Customers don’t make major buying decisions in one meeting.

Sure, it can happen. Sometimes the value is so obvious or the need is so great that a client says “Will you be my agent?” at the first meeting. But that’s not the normal case. And nor should it be in most situations.

As an insurance agency whose goal is to be an advisor for your clients and bring improved business solutions, it’s in your best interest to take the systematic approach to developing that relationship.

If you want your clients to call you while they are contemplating a decision rather than after they’ve already made a decision, then you need to establish yourself as an advisor.  This means someone who listens, understands the client’s value proposition and organizational operations, and can think logically through a variety of options and offer an opinion, or advice as the name advisor implies.

Vendors

If you try to push this relationship to a quick answer, you don’t have the time to clearly demonstrate the value of doing business with you and establishing a base level of trust. Without this, the client is forced to make a buying decision on things that do not lend themselves to a long, quality relationship.

Perhaps that fast, pushed decision gets made on price or a quick connection between the rep and the buyer. These reasons make for a weak bond between the new client company and the agency.

• If the client buys from you based on price, then when someone else offers to get them a lower price, they will compare your services to the new offer based on price.
• If the client buys from you based on a friendly relationship, then when someone else comes along with whom they establish a rapport, they’ll compare your relationship to that of the new one.

Advisors

However, slowing down and taking the time to develop your relationship and clearly showing the client the value they will get when working with you, will yield very different results.  Take the prospect through your systematic process of assessing their needs (which means a lot of listening) and making recommendations on how they can improve their current situation. Then the listening, advice, and results they receive from following that advice will be what they use as an evaluation against any competitors who come knocking.

Pipeline

Keep in mind that the only way you can develop these kinds of prospect-turned-client relationships is if you have the time and motivation to make it happen. By this, I mean you need to have a full pipeline of quality prospects you are taking through the same process.

It’s only with a full pipeline that you can have the confidence that the best method is allowing the relationship to develop.

When your pipeline is empty, there’s a desperation that sets in to write any business that comes along. This is when you feel the need to push the client to get the business as quickly as possible before the opportunity slips away.

Slowing down the process and demonstrating your value will take longer to write the business initially, but the relationship will be much stronger as a result. And retaining the business will take on a whole new look and feel – it’s a significant decision to fire a business partner. It’s an easy decision to replace a vendor.

Photo by Jeff Attaway.

@wendykeneipp

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Hi everyone -

This week we’re in San Diego spending a few days with our members at our BGNLive conference and networking session.

We have been head down preparing for the conference and won’t have any new postings this week. However, we’d love it if you followed along with the happenings as we share them on Twitter – we’ll be using the hashtag #BGNLive.

Even if you’re not a Twitter user, you can follow too! See the left side-bar of the blog – we’ll be replacing Kevin’s feed with the #BGNLive feed.

Want to know what we’re talking about? Here’s a look at the agenda:

• Marketing | Communicating business model & value offering
• Prospecting | Consistently filling the pipeline
• Sales Process | Teaching clients a new way to buy; Tailor the message; Control the process
• Accountability | Delivering what we promise
• Client Experience | Organizational structure & capabilities

Next week we’ll be sharing some wrap-up articles from the conference. Have a great week!

@wendykeneipp

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I’ve never been quite sure why I hate it so much. I love good food, and I enjoy cooking good food. I’ve never been able to figure out the disconnect between the food and the shopping.

We’ve got a great grocery store here that I’ve enjoyed more than any other. They have awesome customer service, a great meat department, and consistently fantastic produce. After making the commitment to shop there, despite higher prices, I actually started hating shopping a little less.

Then after many years of begging, pleading, and generally whining as a community, we got a Trader Joe’s. Now, I’m going to admit – I didn’t get it. I didn’t realize exactly what it was and thought it was a specialty shop that would have to become another stop on the dreaded shopping trips.

I gave it a try and to my surprise came to realize that they are a full grocery store. And I actually liked it! TJ’s quickly became my go-to store even though they are across town from me, and I have to go past a handful of other stores to get there.

But why?? I still didn’t know, but I knew that it worked for me.

I was talking with my mom about this recently and she very clearly knew the answer – they don’t overwhelm you with choices. If you want baking soda, you buy the one baking soda offered on the shelf. Period. If you want canned corn, you pick up the one available can.

See, they’ve done the hard work for you. They know what basic items you need and they find the best provider to deliver you the best solution. You simply have to go collect it.

They don’t overwhelm you with 10 different kinds and brands of corn. Every decision in a typical grocery store is actually an entire series of decisions…just to make one. 

While it may seem like a good idea to let people know about the laundry list of offerings you have and then “let them choose”, it’s just overwhelming and often leads to a non-decision. Sticking with what they’ve got – even if it’s not working all that well – is better than having to wade through the piles of options and educate themselves about your business and offerings in order to make the best decision.

Remember – the client is hiring you to be the expert. They expect and WANT you to play that role. Do the research, do the vetting, and provide them with the best solution to solve their need. If you make them do the work to make the choice, you’re no longer the expert or a trusted business advisor – you’re simply a vendor.

Next time you’re going to present your plan offering to your prospect, do the Trader Joe’s test:

“Am I being the expert and offering the best solution that will improve their business? Or am I simply compiling available options, not taking a stand on any one, and leaving the prospect with the job of research and decision-making?”

Photo by manwithface.

@wendykeneipp

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As a sales leader in your organization, one of the most critical functions you perform is to help young producers learn and refine their sales skills.  And, yes, selling is a skill, not a personality trait. 

Sure, there is a lot to be said for how personality influences a person’s ability to sell, but personality alone is just a start.  It’s like most other things - you may be born with the potential, but to realize that potential takes a lot of hard work and practice. 

So, as that sales leader, it’s critical for you to understand how to help your team realize their potential and become the most effective salesperson their potential allows.

There are four critical steps.

Tell

An effective sales process is one that can be replicated.  I don’t mean that it is cookie cutter, but it does need to be one in which there are clearly identified steps.  Take the time to explain:

• each step in detail,
• what it is meant to accomplish,
• and (most importantly) WHY it is necessary.

(As you think about your process, if you don’t have clearly defined steps in the process, I encourage you to rethink how you have your people selling.)

Show

As the teacher in this process, it is critical for you to demonstrate for your student how to execute the sales process.  This is the first step in moving beyond theory and putting the process into practice.  And, since no two sales situations are the same, it is important that you show them the process in various settings.   Show them in the safe environment of the office and then show them how it works in front of a prospect.

Watch

Now it’s their turn.  You watching them practice is the only way you will be able to offer them the constructive criticism that is necessary for them to get it right.  It is important that they are allowed the time to build their confidence.  Watch them execute in the safety of the office, but also go along to watch them perform in front of a real prospect.  Not only will it allow for that constructive criticism afterwards, they will be more confident for having you along.

Allow

Follow the first three steps and you will know for sure when they are ready to go out and perform on their own.  However, to truly stay sharp, you need to take them back to the previous steps from time to time. Going through this process with experienced producers offers a few important opportunities:

• make sure that bad habits don’t slip in
• start introducing additional sales skills
• continue refining them into more and more effective salespeople

As you read this, I hope that it all seems obvious.  All too often the middle two steps are skipped because we think of an ability to sell as more of a personality trait than a skill set.  Therefore, we simply tell them what to do, and then send them out in the field to perform.

To be able to follow this formula, two things have to happen.

1. You have to develop a well-defined and repeatable sales process.
2. As the sales leader, you have to develop the skill yourself to effectively execute the middle two steps.

There’s an old saying that those who can, do, and those who can’t, teach.  If you’re skipping the two middle steps, this likely describes you.  Commit to all four steps and you become one of the most valuable resources in your organization.

Photo by wooleywonderworks.

@kevintrokey

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Have you ever thought about how exhausting it is to be mediocre?  That may seem like a crazy question at first.  After all, almost by definition, doesn't mediocre mean that you are putting forth very little effort?  And shouldn’t less of an effort require less energy to be exerted?

Well, I guess if you are talking about pure physical effort, then maybe mediocrity is easier.  But, as I look at it, total effort is only about 20% physical and 80% mental.  It’s the mental exhaustion that comes with mediocrity that is truly exhausting.

In sales, mediocre prospecting makes every prospect you do have irrationally important.

You become so worried about not making them upset in some way that you leave no opportunity to truly impress them.  You become so afraid of losing the prospect that you cede control of the sales process to the prospect.  Trying to direct a process without maintaining control is going to suck the energy right out of you, leaving you totally exhausted.  Trying to control 5 prospects who are all wandering in different directions is significantly more exhausting than you controlling 20 whom you are directing down a single path – yours.  I don’t mean identical solutions for each, but I do mean an identical process.

Mediocre service leaves you no margin for error.

Mediocre service only means that you are capable of reacting to situations your clients throw at you.  By the time they throw it your way, they are upset and expect something to be done immediately.  And, even when you hit that expectation, you don’t really get any credit because doing so actually is their minimum expectation of you.  How exhausting is it to have countless clients who may be throwing you something urgent at any moment knowing you have to catch every single one?  Instead, take control.

On your terms, proactively deal with the issues that eventually result in client problems.  They will be much more appreciative of you preventing problems than they are of you fixing them.

Mediocre leaders only stay a single step ahead of their team and exhaust the entire team in the process.

Remaining one step ahead may be fine for some of the tactical issues, but it’s insufficient for hitting strategic goals/objectives.  Now, compare that to a leader who paints an extremely clear picture of where the team is going, where they will be 5 steps from now, how they will get there, and the contributions expected from each team member.  When every step is perceived as the destination, you operate in constant panic mode and it feels like you run the race countless times over. 

However, when the course is laid out in front of us, we can run the race with more confidence.  A confidence that leads to a much more comfortable pace, one that is much less exhausting.

Yes, mediocrity is exhausting for everyone.

If you are a mediocre performer, the stress that comes with knowing you’re likely to be outperformed at any moment is exhausting.  The stress that comes with knowing your mediocre performance leaves no margin for error is overwhelming.  The stress that comes from not ever being able to take control will wear you out. 

And, if you are on the receiving end, the frustration that comes with mediocrity is just as exhausting.  After all, it will always require more effort on your part to work with someone who is simply adequate. 

Not only is it less exhausting to be excellent, excellence actually generates its own energy.

Just look around you at someone who is consistently excellent.  I would just about guarantee that you will also find someone who consistently has more energy for what he/she does.  Don’t fool yourself, its not the energy that creates the excellence, it’s the excellence that creates the energy.

Photo by Evil Erin.

@kevintrokey

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I was fortunate to spend some time with Jeff Peterson of Peterson McGregor recently in the agency’s hometown of Traverse City, Michigan.  It’s one of the truly beautiful places on Earth.  In addition to its physical beauty, it is an area of extreme honesty.

Jeff was explaining that one of the first things he noticed when he moved there from Florida was the unmanned cherry stands.  He explained that the owners place the quarts of cherries at the roadside stand along a paybox.  The whole exchange is done entirely on the honor system.  The system works.  When the farmer comes back, he is sure to find the paybox along with payment for any cherries that have been taken. 

Think of this blog post as one of those roadside stands.

Hopefully you understand the power of questions in the sales process as you look to connect with prospects/clients.  Several good friends of mine have agreed to share some of their favorite questions they use when talking with these business owners.

Mark Lacher, Partner with Lacher & Associates and Benefits Selling Broker of the Year

1. Tell me how your current benefits strategy fits into your overall business planning.
2. What are your key performance indicators and how do you measure them throughout the year?

Don Phin, President of HR That Works

1. What are the three most important things you do each day?  What keeps you from doing them better?
2. Have you ever fantasized about running your business without any employees?

Rick Bauman, Founder & Head Coach of iC3

1. As you look at your benefits program overall, what would you like to see changed?

Rick likes this question for several reasons, but mainly because it engages the prospect and pulls them in as an active participant rather than just a listener.

Jennifer Benz, Chief Strategist and Founder of Benz Communications

1. What do you want employees to do differently?
2. (Followed by)  And, what’s in the way of them doing that?

Jen points out that, as simple as they sound, by really digging into these questions you will uncover a lot – all of the behaviors they want to change and all of the administrative/process/beliefs/fears that get in the way.

My own contribution

1. If we were sitting here three years from now, what would have had to happen for you to be satisfied with your progress?
2. What are you doing to ensure that you have the highest talent in the industry beating down your door for an opportunity to work here?

I especially like the first question because it will get the strategic goals/objectives of the decision maker(s) out on the table.  If you can show how you can help with the achievement of those goals/objectives, you will quickly move from being an expense to being an investment.

So there you go, some favorite questions from some of my favorite people.
Like the quarts of Michigan cherries, they are left here with the expectation that if you want to take some with you, you will leave a “payment” in exchange. In this case, payment is sharing a question that you have found to be effective in connecting with your prospects/clients. 

Payment can be deposited in the comment section below.

Photo by La Grande Farmers' Market.

@kevintrokey

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The idea of allowing people to experience your services before making the commitment to buy is something that I think about fairly regularly – maybe it’s my unwillingness to make the commitment, or maybe it’s the burgeoning opportunity I see from it.  Or maybe both. 

Our philosophy at BGN is that a sales process itself should provide some type of value to the prospective client, so it’s probably no surprise that I’m a fan of try-before-you-buy.

It’s not always easy to figure out how to offer it, and then, if you do, it can be easy to fall into the trap of just giving piles of stuff away for free thinking that the more you give, the more likely people will be to buy. I’m not sure that’s actually true, though. I think by just giving everything away, you’re teaching people how to buy from you – which is, they don’t buy.

Erica Allison, of Allison Development Group (a public relations and marketing firm), wrote about pay-before-you-play recently on her blog. Her premise is that by offering so many ideas on our blogs, we’re already giving a lot of our ideas for free in a try-before-you-buy scenario. Taking additional steps to also offer webinars and e-books for free is just going too far. It becomes a devalued commodity at that point.

I definitely agree – when we don’t have to pay something for an item, a service, a seminar, or whatever, it becomes too easy to just brush it off. Once there is cash involved, along comes a commitment.

So, how do you offer a reasonable amount of try-before-you buy, but not put yourself out of business? I have some ideas that I’ve been kicking around which are completely unrelated to benefits or insurance, but I’m going share anyway for the sake of brainstorming. See how you can take these ideas and interpret them for your own business - or maybe even better, perhaps you can help your clients come up with ideas for their businesses.

We’re going to the gym!

The gym I go to also houses a physical therapy office and a massage therapist. Three opportunities rich for experimentation with a captive audience!

Physical Therapist try-before-you-buy idea

How often do you have aches and pains that you’re never sure quite warrant a trip to the doctor? You want someone to take a look and maybe just give you a little sympathy that yes, this happens after crossing 40?

Offer 10-minute-visit punch card. If your issue turns out to be real, you can make an appointment. I’d gladly put down $50 or $100 to know I could stop by for a quick visit now and then that didn’t cost an arm and a leg and didn’t have to go through the insurance company.

Massage Therapist try-before-you-buy idea

Similar idea – instead of making people commit to an hour naked in the room, offer 10 minute back massages in a massage chair during certain time blocks. Leave the door open to entice others and make it a casual atmosphere. Again, you could make this a punch card scenario or drop-in.

Personal Trainer try-before-you-buy idea

I see a lot of opportunity for more personal training around the gym – but that’s an intimidating commitment. What if you don’t like the suggestions? Or the trainer?

Well, how about if the trainers offered 10 -15 minute how-to sessions with a particular piece of equipment or a set of exercises? Make it limited, quick, and offer a taste of what more you could get with one-on-one instruction. These could be pre-purchased, or it could be a free program offered by the club with rotating instructors so you could get the opportunity to meet all of the trainers.

Of course all of these come with the up-sell option to purchase full services. And yes, there are logistics to work out, but the idea is to get you thinking. How can you, or your clients, give people a taste of the services you have to offer before making them sign their life away on a multi-year contract? Yet not get your business sucked into operating as a for-free service under the guise of gaining experience to eventually earn the business.

Samples should be for more than just the ice cream shop! However, it's a tricky balance - especially for service companies. What advice can you offer?

Photo by Phillie Casablanca.

@wendykeneipp

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I speak with producers all the time who say their biggest challenge is finding enough opportunities on which to work. While I agree the biggest problem is inadequate pipelines, a close second is stagnation in the pipeline. When it comes to growing a book of business, stagnant pipelines are much more of a silent killer, but just as deadly as empty pipelines. Preventing this disease is easy once you can recognize the causes. From my experience, producers expose themselves in the following four ways.

1. Not being purposeful about how to keep the prospect moving

Momentum is much harder to regain than it is to maintain. It isn’t enough to just have prospects in your pipeline, you have to keep those prospects moving. Ideally we move them to the point that they become new clients, but sometimes we have to move them out of the pipeline to make room for prospects than can move more positively. Because of the distractions and the drain on your time and energy they can create, a stagnant prospect in your pipeline is worse than not having them there at all.

Keeping prospects moving through the pipeline starts with clearly defining the steps of your sales process. For example, the process our member agencies use has three clearly defined steps: Executive Briefing, Organizational Assessment and Improvement Plan Delivery.

Next, clearly define the purpose of each meeting (it should probably be to get the prospect to commit to the next step in your process), and start every meeting with its respective purpose statement, including the decision to be made at the end of the meeting.

Producers in our program will say something that sounds like the following, “The purpose of today is to introduce you to the unique way we work and the impact we have found our process has on our clients’ businesses. While I don’t expect us to make a decision about working with one another today, at the end of this meeting, I would like us to decide together if it makes sense to take the next step in the process. Does that sound fair?” The answer is almost always, “Yes, of course that’s fair.” This keeps the prospect moving forward.

2. Not having enough clarity about whom they should be working with

Not every client is a good client. If the prospect doesn’t have the following characteristics, they probably aren’t a good fit. Understand that you won’t be able to know all of this before you first meet, but you should look for these traits as soon as possible.

• Meets your minimum revenue requirements.
• The decision maker and management team are accessible and receptive to building strong, long-term relationships.
• Their business team is willing and able to use the resources, solutions and plan you would be offering.
• Their business will clearly benefit from what you offer.
• They value your approach, ideas, and strategies.
• They are willing to allow you the opportunity to earn the right to be a part of their trusted advisor team.
• They are receptive to providing referrals and introductions.

3. Not keeping the pipeline full

The natural personality of a producer requires them to always stay busy.  Unfortunately, when a producer’s pipeline isn’t full, that’s when he/she starts doing stupid things that just result in activity rather than productivity. Not only do they busy themselves with service work, they allow themselves to start working on the wrong prospects. They start rationalizing why they should make exceptions to the list of traits I just listed above and also allow their limited pipeline of prospects to stagnate.

Have producers manage themselves to the following 5-10-20 standard, and you will find them focused on the right activities.

5 – The number of times per week you should be telling the story of your value proposition – how it is unique and how it delivers client value.

10 – The number of sales meetings you have scheduled on your calendar.  The ideal you want to work towards is to have those 10 meetings scheduled within the next two weeks.

20 – The number of qualified prospects you have in your pipeline. A prospect being someone who meets your ideal client profile, knows you are working to make them a client and is actively moving through your sales process.

Following these strategies will be a great start, but just know there is always another level.

4. Not understanding that not all pipelines are created equal

If I were to put two copies of the same pipeline in front of you and tell you that one was worth five times as much as the other, you would probably either be confused or tell me I was crazy, or both. What creates the value differential between the pipelines isn’t typically obvious on the report itself:  what drives the differential is the source of the prospect in the pipeline. If the first pipeline was filled by cold calling and the second pipeline had been filled from referrals and introductions, the second one would, on average, result in five times the revenue because of the higher close ratios that come with referrals/introductions.

So, while it is important to focus on the first three areas I discuss, don’t just be satisfied when those standards have been met. Monitor the R/I Ratio (percentage of your pipeline generated by referrals/introductions) and work to push it to 100 percent.

I say all the time that selling is a transfer of confidence; you are attempting to give a prospect the confidence that you offer a better solution than their situation provides. Having full, dynamic pipelines is one of the foundational elements of that producer confidence. If you aren’t very purposeful about maintaining healthy pipelines, it will be difficult, at best, to maintain a healthy level of confidence.

Pipelines are a crystal ball into your future success. If you don’t like what you see, you have the power to change the outcome. You just have to ask yourself, “How badly do I want the results?”

Photo by Stig Nygaard.

By far, the biggest challenge we see day in and day out for employee benefits insurance agencies – even some of the most successful – is a shortage of viable prospects in the pipeline.

The good news is that you can take control of this challenge and make it a more strategic, and therefore, predictable process for producers and, in turn, for your agency budget. 

What you need:

1. An organizational culture where everyone is focused on the success of the prospect & the client.
2. Producers purposefully spending time on sales-focused activities – telling your unique story, holding scheduled meetings, and actively moving prospects through your sales process.

Want to learn how to do this?

Download our FREE BGN Pipeline Management Kit.

There are countless metrics you can be tracking in regards to your book of business and your efforts to build that book.  Tracking the information and creating reports could become a full-time job in itself.  Unfortunately, most of that information and the subsequent reports never result in anything meaningful.  However, I do feel that you should track anything that allows you to make consequential adjustments to how you work, as long as the tracking and reporting remains manageable.

At a minimum, every producer should know the following statistics.

Current book – Total annualized revenue in your book and how it compares to where you were last year.  I will guess that this is the only critical indicator that every producer reading this will already know.

Why? – Well, as a producer, this is the ultimate scorecard.  It determines how much you get paid, how many resources you deserve, and documents (over time) how consistent and effective you are as a producer.

Retention – Don’t fool yourself with the increase in your book that came from additional revenue resulting from increased premiums.  Measure your retention two ways: first, on the percentage of groups you were able to keep and secondly, as the percentage of revenue retained.

Why? – Just comparing revenue numbers won’t tell the whole story.  Additional revenue from increased premiums may mask issues that need to be addressed.  In other words, you may not focus on the 10 small accounts you lost for reasons that may lead to the loss of larger accounts this coming year.

Once you identify the lost business, be brutally honest with yourself as to why they were lost and learn what you can do to keep it from happening again.

Closing ratio – Measure your close ratio at the point you specifically give the prospect a chance to say yes or no.  If you’re still competing with spreadsheets, measure your close ratio as the percentage of spreadsheets delivered that produce new clients.  If you are competing by bringing an improvement plan, measure your close ratio as the percentage of plans presented that result in new clients.

Why? – New opportunities are too difficult to come by.  Poor close ratios exponentially increase the work you have to do to refill your pipeline.  Have the courage to go back to those lost opportunities and ask for honest feedback as to why you lost.

Conversion ratio – This refers to the percentage of prospects that move from one step of your sales process to the next.  For example, in our process, producers use a 3 step process (Step 1 – Executive Briefing, Step 2 – Organizational Assessment, Step 3 – Improvement Plan delivery).  The conversation ratios are the percentage of prospects that move from Executive briefing to Organizational Assessment and then again the percentage of prospects who move from Organizational Assessment to Improvement Plan delivery.

Why? – Tracking your conversion ratio is the only opportunity you have to learn where the weak spots are in your sales process.  Just like I recommend in the close ratio, have the courage to go back and ask for honest feedback on those opportunities you don’t convert.

Revenue per relationship – This is the total amount of revenue in your book of business divided by the total number of clients in your book.

Why? – This is the single biggest predictor of your ability to continue to grow your book of business.  If your revenue per relationship doesn’t grow year over year, your total book growth will be slowed or even stopped.  You can only effectively service a set number of accounts.  The higher the revenue per relationship, the more money you make.

It is up to each of you as individual producers to self-manage your way to personal success.  And, as the old saying goes, you can’t manage what you don’t measure.  Unfortunately, all the measuring and all the managing in the world won’t mean anything if you aren’t willing to make the behavioral changes necessary to move the numbers.

Photo by Aunt Owwee.