When you take any sales goal and apply the principals of a combat order, it will clarify your thinking and give an executable plan for accomplishing that goal. Learn how the SMEAC strategy applies to a hypothetical sales situation.

Situation

I have been a property-casualty producer for 7 years. My total book of business is $150,000 of revenue to the agency and my personal income from this book is $48,000. I am hanging on by a thread with my management. At this time in my career I had planned on having a personal income of $150,000 per year, which meant that my book needs to be $470,000. I received training in all aspects of being a producer, such as coverage and sales, but with this I have not met the success that I should have. My technical proficiency is where it should be, but my sales results have been disappointing.

Advice: Be brutally honest with yourself about your current situation. You cannot properly address where you are going unless you know exactly where you are. Too often producers find reasons why they are not more productive:  My staff is inadequate, there is no time to prospect with everything else I have to do, I don't receive management support, we do not advertise enough, etc. These excuses are not what is standing in your way of producing: you are. Set your priorities and No. 1 has to be new business appointments.

Mission

• By close of business on Dec. 31, 2015, my book of business will be $500,000.

Advice: Succinctly define this mission. This is a huge step in production, but you can do it. Stretch yourself. Which would you rather do: Set a $50,000 goal per year and meet 120 percent of it, or set a $120,000 goal per year and accomplish 80 percent of it?

Execution

• I will retain 95 percent of all my current revenue every year.
• I will book $100,000 of new revenue every year beginning in 2013.
• I will maintain an active pipeline of $200,000 of revenue for any 12-month period during the next 3 years calculated as follows: A $10,000 revenue account that I feel I have a 30 percent chance of closing will count as $3,000 of revenue.
• I will close 70 percent of all presentations that I make.
• I will qualify all prospects after my first meeting to determine if I should move forward on the account. Not everyone who wants me to bid will get a bid. In fact, my bidding days are over. I will only make professional presentations.

Advice: This step contains a list of everything you will do to accomplish the mission. Each step should have its own SMEAC planning.

Read another Koehler column, “Natural-Born Salesperson.”

Administration

• I will personally meet with the top 20 percent of my clients (based on revenue to the agency) a minimum of four times per year for policy delivery, a mid-year stewardship meeting, gathering of renewal data information and reviewing with the client and the renewal meeting.
• I will ensure my top 20 percent clients meet with their account teams at least twice per year.
• I will have three first-time new business appointments every week, either with referrals, cold calling or networking.
• I will have three follow-up new business appointments every week.
• I will become active in networks (associations) whose meetings are attended by my prospects.

Advice: Administration tasks accomplish each step of the execution process. Notice that each step addresses either the retention goal or the new business goal. There could be many more; hopefully, these will get you started.

Control

• I will use my contact management system to generate weekly reports about the number and quality of prospects in my pipeline. At all times I will know the dollar amount of my pipeline for the next 12 months.
• I will reward myself for meeting my new business appointment goals each week by playing golf on Friday afternoons.
• If I have not set the prerequisite number of appointments for the following week, I will spend Friday afternoon from 1300 hours to 1700 hours cold calling.
• I will not waste my time on prospects who generate less than $1,000 of revenue (use a revenue number that works for you).
• I will rehearse new business presentations with colleagues prior to presenting.
• I will meet with agency/sales managers weekly to report my weekly activity in comparison to my goals.

Advice: These things measure progress toward your goals. It is easy to fudge on this by attributing higher percentages to prospects than they deserve. Your nature should be optimistic, but your measurement should be pessimistic. This will keep you from becoming overconfident.

Related: Read “Time to Recommit” by Fritz Koehler.

As a producer, you are in charge. Issue your orders and then hold yourself accountable for accomplishing your mission. No one has more at stake than you.