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Power training Agents suit up for sales success at The Sitkins Group's new high-tech training center By Elisabeth Boone, CPCU When you’re ready to get in shape, physically, mentally, or professionally, you want to sign on with a coach who has the smarts and the heart to drive you to your peak performance. That’s exactly what was in store for 12 independent agents who attended a recent fast-paced, two-day session of The Sitkins Group’s Sales Mastery™ program at the group’s new training facility in Fort Myers, Florida. Housed in what once was a doctors’ building that had sustained heavy hurricane damage, the gleaming new center is a hub of high-tech activity, including special rooms fitted with closed-circuit TV and digital recording gear for role-playing exercises. As always “Coach” Roger Sitkins serves up his patented blend of edgy humor and from-the-gut challenges, liberally laced with what in Sitkins-speak are known as BFOs: Blinding Flashes of the Obvious. Sitkins is assisted by Coach Larry Linne, who joined The Sitkins Group last year after successful careers in pro football and the independent agency business (see sidebar later in this article). “In golf, there’s the easy course and the tough course,” Sitkins says. “When you play a new course and then go back and play your home course, that’s the easy course. Here you’re playing the tough course.” As the events of the two-day session unfold, Sitkins isn’t exaggerating. Like a challenging golf match or a high-intensity workout, the Sales Mastery program is tough, demanding, sometimes frustrating, and ultimately rewarding. Calling the program’s goals ambitious is an understatement. “The ultimate goal is for the producers to double their books of business in three years,” Sitkins says. Difficult? Definitely. Attainable? Judge for yourself. “The first group had a 106% increase in their books of business and a 111% increase in their average revenue per client,” Sitkins says matter-of-factly. To participate in Sales Mastery, agents must apply for admission and meet the program’s qualifications. Agents must be graduates of Sitkins’ Producer Training Camp. They undertake a three-year commitment to Sales Mastery, which means attending one two-day live training session and one online session each year. Each agent is issued a thick binder at the program’s first session, and—you guessed it—there’s a ton of homework. Ambitious agenda This is the second of three live training sessions for this Sales Mastery class, and the theme is “Income2 Challenge.” The ambitious agenda begins with Progress Reports, in which each attendee outlines what he or she has done to meet specific goals set at the previous meeting, when the agents developed their Personal Improvement Plans. “Sales Mastery team members hold each other accountable,” Sitkins says. And they deliver; everyone’s prepared with facts, figures, problems encountered, solutions attempted, successes achieved. As the agents share their experiences, Sitkins listens intently, cheers good results, suggests improvements, and asks penetrating follow-up questions. In the Sales Mastery program, as in all of The Sitkins Group’s coaching and training initiatives, “it’s not about numbers; it’s about behaviors,” Sitkins says. One behavior he promotes tirelessly is Relationship Deposits: the things agents do to strengthen their relationships with clients. From a warm gesture at a time of personal loss to an all-out effort to support a client’s favorite charity, these “deposits” build trust and confidence that last. “In your best relationships, insurance is the last thing you talk about,” Sitkins says. “In your worst relationships, insurance is the first or only thing you talk about.” It doesn’t matter how long a client has been with you, he cautions. “Don’t ever assume your best clients won’t leave; don’t take them for granted,” he urges. Playing the role A Sitkins mantra is “No Practice Quoting,” and a corollary is “Low-Risk Practice.” These themes are hit throughout this Sales Mastery session, along with a focus on what Sitkins calls Relentless Preparation. The idea is to develop, practice, and refine your presentation before meeting with a prospect so you can make mistakes in front of a friendly audience of your peers instead of in the boardroom of a big prospect. The Sitkins Group’s new training center was designed with Low-Risk Practice in mind. The facility features three pairs of rooms, with one of each pair for role-playing and the other for listening. Several times throughout this two-day Sales Mastery session, the agents are divided into smaller groups and sent to these rooms to practice skills like making presentations and asking for referrals from clients and centers of influence. The dozen agents assembled here are top players, and even the youngest members of the group look confident and prosperous. Once the first role-playing session begins, however, even the most assured attendees start looking more like eighth graders at their first dance. Two agents are sent to the “conference room,” a small room with a round table and chairs, each with an assigned role. One participant, for example, plays the agent, while the other takes the part of the prospect. The other agents sit in a room across the hall that’s equipped with closed-circuit television and digital recording equipment. At a signal from Sitkins or Linne, the “agent” starts making a presentation to the “prospect” while their colleagues and coach observe them on TV in the other room. The coach and observers make notes on the “performance,” and when it’s finished, the two role players join the others for a critique. The “audience” doesn’t miss a trick. Amid good-natured joshing and red-faced acknowledgment of goofs, the “performers” hear helpful suggestions from both agents and coach. “I counted sixteen ‘uh’s,” one observer comments. (Another loser is the ubiquitous “ya know.”) Added another: “You told the prospect ‘We have a simple process.’ That made it sound like what you do is no big deal.” A common mistake is to keep on talking after you’ve made your point. “Be short and direct,” Linne advises. “The more you talk, the less the prospect remembers.” More caveats: Beware of asking closed-end questions, mentioning the competition, failing to get the prospect’s commitment to take the next step. Be assertive and confident. And perhaps most important, Sitkins says, “Expect the unexpected.” Plenty of comments are positive: “The prospect totally threw you a curve, and you really handled it well;” or “You did a nice job of telling the center of influence exactly the kind of prospect you were looking for.” The role players hear comments not only on the words they said but also on their posture and body language. Slumping, fidgeting, looking away, and the cardinal sin—glancing at your watch—as unimportant as these and other unconscious behaviors may seem, can detract from an otherwise smooth and competent presentation. The process continues as two more agents are sent into the conference room with a new “script,” and the drill is repeated until everyone has had a chance to play a role. As the session winds down, each participant is handed the observers’ handwritten comments plus a DVD of his or her performance: a “training tape” to take home and study with an eye toward improvement. With a lot more Low-Risk Practice, it’s virtually certain that the next time he or she faces the same situation, the agent will be ready with a more polished presentation. A key goal of Relentless Preparation, Sitkins tells the agents, is to develop a powerful presentation and feel confident and at ease delivering it. His acronym for this desirable state is CAC: Conversational and Comfortable. Capabilities Presentation A segment on how to prepare a Capabilities Presentation for a prospect is led by Larry Linne. He describes the threefold objective of the presentation: to position the producer as a trusted adviser like the prospect’s attorney, CPA, or banker; to qualify the prospect as one with whom the agency can work harmoniously and productively; and to move the process to the next meeting. “A trusted adviser,” Sitkins interjects, “is someone you call before you do something, not after. You want your client to call you before embarking on an acquisition, opening a new plant, or offering a new product or service.” “This is where you give the prospect compelling reasons to do business with your agency,” Linne explains. “‘How’ is the critical part: how we do business and how it applies to the prospect. The idea is to differentiate yourself from your competitors.” The Capabilities Presentation is a vital step in the Sales Mastery process, but it’s not the final one, Linne cautions. “Producers tend to look ahead to closing and getting the money,” he observes. “You need to stay in the moment. Focus on telling the prospect why you are here versus the end result.” In presenting your agency’s capabilities, Sitkins says, it’s not necessary—or wise—to speak unfavorably about the competition or the incumbent agent. A more effective technique, he suggests, is to ask what he calls “spear questions” to make points and obtain useful input. “A spear question is designed to cause pain,” Sitkins asserts. “For example, ask the prospect: ‘What kind of disaster recovery plan do you have in place?’” The idea is to indirectly cause the prospect discomfort about his or her current risk management and insurance plan—and about the agency that designed it. Once you’ve qualified the prospect and secured a commitment to move ahead, Linne tells the agents, the next step is to conduct a needs analysis workshop to identify the prospect’s exposures, analyze current coverages, and gather the information your agency will need to develop a comprehensive plan of risk management, insurance, and services. Speaking of services, Sitkins makes a distinction between the buzz phrase “value-added services” and what he calls “client-valued services.” The former, he observes, are services the agency thinks its clients want; the latter are services the client expressly says it wants. A “power tool” Sitkins recommends is an “evidence binder” that includes testimonial letters from clients, trade journal articles of interest to the prospect, and an annual business interruption worksheet. In meeting with the prospect to present the final plan, Linne says, “Review the plan, page by page, with the prospect. At the end of the meeting, take the plan binder back and say, ‘If you and I do business in the future, this will be our plan.’ Don’t let the prospect keep the binder for any reason. Ask the prospect: ‘How and when will you make your decision? Is there anything I can do to help you decide?’” Delivering the goods Once the prospect has accepted the plan, the next phase is what Sitkins calls “installation”—that is, policy delivery. “At the A and B levels, deliver all policies personally,” he tells the agents. “Present a complete calendar that shows the client everything your agency will be doing for him during the coming year. Execute the ‘service handoff:’ bring along your account manager and introduce him or her to the client as the first point of contact for service. Review your services checklist; have you offered employee benefits and VIP personal lines coverages? Force the cross-sell. “The ultimate goal,” Sitkins declares, “is to obtain and retain full-time clients. Tell the client your goal is to create a long-term relationship and to earn membership in his or her trusted adviser team. Ask the client the ‘continuation question:’ ‘Over the next year, what do I have to do to guarantee that you’ll continue our relationship?’” Wrap up This two-day “live” session of Sales Mastery wraps up with the agents sharing what they’ve learned and how they plan to use their new knowledge to boost their sales performance and results. The agents will return to their offices loaded with homework: their role-playing performances and comments to review, and their Personal Improvement Plans to implement before the next Sales Mastery session, which will be conducted online. In between sessions, they’ll be talking with Linne, Sitkins, and other members of the coaching staff, and with each other. *
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