Being a work-from-home insurance agent has a lot of perks. You get to skip the morning commute, customize your office, and save money by not eating out for lunch.
But it can also be hard to stay focused and get work done when you’re working from home. Let’s go over some tips you can use to maximize your productivity and keep your workday on track.
It’s easy to take your time getting started in the morning when you work from home. However, a slow start can cause you to lose hours of productivity. Combat slow mornings by setting a morning routine.
Your routine can include getting ready and dressed as you would for a normal day at the office. You don’t even have to give up your comfy pants. Just the act of getting ready can put you in the right mindset for a productive day.
The start of the day is also a great time for prospecting and sales calls. By calling at the beginning of the day, you can talk to clients before they’re deep into their work. This tactic is especially important if you work with businesses that work outside of an office, such as landscapers.
Whether you’re working in a small apartment or a large home, you should create a workspace that’s only for doing work. Having a dedicated workspace helps you mentally focus on work-related tasks.
If you don’t have a separate room for an office, consider using furniture to separate your office area. For example, you could invest in room dividers or bookshelves to help corner off a common area of your home.
If you’re lucky enough to have a dedicated home office, it’s even easier to make it a place of business. At the end of the day, you can shut down your computer and close the door. That way, you separate the space from the rest of your home—both physically and mentally.
Successful work-from-home insurance agents use goals to help them stay productive. Setting and tracking goals give you an endpoint on which to focus. You can see your progress along the way, which can help you stay on task.
Your goals could include increasing new insurance policies by a percentage and increasing how many times you contact existing clients each month. These goals are trackable—you can easily see the number of new policies and how often you contact customers.
Technology is one of the greatest tools available for work-from-home insurance agents. You can use it to automate your everyday processes and make your day more productive.
You can use technology in almost every area of an insurance agency. You can use a customer management system to keep track of all of your customers. Or, you can implement automation software to cut out tedious manual processes in the insurance industry.
For example, Pathpoint uses automation to help agents find, quote, and bind E&S policies faster than traditional methods. Our instant quoting tool lets you get insurance quotes from multiple carriers in minutes.
Taking regular breaks during the day is one of the most important things you can do to improve your productivity. While it seems counterintuitive, scheduling breaks can help you stay fresh and alert while working.
Try to schedule breaks evenly throughout the day. Use your break time to get up and move around away from your desk.
For example, you might want to schedule a mid-afternoon break to take a walk around your neighborhood. You’ll come back to your desk feeling rejuvenated by the fresh air and movement.
Following up on leads quickly can help you stand out from competitors and get more sales. Aim to respond to phone leads within 2 hours to connect with prospects.
Be proactive when communicating with existing customers. Make a plan to regularly reach out to your current clients. A quick email or phone call can help resolve potential customer issues. You could even inform customers about new types of insurance. By doing so, you create satisfied clients and a positive customer experience.
Staying in contact with your team is essential for a successful remote office, too. Many work-from-home insurance agents use technology to keep their teams connected. Popular choices include project management software and communication software.
Communication tools like Slack make it easy for team members to send chat messages throughout the day. These tools work much better than email chains, which tend to get confusing after a few back-and-forth messages.
Laundry, dirty dishes, social media. There are a lot of distractions at your home. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to get rid of them all, but cutting out as many distractions as possible can help boost your productivity.
If you find yourself stopping work to complete chores, you may want to schedule time for your house chores. You could try giving yourself 30 minutes in the afternoon to dedicate to chores like folding laundry or vacuuming. Once your time is up, you go back to work.
If technology is the source of your distractions, consider downloading a productivity app for your phone or computer. These apps can block certain websites or apps for a set period. For example, you could set the app to block social media sites for two hours while you work on a task.
Working from home doesn’t have to mean dealing with productivity-draining distractions. Start using these above-mentioned productivity tips to stay focused.
