24 minute read
Great Seller Experiences Facilitate Better Buying Experiences
A look at the top sales engagement challenges for 2022.
By Lloyd Lofton
The TOPO Sales Engagement Leadership Report released in December 2020 focused on the innovative practice of sales engagement across high-growth sales teams in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The report takes a deep dive into the issues of sales enablement and the factors that prevent best-practice results.
It provided my team with the instruction and information we needed to address in 2021 as we develop strategies for our continued journey toward excellent service to our clients, converting all consumer interactions to a continuous flow of relationship building and predictable revenue growth.
Although the report was published in 2020, after rereading it, here are some lessons we will continue to implement for growth and engagement in 2022. They are lessons that your practice can implement as well.
The Challenge
Sales engagement platforms are a mission-critical technology investment necessary to implement a sales engagement strategy. The overwhelming top sales engagement challenge is content strategy — the need for an effective sales engagement playbook and sales process.
Although sellers are responsible for creating the messaging, they lack the infrastructure and experience to scale in an optimizable fashion. This leads to disorganized content libraries and ineffective and unchecked content. The result is a poor buyer experience.
The goal is the successful alignment of touch patterns. This includes but is not limited to text messaging, LinkedIn and other social media, video, direct mail and chat — organized by segment and the minimum content needed to deploy the messaging.
Great seller experiences are paramount to facilitating better buying experiences. Sellers can use the technology within the context of their work, such as email inboxes, or use the technology directly on accounts, contacts and opportunities in their customer relationship management system.
People buy from people they trust. So how do you build a rep’s confidence in this new selling environment?
What is an effective sales engagement strategy?
An effective sales engagement strategy includes prescriptive guidance on how to prioritize leads and accounts; how to store relevant research; how to create a touch patterning decision tree and guided workflows; and how to develop an easy-tosearch content library tagged by scenario, product and use case.
What is an effective playbook?
An effective sales engagement playbook visualizes the common scenarios and triggers for sellers to enroll prospects into touch patterns. It then simplifies the number of decisions sellers must run through to pull relevant content into those scenarios.
Getting a team of sellers to adopt a new way of working requires an effective playbook process.
That playbook process needs to be designed to prioritize, to recognize common buying behaviors, and to select the appropriate touch pattern, message or content to engage the buyer with minimal friction.
Automation Capabilities A Top Factor For Success
Workflows design and automate processes based on predefined business rules. Previous capabilities of automated or augmented known workflows must be revamped. Today, more advanced workflows completely shift the way sellers prioritize their time.
Personalized messaging automation improves reply and meeting rates. This creates high-impact selling activity. To accomplish this, you must leverage available data, messaging and content to craft targeted messages using a combination of custom copy and prewritten templates.
Spearheading this is artificial intelligence that provides a Google-like translation of every customer interaction. This creates a “story so far” so sellers know exactly what occurred on every call. It also creates coaching opportunities at the point of deviation to develop best-in-class sales teams.
Automation also can create triggers to automatically enroll buyers into targeted touch patterns. This reprioritizes buyers in real time based on frequent engagement with emails. AI and machine learning also can be used to suggest specific messaging-based scenarios.
Work-From-Home Has Upended Industries
The work-from-home sales environment has upended traditional sales enablement — from onboarding sales representatives to training sales reps to getting reps in production sooner and in a cost-effective way.
Most training today is something like Zoom sessions. This reduces or eliminates the opportunity for managers to “ride with reps” to see whether they are adopting your suggestions — because they are no longer “riding to see their prospects.”
10 COMPONENTS OF A SALES ENGAGEMENT STRATEGY
1. Messaging: A framework for the key messages that will be delivered in all customer interactions, including personas, value propositions and case histories. 2. Content: The overall plan for content in go-to-market activities from marketing content such as white papers, blog posts and webinars to sales content such as email templates and collateral. 3. Channels: The mediums through which buyers and sellers engage. 4. Technology: A single interface to plan, execute, track, measure and optimize the interactions of sellers with buyers across multiple touches and channels. 5. Data: The account, contact, intent, activity, engagement and product data required to manage sellers and tailor experiences to buyers. 6. Workflow: Manual and automated processes required to create an interconnected engagement experience. 7. Touch patterns: A planned progression of communications across multiple channels directed toward specific prospects or accounts. 8. Enablement: The strategy and playbook for enabling sellers to take the right steps with buyers. 9. Metrics: Accurate assessments of engagement performance to monitor conversion, attainment of pipeline and revenue goals, and customer health. 10. Management: The organizational cadence of observing metrics, testing variations and prescribing improvements across all components of the strategy.
SOURCE: TOPO Sales Engagement Leadership Report
Using sales automation as an onboarding and training delivery tool can improve the perceived value to both reps and managers, making it easy to scale growth.
AI can create talk tracks automatically to create a comprehensive story-so-far. This enables managers to set follow-up calls with the reps they trained to make sure they are making the desired changes in their selling relationships, in real time. Sales managers also have the visibility into forecasted deals that an AI-generated story-so-far can provide.
Features that highlight sections of recorded calls allow managers to commend reps for doing a good job. This also gives managers the opportunity to suggest specific changes or to edit playbooks in real time to implement those needed changes across distributions or sales channels.
Building Work-From-Home Rep Confidence
People buy from people they trust. So how do you build a rep’s confidence in this new selling environment? By having a sales enablement process that reps trust so they can follow up with details on the points in the conversation just by clicking a button during the sales call.
By setting up touch patterns that match scenarios, the rep can tell a prospect or a client, “I just sent you an email with a detailed comparison of xxx and xxx that we’re discussing.”
When the rep finds the proper supporting content, they can follow up with a compelling message in real time. The client’s response is tracked throughout the relationship, making it better, more efficient, and more effective for the rep simply to click a button during the call.
By having a sales enablement process that provides the buying behavior touch points, the rep can set the expectation for the next call with that prospect, and they can see in the AI-generated story-sofar exactly what was discussed and sent during that call.
This sets the rep up as a more trusted advisor and sets the expectation for a call next Tuesday, simply by clicking a button during the call and putting this “follow up” on their to-do list for next Tuesday (or Wednesday or Thursday, etc.). As a result, the rep does not have to remember to send the email after the call and can put the reminder to call next week on their calendar just by clicking.
2022 Success Strategies
Buyers need sellers to exceed expectations at every interaction. Sellers must have the ability to facilitate buying decisions virtually.
Selling teams can create extreme value when they are able to convert selling activities into revenue with state-of-the-art, role-specific, behavior-activated sales enablement tools.
Our new selling environment and our 2022 success require a sales engagement automation strategy, personalized messaging and an effective sales engagement playbook strategy.
We’re getting our sales enablement sales process fine-tuned. Is it time for you to do the same?
Lloyd Lofton is the founder of Power Behind the Sales. He is the author of The Saleshero’s Guide To Handling Objections, voted No. 1 of the 11 Best New Presentation Books To Read in 2020 by BookAuthority. Lloyd may be contacted at lloyd.lofton@ innfeedback.com.
Strategies To Win The PostPandemic Talent War
Employers must figure out how to design and implement a meaningful mission and experience for their current workers and prospective employees.
By Alison Salka
The COVID-19 pandemic affected almost all aspects of the insurance business. One critical aspect of any business — attracting and retaining talent — has become more challenging. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates there are 10.9 million open jobs
and 8.4 million unemployed potential
workers. Executives LIMRA spoke to said it’s taking longer to find talent (especially for junior-level positions) and that candidates expect more from the employers with whom they choose to work. In a recent survey of 16 life insurance company chief human resources officers, three-quarters said they are using more full-time remote or hybrid schedules to retain employees in certain critical or high-demand roles.
Hybrid Is Here To Stay
Companies moved quickly to a remote model last year. This was intended to be short term but continued well into this year. Remote or hybrid work will become permanent for many companies. It may be necessary to find and retain people who prefer the benefits of a work-from-home arrangement and don’t want to work in a traditional office environment.
In a recent survey of 16 life insurance company chief human resources officers, three-quarters said they are using more full-time remote or hybrid schedules to retain employees in certain critical or high-demand roles.
They are commonly doing this for information technology, actuarial, underwriting and data analytics roles. Maintaining a distinct company culture and facilitating collaboration in a remote environment have become heavily discussed topics among executives.
Some companies are considering outsourcing certain roles, since a remote employee and a contracted one do similar work but expenses are lower when jobs are outsourced.
In addition to culture, a remote work environment also affects wages. Compensation used to be a function of location, with certain metropolitan areas requiring higher wages due to higher expenses. Remote work makes it easier to match compensation to the requirements of the work. Talent matters more than location, and digital capabilities will drive engagement and collaboration.
Remote work requires a good digital employee experience. One company executive told LIMRA they hired 30% of their
workforce during the pandemic and didn’t meet a single candidate face-to-face. One good practice is to welcome new employees with a warm email and some company swag along with their equipment. It’s difficult to over-communicate with a new employee, and little gestures mean a lot.
In the past, company perks were often specific to headquarters. Amenities such as on-site gyms, stores, masseuses and barbers don’t benefit a distributed workforce. With a remote workforce, perks need to transfer — providing a company store credit or a stipend or a gift card are more relevant ways to reward employees.
Matching Employer Value Propositions With Employee Experience
The insurance industry doesn’t have a reputation of being dynamic, which makes it challenging to hire young professionals. At the same time, many young people have inflated expectations of what their job should be and are willing to fight for it. And right now, they have leverage.
Branding isn’t just for marketing. Companies must outline a clear mission and value proposition for candidates. Competitive compensation and benefits are table stakes. A good “employee experience” is becoming an expectation as well. Employees want a voice in engineering their work experience and fitting their jobs to their lives, not their lives to their jobs. Employers who give their workers this freedom will benefit.
Candidates want to know that their colleagues see them and care about them as multifaceted people. They also want their companies to care about issues outside the
business, and they want their opinions and their employer’s opinion to be consistent.
Potential employees care more now than previously on where a company stands on diversity, sustainability and social justice.
If employees are physically distant at work, they must be socially connected. Showing interest in employees as people with multifaceted lives goes a long way toward engaging them. As an executive recruiter from Slayton Search Partners recently said, “The war for talent is over; talent won.”
This doesn’t mean that the relationships between employers and employees can’t be win-win. Employers who figure out how to design and implement a meaningful mission and experience will be winners in any arena.
Alison Salka, Ph.D., is senior vice president and director of LIMRA Research. She may be contacted at alison. salka@innfeedback.com.
Engaging The Five Senses To Cultivate Client Trust
When you demonstrate your appreciation for your clients beyond the quality service you give them, you reinforce client loyalty and engagement.
By Terri E. Krueger
We all want clients to know we care about them, their families, their experience with us and their general happiness. As we transition to seeing clients in person regularly again, that experience should begin the moment a client arrives in your office. Cultivating client trust isn’t just about the words you say; it’s about engaging all your clients’ senses and connecting with them emotionally. Taking this holistic, sensory approach will put clients at ease the minute they walk in the door, making it easy to create meaningful, powerful relationships.
Engaging The Senses
The first experience a client has of your office is your reception area. My office’s reception desk plays host to diffused lavender, peppermint and other oils. These aromas help put clients at ease and welcome them into our space.
The visual focal point in our foyer is a kitchenette, which shows my office is not an uptight, business-only space, and reminds clients of their own homes. Additionally, every light in the office, from the recessed lighting to the chandeliers, are LED soft lights — there is no harsh fluorescent lighting. Our paint colors are warm and soothing to the eye. Again, all of this is to help clients relax into a space where they should feel safe and secure.
Finally, clients can select from displays of chocolate truffles, snack bars and candy in every meeting area. Our refrigerator is full of several different types of cold beverages, and we have a fully stocked station for hot chocolate, tea or coffee.
Deliberate Gift-Giving
Gift-giving is standard among financial advisors, but don’t let standard become stale. Sending unique items to your clients, using your own personal style, will make your gifts more meaningful and more appreciated. For example, each new client of mine receives a coffee mug filled with a custom, individually wrapped and logoed chocolate covered cookie, a logoed pen, and my personal business card. Our logoed pens cost approximately $1.29 each, leaving clients with the impression of quality — in the pens and in the firm. Clients often come back to ask for another pen, which we always oblige — after all, that’s what they’re there for.
Clients with young children receive a book about raising financially aware children and a logoed piggy bank. The book is designed to teach children; however, the adults learn as they teach, removing any embarrassment that the adults may feel about their own lack of financial planning knowledge.
During the pandemic, we also have given away logoed telephoto lenses that can be attached to any cellphone, and logoed luggage tags. By sending these items through the mail, we want to remind clients that they will begin traveling again one day, and the telephoto lens will allow them to see past where they’re currently standing and into a vacation-filled future.
Finally, clients who send referrals to our firm receive a tote made by a known designer. I developed a relationship with a vendor so I can purchase full-value totes at clearance-level prices. For higher-networth clients, I have a bag custom-made for them, embroidered with a symbol of an activity they enjoy — such as a golfer for my golf fans or a horseshoe for my equestrian enthusiasts.
Of course, clients and their spouses also receive cards for life-changing moments: celebratory cards for birthdays, engagements or the arrival of a new family member; sympathy cards when we find out a loved one has died. Each card comes with a personal, handwritten message from me on the inside.
Service Above And Beyond
Clients will see you as even more of a go-to source of support when you provide small services beyond financial advising. For example, every six months, my office holds a Shred Day in which people can bring in any documents they would like to have us shred for them. During COVID19, we made the event a drive-up service. Each driver received a bag of goodies and a thank-you for attending the event. One month prior to the event, we sent a list of items to shred and timelines for which documents to keep or shred as well as a list of dos and don’ts. (For example, don’t include any metal binders.)
The phrase sounds like a cliche, but it still hasn’t lost its meaning: People may forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel. From the ambience of your office to the thoughtfulness of your gifts, when you demonstrate your appreciation for your clients beyond the quality service you give them, you reinforce client loyalty and engagement. Show your clients that you value them, and they are likely to return the favor.
Terri E. Krueger is an independent financial advisor and seven-year MDRT member with three Court of the Table qualifications. She opened her own practice, Krueger Advisors, in Syracuse, N.Y., in 2018 and has been in the industry since 2007. She may be contacted at terri.krueger@innfeedback.com.
Partner Marketing: A TwoWay Street To Growth
Nurture this relationship like you would your best client, but evaluate it objectively to make sure you are sending and receiving your ideal clients.
By Carina Hatfield
Ready to work on your next marketing approach? Are you looking for a way to create lasting relationships and build a solid funnel of preferred introductions? Partner marketing might be the next thing to consider.
What is partner marketing? This is a business-to-business relationship created with a common goal. You might also call it referral marketing or relationship marketing.
For this to work effectively, you must look at your business and determine your ideal or niche client. Once you identify your ideal client, then you can explore the businesses or professional services this person uses in conjunction with yours. Does this person have a will or an estate plan in place? Then you may want to speak with an estate attorney. Is this person a classic car enthusiast? Then an auto restoration company, auction house or car club would be the right spot to start. Are you interested in local small businesses? The chamber of commerce or a business accountant provides services to your ideal client.
Do Your Homework
The next step is to do some research. Finding a company that aligns its values with yours is ideal. This can take some time, so don’t rush into a relationship with a company until you are ready. Your goals and objectives should be clearly defined and mutually agreed upon. You want to think about what you want out of the relationship. What are your expectations? How will each business benefit?
Once you have narrowed down the partner you would like to work with, stop and do some more research. What do their client reviews look like? What is the makeup of their professional network? How are they involved in the community? Where do their employees volunteer? What organizations do they sponsor? Ask yourself, does this align with my business?
Depending on your marketing approach, the size of your firm, and what products or services you want to market and grow, you might want to work with several businesses at the same time. Whether they are the same type of business or different is something that should be shared and agreed upon from the beginning.
What if you developed a relationship to get referrals for business insurance from an accountant and then find out they are referring home and auto insurance to someone else, and you also sell personal lines? Defining your services and to whom you want to be referred will eliminate any surprises and deepen the referral relationship.
Nurture Your Relationships
After you have finalized the company or companies you would like to partner with, set up a plan to check back in to make sure that the relationship is continuing to grow not only in the way you would like it to but also in the way the other company wants it to. Partner marketing is best when developed with referrals both ways. Keeping track of how many referrals come to you is just as important as the amount you refer to them. Treat your check-ins like a business meeting with a client, be prepared with an agenda, monitor progress and discuss next steps.
Now that you have the clients coming in, let’s discuss your continued relationship with them. When a prospect reaches out to you, remember to ask them who referred them or how they found you. Let the person know you want to thank the person or company that referred you. Tracking this through your customer relationship management system is the best way to keep track of where you are getting business. Send a thank-you card or a gift to the referral source so they know you appreciate them. Feedback to the referral partner is key. Are they sending you your ideal client or are they only sending you someone who sort of needs your advice?
After you have converted the prospect to your client, you must evaluate your service model and plug them into your system. Most likely, you are scheduling reviews either every quarter, semiannually or at a minimum annual basis. How else do you stay in touch with your clients?
One way is through your partner marketing. Co-hosting a client appreciation event is an easy way to continue the relationship with your marketing partner and also stay in touch with your clients. This could be something like offering a lunch and learn, co-hosting a webinar or event, featuring your partner in your newsletter or on social media, or sharing in volunteer opportunities.
The most important part of referral or partner marketing is to make this commitment a part of your business strategy. Nurture this relationship like you would your best client, but evaluate it objectively to make sure you are sending and receiving your ideal clients. Those ideal clients make your service model easy to follow and the work with your partner enjoyable and rewarding.
Carina Hatfield, LUTCF, CLCS, LACP, is the owner of Weigner Insurance & Financial Services in Pottstown, Pa. She is president of NAIFA-Pennsylvania, chair of NAIFA’s National Young Advisor Team, and the 2020 recipient of NAIFA’s national YAT Leader of the Year award. She may be contacted at carina.hatfield@innfeedback.com.
Support Client Desires To Make A Difference
How to turn a simple gesture of giving into a journey of self-discovery and fulfillment.
By Dien Yuen
Giving is a noble act regardless of the amount, motivation or approach. It can be an impulse to show kindness that can take place anytime and anywhere. Or it can be a commitment to tackle a social issue that goes beyond personal satisfaction.
As a trusted advisor, how can you support your client’s desire to make a difference, which in turn will support your business as well as our communities? Here are some steps that you can share with your clients and help turn a simple gesture into an amazing journey of self-discovery and fulfillment.
Step 1: Dig In A Bit More.
Worthy causes are everywhere — from great social needs such as education, health and the environment to investing in arts, culture and much more. There is no harm in supporting any project that appeals to you or is brought to your attention by a friend or family member. You can develop a clear focus by zeroing in on what you care about and want to help change. If your cause is helping children, is there a specific age group, geographic location or life circumstance that you care about? If you can drill down and narrow your interests sufficiently, your efforts can bring about meaningful and lasting change to a particular aspect of the more significant issue.
f Consider supporting the truly disadvantaged groups in the area you focus on. Sometimes the groups most in need are those that are marginalized, such as ethnic minorities, girls, senior citizens or particularly vulnerable populations. f Does backing social entrepreneurs and market-based solutions seem more appealing? If yes, look at their business models, check their results and see who else funds them. Does their track record show they can scale and bring about significant changes in the status quo? f Do you care about addressing immediate needs or would you rather address the more difficult work of getting at the root of the problem? Be curious. Ask why the situation is what it is. You can ensure that you are part of the solution instead of supporting unintended consequences.
Step 2: Search For Organizations That Align With Your Goals.
When you have a better idea of what you want to focus on, the next step is to find great organizations or projects that match your goals. Connect with and learn from others who might be interested in the issues and groups they support.
If your focus area is your local community, contact your community foundation, a special type of charity that serves a specific city or region. You can see what they fund, ask for recommendations or fund their special initiatives. Regardless of who you partner with, it is helpful to listen to their priorities.
f Look into philanthropic online marketplaces and crowdfunded sites for ideas. These groups list hundreds of specific projects that donors can give to. Step 3: Give Efficiently And Wisely.
After selecting the nonprofits you want to help, the next step is to make a gift that works for you and the organization. The easiest way to make a gift is to write a check or make a credit card donation online. However, sometimes, making the best gift requires some extra planning. For example, instead of cash, you can donate highly appreciated, publicly traded stock, allowing you to realize far more significant tax savings.
f Consider an “unrestricted” or “general operating” support gift that can be used for pilot projects or strengthening the organization. Charities need to keep their lights on to function, so allow for some measure of overhead costs too.
Step 4: Follow The Gift
The giving journey is inherently personal, and the path you chart should resonate with your values and experiences. At the same time, revisit motivations that guide your giving and pivot as your mindset evolves. When it comes down to it, for a donation of any amount of your hardearned money, be sure you know what will happen and that you are excited about it!
f Whether it’s taking a board seat, spending several hours tutoring a child, or helping a nonprofit plan an event, consider volunteering for groups you align yourself with.
You can easily make a charitable gift to any nonprofit as a gesture of your generosity, but choosing a cause or a group that is meaningful to you and your family, for any amount, requires some thought. The energy, time and initiative that you invest in the giving journey can be transformative, or at least personally rewarding and educational.
Dien Yuen, JD/LLM, CAP, AEP, holds the Blunt-Nickel Professorship in Philanthropy at The American College of Financial Services, where she teaches in the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy program. She also serves as program director of Purpose School, a program she co-created for leaders exploring the intersections of personal purpose and impact. She may be contacted at dien.yuen@innfeedback.com.
Not Your Everyday Insurance Credit Line
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