make sure that when you set up the appointments you remind the prospect that it will be dark outside, and that they shouldn't be afraid when you knock on the door.

Well, there you have it.  Three ways to help you deal with dark evening hours.  If you have another idea that works or something that you want to to try, please feel free to post in the comment box.  Or if you try one of these strategies and it works out...  I'd love to hear about it.  Good luck.

It's November 3, 2010 and the elections are finally over.  No more radio/TV commercials interrupting my favorite program every 7.5 minutes.


I was in a house yesterday meeting with a long time customer and the election subject came up.  My customer was so quick to criticize the candidate I selected on my ballot sheet for governor.  My customer called the candidate a few choice words and left it at that.


I know everybody has their own opinion but I couldn't help but feel a little put off by the criticizer.  In the final expense business we often take this tacky approach when we talk about our worthy competition.


When we hear that somebody is considering going with one of our competitors, how do we address the situation?  Do we attack them full force? Or do we recognize their strengths and help the customer make the better decision?


Going back to my feisty customer.  Had she said, "Wow, XYZ candidate is pretty good but i really like ABC because..." I would have felt so much better.


So when you are talking about your competition, that is the approach that you need to take.  "XYZ company is good but they are a little different than us because we provide..."  That is so much more effective than saying, "That company SUCKS.  You are such an IDIOT for even considering going with them."