Does your agency have a formal process for selling commercial lines? The vast majority of agency owners and producers would have to answer "no" to this question!
Doesn't that really amaze you? All agencies instinctively know they should have a sales process. However, most simply let every producer have his/her own "method" (I call it HAWG--Hysterical Activity on the Way to the Grave) of pursuing new business. It's all about activities, not results.
In this article I will share with you the basics of the SOS--Solutions Oriented Selling--a process I teach at our Producer Training Camps, "The Producer Vertical Growth Experience." This process has helped our graduates achieve phenomenal results. The average graduate's closing ratio has increased by 69% and revenue per relationship by 71%!
The SOS process calls for a four-phase process:
Phase One--Referral Generation
As I shared with you in my first "Winning Strategies" article, I believe all producers should become ROPE producers. ROPE stands for Referral Only Production Explosion. Thus, the ultimate Phase One strategy is to fill up your prospect pipelines with referrals. How many? More than you can follow up on! My goal is to have twice as many TRLs (Targeted Referred Leads) and TARs (Trusted Advisor Referrals) coming due each month than you can follow up on.
Why? Businesses sell, merge, and go out of business. A contact can be fired, promoted, or take a new job elsewhere. Your insurance company market can (and will) change its appetite. The other great thing about this is that you'll automatically increase your closing ratio. You'll instinctively work on the best prospects first!
I'll share more specifics in future articles on my Reverse Referral Process.
Phase Two--Diagnostic and Relationship Survey Appointment
The goal of this "off-season" appointment is very clear: Super Qualify the prospect! During this interview, producers must determine whether the person is someone they want to invest any more of their time with. They must understand that time is their only diminishing asset as a producer. Where and how they use this time is crucial to their results.
During the actual interview, the producer should complete a specific "super-qualifying" questionnaire. We call this the DAQ--Diagnostic Appointment Questionnaire. This questionnaire attempts to determine the following:
1. Basic information about the prospect.
2. The relationship with the current agent and any special "value added" services the agent provides.
3. Any past problems on the account. These could be service, coverage or claims problems.
4. The "value system" of the prospect. We ask a simple question: "What do you value most in your current insurance program?"
5. The decision making process of the prospect.
6. The beginning "Rules of the Game." We are looking to determine what it will take to do business.
7. Market Assignment.
You will notice that I said this is an off-season appointment. I don't want your first appointment with the prospect to be 90 days prior to renewal. Why? Because, then you are just like everyone else. You have absolutely no chance to differentiate yourself from all the other "me too" competitors.
Once you have the prospect as a referral, you send the "Common Friend" letter (A common friend thought you and I should meet). Your goal is to get the prospect on the phone, begin the qualifying process and set the first appointment.
You'll say something like this: "At this point, neither of us knows whether the program we have for your type of business meets your needs. Nor do we know if you'll qualify for the strict underwriting guidelines this program demands. However, John Doe (person who referred you) thought you and I should meet. He tells me that you and your business are of the quality that this program demands. What I'd like to do is come out and meet with you for about 15 minutes. The purpose of the meeting will be to learn a little more about you and your business, determine the relationship you have with your current agent and any special services you receive from them; and share with you the basics of our program. At that point the two of us can decide if it makes sense to move forward."
If you would like to receive a sample copy of the DAQ we use during the PTC, simply e-mail me at sitkins@sitkins.com and we'll e-mail you a sample copy.
Phase Three--ProView: Professional Review and Risk Survey Appointment
The primary purpose of this appointment is total and complete data gathering and determination of the "Final Rules of the Game." This appointment is held approximately 90 days prior to the expiration date. The producer should utilize a standard data-gathering vehicle here, either PS-4 from AMS or Applied Systems Risk Survey tool. During this interview, you will know you are doing a good job when you hear your prospect say, "No one has ever asked me those questions before."
You are not allowed to use the original "ACORD" form (the yellow legal pad) as your data-gathering tool. Think about the image you present if you take copious notes on a yellow legal pad and copies of the prospect's policies. That is called apples-to-apples quoting. It not only reeks of price-only selling, it is unprofessional.
In addition to the data-gathering portion of this interview, you must determine exactly what it will take to write the account. You have to obtain the final rules of the game with the prospect. This includes the specific problems which need to be solved, the value added services the agency will provide, the agreed-upon targeted premium range, when you will present, the decision making process of the prospect, and an agreement not to share your work with other agencies.
Now you may be thinking: "Wow, that's a lot to do!" You're right; it is. However, if you are working on the right size accounts in the right crevice markets, this creates a firm contract with the prospect and dramatically increases your closing ratio!!
Phase Four--Presentation of Solutions and Best Options
Rule number one of presenting: You present first or last, never in the middle! I don't care which approach you take, just take one of them.
The goal of the appointment is simple: To open a new relationship.
What does your presentation include? It details exactly what you have done to solve the mutually agreed upon problems that existed on the account; the value added services your agency will provide; and how you meet all the "rules of the game."
We have a strategy we teach during our Producer Training Camp that is working wonders. It's called "Min Their Max." This stands for minimizing what others (your competition) maximize. Most agencies come back to see the prospect with a standard boilerplate proposal. It lists the buildings and contents coverages, the liability limits, the workers comp, payrolls and rates, the auto/truck fleet, etc.
How boring!! (Have you ever nodded off during a presentation you were giving?) Our approach to the prospect is: "Ms. Prospect, we have two documents to discuss today. The first is the standard boilerplate document you've probably seen before. This simply lists all your coverages and limits. It really is the easy part and most agencies have a software program that spits these out. The second document is our Presentation of Solutions and Best Options. It details the specific problems we agreed existed on your account, the solutions we've been able to develop, plus some options on how to implement these solutions. In addition, we'll show you the value added services we'll provide your account. Which one would you like to start with?"
Now think about any other agency working on this account. When they come in with the standard boilerplate proposal they are dead! Yes, we do call this "Setting Up the Competition."
That's the process: Referral Generation, Diagnostic, ProView, Presentation of Solutions and Best Options. The process is set up for producers to win "all" of the accounts they present. Seems unattainable to the average producer. However, when you consider the following it makes sense:
1. The system operates under the theory that "The Best Day to Lose a Sale is the First Day."
2. The producer works on Referrals Only.
3. No Practice Quoting is Allowed--If the Rules of the Game are not established, there is no quote given on the account.
4. Having Prospect Pipelines that are overflowing. The producer maintains WAP--walk away power.
5. SOS vs. POS--Solutions Oriented Selling, not Price Oriented Selling.
Will you experience a dramatic increase in your closing ratio if you follow this process? Absolutely! But you've got to run the "plays" (the winning strategies) as they are drawn up. Make the Four-Phase Sales Process "normal" in your agency and watch your sales skyrocket! *
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, while quantum leaping profitability. Sitkins is the inventor of The Vertical Growth Experience which calls for agencies and their producers to experience growth of 15% to 25% or more in the closing ratios, revenue per relationship, revenue per employee and operating profits. He can be reached at (800) 647-0966.
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