Whatever we do in our lives, there are always certain people we feel we can depend on for support. Doing a walk for charity? Sure, a good chunk of your friends list on Facebook will probably donate. Your kid's having a school fundraiser? Yea, your parents, brothers and sisters are going to help him sell out of wrapping paper or raw cookie dough. Whatever you need. But, if you've noticed that biggest supporters of your insurance agency ARE NOT your friends or your family, don't worry. You're not alone.
Below, one of our fearless leaders in The Soup shares a story about just WHY strangers are probably going to support you in your business endeavors more than the people closest to you. It's more common than you might think. Check it out!
"I figured I would share this thought in here since the story is getting laughs elsewhere on the interwebs right now.
Why won't some of your friends and family do business with you? It's because they know you.
And sometimes, that doesn't serve you well.
In 7th grade I met up with some friends at Brady Park in Massapequa to play some basketball and manhunt. Was a usual afterschool deal a couple times a week back then. We all rode our bikes to the park and would lock our bikes up while we played ball. While there, my friend Andrew was showing off a brand new lock he got for his bicycle.
Andrew's new bike lock was NOT all that impressive to my friend Tom.
Tom was an honor student and went on to become a surgeon in the Navy. He worked on victims of the Boston Marathon, did 2 stints in Afghanistan, and has been based in Tokyo and other areas over the years. We were even in a Magnet program for the gifted and talented together from 4th grade to 6 grade. Very bright guy.
Tom, in an effort to show Andrew how stupid his bike lock was, LOCKED HIS OWN HEAD TO THE BIKE RACK to show us how easy it was to get out of.
And he couldn't get out.
The 10-12 of us that were there then took turns the next 3 hours kicking him in the ass while leaving his stupid head locked to the bike rack.
And because of this, I will never allow him to operate on me.
You have friends and family that know these stories about you. You're the dum dum that they have that dum dum story about. You think they're going to trust you with their most important assets?
Don't take it personal when family and friends pass you up for insurance. For starters, they're helping you dodge a bullet in many cases. But also, their knowledge of you runs too deep to take you seriously as a professional.
They've seen you fart and burp at the same time right before puking in a waste paper basket in your underwear.
They know how much you drink.
They know that maybe you werent the most loyal guy or gal in your relationships at some point.
And you expect them to want to do business with you?
Leave business to the people who dont know you. They're going to like and trust you more in MANY cases."