|
Boosting Sales Efficiency Alabama agency grows 35% in one year Here’s how Weaver Insurance Group did it By Michael Jans
Terry Young, president of Weaver Insurance Group in Birmingham, Alabama, boosted his agency revenue by 35%. I’ve seen more. You probably have too. But for a one million dollar agency, an extra $350,000 is nothing to sneeze at. Especially when it only cost $10,000 to get it. Of course, we all know that “cost” is the wrong word. When it comes to marketing, it doesn’t “cost” anything. We don’t “spend” money. We invest it. And when you market the way Terry does, you get it all back. So, I suppose you could say he only “made” an extra $340,000(!)—and got back his original $10,000. Then again, if he keeps these clients eight or nine years, how many millions did he really make? If you’re like me, you love to hear about agents’ success. But what really gets our juices going is discovering why some agents are breaking through traditional agency growth barriers. And, of course, then we try to figure out which “success practices” we can copy in our own business. Although Terry has been a client of mine for a little over a year, I only met him in person nine months ago. Because I really didn’t know which marketing strategies he had used to achieve his success, I turned the tables on him a few weeks ago. Instead of answering others’ questions, I spent 90 minutes peppering Terry with questions. I’m going to share the results of my “fishing expedition” with you here because I think we could all learn something from Terry’s approach to making money. I discovered nine behaviors and characteristics that I think made last year Terry’s best year ever. 1. “No excuses” mindset. It’s natural for some people to think that successful agents must have some “unfair advantage.” They must be better educated, better looking, from a rich family, a better agency—whatever. Terry negates those excuses. Rich family? Terry’s dad was a mechanic. Lots of family support? Yes, until he was orphaned at 17. Better educated? Well, he finished high school on his own, working and feeding himself. But there was no time for college. Better agency? If that’s true, it’s only because he helped start it 22 years ago. Terry had no secret advantage … that he didn’t find within himself. 2. Complete control of time. Over the years, I’ve observed that a common element among successful agents (and entrepreneurs in all industries) is that they’re obsessively focused on control of their time. I believe this is because they recognize how little of it there is, and how quickly “outside forces” will control it for them. Terry said, “… The thing that helped me the most this year was getting control of my time.” We recommend to our clients that they audit their time for one week each quarter. Terry decided to audit his time for 60 straight days(!)—literally tracking every activity by 30-minute “chunks” and determining what could be delegated or eliminated. What I discovered during my 90-minute interview with Terry is that this “maximum execution” is “typical execution” for Terry. 3. “Training Junkie” mindset. I’ve seen Terry at 8-10 days of training seminars throughout the last nine months. I’ve always seen him in the first row, scrupulously taking notes in his journal. His personal philosophy seems to be “how to get the most from every opportunity.” That’s probably why he’s volunteered to teach hour-long sessions at two seminars lately. He knows that the trainer always learns the most. He also participated in a competitive “agent vs. agent” contest this year— because he knows that “what gets measured gets done, and what gets measured and reported gets done the best.” 4. Change in agency philosophy. In the past year, a breakthrough for Terry was changing the agency philosophy from “constantly struggling with the battle to hire producers—and get them to make calls—to creating systems to get the phone to ring.” He discovered that the latter approach was not only more profitable, but it was easier. Many agents struggle to change their agency from a passive culture to a sales culture. Terry pushed his agency to an even rarer transition: from a sales to a marketing culture. If marketing, as some say, is “the quickest route to the sale,” Terry wanted to position his agency as the place the marketplace would flock to—pre-qualified, pre-motivated and pre-interested. 5. Super-fast implementation. When the marketing bug bit Terry, he got to work quickly. He started with what he called “the easy stuff.” Three quick campaigns to get testimonials from existing clients, to get referrals from existing clients, and a year-long e-mail campaign to nurture existing relationships. We’ve all seen “good ideas die on the vine”—and agencies suffer in the face of a mountain of untapped strategies, secrets and shortcuts to success. Terry made a commitment to put his new strategies into action. Quickly. 6. Niche marketing. While niche marketing wasn’t a new idea to Terry, his last year’s diligent application of the principles led to tremendous success. He took the time to create a year-long targeted mailing campaign comprised of different monthly mailings, different envelopes and different offers. (How’s that for a sharp contrast to the thousands of agents who know they “should” do more marketing but never get around to drafting the first letter to their niche market?) Was it successful? “We sent, in eight to nine months, about 3,000 pieces. We received 93 calls as of last month, and we’ve written $110,000 in commission.” (And let’s not forget the renewal income!) 7. Doing your “marketing math.” Did Terry hit the “marketing home run” with all of his pieces? No. But he knew which ones did and which ones didn’t. That information is the magic ingredient in high-impact marketing. “After the fourth or fifth piece, things started to slow down. So we stopped and … and tested different things. It became more successful again …” so he expanded it to adjacent states. His advice on marketing: “Run the numbers, every month. When you know what works and what doesn’t, you’re always in control.” 8. Building marketing momentum. Terry added the underwriters and marketing reps for his top five carriers to his marketing mailing list. He wanted them to know they were serious marketers, and he wanted to know they were experts in certain classes. Does he get special attention in the underwriting process? Yes. And now, carriers approach Terry with new program business before they go to his competition. Why? Because they know that he can make the phones ring—and turn their product into clients. 9. Robot marketing. Terry likes to put technology to work for him in his marketing campaigns. Some of his marketing drives prospects to “800” hotlines. That way, his prospects can get more information on a 24-hour basis. And they can call a number without the “threat” of being confronted by a salesperson. For example, on one of his hotlines, he offers a special report for some of his prospects called “How You Can Survive the 10 Critical Steps of a Workers’ Comp Audit.” After reading that report, Terry’s agency quickly becomes the logical and preferred provider. Do hotlines work? One of his campaigns got 186 calls to his hotline. He also uses ZIPDRIP automatic e-mail marketing that allows him to reach thousands of customers and qualified prospects. Does that work for him? Enough to convince him to set up 30 different (and very active) accounts for existing customers and target market prospects. Some agencies struggle. Others thrive. What’s the difference between them? It’s rarely the absence of strategies. It’s rarely the absence of opportunities. The world is awash in great information about effective marketing. And opportunities abound. (Remember, Terry could have given up when he was orphaned at 17. Instead, he saw the opportunities that life presented.) If you want this year to be your best year ever, do what Terry did. Get hungry for great ideas. Study them until they become part of you. And implement, implement, implement. Terry had his failures. And each one made him smarter. To receive a free copy of a one-hour interview between Michael Jans and Terry Young, call the IPS office at (888) 738-5789 and press any extension. * The author |
||
|
