You will be challenged by this fast-paced conversation between Mike and his special guest, Nick Hejna, who serves as Executive Vice President and National Sales Leader for AssuredPartners, one of the largest and fastest growing insurance brokers in the U.S. Mike has tremendous respect for Nick as someone who not only gets sales leadership at the highest level, but who also preaches and demonstrates the importance of sales process on a daily basis. In Part 1 of this interview, Nick and Mike discuss… Why focus is critical for a successful new business development focused sales attack That specialists often sell exponentially more than generalists The reality that it takes more activity to build a book of business than most new producers grasp and why managers must hold people accountable for opportunity creation and activity against target accounts How the “pushing the snowball up the hill” pays huge dividends once you reach the peak and have momentum and gravity on your side Creating hunger and reducing complacency with smart compensation plans that reward developing net new business more than babysitting and renewing existing clients Nick also shares the three non-negotiables he sees in every top-producer: They Own Their Calendar They Deploy a Compelling Sales Story They’re Laser Focused on the Pipeline (and target accounts)   Books mentioned in this episode: New Sales. Simplified.  by Mike Weinberg Inked by Jeb Blount