We are all aware that technology has changed our lives and continues to expand exponentially. But I’m not sure we understand the speed with which technological progress is changing what we do and how we do it?
We at Agency Consulting Group, Inc. have called ourselves CHANGE AGENTS for years. I suggest you all “click” the following link for a 5 minute program that will leave you wondering if you are capable of the radical changes that we are experiencing every day. If you still get a paper copy of the PIPELINE, type the link into your web browser to get directly to the YouTube video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL9Wu2kWwSY
100 or more years ago our grandfathers and great-grandfathers wondered if they were capable of learning and understanding the changes that were taking place with the advent of automobiles, airplanes, electricity and telephones. Our fathers asked the same question about television, appliances and portable technology. We may have asked the same question about computers, cell phones and Ipods.
Don’t worry, our grandparents, our parents and we have adapted to technological breakthroughs and every subsequent generation has learned to use those adaptive devices intuitively. And don’t worry about the next generation either. They are no smarter than we have been. Our children will ask the same questions and will have the same doubts about technology not yet introduced that we and our forbearers have asked.
Here’s how to survive technology and use it to the best of our abilities.
First, don’t try to be 15 again. When you’re 15 you may think you know everything, but you’re brain is still relatively empty (ask any parent) and it is available for newly arising technologies and changes. When you’re 45 you have filled your cranium with personal and business issues and knowledge to the point that adding more and newer technologies may mean that you have to let go of known “facts” that you have learned as you grew into maturity. Whether those “facts” are real or perceived, you are comfortable with them. AS LONG AS THOSE FACTS WORK IN YOUR PERSONAL AND BUSINESS LIFE, DON’T FEEL GUILTY ABOUT NEWER “FACTS” BEING AVAILABLE.
Second, realize that there are no “FACTS” in life. We sell and train relationship selling as the best way for agents to establish and retain clients for life. We have seen it work so well with the agents who have used relationship selling for decades that we are trying to convert those agents for whom the Quote/Price driven model of sales is no longer working. BUT, we have also seen Quote/Price agents succeed and do so with astounding results. They learned to change their marketing, their products, their service and, sometimes, their target market to adapt to the desired marketing process and continue to sell large numbers of insurance products and services to clients while most are faltering trying to use the old model of sales in a new technological environment. IF THE OLD WAYS AREN’T WORKING AS THEY HAD IN THE PAST, EITHER CHANGE YOUR MODEL OR CHANGE YOUR ENVIRONMENT. TECHNOLOGICAL CHANGE IS A PART OF THE ANSWER.
Finally, whether you choose to change or remain the same, surround yourself with younger people (whose craniums are not yet full of their “facts”) and who will drive your business into the next generation using some of the technological advances that are thrust at us every day.
Now link into the YouTube video above and be prepared to shake your head in awe at what’s happening in the time it took you to read this article. By the way, when I got this link and viewed it there had already been 4,793,193 other folks who had viewed this 5 minute video. That means that an average of 18.5 people viewed this video every minute of every hour of every day (24 hours/day, 7 days/week) during the last six months that it has been posted. Now do you understand the meaning of “viral marketing”? Do you have any questions about the efficiency of information passing around the world over the internet? The question is not “Is the internet a vehicle for transmission of ideas and information?” The question is, “In what way can we use the internet EFFECTIVELY for our information and business relationships in the future?”
Call us if you are ready for “Change Agents” to review your business and help you “ride the wave” into the future (800) 779-2430.