Yoav Anatian was born in Israel and moved here when he was 11 years old, when his father decided to open a law service company in the U.S. Growing up, he did stand-up comedy and his friends always told him he’d do great in sales. And that’s just what he did.
Six years ago, he got started in the insurance business working, first as a telemarketer and then as a licensed sales agent. Yoav and his friend decided to start an agency as partners, doing things a little differently.
“A lot has changed in the insurance industry over the past five years,” Yoav says. “The world has changed so much, but most agency owners are doing things the old way. I wanted to sell insurance more efficiently.”
Yoav and his partner named their agency Capital and Co., and they work with aggregators and big carriers like Nationwide, Progressive, Safeco, Kemper Alliance, and most companies that insure high-risk clients.
“I’m focusing more on auto and high-risk auto,” Yoav explains, “but we have a complete commercial department as well. We do everything except health and life.”
Yoav has hired a bunch of hungry producers and they are in the stages of finalizing a lease on an office. Everyone’s working remotely for now, but soon they’ll all be under one roof. He may be training some of them with shared leads soon, but for now, he or one of his top closers are the only ones using SmartFinancial leads.
“I love SmartFinancial leads and working with Normalee, my Account Manager,” Yoav says. “I found out about SmartFinancial through another agent, Chad Lutweiler. I’d tried other lead vendors in the past, but they weren’t like these leads. I used to dial, dial, dial but I didn’t get the same results that I do now.”
Yoav says that the most important factor that determines success is attitude. “With leads you’ve got to be motivated. I just called and closed a lead I got from SmartFinancial in August.” It seems Yoav’s recipe for success works because from leads he’s made $40,000 in premiums since he started working with SmartFinancial three months ago.
“The first lead I got I closed,” Yoav remembers. “They’re not all like that, but the quality has always been good. I try to make 200 phone calls a day, so SmartFinancial supplies my bread and butter. They’ve built up my business.”
6 Golden TIps from Yoav Anatian on How to Work Leads
1. You have to have an understanding of your leads. You have to be flashy upfront and get their attention.
2. You have to answer all their questions. If there’s a problem you have to fix it, and you need to do that with the right attitude.
3. Consistency is important. The prospect will talk to three other agents at least. They won’t remember you unless you take meticulous notes and call them every day. Send a text, email and voicemail. It’ll eventually have a snowball effect. The more you call them, the more policies you’ll close.
4. You need to be determined. If you sound like a sour puss you won’t get everything. As much as the guy in Wolf of Wall Street is a jerk, his Straight Line Theory works on these types of leads. It comes down to attitude and tonality. It really will help you close if you’re sharp.
5. There will be days when you don’t close anything, just keep on going.
6. Agencies are built on leads. They always have and they always will be. Build rapport with an Account Manager who will work with you, and just keep calling. You will have success.
