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Agency-Insurer Productivity
Integrity and reputation
Having best practices formally defined and rigidly adhered to is a calling card of the most successful agencies. Mediocre agencies have mediocre practices, and agencies in decline have declining and often unethical practices. Desperation and deception are sinister traits of our industry’s most ruthless members and often begin with fudging an industry code, under-reporting payroll and sales figures, or selling high-deductible/low-limit plans just to get the cheapest price. Knowing that these and other misdeeds eventually get discovered and reconciled, winning agents fiercely protect their integrity and reputation against all temptations. They know what you know: Your most powerful marketing tool is your honor.
The network and the referral base
I really, really, really, wish that cold-calling would stop. There is a reason that 100 million people are on the government’s do-not-call list. Cold calls are intrusive, annoying, and garner little but fruitless follow-up and nonproductive activity. Winning agents long ago recognized that cold-calling, direct mail, and generic marketing practices yield a dismal hit ratio and are woefully inefficient. They also know that those who do respond are usually pure price buyers, traumatized accounts, and non-payers. Winning agents rely on their network, centers of influence, and referral base to meet new pre-qualified prospects. Like any effective prospecting method these agencies use, their approach to referral harvesting and networking is strategic and structured, not random and haphazard.
Visibility and viability
In successful agencies, service plans and stewardship programs that target agreed-upon expectations are created and implemented for every client at the time of sale. These service initiatives are more comprehensive than a simple contact schedule that is used by many to “stay in front of the client.” While they recognize the importance of visibility, winning agents realize that viability is even more important. Rather than just visiting, dining, golfing, or gaming with the client, winning agents create a proactive service schedule designed to educate and positively influence the client. Knowing that risk management and loss control require proactive client education, these agents do not limit their initiatives to their large commercial clients but also reach out and touch their smallest personal lines accounts. These agents recognize that the easiest claim to manage is the one that never happens, and that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
I could write more about the traits found in successful agencies and add others to the list, but I think you get the point. Price is certainly a factor; however, it is only one of many variables that clients and prospects consider. In our industry, as in others, you still get what you pay for; and you, the agent, will be only as successful as your clients allow you to be. If you focus on price alone, you will attract those who buy on price alone. If you sell value, you will attract clients who will value you and stay with you. Keep doing the best you can with what you have to offer and stay focused on continuous improvement. That is how the very best agencies got where they are and stay where they are, in spite of the ever-changing market. *
The author
Scott Primiano is the founding partner of Polestar Performance Programs, Inc., an industry leader in agency and carrier management training and consulting programs (www.gopolestar.com). He is the author of the industry bestseller “Hard Market Selling—Thriving In the New Insurance Era,” and is nationally recognized for his inspiring and effective approach to producer and underwriter professional development.
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