Highly successful people are constantly working to improve their knowledge and skills and one of the best ways they do this is by reading. Whether it's reading for pleasure or reading to gain new knowledge or skills, there is a clear link between highly successful people and their love of reading.

If you are like most advisors, you have aspirations and dreams to build your business. You may have thoughts of creating business plans to assist you in reaching your goals. However, ask yourself this question: “How many times have I created a business plan only to file it away or lose my motivation to follow it through?”

Oftentimes, advisors start out their business plans with the best of intentions, only to get sidetracked by the day-to-day operations which leave those plans unattended and ultimately unfulfilled. If this has happened to you, rest assured that you are not alone. So what is the solution?

No matter what time of the year, no matter what stage of your planning, a business plan is not enough, you need a business blueprint!

Matt Wagner of NAIFA Business Performance Center Partner, Client Focus, shares nine ideas on how to drive high-value sales and help grow your business.

When I was an engineer, I won sales where the sales team couldn’t. Customers felt like I understood them and their ideal outcomes, which was true.

These 9 ideas have helped me drive high-value sales, in addition to:

• building trust
• maximizing customer lifetime value
• generating a lot of referrals and repeat business
• making me love my job

Join NAIFA's Business Performance Center for a webinar on Tuesday, January 24 at 1 pm eastern. Hear from NAIFA Coaches Circle leader Joe Templin to learn how you can reliably get your foot in the door and get your name out there.

Social media marketing can be a huge boost to your business, and you often hear about the best strategies and practices to implement. However, when crafting the perfect social media plan, you also need to think about mistakes to steer clear of to ensure your campaign is a success.

In this article, we will cover some of the top errors businesses by social media platforms and how to avoid them!

Digital Marketing had the biggest growth for generating insurance sales since 2021. In a recent global study conducted by Accenture, most insurance buyers now search for information on digital channels. 48% of insurance customers who responded to an Accenture survey stated that social media would factor into their insurance-buying decision. Introducing agents and training to effectively utilize email, social media, web-based advertising, text messages, and personalized videos which helps maximize their value delivery.

Data Analytics and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is the technology driving the industry to new insurance sales as it does with other industries in e-commerce. Winning agencies will become more data-driven and introduce agents to tools that utilize data analytics and AI to grow their businesses. Whether finding patterns based on past data to predict future events or leveraging AI to make assumptions and predictions beyond human capabilities, successful agents and agencies will take advantage of these new technology tools.

On Thursday, January 10, join 2023 NAIFA-National President Bryon Holz, NAIFA CEO Kevin Mayeux, and NAIFA SVP of Government Relations Diane Boyle for the first State of NAIFA webinar of the new year. 

Holz, Mayeux, and Boyle will share an update on where NAIFA is as an organization, preview NAIFA's advocacy goals for the new year, and highlight the benefits available exclusively to NAIFA members.

If you are in the financial services industry your business is tethered to the market. When the market is up so is your business but when the market is down, so is your business. It’s inevitable especially if you have a fee-based business. When the market and your assets under management drop it also means your gross commissions drop.

When this happens, do your business-building activities necessarily need to follow suit? The answer is “no”. However, many advisors stop prospecting because they don’t have a good strategy for continuing to do that task during a Bear Market.

If you are viewing a Bear Market as an obstacle rather than an opportunity you certainly won’t reach the next level.

Are you on a production plateau? Many advisors and agents are. In fact, at some point, every financial advisor, insurance agent, wholesaler, branch manager, and even agency manager hits a production plateau. I know because I’ve coached them all through one.

So, what do you do? The real question is if you had all the tips, tools, techniques, strategies, and solutions…would you apply them? In other words, are you coachable?

Public speaking is one of the most important skills a business professional can possess, but it's also a skill that can be difficult to master. There are many things to consider when preparing for and delivering a speech. That's why it's important to perfect your public speaking prowess.