WINNING STRATEGIES
Daring new behaviors and attitudes are required
to reach the pinnacle of success
By Roger Sitkins
As I mentioned in Part One (September issue), I have always assumed that every agency owner wants to build and have a great agency. Why would anyone want to have an "OK" agency that is achieving only average results and not providing true financial freedom to the owners and key team members?
If developing a GREAT AGENCY appeals to you, read on....
I've been accumulating a list of things that, based upon my over 24 years of agency performance coaching, help create a great agency. Compare your agency's operations to this second set of traits from the great agencies and look for some immediate improvements you can make.
Let's review them:
CEO Involvement in Sales. Clearly the best agencies are absolutely sales driven and it starts at the top! The senior management in great agencies stay actively involved in sales and sales-related activities. The CEOs in these agencies not only are great "Rain Makers," but they actually phone prospects prior to a producer's presentation. They let the prospect know that the agency really wants his or her business and that they believe the prospect will be very pleased with what the producer will be presenting.
These CEOs also will go on joint calls with the producer, both on new and renewal business. Every year, they'll also personally visit each of the agency's "A" accounts. These are the top 5% of the accounts that are most likely developing 50% of the gross commission income.
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" in the Sales Involvement of your CEO and senior management?
Sales Management. I simply cannot understand how an agency can say that it is a great sales organization without naming an "Offensive Coordinator." The reality is that less than 10% of independent insurance agencies have an effective sales manager in place.
The job of the sales manager can be summarized as the person in charge of recruiting, selecting, hiring, training, motivating, monitoring and firing of producers. This is the person who guarantees that the producers are executing the agency's sales strategies and constantly increasing their closing ratio, revenue per relationship, gross commission income and retention.
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" in Sales Management?
Non-Optional Behaviors. An ongoing problem I see in agencies is the lack of a total cultural buy-in to those behaviors which guarantee success. As I have mentioned many times in the past, your "numbers" are the result of your behaviors. Whatever your results become, they are a direct reflection of the behaviors or habits that are normal within the agency.
We help our members of The Sitkins 100TM identify specific Non-Optional Behaviors for both their sales and service staff. In fact, these actually become part of an annual performance agreement between the staff member and the agency. The agency's expectations of the employee are clearly identified and documented, which makes management much easier.
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" at identifying and managing the Non-Optional Behaviors that literally guarantee success?
Strong Division Between Sales and Service. I call this the SHO--Service Hand Off. It truly is one of the most important things an agency must do if it wants to be great. In fact, of our Sales Ten Great PlaysTM, the SHO is number one. You must make a strong division for your staff between sales and service functions. The producers must have time to devote 80% of their time to sales, relationship management, referral generation and renewals (we call renewals "Continuations"; we don't believe you renew accounts; rather, you continue relationships).
Our studies have found that the average producer spends only about 20% of his or her time in the above-mentioned activities and 80% in service-related items.
Sales people should sell, and service people should service. The great agencies constantly reinforce this division.
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" in the Division Between Sales and Service?
Retention and Long-term Client Relationships. First of all, great agencies realize very clearly that their most profitable account is a long-term relationship. They actually tell their clients up front that they want to have them as a client for life. They ask their clients, "What will it take to make you a client for life?"
One of the main focus points in the great agencies is retention. Yes, they are sales driven, but a "continuation" is a sale! They do everything they can to get clients and KEEP clients. At policy delivery they ask, "What has to happen over the next 12 months for you to guarantee me that we will continue our relationship again next year?"
Their goal is to make every account "Deep and Wide." Wide means they have the account totally cross-sold. Deep means they have relationships at as many levels as possible.
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" in Retention and Long-term Client Relationships?
Constantly Raising the Bar. One of my great personal joys is working with agencies that "really get it" and are constantly taking themselves to the next level. They are constantly looking to raise the bar on their accomplishments. What used to be great is now normal and they are looking for the next "great."
For instance, some of our members have taken their revenue per employee from $100,000 to over $150,000 and are now looking at $200,000-plus.
Another great example of this is the average gross commission on your producer's book of business. For years the industry average hovered around $250,000 gross commission income on the producer's book of business. Agency owners used to say, "If we could just get them to $500,000 I'd be happy." Now, in working with agencies, we have dramatically raised the bar and are looking to develop $750,000 and $1,000,000-plus producers. Why stop at the old bar?
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" at Constantly Raising the Bar?
Total Cross-selling. I know, you've heard it all before; you should round out every account. Well, many talk about it and few do it! Great agencies have a formal system and process in place that guarantees that every account has the opportunity to become a rounded-out account. One of the keys to the great profit levels in the great agencies is their ability to constantly increase their revenue per relationship. They do this by making sure they don't leave a single insurance dollar on the table.
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" at Total Cross-selling?
Referral Generation. This is one of my favorite topics. Great agencies not only know how to generate referrals; more important, they know how to earn a referral. They know how to make the relationship deposits that lead to referrals.
Their producers have become ROPE (Referral Only Production Explosion) sales people. They will work only on referrals. Period. They have a constant flow of referrals from their current clients and their COIN (Center of Influence Network).
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" at Referral Generation?
Walk Away Power. Great agencies and their producers have total Walk Away Power (WAP). They realize that the best day to lose the sale is the first day. This ability to walk away is driven not only by "No Practice Quoting," but the fact that they've always got something better to do. They have prospect pipelines that are overflowing. So, if their gut tells them to get out, they run. No unpaid consulting!
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" at having Walk Away Power?
Working On The Agency Versus In The Agency. Great agencies have a true commitment to working "on" their business. They have standard time slots set up to work on the agency and its future plans, not always going to the office and reacting to the "incoming arrows."
Our best members have committed anywhere from one half day a week to a full day a week working on their business. They don't even go to the office on those days!
How about you and your agency; are you "Great" at Working On Your Agency?
In these two issues I have offered some of the best traits I see in Great Agencies. How does your agency match up against the traits? What improvements can you make? Do you have a passion for creating a Great Agency?
As always, it's your choice! *
The author
Roger Sitkins is the president of Sitkins Group, Inc., of Fort Myers, Florida. Sitkins Group has provided services to more than 2,000 independent insurance agencies, helping them to "force vertical growth" in their sales and marketing arenas. Sitkins Group offers a variety of training programs, including a Producer Training Camp--a one-year sales training program--and a CEO Training Camp.