Congratulations on another year in the insurance industry! Did you thrive or barely survive in 2015? If you want better results in 2016 than here are 3 things you must do.

Now 2015 should have started with an analysis of your baseline revenue. Then you should have set some quantifiable goals for yourself. Finally, you should have evaluated your performance relative to these goals.

Did you do that? If the answer is yes, then you can stop reading this and go read The Challenge Sale. Because you already know where I'm going with this which puts you on the path to sales enlightenment!

If you didn't do that this year then I've got good news and bad news. The good news is you're not the only producer who didn't set sales goals for themselves.

The bad news is SHAME ON YOU. Really. You're an adult and you have responsibilities to your family, yourself, and your agency. Get organized and take this amazing career opportunity seriously.

Here are what top producers are going to do to win new business in 2016:

1) What you did in 2015

At a minimum know your net commissions. Other great data points to consider are:

New commissions
# of accounts quoted
# of accounts written
The "how?"

This data can tell you your Closing Ratio, revenue per policy, and will be your baseline for next year.

The "how?" answers the question "how did you get this business?" or "who called who?"

Lost commissions
# of lost accounts
The "why?"

This tells us churn & revenue per lost account.

The "why?" tells us why they left. This is very important because many producers make excuses for why they're losing business to avoid the reality.

By addressing this reality of "why?" you have the ability to change the future.

2) Where you want to go in 2016

At a minimum set a net commissions goal. If you want to be strategic, then also set goals for:

New commissions
# of accounts quoted
Closing Ratio
Retention Ratio

3) How you will get there

If you want a different outcome from 2015 then you need to change your behaviors. I've given you plenty of ideas this year.

If you don't have the resources and need your hand held then reach out to a top consultant.

If you need motivation read Joel Osteen's new book, The Power of I Am. Basically it's positive thinking to empower yourself.

Combine that with Darren Hardy's The Compound Effect on repetition and you've got a New York Times Bestselling road map to success.

And this comes with a guarantee.

The guarantee is if you choose not to change. It's like Roger Sitkins says:

IF YOU ALWAYS DO WHAT YOU ALWAYS DID, YOU'LL ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU ALWAYS GOT

-R