Grow Up! How To Maximize Revenue Growth And Profitability

Vertical vs. wide growth

[T]rue agency strength comes not from how many

clients you have, but how well you serve the right ones.

By Kari Glennon

Not all growth is equal, particularly when revenue growth is involved. Increasingly, we have deep concerns about how independent insurance agencies are adding new revenue. The problem is that many agencies are “growing wide,” expanding their base primarily with smaller accounts. This is not the type of revenue growth you want. Sure, it’s an easy way to add accounts; but as I’ll discuss, it’s neither a sustainable nor profitable way to grow revenue.

The pitfalls of growing wide

You can’t have meaningful growth by expanding your bottom tier of business. When account managers and producers spend their time churning and burning smaller transactions, they lose the capacity to actively service their larger, more profitable accounts. The time and effort required to service disparate, typically low-revenue clients is a huge resource drain.

Other dangers of adding smaller, marginally profitable accounts include:

• Commodity-based selling. When you win by the dollar, you lose by the dollar. Attempting to sell on quotes diminishes what you bring to the table. It reduces your position as a trusted advisor to that of just another vendor. If you’re not selling based on value, you’re no different from any other commodity broker out there.
• Staff strain and eroded profits. The best clients are those who seek your expertise and guidance. Team members who focus on transactions instead of relationships become generalists rather than specialists who manage risk and help control their clients’ costs. This is not only a disservice to clients, but also to team members. Prioritizing account volume over quality clients ultimately leads to burnout.
• Lower client retention. Clients acquired without a clear fit are more likely to churn. The only way to grow vertically is to truly understand your Future Ideal Client (FIC) profile. You must commit to pursuing only that profile and not get distracted by the smaller accounts that are much easier to write.
• Increased risk. There’s always a greater chance of errors and omissions on bottom-tier accounts due to lack of specialization. That’s because generalists don’t have the expertise to recognize the kinds of risks specific to certain businesses. Without a specialist’s deep knowledge, risk not covered by a basic Business Owner’s Policy (BOP) is easy to overlook. Insufficient or inappropriate coverage makes the client’s business more vulnerable and puts you as an insurance professional at risk.
• Brand dilution. You can’t stand out from your competitors when your focus is too broad or undefined. Further, this lack of differentiation limits the number and quality of referrals you receive. Unless you have an identifiable brand, you’re unlikely to generate the targeted referrals you need for meaningful growth.

The power of growing vertically

When agencies grow vertically, they target and pursue larger, rather complex organizations. Typically, they have more moving parts—various divisions and a significant number of employees—than most businesses. Dealing with these organizations is very much relationship-based, not quote-based. They expect you to prove to them how you will not only safeguard their operation, but also how you will help enhance it. The key is to earn their trust.

• Building relationships. Becoming an indispensable advisor to a select group of clients requires a complete understanding of what they do and how they do it. This knowledge allows you to expand your wallet share. By that, I mean you’re discussing with them the coverages they can and should have, while also identifying potential coverage needs. This gives you the opportunity to present a plan custom built for their organization, and not just the standard BOP.

For example, let’s say they have a standard general liability (GL) policy that includes a bit of cyber coverage. But they also have multiple locations and process credit cards, so they have access to a lot of personal information from customers. Is their existing GL coverage sufficient to cover a cyber breach? Based on dollar revenue, how badly might a breach hurt their business? How would it affect their reputation? In that case, a trusted advisor should recommend additional insurance options to protect their client’s best interests.

• Specialization and expertise. Never underestimate the power of possessing in-depth knowledge about specific industries or client types. When you speak the client’s language, it builds confidence and trust, which deepens the relationship. When they trust you and respect your expertise, they typically are more open to the guidance you provide. Does that mean they will always take your advice and write every single policy you offer them? Of course not! But they are likely to add to their existing coverage sooner than later.
• Key benefits. When you grow vertically, you eliminate unprofitable accounts that are being sustained by the profitable accounts. This creates capacity of time for both sales and service to address the needs of the clients you really want vs. those that keep you stuck on the transactional hamster wheel. What’s more, as you become known as the go-to specialist for a particular business segment or niche, you enhance your personal and agency brands.

This has numerous benefits, including:

• Enhanced profitability due to higher retention, better closing ratios and increased average premium per client
• Operational efficiency. Streamlined processes, specialized staff training, targeted carrier relationships
• Better brand and referrals. Being recognized as the go-to expert in a niche leads to organic growth. This is not a quote experience; it’s about building relationships. And as you probably know, you are more apt to earn top-shelf referrals from your top-shelf clients
• Improved client experience

The ideal client

It’s fine for sales leaders to target FICs by looking at demographics. But defining and identifying your ideal client goes beyond things like company size, geographic area, number of employees and SIC codes. At the end of the day, the decision maker is a human being. With this in mind, I believe you should be looking at three things: the head, the heart and the hands.

• Head: What does this person think about every day? In their role with the agency, what is on their mind and how can we help them with the issues that weigh on them?
• Heart: What do they care about? What are they passionate about in their organization? What can we do to understand those things and help them protect what’s important to them?
• Hands: What do they do every day? What value-added services, resources and strategies can we add to make them more effective and make their job easier?

When you look beyond the demographics and truly understand the essence of your FICs, you have the ability to make genuine deposits with your clients and FICs. This gives you more opportunities to build relationships with existing clients and appeal to the decision makers in your sales process. The stronger and deeper the relationship, the more trust and wallet share you’ll enjoy. This helps you, your agency and your client.