Two Critical Factors in Determining Your Success as an Agent

by: Olga Ivchenko

Agents are continually looking for ways to grow and create a prosperous business – something that can be tough when the marketplace is in its current state, and money is tight due to economic inflation. So how can agents become, and remain successful, despite the challenges they’re faced with each year? By adhering to certain tried and true principles of success. 

Timing and activity are the two of the most important principles of becoming and remaining a successful agent.

Principle #1:  Timing

As industry professionals, we tend to forget that insurance isn’t something other people think about on a daily basis in the same way we do. In fact, most people don’t understand the basics, and only think of insurance as a “necessary evil.” When insurance isn’t top-of-mind for a prospect, your odds of success in selling them a new policy, or more insurance, is less than 10%. When insurance is top-of-mind your odds jump to more than 70%. So how do you get the timing right, and seize your opportunities?

Top Of Mind Prospecting

There are several major events that cause people to think about buying or shopping for insurance.    

When rates change

This doesn’t likely happen mid-term, meaning, once rates are bound with a new effective date, nothing can change the rate from that date until the expiration date. Only an endorsement on the existing policy, adding a new driver, change of address, changing cars, etc. will change these rates. However, rates are still set within the existing term. If during the current term an insurance company has a rate increase, or the insured had an accident or violation, then their rate will likely increase at their renewal (expiration of their existing policy term). This is typically when most people experience sticker shock and think, “I need to start shopping for new insurance.” Being proactive by contacting (#1 secret to sales success) the prospect at that time dramatically increases your odds of success. As a result, knowing when a customer’s policy renews (or expires) is extremely valuable intel. This is what’s called an X-Date.

They’re not happy with a claim or service experience 

Unfortunately, it is usually impossible to know when something like this happens. The only way of possibly connecting with someone at that time is by having some form of consistent communication that won’t turn the prospect away. Sending too many emails or emails with offers or generic promises doesn’t work. Informative or educational content sent two to four times a year is a much better approach for agents to take. It’s called a drip campaign -- a series of automated emails sent to people with you deciding how many emails to send and the rate at which to send them. If you speak with a prospect and your gut tells you, “This is a good prospect” then a handwritten card with business cards included is likely worth the effort.

The Client has tickets or violations 36 to 60 months old

Sending quotes at this time can definitely get someone’s attention. Especially, if it was an accident or major violation that fell off their record.

• First and foremost, it shows you’re on top of your game and gains the clients’ trust.
• Second, if you’re the first to approach them and offer to immediately save them money, they’re almost certainly likely to sign.

Hunting for opportunities can be frustrating or fun. With a good system that improves your timing and helps to maintain the right perspective (knowing the objective) of your activities, hunting for opportunities tends to be a very enjoyable and highly rewarding experience.

Principle #2:  Activity

In sales, we do not get paid for our time in the traditional sense. You can work 40, 50, 60, or even 100 hours per week and still fail. On the other hand, you can work 20 hours per week doing all the right things (activity, activity, activity) and far exceed the success of those “working hard.” Making contacts is the #1 secret to sales success, making it the number one activity that, when done at the right time, will skyrocket your success.

People Don’t Produce Results, People Using Processes Do!

Consider this – when you listen to athletes talk about their successes, they always reference, “Trusting their process…”, or “Trusting their mechanics.” In a Tiger Woods interview once, at the height of his career, he was asked, “With so much success how do you plan on improving?” He replied, “I have a 3-part mechanical swing. Sometimes it feels mechanical and other times it feels natural. I want to work to make the mechanical work feel natural.” Tiger had a process he used for improvement – one that he used over and over again to improve his results.

So, what is a process? It’s an orderly established series of steps used to bring about a desired result. Because it’s an orderly established series of steps, this means it’s mechanical! Our job is to make it appear or feel natural. This is done through repetition of the same steps, in the same sequence, over and over again.

Over-thinking can sometimes rob us of action (activity) or hinder us from moving forward. We should employ critical thinking when developing, studying, or trying to improve our processes, and after working on an existing process long enough to acquire some data to evaluate the process’s performance.

Trusting a tried-and-true process allows you to work it with a little less effort and thought, allowing you to be more present with what is occurring during the process. Versus, contemplating “What should I do next?” or making reactionary mistakes.

If you can agree with the concept that processes produce better overall results, you can dramatically increase your sales potential. Insurance can be career that offers the rewards, income, time, and freedom of sales. Unfortunately, without an understanding of key principles, the right activities, and a turnkey system (processes) many people fail to move forward or see the growth and success they desire.

Installing both of these principles is extremely important to growing and managing your premium volume. Managing premium volume can be extremely challenging if you own your own agency and is key to opening opportunities with carriers. Once you get to a certain level of premium, service work becomes a huge part of your day, making it very difficult to prospect for new business. As a result, this is typically when agencies plateau. In addition, each carrier you access has production requirements that must be met, and it can be extremely time consuming to balance all of the requirements and still manage to do the right thing by the client.

Since, more premium equals more revenue which can be used to increase market presence, if you own your own agency, it’s vital to consider adding other agents and producers once you hit a certain level of premium, since this will allow you to diversify your book, write a bigger variety of business, and help you work ON your business versus IN your business.  

Installing these principles and developing processes can give you peace of mind and steady growth in the insurance industry, even during tough markets. It’s just a choice. A choice that will result in quality of life, time, freedom, extraordinary income, and a highly rewarding career.