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The Top Processes to Produce Sales in an Agency by Billy R. Williams, Ph.D., President - Williams Family Agency Investment Group and Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring

 

Sales in an agency should not be based on expensive, gimmick based marketing processes, but basic, core, tried and true processes that deliver consistent and measurable results.

 

Lets start by reviewing the actual sales numbers of the partner agencies within the Williams Family Agency Investment Group. We currently have 26 partner agencies, 23 that produce P and C sales and 18 that produce Life Insurance.

 

From April 30, 2011 to May 1, 2012 the group produced 20,967 new policies or an average of 76 new P & C policies per agency, per month. (20,967/23 = 911, 911/12 = 76)

 

In that same time frame the group produced 1836 new Life Insurance Policies (Not all of our partner agencies produce Life Insurance sales) or an average of 8.5 Life Policies per month. (1836 policies/18 producing agencies = 102 per agency / 12 months = 8.5)

 

The key to our production can be summed up in two types of agency tasks - Automatic Tasks and Automated Tasks. Automatic for us means that when a specific situation or event occurs in the agency an automatic conversation or action occurs. These tasks are not optional for our staff, they are required and will lead to termination if not consistently adhered to. However we never fully rely on our staff's actions, so we put automated technology such as drip emails, text messaging, and on-line forms in place to guarantee that a tasks or conversation occurs even if the staff member drops the ball once in a while.

 

I know you don't have all day to read about my management principles so lets get to the meat of this Blog. Here are the processes that produced our sales. The top producing process is listed first and then followed by the actual production order based on sales volume.

 

Life Insurance Processes: Top 6 In–House Processes

1. Claims Process w/ Life Appt. Selection/Rejection Form

2. New Customer Process

3. Endorsement - Optional Coverage Form (Click here to see an example)

4. Orphaned Life Policies Beneficiary/Contingent Beneficiary Review

5. Life Quote Birthday Mailings and Emails w/ Follow up call

6. Customer Policy Reviews

 

Life Insurance Processes: Top 6 Outside of Agency Processes

1. Group Presentations

2. Aged Internet Leads

3. Pay Per Quote Campaigns

4. Mailings with Conference Call Option to Homeowners

5. Business Referral Partners (Realtors, CPA’s, Attorney’s)

6. Door Hangings

 

Auto and Home Processes: Top 8 Overall Processes

1. Outsourced Telemarketing

2. X-Date Re-Quote w/Pay Per Quote Campaign

3. Aged Internet Leads

4. Business Referral Partners (Realtors, New and Used Car Reps, Attorney’s, Charity Pay Per Quote)

5. Agency Referral Campaign

6. Endorsement Process - Optional Coverage Form

7. Live Birthday Calls to Prospects and Emergency Contacts

8. Home Owner X-Date Mailings w/ Pay per quote and Conference Call Option

 

Commercial Processes: Top 5 Overall Processes

1. Outsourced Telemarketing

2. Mailings to Businesses w/Pay Per Quote and Conference Call Option

3. Group Presentations and Conference Calls

4. Customer Policy Review X-Sells

5. Agency Referrals

 

If you are an Inspire a Nation member each of these processes should be familiar to you, but just in case you missed a couple of them, you can locate specific details about each process in the Inspire a Nation Video and Document Library, in addition we will go over the processes and this list on our Member Only Biweekly Training that occurs on 05/21/2012. See our website www.inspireanation.org for more details. If you are not a member you can see an overview of the processes on a FREE general public webinar presented by Inspire a Nation and Cole X-Dates on Thursday, May 24, 2012 at 1:00PM Central. Click here to register: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/677823602

It is crazy how many individuals and companies are misinterpreting the new FCC rules on auto-dialers, robo-calls, and text messaging, so let me clear some of this up for you!

 

The new rules:

 

1. Require prior express written consent for all auto-dialed or prerecorded telemarketing calls to wireless numbers and residential land lines even if you already have an established business relationship. (Telemarketing means a sales call).

 

2. A company can make a purely informational call (not sales) to a landline as long as the consumer's phone number is not DNC registered.

 

3. A company must have prior express written consent to make any business call, (telemarketing or purely informational) or send a text message to a consumer's wireless phone. (This is because consumers complained about unsolicited calls eating up their minutes, or they were being charged for the calls and text messages)

 

4. Express written consent can be received multiple ways including paper, e-signature, phone opt-in, and website submission.

 

Click below to see a form that we created and use in our partner and member agencies. This form can be emailed or used as a paper copy:

 

Click here to see our permission to contact form

 

5. Attend our free general public webinar where will explain even more info on the new 2012 FCC telemarketing rules. Click below to register

 

Register for the webinar by clicking on one of the dates below

 

Fri, Mar 16, 2012 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/967873298

 

Tue, Mar 20, 2012 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CDT https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/504412106

Here are the facts in 2012 before you take the short quiz below:
 
• It cost more money now to acquire and keep a customer than it did 3 years ago;
• Auto insurance customers have more companies actively seeking their business than in the past;
• Homeowner insurance customers have fewer companies competing for their business, and more underwriting guidelines to contend with
• Technology has made it easier for a prospect to shop for insurance
• Technology has made it easier for an agency to communicate with prospects and customers
• Captive carriers are terminating what they consider to be under performing agents
• The independent agencies are starting to see more production requirements imposed from companies they represent
 
So why are so many agencies still doing business the same way they were 5, 10, even 20 years ago? Don’t they realize that if they don’t start to adapt to the changing landscape they will become extinct? Last I heard the dinosaurs were the largest creatures to ever walk the earth, and I don’t see any of them around anymore, so the "we are too big to fail" excuse might not hold water.
 
Who is holding the agency hostage when it comes to adapting and changing the technology, conversations, and marketing you use in your agency?
 
• Is it the agent that goes to a workshop and hears great ideas and then sits on those ideas and never shares them with the staff members?
• Is it the staff member that refuses to change the way they are doing things?
• Is it lack of financial planning on the part of the agent and now there isn’t enough money to do what the big agencies do?
• Is it the overall culture of the agency to be content with minimum standards and minimum production
 
Here is a short quiz that will help you determine who (or whom) is holding the agency hostage: We will measure the number of yes answers.
 
Q1. Does the agency follow a daily tasks schedule or at a minimum set aside two hours per day to concentrate on "Green Time" tasks? (Green Time = tasks that produce sales or increases retention)
Q2. Does the agency use drip email to communicate with customers and to recycle prospects?
Q3. Does the agency run text message or cell phone marketing campaigns?
Q4. Does the agency use social networking campaigns to drive referrals?
Q5. Does the agency have at least 10 in-house and 10 outside of agency marketing processes working?
Q6. Does the agency have daily role play on processes and conversations that will help increase new sales, cross-sells, and up-sells?
Q7. Does the agency have local business referral partners and a customer referral program that is actually driving 8 – 10 new sales to the agency per month?
Q8. Has the agency doubled or tripled the geographic area that they normally market to in the last 3 years?
Q9. Has the agency doubled or tripled the amount of quotes it does monthly compared to 3 years ago?
Q10. Does the agency have a dedicated marketing assistant that understands and implements the 20 agency tasks a marketing assistant should be involved in?
 
 
Okay, let’s look at the results:
 
• 8 – 10 yes answers = The agency is doing a very good job! Keep it up
 
• 5- 7 yes answers = The agency is doing well, but could definitely improve. Usually at this point it is the staff that keeps the agency from adding any new processes
 
• 2 – 4 yes answers = The agency is not doing well and usually it is a combination of the agent not being actively involved in the growth of the agency, and staff not being committed to growing the agency. There is probably a complacency issue
 
• Under 2 yes answers = The agency is in trouble! If you are a captive agent you can rest assured you on the radar as an under performing agent. If you are an independent agency, you are missing out on the money you should be making.

So now I have identified the problem how can I help?
 
Visit our website at www.inspireanation.org
and check out the Agency Mentoring memberships and resources we can provide to you. We have helped 100’s of “ready to make a change” agencies take their agency to new heights.
 
Need more validation? Read some of our comments and testimonials: http://inspireanation.org/testimonials

 

1.      They understand that it is the discipline of working a process that makes it effective. An average process worked consistently is better than a great process that is barely worked
 
2.      They understand that insurance is a contact sport. If you and your team are not willing to regularly contact customers, prospects, local businesses, and individuals that refer prospects to you by using a variety of live outreach and automated contact tools, you will never be a winner in this profession
 
3.      They hire staff for their ability, not their availability. They hire staff that has the right mentality and personality for the position that they are filling
 
4.      They don’t let their personal issues, or the personal issues of the staff sidetrack the agency’s processes
 
5.      They set aside time to make sure the best people for making the agency money, have the time to do it
 
6.      They don’t “Step over Dollars to pick up Dimes.” They don’t jump at every opportunity to spend money that comes along, or spend too much time and effort on things that offer no value to the agency
 
7.      They don’t try to do it alone, they have a large referral source or multiple medium size referral sources made up of businesses and individuals
 
8.      They delegate and empower their staff to make important decisions
 
9.      They have a business savings plan or line of credit that allows them to have money available when a really good marketing or business opportunity presents itself
 
10.  They have defined data management processes that everyone in the agency adheres to
 
11.  The agency sales staff presents and clearly explains the coverage that will best protect a customer’s quality of life should a claim occur, even if it is not always the lowest cost option
 
12.  They have a mentor (or multiple mentors) that they use to help them make the best decisions to grow the agency
 
13.  They make sure that the agency utilizes modern, effective, efficient, technology that allows the staff to be more productive in the agency
 
14.  They don’t allow their ego, arrogance, insecurities, and emotions to get in the way of them making good business decisions. If they see these things getting in the way, they get the hell out of the way and delegate the decision to someone with clearer judgment.

One of the major problems we were having in our partner and member agencies was how to get staff to efficiently work the great processes we had created when and how we needed them to. I thought we had tried everything until one of our new staff members asked if there was a way we could put a process into her calendar on the exact day she needed to do it and list the specific tasks that needed to be accomplished?
 
I put my research team on this mission and they brought me back a tool that has not only changed how we are training our partner and member agencies, but in how I am creating the processes and attachments for Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring.

Smart Scheduler for Microsoft Outlook allows me to:

Save time by Calculating and Scheduling entire series of related appointments and tasks using templates… with no errors!

Implement and improve processes for standard projects by creating my own templates that reflects the way our organization works.

Easily and Accurately View, Recalculate and Reschedule ALL affected appointments and tasks when a follow up date or appointment changes.

Do all this INSIDE Outlook… Smart Schedules installs a few buttons inside Outlook so you can continue to work the same way you always have.

Resulting appointments and tasks synchronize to mobile devices through Outlook (Phones, IPads, BlackBerries, Android Phones etc)
 
If you don't use outlook and you are an Inspire a Nation member, you will still have access to all of the timelines and task list to all of the major processes we teach on the attachment tabs of the Video and Document Library. This will help simplify the implementation process in your agency!

Click here to learn more about Smart Scheduler for Microsoft Outlook

While we use this tool in insurance agencies, this tool can work in any business or company. In fact there are specific templates for attorneys and real estate agents
 
While you are on our site check out some of the vendors, wisdom, and insight that has propelled our company to become one the top insurance mentoring companies in the world.

The Annual Insurance Industry Vendors Review - Webinar/Conference Call

Thursday September 1, 2011 (1:00 PM EST, 12:00 PM CST, 11:00 AM MST, 10:00 AM PST)

Your agency has 3 months (September – November) to make the bulk of this year’s production!

On this free webinar/conference call we will walk through the list of recommended vendors that our research, real world use by our 23 partner agencies, and recommendations from our 100’s of member agents have revealed as the top vendors to use in over 17 different categories related to an insurance agency.

 

To attend the webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/526075842

To only attend by conference call: (773) 945-1011 - Access Code: 690-207-528

 

While this webinar is focused on insurance agencies, most of these tools can work in any business or company.

This is not a sales pitch webinar, but a no B.S. look at many of the top tools and vendors an insurance agency should have in place. No vendors will present on this webinar.

This is an unbiased look at the vendors. We will look at 17 categories including: agency management systems, lead management tools, internet lead companies, lists providers, social networking tools, text messaging tools, email tools, and more.

Join Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring as we reinforce and remind our current members of the tools they should have in place, but may have let slip through the cracks, or stopped using effectively.

In addition this is our time to introduce to our non members some of the wisdom and insight that has propelled our company to become one the top insurance mentoring companies in the world.

There are a lot of great vendors in the insurance space and if you are using a tool or vendor that is not on our list it doesn’t mean that they might not work for you, it means that we have not been exposed to them or they have denied our request to research them using our research methods and questions.

To attend the webinar: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/526075842

To only attend by conference call: (773) 945-1011 - Access Code: 690-207-528

The Birthday Contact Process - 200 years of proven marketing success 

 

Every agent wishes they could find THE magic marketing process. The one process that will keep new prospects flowing into the agency and current customers happy and referring their friends.

 

Ever since postage stamps were commissioned in the early 1800's, birthday mailings have been used to keep in touch with customers and prospects.

 

Technology has made it much easier and more affordable than ever for businesses to reach out to their customers and prospects in a variety of ways, postal mailing is no longer the only option, yet less than 5% of all agencies have a consistent birthday contact process.

 

Technology is also increasing the overall effectiveness of a personalized birthday contact process, especially with younger customers. Many customers are using on-line technology to shop for insurance, pay their bills, and make changes to their policy. A call from a live person on an important day like their birthday could be the only real human interaction some customers have with an insurance professional for years at a time.

 

As we all know, the more assets you acquire the more detailed the conversation becomes with those that help support and protect your assets. Having the birthday wish conversation could be the very reason they call you or your agency when they are ready to talk versus calling someone else.

 

If you talk to the top sales people from the last 50 years you will hear one common conversation: their best sales year was also the year they worked their birthday process the best.

 

From Zig Ziegler, to Tom Hopkins, to Joe Gerard (According to the Guinness Book of World Records he was the world’s #1 salesperson for 12 straight years) they all give credit to a consistent birthday contact process as one of the major tools in their marketing arsenal.

 

A good captive agency closes somewhere around 20% of their qualified prospects. Without a good birthday contact process the 80% that they don't close will only hear from the agency when it is time to try and sell them a policy, and that is only if they have a good re-quote process

 

A good independent agency has a close rate somewhere around 40%.  60% of their prospects walk out the door without a product.

 

A good birthday contact process gives the agency another opportunity to put their name in front of not only their current customers, but the prospects that they did not close.

 

Here are just a few of the benefits of a good birthday contact process:

 

—  Keeps your  agency’s name in front of a large audience of customers, prospects, and contacts

—   It’s a proactive, value based, out bound campaign

—   Shows your agency takes a personal interest in it's customers, prospects, and contacts

—   Shows your agency is efficient and organized

—   Helps SEO – many people Google you or your agency after they receive a birthday message

—   Is a comfortable call for the agent and/or staff to make

—   Can give the agency an emotional lift

—  If properly automated it usually has a tremendous ROI

—  Often the conversation leads to a quote or sales opportunity

  

 Now is the time to get your agency's birthday contact process in order!

 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

 

Current Inspire a Nation Members -The Birthday Contact Process video with training aids and attachments is posted in the Video and Document Library - Biweekly Training 08/08/11.

 

Starting 08/01/2011 a complete table of contents and access to the the Video and Document Library can be located on our new www.inspireanation.org website.

 

 

Non Members - You can purchase the Birthday Contact Process as a Pay Per Training Video. This is a great way to access individual training videos, job aids, scripts, step by step checklists, and more. www.inspireanation.org

 

This comprehensive training video teaches you how to make the Birthday Contact Process a marketing tool with a tremendous ROI. It teaches you the: benefits of the process, how to automate the process, how to manage birthday data, the best automated tools to use, the contact time lines, what scripts produce the best results, how to use it with social networking tools, and step by step screen captures that show you how to setup of an auto-dialer campaign, predictive dialer campaign (live call campaign), auto responder – drip email campaign, text message campaign and more.

 

Click here to purchase 'The Birthday Contact Process"

 

Only 50 Non-Inspire a Nation members will be allowed to purchase the Birthday Contact Process training, so order right away!

Effective marketing is pretty simple:

1.       Put your message in front of as many people as possible

2.       Build lists of prospects that are interested in you, your product, and/or your expertise

3.       Reach out to the lists regularly with timely, effective, problem solving information

4.       Reach out to as many people as possible on days that are important to them

5.       Use affordable automation to help you stay consistent with your keep in touch campaigns

My partner agencies and the majority of our member agents use a company called CallFire for automated dialing, so I will use their functionality to explain how to target each of the 5 marketing areas I mentioned above.

1.    Put your message in front of as many people as possible –

      A.      We use the predictive dialer functionality to prospect DNC scrubbed lists of prospects. You can have 1 or 100’s of telemarketers ready to speak live with a prospect.

      B.      We use the auto-dialer functionality to communicate important, non-solicitation, focused messages and announcements to current customers and opt-in prospects (Check the DNC laws of your state before using an automated dialer)

      C.      We also use “Press 1” campaigns to help us accomplish number two on our marketing list

2.  Build lists of prospects that are interested in you, your product, and/or your expertise -

  A.    Direct a press 1 campaign to a live person or to a CallFire IVR (message tree or hotline) that can be used to gather or give important information

  B.    Every time someone responds positively to your auto-dialer, predictive dialer, or press 1 campaign, that is one more person that you just added to your opt-in lists of potential customers

  C.    CallFire gives you the ability to easily schedule additional follow up campaigns from automated calls that were not answered, requested a callback, needed bi-lingual help, etc.

3.   Reach out to the lists regularly with timely, effective, problem solving information –

        A. If you have an agency newsletter, blog, facebook, etc., post information on it that helps a prospect solve or better understand a problem. We use automated dialers and text messages (OPT-IN ONLY!) to send a short message announcing new information we have posted.

4. Reach out to as many people as possible on days that are important to them –

         A. We create weekly phonebooks in CallFire (Yes, 52 phone books) and each week we run a birthday audit from our database and add the phone numbers into the correct phone book. Then we quickly send out an auto-dialer birthday message. We do the same thing for events like upcoming policy reviews, graduations, wedding anniversaries, etc.

5. Use affordable automation to help you stay consistent with your keep in touch campaigns –

         A. The more a person hears your consistent message the more credible you become. By using a low cost solution like an automated dialer program, you are able to keep a consistent “keep in touch” program operating. You will not benefit long term from a flash in the pan marketing campaign. Here is my rule of thumb when it comes to keep in touch programs

          1. Don’t send out information that has no real value to the prospect

          2. The first time they hear you or your message is an introduction, the second time they can say they know of you, the third time they start to become familiar with you, but it takes four or more times for the prospect to feel like they are developing a relationship with you.

Follow the tips that I have just provided to you when setting up your automated dialer campaigns and you will see an awesome ROI.

Billy Williams, Ph.D., is president of Inspire a Nation Business Mentoring and Williams Family Agency Inc.  The group currently has 23 member agencies and produces $360 Million in production annually.

He is an expert at helping insurance agents and agencies double or triple their current production using no cost conversations and processes, low cost, efficient, marketing and advertising platforms, and technology.