Grow your book of business with client acquisition and retention
If you take extra steps to gain knowledge and improve your skills, you will develop a competitive advantage.
Client acquisition and client retention are both integral factors to efficiently grow your book of business. If you fail to add a sufficient number of new clients or lose a lot of existing clients, your book will struggle to grow.
The internal sales processes for acquisition and retention are similar yet different. It is important to understand and embrace both processes, as they are each equally important to achieving true book growth.
Many times, organizations overvalue new sales revenue versus renewal revenue. This philosophy results in a greater focus on new sales, which can lead to a lesser focus on servicing existing clients. Oftentimes, the fact that existing clients want to feel just as valued as new business prospects is overlooked. If the clients do not feel valued, they will move on and producers will ultimately end up with subpar book growth.
If you work for a firm that equally, or closely, aligns compensation formulas for new and renewal business, it’s vital to build skills that will enable you to balance both of those objectives. Keep in mind that it’s the total revenue number that matters most in the end, so make sure to always work toward maximizing that final number.
Ready to get started? Here are three tips for growing your total book of business:
Be exceptional.
Get to know your business to the absolute best of your ability. Be a product expert and strive to be an added-value partner to everyone you collaborate with. Building knowledge and maintaining a good understanding of your clients’ risks and opportunities allows you to effectively tailor products to better meet their needs.
Strive for continual improvement. If you are not growing as a professional, your competitors will quickly gain ground on you. Never be satisfied with your current level of expertise. Our business changes rapidly, and you need to remain flexible in adapting to those changes.
This includes being committed to taking the time to read policy forms, industry publications and other communications; attending continuing education conferences and industry seminars; conducting independent research; talking to other experts in the field; and really getting to know your competitors.
The more you can showcase your knowledge and capabilities, the better equipped you will be to provide the superior service your clients expect.
If you take these extra steps to gain knowledge and improve your skills, and are deliberate and ethical in your actions, you will develop a competitive advantage.
In their marketing materials, many producers and agencies claim to provide “unparalleled service.” The reality is, however, that very few in the industry actually deliver on this promise. Those who are creative thinkers and always strive to deliver the best outcomes for their clients will have greater success in retaining existing clients while attracting new clients at a higher rate.
Always ask yourself: How can we make things better?
Find ways to elevate your business reputation, and attend industry functions to learn and to network. Your reward? More clients and increased commissions.
Build a broad network.
Business is built on relationships, and your network is where it all begins. Build and develop networking skills so you can continuously engage your clients, underwriters and prospects. A pipeline that is fueled by good relationships will yield a strong flow of opportunities.
In addition, seize any opportunity to present during seminars, large business meetings or even one-on-ones. This allows you to demonstrate your expertise to people who could potentially be new clients.
Build a service team, and develop a service model.
Build your “A Team” around you. This is a key component of success in any business but absolutely critical in a role in which new and existing clients are objective No. 1. The “A Team” should share your vision and motivation.
Structure employee compensation incentives so that they are tied to new business sales as well as client retention. This will provide motivation as well as a reward system for achieving both goals. Happy, engaged and educated employees are a benefit to the whole team as well as the clients they interact with on a regular basis.
Develop a detailed service plan and template that spells out team expectations and also serves as a guide for how to manage client expectations and deliverables. Review these documents with your team at the beginning of each year as a refresher. This helps to ensure that everyone is on the same page and focused on success.
If you embrace a growth mindset and put these three strategies into practice, the wheels will be in motion to achieve improved book growth.
Rep Plasencia (Rep_Plasencia@rpsins.com) is area executive vice president at Risk Placement Services. He specializes in designing property insurance programs for complex property accounts throughout the Southeastern United States.
These opinions are the author’s own.
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