Increasingly vital in this changing marketplace is the ability to justify your position and add extra value. Let's explore seven primary points that create value to your customer.

  1. Look back to look forward: Your future is directly related to the preparation and planning you have done. Look back at your previous performance and analyze your number of suspects, conversion ratio to prospects, qualifying ratio into the sales funnel, and your close ratio to determine your future. Look at the number of lines of coverage per household and the average revenue per account.

  2. Your specific value added during the past 12 months to your clients: Create a formal plan for selling more coverages to your part-time policy holders, offer a formal service and relationship management plan for the clients you are serious about keeping, develop expertise in specific industries or socioeconomic circles and identify areas you may have missed.

Help your clients realize that insurance is only one way to mitigate risk. Develop alliances with professionals who can complete a risk management package.

  • Quality pipeline management: Have a defined description of what your personal or commercial prospect should look like. The producer is responsible for putting the correct profile together and targeting efforts toward that person.

  • This new marketplace: Competition comes your way in commercial lines. More choices and convenience turns the marketplace into a price-driven decision. Clearly communicate why your advice, business acumen and expertise keeps the buyer out of harm's way.

    • Today, your customers can buy over the web and may not see your building. Get electronically visible and get active. Use online, direct, independent agents, kiosks, retail, snail mail and the large box stores as marketing techniques. Technology changed buying habits, but insurance hasn't kept up with the changing market.

  • Your value system versus your customers: Profile your clients and understand their value systems, issues and concerns, and ensure that your agency has a clearly communicated set of solutions.

  • The wave of better competitors: Compete against the enthusiastic, hungry, well-trained, educated and technology-savvy coming into our business with the training, a system and personal drive to accomplish more than previous generations.

  • Understanding the components of value: Value can be defined differently based on the individual or business, their acumen, desires, concerns, level of risk they're willing to take, and long-term objectives. Understand and have the dialogue to create customized solutions to their needs. Value breaks down into premium, cost of pain (value added), coverage, service (value added) and relationship (value added).

    • Want to continue reading?
    Become a Free PropertyCasualty360 Digital Reader

    Your access to unlimited PropertyCasualty360 content isn’t changing.
    Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

    • Breaking insurance news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
    • Weekly Insurance Speak podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
    • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
    • Critical converage of the employee benefits and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, BenefitsPRO and ThinkAdvisor
    NOT FOR REPRINT

    © 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.