Give your producers the resources they need to start hunting with an insurance agency growth strategy built from effective sales training for organic growth. Today.
We have spent time articulating how to “Get a Grip” on your sales process so that you can create a sales trajectory coming out of the pandemic over the next 90 Days and learn how to grow an insurance agency during the second step.
Now we shift our focus to the second step: Building Momentum. The definition of momentum is the quantity of motion of a moving body, measured as a product of its mass and velocity. For some firms, momentum is working against you, and others are flourishing because they are taking the necessary proactive steps to improve their sales process. Those that currently have a solid sales structure and effective insurance agency growth strategy are taking time to revisit items that are often neglected during the times of “high cotton.”
Building momentum must be deliberate; no matter the size of your team! That focus must contain a strategy around the following key areas to be successful in the sales process:
People Development
- Incentivize. Create opportunities for your team to help each other. Increase the revenue sharing splits on commission. Seasoned producers need to be heavily engaged and available.
- Role Play. Do this for all opportunities that your team is actively working on.
- Over-coach. Make sure you have crystal clear line-of-sight so they are prepared for each situation.
- Train. Set-up weekly sales training and calibrate as a team to enhance their skills- especially on communication to C-suite executives.
Leadership & Professional Development
- Encourage activities that elevate business acumen across all levels of your firm. For producers newer to the role or business, establish team learning forums such as book reviews. Find suggestions here. Have them leverage other tools such as podcasts or business articles such as Ted Talks, Insurance Journal, Wall Street Journal, and Success Magazine. Have more senior producers identify speaking engagements and participate in industry groups which can create opportunities to learn best practices.
- Dedicate efforts for time management, client communications training to better articulate the financial impact of decisions to their clients/ process, and online classes to improve in “gap” areas.
Performance Management
- Build quantitative and qualitative impact metrics and track weekly activity focused on
- Calls, Voicemails, Virtual Appointments, Social Media Engagements, Webinars
- Complete tracking sheets and submit to sales leadership weekly.
- Schedule 15-30 minute “Go-Getter” calls mid-week and to share strategies and content that are working.
- Capture client sentiment on interactions through simple feedback loops after an interaction
- Gather Peer feedback
Reinforcement Strategies
Creating a consistent environment to reinforce the importance and review of development and performance management will build momentum for the 90- day strategy. It must be collectively agreed upon and the team needs to be held accountable. Some examples include:
- Weekly Sales Huddles
- Set a minimum of one hour a week with your sales team to discuss:
- Top 10 Prospects
- How are they connecting with the prospect or Center of Influence?
- Roleplay – even the most experienced benefit from feedback
- Set Next Steps:
- Who is attending the virtual meeting with the producer?
- What is the agenda?
- Are clear next steps identified?
- Stewardship Report Huddles – Take this opportunity to ensure you’re meeting all the needs of your client – and document them. If you’re not reminding them right now of what to be prepared for, someone else will! In addition to that, what have you done for them in the last twelve months? REMIND THEM.
- Recognition – across the spectrum within any firm, acknowledging effort and impact sets the tone for the strategy and expectations.
- Be consistent
- Keep in simple
- Make it fun
- Set a minimum of one hour a week with your sales team to discuss:
After you construct a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Timely) plan around these key building blocks, here’s what to consider next:
- Do you have a clear picture of your firm’s goals? Do you have a shared vision of those goals within your organization? Does each producer clearly understand how their role contributes to achieving that goal? This picture of success has to be communicated specifically and reinforced frequently, in sales team and 1:1 producer meetings, to build confidence that the goal is achievable.
- Are you driving the right activity? What is the first thing the team should focus on? Be patient with the results as your team learns to shift gears in the process.
- Fine-tune your value proposition. Can representatives of your firm clearly articulate what makes your organization “different” and “better” than your competition.
Be excited to build this momentum WITH your team using effective insurance agency growth strategies and sharpening your leadership talents to create a stronger team. Now is the time to be inclusive and focus on creating a strong sustainable sales environment that will assist you in hitting your 2020 organic growth targets.
If you have questions about Today’s ViewPoint, or would like to learn more about driving your sales pipeline, please email or call Frank Cox, Vice President, at 616.426.8522.
As we keep our eyes firmly focused on the industry and actions within it, we are eager to know what you are experiencing. Take a quick 3-minute MarshBerry Pulse survey to help us gauge the industry’s response and outlook as the country moves towards “open for business” from the anticipated loosening of stay-at-home orders.
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