More Information about AIANC Membership at www.AllianceInsuranceAgentsNC.com
STREET WISE Alliance of Insurance Agents of NC “What You Don’t Know Can’t Help You!” … Eddie K. Emmett, Editor / Publisher
14 Baby Steps to Insurance Agency Greatness by John F. Carroll In This Edition 14 BABY STEPS TO INSURANCE AGENCY GREATNESS ..................... 1 USING FACEBOOK'S ADS TO GENERATE LEADS ........................ 16 AN EXCELLENT STRATEGY: HIRE INCOMPETENT PRODUCERS .......... 18 THE POWER OF INSURANCE PERIODICALS ................................ 24
Baby Steps. If you’ve seen “What About Bob?” you know what I’m talking about. It might be just a movie, but I still think Dr. Leo Marvin was on to something. Baby steps are important for anyone trying to make a change, including insurance agents like you. I’ve seen a lot of agents attempt major improvements in their agency only to fall flat. You and your staff are creatures of habit and when new habits require too much change from current ones – it won’t last. I give out a LOT of ideas to help agents be more successful, but I know a many agents fall short when they implement new procedures that are too ambitious from the get-go so I wanted give you some “baby steps” for some of the most common improvements I know agents want to make. Here are 14 “pie-in-the-sky” aspirations I hear from agents along with a recommended first step to get the ball rolling.
AIANC’s STREET WISE
Page 1
1) I Want To Do Annual Policy Reviews On Every Single Customer Every agent I know thinks annual policy reviews are great for their customers and business. I agree – It helps retention and cross-sales, boosts satisfaction, and helps you execute your role as a financial advisor. And I’m sure you’d love it if you could line up 5 in-person policy reviews every weekday. But if you’re not currently doing ANY policy reviews in your agency, you need to start small. Baby Step: Perform one policy review per week over the phone. Yes, that’s right… start by just doing one a week and don’t even push for an in-person meeting. If you get it done on Monday then take a break until next week. Tips to make it easy: Make your conversations easy by writing down a list of 6- 9 questions to ask. Offer it as a “discount checkup” instead of a protection review because it sounds less “salesy” to the client. Continued on page 2 March 2015