Today, you will learn the six strategies that transformed my practice from near failure to consistent Top of the Table qualification, strategies you can implement as well.

During my first year in business, I almost failed. Four months in, I was in a terrible car accident. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but my car was destroyed. After the insurance claims were paid, I called the gentleman who hit me and invited him for coffee. Here is how the actual phone call went:

“Hey, Jeff, it’s Curt Matlin, remember me?” [pause] “Yeah, I know … ”

“Listen, just because we met by accident doesn’t mean we can’t be friends. Let me buy you a coffee.”

Well, guess what? Jeff met with me. Now, truth be told, Jeff didn’t do business with me. However, he introduced me to a young doctor who then introduced me to other young doctors who did business with me, some for decades. That car accident and subsequent phone call has led to over $1 million of revenue. Now, I have a question: What if I hadn’t made that phone call?

The first key to success: Remember, everyone is a potential prospect or source of warm introductions. Always be asking for introductions.

The second key to success is hard work. During my early years in business, I worked 65 hours a week or more. I had no business network, so I built one. To succeed in this business, you have to do the things that others are not willing to do!

The third key to success is to own the products that you are telling others to own. In my third year in business, I was diagnosed with cancer. Thankfully, it was a stage 1 cancer And here I am — I survived! During the time I was uninsurable, I told all of my clients and prospects what had happened. I urged them to apply for their insurance policy when they were young and healthy so that they wouldn’t find themselves in my position. We need to be our own best clients. By having purchased insurance policies before my cancer diagnosis, I had options in my policies to buy additional insurance without a physical exam. You can rest assured, every time an option came up, I took advantage of it and increased my coverage.

The fourth key to success is patience and persistence. This business is a marathon, not a sprint. Early on, when I called people for appointments, 90 percent of the time people said no. Before I hung up the phone, I asked them, “Mr. Prospect, do you mind if I call you back in six months?” Guess what? Everybody said, “Sure, call me back in six months.” They thought they were getting rid of me. But you know what I did? I put it in my calendar, and I called them exactly six months later. I would say, “Hello, remember we talked six months ago? You said it was OK for me to call you in six months, and today is the six-month anniversary!” People really appreciated it; sometimes they laughed, and they always noticed how patient and politely persistent I was. Many people agreed to meet with me as a result!

The fifth key to success is education and self-motivation. One of my colleagues, Bruce Levine, is a lifetime member of MDRT. He would give me MDRT cassette tapes and say, “Here, listen to these.” I began listening to MDRT speeches in my car while driving to appointments. By the time I made my first MDRT, I had attended 10 virtual MDRT meetings on cassette! Listening to the greats in our business and hearing how they had experienced the same rejection and problems I was experiencing gave me the courage and motivation to stay in the business. I have since paid Bruce’s gift forward by also sharing educational materials with new colleagues. I recently gifted a box of MDRT tapes to an MDRT aspirant.

The sixth key to success is the hardest. However, it works surprisingly well: Prune your book of business and upgrade your clients. Between 1990 and 2010, my book of business included over 500 households, with over 1,000 insurance policies in force and over 2,000 investment accounts. It was more than one person could handle. I began to refer households to a young colleague to service and develop.

Additionally, I resigned from certain accounts. One of the hardest things I ever did was call my largest client and resign that client’s account. This client had yelled at my assistant. I said to myself, You know what? You can’t yell at my assistant. I don’t yell at my assistant. That behavior from a client is unacceptable. I resigned from that client, and my life got better.

We cut back from working with 500 households to just 40 households over a period of seven years. Now, I only work with households that meet our ideal client criteria.

In closing, I’d like to credit the love and support of my wife, Elizabeth, as my seventh key to success.

I hope you are inspired to try some of my strategies, and I wish you my kind of success!

Curtis Matlin, CLU, ChFC, is founder and president of Matlin Financial Services and began his career in 1990. Though his journey included many setbacks, it was his patience, persistence and perseverance that enabled him to go from near failure to consistent Top of the Table production.