Gyom workbook by Ted Baker

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY FINDING THE MONEY IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the publisher in writing or within this publication.

Ingenuity 110 Victoria Manor Loop #207 Lakeland, Fl. 33805 214-957-2468 ted@agencyingenuity.com www.agencyingenuity.com

YOUR COACH Ted Baker is Founder & President of Ingenuity located in Lakeland Fl. He has invested over 30 years in the insurance industry.

Ted has helped over 2,500 independent agencies and brokerages throughout North America. His passion for this industry and what is sometimes considered “outside the box” concepts and presentation style, has made Ted a favorite speaker for many throughout our industry. Ted has been a featured speaker for numerous AMS, Applied Systems and Instar User Groups. He has also been a frequent guest speaker for Marsh Berry, Quantum Club, ETFile, and ARM International, along with numerous other insurance industry events.

His passion is to return the insurance industry to it’s focus on protection rather than processing. Over the past 30 years so much processing work has been put on agents that it is become the primary focus in many cases. By returning to a protection mindset everyone benefits; the agency, the staff and the customer.

This course is the compilation of three decades of his experience in this industry and based on his work with all types and sizes of agencies. Ted encourages you to put aside the past and it’s paradigms and embrace the amazing future that can be yours through this unique and fresh approach to growing your agency.

CONTENTS Introduction Trainer’s Guide How To Teach This Course……………………………………………………… What Staff Needs Most ...…..…………………………………………………… Seven Steps To Reduce Negativity…………………………………………….. Reading List……………………………………………………………………….

Intrion Tde 1 2 3 4 5

Unified Culture What Is An Agency Culture ………...…………………………………………… What Is Your Culture……………………………………………………………... What Needs To Change…………………………………………………………. Assignment …...…………………………………………………………………..

6 7 8 9

Rounding Out Accounts Step # 1 - Asking Personal Questions…..……………………………………. Step # 2 - Tell A Unique Story ……….....……………………………………… Step # 3 - Bring To Point Of Decision …………………………………………. Assignment ……………………………………………………………………….

10 11 12 13

Scripts # 1 - Personal Umbrella

Intrion Tde 1 2 3 4 5

6 7 8 9

10 11 12 13

Scripts # 1 - Personal Umbrella

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION I started in this business in 1979 as a life insurance agent. Knowing absolutely nothing about this industry I had no choice but to listen to the people that brought me in and were my mentors. One of the first things that I learned was that the best way to build your insurance business was from within, not from the outside. I was taught the only people who responded to advertising were either uninsurable or flakes. In fact, I was not allowed to cold call for the first six months as an agent. What a difference between this and what many are taught on the Property & Casualty side of the business.

This makes a lot of sense when you think about other professionals, i.e. lawyers, doctors and accountants. How do they build their businesses? From within - expansion of existing business (rounding out accounts), referrals and retention.

After nearly 35 years in this business, I clearly understand the difference between the life side and the P&C side. However, there are certain truths that apply to both, such as the importance of the quality of an agencyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s book of business. I believe that every agency can increase the quality and the profitability of its business by applying the basic principles taught in this course. Why do I believe this? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s because I have seen them work time after time in agencies all across the U.S. and Canada and I am confident they will work in your agency as well. They will not only increase your profitability but they also make the job a lot more fun and rewarding. Wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t it be nice to find a way to put some fun back into our great industry?

TRAINER’S GUIDE

TRAINER’S GUIDE How To Teach This Course What Staff Needs Seven Steps To Reduce Negativity Reading List

How To Teach This Course This course is designed to be read by all members of your agency/ brokerage, not just your management team. One of the primary goals of the course is to build unity in your staff and this cannot be accomplished without

If you want your staff to get

their involvement. The Ebook version eliminates the need to print paper copies

behind this proc-

for distribution throughout your office.

ess and “buy-in” to

Ideally, we recommend that you set aside one hour every week for training. At this meeting you will discuss the course and work through the assign-

the process they

ments. Please have your staff read the relevant material prior to your training

need to see com-

sessions so that they are prepared. It is important to maintain continuity with your training sessions which

mitment from your

means holding to the same schedule every week and not varying times or days.

management

It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day crises, please but avoid this as much

team.

as possible. If you want your staff to get behind this process and “buy-in” to the process they need to see commitment from your management team. Holding to your schedule will show them how important you consider this course. Without consistency they will have a tendency to resist and find reasons to not follow the process. Their commitment is based on your commitment.

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

ASSIGNMENT This symbol lets you know that you have been given an assignment, which is typically for the entire office. When possible, gather everyone together into one location. If you have multiple offices consider using video conferencing to allow everyone to meet at one time. One of the goals for this course is to build unity in your office vision and culture. It is impossible to do this if you do not meet and make decisions as a team. IDEAS Throughout the course you will see this symbol. Here we will share ideas which have worked in other agencies/brokerages. In most cases we will include samples of the ideas. We encourage you to use these samples as a catalyst to become creative yourselves. Think of ways that you can personalize the ideas to your office. Cultivate an atmosphere where people are exited about sharing new ideas. The more that you can make the program your own the more your staff will embrace the ideas. HELPFUL TIPS We will also be sharing tips and testimonials from other agencies/brokerages who have been successful in using the techniques taught in the course.

When you see

this icon share the thoughts with everyone in your office and even create your own to add to the material. COMPONENTS There are four basic components to the course. They are the following: 1. Rounding Out Accounts 2. Referrals & Testimonials 3. Life Insurance 4. Tracking

TRAINER’S GUIDE

ROUNDING OUT ACCOUNTS

NOTES

Nearly every agency/brokerage does a pretty good job rounding out accounts. However, in our course we want to take a fresh new look at a way to not only become more effective but to make this a consistent part of daily life in the agency. We also want to make it a part of the culture of everyone in the office that the only way to protect people is to make sure they are properly insured. The only way to do that is to talk to people and make sure their insurance plan meets their needs. It’s not about making more money, it’s about protecting people.

REFERRALS & TESTIMONIALS Here, as with rounding out accounts, most people do a fairly good job. But imagine how much more effective you will be when everyone in your office is doing it every single day. The number of referrals and testimonials is a direct reflection of how people feel about you and the benefits they are receiving from you. The goal has to be moved from simply happy customers to satisfied customers. A happy customer will leave, a satisfied one will not.

LIFE INSURANCE Now we get to something that many agencies do not focus on.

This is a real

shame because both you and the customer loses. Imagine if you could average ten or more policies per month? This alone would add more than $40,000 to your bottom line not to mention your increase in retention.

TRACKING If you don’t play to game to win, then why keep score? Without tracking you will never reach your goals and see lasting change. We suggest that management meet with the staff and enter your statistics together. When they see the goals generated by your actual numbers it will be clear to them this process is realistic and achievable. If any of the goals see unrealistic simply adjust your statistics to modify the goals automatically.

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

What Staff Need Most We recently conducted a poll of staff who were invited to submit their ideas on

I feel like management

what they need most from their managers. Their responses are must reading for all managers. The following results represent top responses from over 300 contributions.

leaves us in the dark until the last minute on major decisions that affect our work.

COMMUNICATION Staff expressed a need for improved communication.

“I feel like management leaves us in the dark until the last minute on major decisions that affect our work”

“I need more information on what is required to do a good job.”

"I would like better communication about things like staff changes, new building, staff members being sick etc. Everything is a secret to the staff. At least this is how it seems

CLEAR DIRECTION Staff expressed a need to understand agency goals, changes and growth. This includes information on sales, annual revenue, agency profitability and accomplishment of goals. “I would like a clear vision, short term and long term. Let everyone participate in the actions needed to accomplish that vision.” “I need clear and timely decision-making.” “It seems like messages from management are sometimes not focused and come across in a muddled fashion”.

TRAINER’S GUIDE

RECOGNITION Staff expressed a need to feel valued for who they are, and to be recognized for their accomplishments and contributions to the agency, including an on-going Reward & Recognition Plan.

“Take time to learn what motivates your staff, then set goals and incentives that will make them feel inspired to succeed.” “I would appreciate more recognition of successes rather than mistakes.” "It would be nice to hear praise for a job well done." CONSISTENCY—FOLLOW THROUGH Staff expressed a need for established ways of doing business that apply equally to everyone in the agency.

“I would like to see Owners and Producers following the same guidelines as the staff.” "Sales staff seems to make up their own rules as they go, frustrating some staff who expect their compliance with established procedures." "Internal training on new/existing applications was very slow due to turnover."

FAIR COMPENSATION PLAN Staff expressed a need for a defined, written and fair compensation plan.

“I would like to see the compensation plan in writing, so that everyone understands exactly what is expected and what is possible.” “A fair Producer compensation plan in writing which allows for Producer success and longevity and contributes to the financial growth of the agency.” “It’s too bad that an agency spends so much time and money to hire a qualified CSR and then fails to recognize or compensate them properly.”

NOTES

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

“Approach your staff in a manner that ex-

ENCOURAGEMEN TO SHARE IDEAS Staff expressed a need for management to be willing to listen to their suggestions, and encourage the open exchange of ideas – good ideas and not-so-good ideas.

hibits your confidence in them which will en-

“Approach your staff in a manner that exhibits your confidence in them, which will go far to enhance your staff's confidence in themselves. Respect your staff and the time they spend to grow your business, commit yourself

hance their confi-

to your own goals and let your staff see you succeed. Your staff and manag-

dence in them-

ers need to feel as though you are ready to roll up your sleeves and work

selves.”

right by their side in a supportive nature.”

“Encourage new ideas and create an environment for your staff that will foster their own desire to succeed... success breeds success. “

COMPASSION Staff expressed a need for compassionate leadership from their managers. "Compassion when someone makes a mistake. Take the time to find out why there was a mistake and help build an understanding of how the mistake could be avoided. In other words, be patient and use mistakes as a learning and growth tool."

Provide opportunities for people to make decisions about and control and/or influence their own job. The single most frequent cause of negativity I encounter in workplaces is traceable to a manager or the organization making a decision about a person’s work without her input. Almost any decision that excludes the input of the person doing the work is perceived as negative.

TRAINER’S GUIDE

Seven Steps To Reduce Negativity Make opportunities available for people to express their opinion about workplace policies and procedures. Recognize the impact of changes in such areas as work hours, pay, benefits, assignment of overtime hours, comp pay, dress codes, office location, job requirements, and working conditions. These factors are closest to the mind, heart and physical presence of each individual. Changes to these can cause serious negative responses. Provide timely, proactive responses to questions and concerns. Treat people as adults with fairness and consistency. Develop and publicize workplace policies and procedures that organize work effectively. Apply them consistently. As an example, each employee has the opportunity to apply for leave time. In granting his request, apply the same factors to his application as you would to any other individual’s.

Do not create “rules” for all employees, when just a few people are violating the norms. You want to minimize the number of rules directing the behavior of adult people at work. Provide appropriate leadership and a strategic framework, including mission, vision, values, and goals. People want to feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves. If they understand the direction, and their part in making the desired outcomes happen, they can effectively contribute more. Provide appropriate rewards and recognition so people feel their contribution is valued.

NOTES

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

Treat people as adults; they will usually live up to your expectations, and their own. Help people feel like members of the in-crowd; each person wants to have the same information as quickly as everyone else. Provide the context for decisions, and communicate effectively and constantly. If several avenues or directions are under consideration, communicate all that you know, as soon as you know . Reserve the right to change your mind later, without consequence, when additional factors affect the direction of ultimate decisions. Afford people the opportunity to grow and develop. Training, perceived opportunities for promotions, lateral moves for development, and cross-training are visible signs of an organizationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment to staff.

Reading List

UNIFIED CULTURE

UNIFIED CULTURE What Is An Agency Culture Your Current Culture What Needs To Change Assignment

What Is An Agency Culture This course is based on two concepts. First, your agency has a group culture and secondly that it is passionate about its value. You can teach someone a script, but if you want your customers and prospects to believe you have value you must believe it and be passionate about it yourself first. No script or system can replace personal belief or passion. Passion comes from many areas, but one of the most important is cul-

One or two people being passionate cannot compare to an

ture. There is power in numbers. One or two people being passionate cannot

entire organization

compare to an entire organization showing passion. It is infectious.

showing passion.

Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s talk first about some basic steps in achieving a unified culture starting with goals. According to popular author and speaker Zig Ziglar, a goal must be specific and measurable. To simply say that we want a unified culture isnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t enough. You must define your goals. When your agency buys into a set of goals, it takes your agency to a new level. Keep goals in the foreground at all times. Be creative in how you communicate your goals clearly to the people in your office as well as your prospects and your customers.

It is infectious.

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

You must also encourage ownership. Your staff must know that goals are a “win” for them. Help them to feel like pivotal contributors and that they truly influence the process of reaching your goals.

Put a sign in your

Gareth Morgan is a best-selling author, speaker and consultant on managing change.

His books include Images of Organization, Riding the Waves of

reception area

Change, and Imagination: New ways of seeing, organizing, and managing. He

such as “Protecting

describes culture as "an active living phenomenon through which people jointly

Your Stuff” or at a

create and recreate the worlds in which they live."

desk that says

Culture doesn’t happen by

accident. An agency must purposefully determine the world they want to live in. Why does this not happen more often?

“Protection Specialist At Work”.

I think that one reason is that we don’t ask ourselves challenging questions, or we are simply not specific enough with our questions. This leads us to get what we may have asked for but not what we were necessarily looking for. If

Conduct a blind

you find yourself saying “Well that’s what I really meant.” then maybe that

survey asking your

should have been stated as your objective instead.

staff to be honest about how they feel about your

The process of deciding on, and creating culture, takes time, In our Solutions program we deal extensively with culture and vision statements For now, think about a culture that is likely to attract the people you need to achieve your immediate goals relating to new production. This works best if you can engage

agency and

everyone in the organization and if everyone feels committed to the project and

what management

shares the same vision of how they want to work.

can do to help them.

For the purpose of this course we will focus on two key components of culture. The first is protection. We are in the business to protect people which brings with it a moral responsibility to ask what we call “protection questions”. You can give the greatest “service” in town but if the customer isn’t adequately protected then it’s worthless. The second is the idea that the majority of the agency’s production goals will be met through current customers and referrals.

UNIFIED CULTURE

Keep this in mind. If you establish procedures and rules for rounding out accounts and getting referrals without building it into your culture you can surely count on resistance. Why? It’s simply one more thing to do. But with a culture of protection everyone recognizes the responsibility to make sure the customer has what they need. It’s no longer about us, it’s about the customer.

Your Current Culture You need to characterize the existing culture - after all, you don't know which way to go if you don't know where you are. Earl Nightingale says, “We become what we think about most of the time.” What do people in your agency think about most of the time? Is it processing and problems or is it protecting people? Is it giving quotes to people who randomly call or talking to customers and referrals? It is also good to find out what frustrates people, what makes them feel good, what helps them get their job done and what keeps them coming back. The only way to get this information is to ask as many people as possible to find out how they see your agency. Use the area below to record the comments and impressions you discover.

INTERNAL CUSTOMERS (Your Staff)

NOTES

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS (Policy Holders)

We are always comfortable with crutches. For example, we were one of the first to teach electronic filing in our industry. Often times we found that agencies were keeping both paper and electronic file because they didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t trust the electronic records. How did we help agencies past this? We told them to get rid of the paper files. In other words, get rid of their crutches. As long as the paper files were there, they would never fully trust the electronic one. The same is true in marketing. If the agency buys into the culture that 100% of your production goals will be met through existing customers it takes away the crutches. If existing internal marketing is simply an option then other things can, and will, get in the way. We can always find ways to not have time. However, if there is no option then we must find new ways of working and ways to save time otherwise production goals will not be met. Once you know where you are, and where you want to go, you can start planning the changes to get you from point A to point B. However you decide to do it, you should identify all the negative aspects of your current culture that you want to stamp out, the positive parts of the current culture that you want to preserve and nurture, and the aspects of your visionary culture that you need to create. Write these down in detail so that you will have a road map of the changes you need to make to create your new culture.

UNIFIED CULTURE

What Needs To Change NEGATIVE ASPECTS

POSITIVE ASPECTS

______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________ It's all very well to imagine a new culture, and to prioritize the needed changes, but how do you actually get a culture to change? For each cultural change that you want to make, try to identify the top five organizational traits that prevent you from making the change and start trying to eliminate them. And at the same time, identify the five most important traits that would encourage the change and start promoting those traits. You're trying to establish both a push and a pull to get you to the new culture: the push is to stamp out negative practices and the pull is to start rewarding positive practices that get the new behavior started.

NOTES

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

TOP 5 TRAITS PREVENTING CHANGE

EXTERTOP 5 TRAITS ENCOURAGING CHANGE

UNIFIED CULTURE

As management leads staff into a unified culture there are several rules to follow as you create and talk about your culture. TALK ABOUT IT IN PRESENT TENSE Describe your vision statement in present tense as if you were reporting what you actually see, hear, think and feel, as if your ideal outcome has already happened. You want to create a mental picture charged with emotion that can serve to energize and inspire you and your team. MAKE IT EMOTIONAL Describe how you will feel when the outcome is realized, including an emotional payoff infusing your culture with passion and making it even more compelling, inspiring, and energizing.

ADD SENSORY DETAILS Describe the scenes, colors, sounds, and shapes. Describe who is there and what everyone is doing. Remember, you are actually seeing it happen in your mind. You don’t “see” in abstracts, you “see” details, hear sounds, feel emotions.

FOCUS ON PEOPLE NOT THE AGENCY Focus on people not the company. Focus on how they will feel and react. Your Mission Statement will address your business goals. We are dealing now with culture which is the world you live in.

Before beginning the assignment, make sure that everyone in your agency has studied the material on culture and that management has answered the questions on the proceeding pages. We also suggest that your staff has had an opportunity to discuss it within their own departments.

NOTES

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

How valuable is a shared culture? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ How do you feel about our existing culture? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ Do you feel that we have a common culture or individual cultures? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ What are we passionate about? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ How do we show our passion? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

UNIFIED CULTURE

Do we all agree that planning on sales goals being met through existing customers should be a part of our culture? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

Do we all agree that we need to build a greater focus on protection into our culture? _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

What can we do to display our culture?

 Begin the day with a joint meeting

 Remind ourselves before each call

 Put signs in the office

 Ask customers what they see

 Include our culture on our website

 Include our culture in proposals

 Newspaper

 Ask each other

Comments _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY Begin each day with a group meeting reminding everyone of the culture. Before you pick up the phone to answer a call remind yourself that the most important thing you can to is to protect the customer instead of the most important thing is to provide good customer service.

UNIFIED CULTURE

ROUNDING OU T ACCOUNTS Asking Personal Questions Telling A Unique Story Bringing To A Point Of Decision Assignment

Asking Personal Questions This course is designed to be read by all members of your agency/

If you want

brokerage, not just your management team. One of the primary goals of the

your staff to get

course is to build unity in your staff and this cannot be accomplished without their involvement. The Ebook version eliminates the need to print paper cop-

behind this proc-

ies for distribution throughout your office.

ess and “buy-in” to

Ideally, we recommend that you set aside one hour every week for training. At this meeting you will discuss the course and work through the assignments. Please have your staff read the relevant material prior to your training sessions so that they are prepared. It is important to maintain continuity with your training sessions

the process they need to see commitment from your

which means holding to the same schedule every week and not varying times

management

or days. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day crises, please but avoid

team.

this as much as possible. If you want your staff to get behind this process and “buy-in” to the process they need to see commitment from your management team. Holding to your schedule will show them how important you consider this course. Without consistency they will have a tendency to resist and find reasons to not follow the process. Their commitment is based on your commitment.