Why Aren’t We Growing As We Planned?

My daily conversations with agents and brokers center on the marketplace and how to write more business. Every day another report or survey is released on consumer buying preferences. First consumers are buying more frequently from the internet and then the majority wants to do business with an independent agent or broker. You can go crazy reading the different articles and deciding who if anybody is correct.

These articles might help by spotting trends as well as offering statistical and demographic information. Unfortunately you have no way of knowing how much of what is being written is accurate and how much is perception or self-serving information. You can’t and shouldn’t rely primarily on this information.

Only you are in a position to know what is happening in your marketing area with the consumers you are targeting. Independent agents and brokers must take the bull by the horns and move rapidly to aggressively gain market share. With that in mind a well thought out agency marketing plan, monitored and reviewed regularly is critical for successful growth.

Here are some of the questions you might consider in developing your marketing plan:

• Who is your ideal prospect for personal and commercial insurance?
• What are their buying preferences?
• Does your agency sell primarily on price or do you believe in coverage based relationship selling?
• How are you going to train and assist your staff in locating and writing the prospects you want to write?

You and every member of your staff should know the answers to these questions. They should constantly be on every person’s mind as they work on achieving their goals as well as the agency’s overall goals.

As previously mentioned the articles and surveys you read provide some information on buying preferences for various groups of consumers. The best source of specific information about your potential client in your marketing area is your own agency. What is your hit ratio on new business? How many suspects does it take to get to a sale? What are the objections your staff is hearing and are they being successful overcoming them? How successful has your staff been in convincing prospects of the value of consultative sales and service over price shopping? Are prospects not even considering your agency for coverage and why? How can you overcome this?

I hope you can see from the discussion so far that creating a well thought out agency marketing plan that is monitored, reviewed regularly and adjusted when necessary is critical for successful growth. It’s also extremely important that your staff is well trained in sales and comfortable with your marketing philosophy and plan.

To be effective it is important that your agency have regular sales meetings where they share information and develop ways to handle issues and be more successful. Every agency needs a brief, well thought out value proposition that communicates the value you offer consumers and why that makes your services desirable. It should convey what makes you stand out or what you do differently from other methods of providing coverage. Each and every one of your staff should know the value proposition, believe it and live it in their day-today dealings with clients and prospects.

Effective agency marketing and sales takes a lot of preparation, training and follow- up. Monitoring and reviewing your agency’s success in achieving your goals is critical. It’s very possible after reviewing your goals you may have to make some adjustments or provide some additional training to get you back on track with your marketing plan.

Successful agency sales and growth takes a serious commitment of time and resources. It may require handling customer inquiries during off hours. It may also require using social media to get your agency’s name and expertise in front of existing and prospective clients. You may also find some of the staff designated to make sales is uncomfortable and/or ineffective at achieving their individual goal. This problem should not and cannot be ignored. You need to decide whether it can be rectified with additional training and support or whether you will need to realign that person’s duties if possible.

Is your agency operating without a well thought out value proposition and/or marketing plan? Do you fail to frequently review your sales efforts and make adjustments when necessary? Are you asking your staff to meet sales objectives without proper training and support? Are you unwilling to provide the necessary time, training and resources in the sales process to guarantee success?

If you answered yes to one or more of these questions don’t be surprised if you fail to meet your agency’s growth goal. The current marketplace is highly competitive and consumers are more demanding than ever before. Price has become the only differentiator and decider in the mind of many consumers and you and your staff need to change that perception. If you’re operating without a marketing plan, not reviewing your progress and failing to train and support your sales staff your chances of being successful in achieving your growth goals are slim to none. Even if you do experience some success the stress you will place on your sales staff will be evident.

Highly productive agencies work as a team, focused on their goals and supported by the agency owners and management. When everyone is committed to the goal they support each other’s efforts creating a very positive and happy workplace.