A Bit on Communication:
Michelle Needham
“You have two choices: You can make a living or you can design a life”-Jim Rohn
Communication is important to get the results we desire. Just months ago, I was an independent agent who thought I knew everything (well almost everything) there was to know in my field. Let’s be honest, when you’re young, you have much less to fear, because you have so much yet to know. Once you start digging into every headline and article in your field, you start to see trends. Once you start diving into your policy forms, you start to see gaps. And once you start to deeply know the scope of your field, you’ll start to see all the areas prior to that moment you made mistakes you had yet to realize.
Communication makes the difference. It’s the difference between what we thought was going on with our insureds operations and what is actually going on. (In the words of Shakespeare, “Crane or no crane, that is the question.”) It’s the difference between what forms we need and what forms we have and asking the right questions by first determining what results we want to achieve. What do we need to know? How are we going to communicate those subjects? What are we going to do with the findings so that we can achieve the results we want?
Now that I work on the carrier side, I see both the similarity and differences in communication styles, especially with the types of questions I need to be asking. What results do I want to achieve with my partners? Are we aiding in their success? Are we providing more than just a product? And overall, what can we do better as a partner? It’s about a passion to listen, empathize and remain open about criticism. While I am still maturing in my field and while the subject area may have changed, it remains that communication will make the difference in finding such success, for myself and those I want to build mutually beneficial relationships. It’s a new language, and one I must continue to learn every day.
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?“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw
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