Is your insurance practice stuck in a rut? Three ways to get a fresh perspective
By Michael Poirot
GamePlan Financial Marketing, LLC
A fresh perspective can come from many different places such as a mentor, your current clients or another business. The results can be enlightening, impactful and sometimes shocking.
Ever feel like your business is stuck in a rut? You’re working hard and doing well, but it just seems that you’ve maxed out your company’s earning potential. If you feel like this, it’s my recommendation that you take a step back and get what I call a fresh perspective.
A fresh perspective can come from many different places such as a mentor, your current clients or another business. The results can be enlightening, impactful and sometimes shocking.
Mentoring feedback can be the most impactful information available. Of course, you have to have a mentor first. Be aggressive and get one. Find someone you respect who is successful and is a good communicator. They don’t have to be in the same industry or even in the same state.
There’s a reason they are successful, so find out why. Be careful though; just because they are good at being successful doesn’t mean they are good at teaching how to be successful. With a mentor, I recommend that you do a top five exercise where you go to the mentor’s office and spend a day experiencing his practice.
At the end of the day, make a list of the top five things done well and a bottom five things that could be improved. Then have the mentor come to your office for a day and go through the same exercise. This makes the relationship a two-way street and provides a structure for real growth.
Your current clients are a place where you can get a volume of information. With information from a group, you can identify trends, feelings and often surprising results. My recommendation is to create a client survey.
The key to a client survey is asking the right questions. Many people ask questions that I consider soft. Soft questions are asked to get answers that you probably already know the answers to, and those answers make us feel good. I recommend asking hard questions. Hard questions are designed to get new information. Here’s an example:
Soft question: Rate 1-5 your level of satisfaction with our services.
This is soft because a number doesn’t give you any real information and most people will rate you a 4 or 5 just because it’s the easy answer.
Here’s a different way to ask the same question:
Please identify one area of our services that could be improved. (write in answer)
This is a hard question because there is no easy way out. They have to provide a real example. I recommend sending out a survey that has five or six hard questions about one month after every first appointment, whether the person became a client or not. Yes, often the best information comes from those who do not do business with us. Finally, call everyone (subject to the national Do-Not-Call Registry) whether they respond or not. Ask the responders for more detail with their answers. Then call the non-responders to find out why they didn’t respond and possibly conduct a phone survey.
Finally, talk to another businesses. Often, there are companies that you work with that can provide feedback. These companies have a vested interest in your success and will often give great information.
As an example, an FMO can be a great source of information. As the director of marketing of a successful FMO, I am lucky enough to talk to 15-20 successful agents a day about what’s working for them.
I often hear and re-tell stories about seminar closing strategies, perfecting a new elevator pitch, or simply sharing marketing materials that are working well. Agents often send me copies of their radio show to listen to, videos of their seminars and copies of the latest mailer. An FMO can be a great resource if you know how to dig for the right information.
Getting a fresh perspective can be a powerful tool. When asking for feedback of any form, be sure that you ask for critical, honest and direct information. That information is very valuable.
21423 For financial professional use only, not for use with the general public.