Every agent we visit on our consultations claim to be a well-trained insurance professional, more concerned with the well-being of his clients than anything else. We describe ourselves as insurance advisors and consultants. Yet, in practice we still jump over the cliff like lemmings every time a prospect offers to share their information to allow us to quote their coverage.
In our lucid periods we may even analyze his existing coverage and his risk needs to find gaps that we can fill to point out weaknesses in his current insurance program. But, more than likely, we quote his existing coverage hoping to find a lower price and become his agent (until someone aces us out with a lower price in the future).
Like an alcoholic, we sometimes hate ourselves for the very actions that we are prone to take to become financially successful. But we continue the downward spiral until we can’t take it any longer – then we sell our agencies to someone else and retire.
We see many agents who perpetuate and retire because they can no longer stomach the things they feel they must do to placate the marketplace and to pay their bills. We may be financially successful but few departing agents feel fulfilled and satisfied that they have done the very best quality work as an agent for their clients, for their employees and for themselves.
Don’t Continue To Do What Doesn’t Work
Some water skiers, when they lose their balance and have gone down, keep holding the rope hoping that they can recover and continue their run. Others recognize that their best result would come from letting go without enduring further pain of being dragged through the water. When you’ve been in the water for many years and have had spotty or minimal referrals and declining sales perhaps it’s time to let go of the tow rope and learn a new way to water ski.
Instead of ‘shot-gunning’ your efforts in every direction possible, a change in your methodology to one that worked well in the past, combined with 21st Century marketing could be your answer – and your salvation – if you have the internal fortitude to commit to the change.
An Example of Service Success Fulfilling a Need
Like other companies in other service industries, there are examples of how to actually HELP people through knowledge-based services. Weight Watchers© is one such company.
A company like Weight Watchers© doesn’t make its money on their diet concept. That can be bought and studied from a book for $25- it’s truly only common sense eating. They make their money because millions of people know that they need constant reinforcement to keep from falling back on the habits that made them fat to begin with. So they come to weekly meetings and shell out $15 or more per week to be encouraged to do the right thing to lose weight and keep it off.
What Do Agents Have That Can Differentiate Them From Their Competition?
Let’s face it – YOU SELL PROTECTION AGAINST FINANCIAL LOSS – that’s all!
And the only thing that makes you stand out is your knowledge. Without that knowledge you are simply selling Fords and Chevrolets against Hondas and Nissans. Since your knowledge is your only stock in trade, you must begin selling your PROFESSIONALISM against Flo’s insurance in a box and the gecko’s prices. As soon as you talk about price more than a sideline (i.e. “of course we will get you the lowest price we can…”) you have degraded your own professionalism. Concentrate on identifying their need and filling it. Of course price is important – to everyone including you and me – but no one asks their surgeon for a price quote because they trust the doctor to cure them and it’s their very lives they are protecting. In your case, while price is important, you must convince your customers that protecting their assets and financial well-being involves much more than the price of the base product.
The competitors claim that all insurance is the same. You must show clients that insurance can cost consumers dearly if all they consider is price without the details that will assure them protection from loss. While the competitors try to ‘dumb down’ this complex issue, you must market the differences that, while subtle, could result in financial ruin if the wrong selection is made. Like a doctor, the insurance client must view you as the ‘trusted professional’.
How Do You Change Your Agency From Price-Driven to Value-Driven?
Focus Marketing instead of Shot-Gun Marketing – You cannot be all things to all people as you form relationships. You MUST concentrate on your strengths (product strengths, industry strengths, carrier strengths) when establishing relationships that create new customers. After you convert a new customer, you should analyze all of his assets to provide the proper protection for EVERY asset risk, not just insuring one part of the customer’s asset risk. But the beginning of every relationship is based on YOUR EXPERTISE matched with the customer’s need.
Familiarity Does Not Breed Contempt – It Breeds Customers!
Long term marketing campaigns trumps individual sales efforts – You want to become “familiar” with all your prospects. In order to do that, they must know who you are and what you do that would benefit them. If you are target marketing it must be done consistently several times each year for several years with personal follow ups to get all of your prospects to know you and trust you sufficiently to move from their current insurance provider. Remember, inertia is a great force, even though it’s passive.
A marketing campaign is NOT a single letter or contact (of any kind). It is a system established to get the prospect to know you. They will only “trust” you once they know you personally, so use the marketing campaign as a lead in to personal visits. Personal visits have diminished to the point that those agents making them are, again, differentiating themselves from the phone callers and emailers who clog the prospects’ inboxes.
How Can You Change Your Agency?
Agency Consulting Group, Inc. has created systems, services and products that will permit those agents who are committed to change to implement that change in their agencies.
The Asset Protection Model of Relationship Selling – teaches you and your staff how to convert from Price-Driven to Value-Driven including monitoring of sales and service activities after the training to assure you don’t fall back on the familiar methods that didn’t work well in the past.
USA Insurance Network – Provides you with over 700 Specialty Programs including Featured Programs that populate your website and gives you the tools to market and sell to new customers throughout your territory (link to www.usainsurancenetwork.com for more information).
Active Marketing Programs can be established that will
a) identify the prospects for any specialty program you choose to market
b) create a multi-dimensional, multi-year marketing campaign that touches every prospect as many as five times/year
c) gives you prospects to visit coincidental with each marketing campaign segment.
It all starts with a GPP Analysis, our baseline consultation that determines the suitability of an agency for these programs and provides recommendations for the enhanced Growth, Productivity, and Profitability of the target agency. This personal visit will analyze every aspect of your agency’s operation with recommendations for your personal, private use in determining your future course of action. Should you change? Should you acquire? Should you merge? Should you sell? Should you retire? Don’t make these kinds of decisions without expert outside advice dedicated to meeting your needs and fulfilling your personal goals. Call us at 800 779 2430 (email al@agencyconsulting.com ) for more information or to discuss your agency’s individual situation.