Do you remember the Wizard of Oz? In that childhood classic The Tin Man laments how things would be different if'he only had a heart. The Scarecrow wants a brain, and The Cowardly Lion wants courage. Do you recall what happened when Dorothy and her little buddies peaked behind the curtain in Emerald City and saw the great Wizard of Oz?

Each lovable character came to realize they had the very thing they wanted most within themselves they just couldn't see it. What does this wonderful story have to do with you? There a lot of parallels.

When I was a little girl I kind of liked the Wizard of Oz and I kind of didn't like it because it was so very scary. Remember how the terrible tornado rips Dorothy and Toto from her loving family. Remember those horrific flying monkeys and that venomous Wicked Witch? As a child these things were scary to me because I felt helpless over what would happen next, and I didn't understand a lot of what was happening. I watched it several times as I grew up before I even realized it was all just a bad dream.

As an insurance producer you lament if'I only had leads. You know you can't sell unless you have people to talk to. You're frustrated as to how to get those people to talk to so you do things like buy leads lists, and then you're even more frustrated when you're able to convert no more than a tiny few of those leads. In the process you've burned through a lot of good prospects who will now never work with you because of the bad first impression you've made.

As an insurance producer you have to muster up a lot of courage to do the things you do. You have courage or you would never have entered the industry, and you wouldn't be in the industry now without courage. However, your courage will strengthen and you'll need to use it far less when you change the way you secure your leads and how you treat them.

This is where you're brain comes in to play. You are a very intelligent person. Even though you may be acting like the bewildered little girl I was when watching the Wizard of Oz. The best and only way to develop a highly profitable leads list is to build it yourself. Having your own highly proprietary leads list is your most valuable asset.

This is pretty easy to do once you know who you want on your list. From that point you simply develop a way for those people to connect with you, and then you give them what they want. It really is that easy and it will cost very little to develop a list of people who will buy from you in comparison to a purchased list of worthless leads.

You got into the insurance industry because of your heart. You know what you do is very important to your clients and their future. So why would you or do you ever treat them in a manipulative or coercive way? The way you treat people from the first connection determines the outcome of of your efforts.

After all, isn't your main objective to discover who really needs you and what they need? This requires you use both your heart and your brain. Your heart is what drives you to learn about your prospect and understand what's happening with them. Your brain takes what they've told you and helps you to help them see a better future.

It doesn't take much courage to behave in way that benefits someone else. It doesn't take much courage to treat others with kindness, respect, and dignity. But when you treat your prospects with kindness, respect and dignity you earn a position of trust and you increase sales because your heart, brain, and courage are working together to serve both you and your prospects in a way that opens a good relationship.

So how do you use your brain to build that highly proprietary leads list? First, clearly identify who you want to work with in as much detail as you can possibly come up with. Do your homework and learn more about these prospects than you know now, and make sure you know the top three things they're having problems with or want. Provide useful information to them for free in exchange for their contact information.

Use this information as your opening in all your marketing efforts. As people ask for the information you build your list. Continue to build your list forever. Make sure your using your heart when you make your initial contact so you start right to end right.

This may sound like a lot of work to you especially if you don't specifically know how to do these things. You're smart enough to know in both your brain and your heart you can't buy this as a prepackaged deal and have it work out all that well for you. You can work with someone like a coach who can help you do these things specifically for your business based on what you want to accomplish and then get a payoff from that work forever. What are your heart and your brain telling you to do now? Do you have the courage to take that action? If you did would you save more time and money than your investing now in the things that don't work?