Why Ask for Two Leads at Closing; Ask for 130.

[djs]

DJS- How do you ask for leads and referrals in your agency? As an agency owner what practices have you put in place in your agency to make this part of the sales/closing process?

Shawn - I'm not opposed to this idea, just was wondering if it really works. To be honest, it does sound like good marketing, but its highly disconnected sales. Most sales are proactive, you have to reach out to the prospect. The facebook thing is reactive, the prospect has to reach out to you.

Its not a bad thing to do, but getting warm introductions is going to lead to better results on the referral front, or at least I believe it does. My concern is that you have really 1 attempt (per sale) to effectively ask clients for referrals, you need to make it useful. As long as you've been suggesting this method, I figured you had some stats to show that it does result in sales more often than just asking for referrals. That's all I was asking.

As an agency owner, there is little doubt that the best referrals come from centers of influence, such as mortgage brokers, realtors, car dealers, even the rental office at apartment complexes. Align it to the type of business you want to write or at least prospects you want to nurture, and focus on who can send you that business.

Lead groups such as BNI (yeah, don't call them leads at BNI), LeTip, or whatever, are a decent way to get started. Eventually though, you want to develop some power partners and move on.

None of this is new stuff, but its all very effective if you really work it.

Dan

 

[RFMaurone]

It will work, I guarantee it

 

[F150]

I was a manager and top Producer for the first two years of my Insurance career at one of the largest agencies in SLC. 12 years ago Facebook was not a thing. I moved on to the carrier side

Not to pick on Shawn, I have ALWAYS questioned people who say, I was a top producer and moved to the carrier side.....so you gave up all that money and freedom to get a J.O.B.?

One of my carrier reps always brags, she was the states top producer, blah blah blah, so you gave up all that money and freedom to work for the man?

All that does is cause me to doubt you.....

 

[insurance1822]

Not to pick on Shawn, I have ALWAYS questioned people who say, I was a top producer and moved to the carrier side.....so you gave up all that money and freedom to get a J.O.B.?

One of my carrier reps always brags, she was the states top producer, blah blah blah, so you gave up all that money and freedom to work for the man?

All that does is cause me to doubt you.....

WOW F150 actually posted something useful? I must say I agree 100% and there's just something about this Shawn guy that stinks of true disconnect from the "boots on the ground" sales world...

i actually am a top producer & if I went to the carrier side I would take a massive MASSIVE pay cut & would be required to actually work 9-5. MAKES NO SENSE unless maybe he was some inbound call center dude who may have been good enough on the phones to close more then the other underpaid telemarketers around him. I met a mortgage guy who ran his mouth about how many loans he writes & how he's the top guy in his office. Turns out it's an inbound call center & he doesn't generate any business on his own...he makes a moderate salary with a pathetic year end bonus based off sales.

 

[shawnmwalker]

Insurance 1822 and F-150,

Regardless of my Resume... (which includes the agency and carrier side of the equation for over 10 yrs and is very Googlable given my transparency on this site)....

Is the idea good?

Some Bigger Questions here:

Have you thought about your close and how it has evolved over the course of your successful carriers?

How has Social media changed your close? If it hasn't, should it?

Should Social Media only change the close in certain Ins segments?

How does your close change depending on what product you are selling?

 

[F150]

Insurance 1822 and F-150,

Regardless of my Resume... (which includes the agency and carrier side of the equation for over 10 yrs and is very Googlable given my transparency on this site)....

Is the idea good?

Some Bigger Questions here:

Have you thought about your close and how it has evolved over the course of your successful carriers?

How has Social media changed your close? If it hasn't, should it?

Should Social Media only change the close in certain Ins segments?

How does your close change depending on what product you are selling?

COMPLETELY avoided the question

 

[shawnmwalker]

F-150, find me a question in your post or in ins1822's post. I did not side step a question; there was not one asked.

I think my background or experience was called into question and I addressed that by saying, If you want to know more about me; look it up. (Hint: when you do look it up: I go By Shawn Michael Walker. I am not the WWF wrestler, or the white supremacist with Tattoos all over his face. I get mistaken for those guys all the time given my large muscles and all the tattoos all over my face.)

 

[F150]

F-150, find me a question in your post or in ins1822's post. I did not side step a question; there was not one asked.

I think my background or experience was called into question and I addressed that by saying, If you want to know more about me; look it up. (Hint: when you do look it up: I go By Shawn Michael Walker. I am not the WWF wrestler, or the white supremacist with Tattoos all over his face. I get mistaken for those guys all the time given my large muscles and all the tattoos all over my face.)

Yes, there was a question.... If you were so successful as an agent, "top producer" why give up all that money and freedom to work for the man.....

 

[shawnmwalker]

Oh, that is easy. The Man let me work from home, gave me a company car, a 401k, my boss was four states away, and I was in Sales which meant I got more freedom, and a great year end bonus. More importantly, I was a young 24 year old with a new family. I needed more stability and in my mind it was "My College Job"

I should mention I was the top performer/ Manager in an agency that was 70/30 Non Standard/Preferred. It had a staff of 7 producers: I wanted to learn more about the industry and other product lines (My first step into ins was a good start, But I needed more.)

All and all it was an amazing College job and I still call the agency and thank them for the time I got there and the Intro it gave me to a successful career so far in Ins! But not as successful as many others on this forum.


Is that what you were looking for. Again the rest you can google unless you want the details of why I made each move.

What was your first Ins job? And back to all my follow-up questions.

How has your close evolved over time?

 

[insurance1822]

Oh, that is easy. The Man let me work from home, gave me a company car, a 401k, my boss was four states away, and I was in Sales which meant I got more freedom, and a great year end bonus. More importantly, I was a young 24 year old with a new family. I needed more stability and in my mind it was "My College Job"

I should mention I was the top performer/ Manager in an agency that was 70/30 Non Standard/Preferred. It had a staff of 7 producers: I wanted to learn more about the industry and other product lines (My first step into ins was a good start, But I needed more.)

All and all it was an amazing College job and I still call the agency and thank them for the time I got there and the Intro it gave me to a successful career so far in Ins! But not as successful as many others on this forum.


Is that what you were looking for. Again the rest you can google unless you want the details of why I made each move.

What was your first Ins job? And back to all my follow-up questions.

How has your close evolved over time?

Shawn everything my agency does is referral business & we close at least 90% of it. In fact in the very rare occasions we don't close a referral...it bothers me tremendously.

I've read your blog & ran the quick math on you. While in college you produced at "one of the largest Indy agencies" in SLC. I know how personal lines producers operate in those environments & they are not generating business. They are taking inbound calls or working common sense audits the agency owner/manger delegates to them. It's not hard to be the top producer in an office like that...especially being young/energetic right out of college...so that says nothing to me. Yeah maybe you quoted some friends & family, but as far as being the architect & front line leader for orchestrating/implementing true systems that generate organic business for an agency (not just babbling off the talking points we already know) I can't say I have faith in your experience.

Mid market stand alone auto carrier would be entry level for a management position within the insurance world, but I can understand a personal lines producer in a call center being attracted to the stability & salary which certainly exceeded your income as a personal lines body at a huge indy at the time. Our stand alone auto reps tend to simply have a heart-beat & send random emails here & there. I'm not knocking the job...I'm just again pointing out the disconnect from agency ownership. Now in any event...

At this point you should have had enough of an understanding of the business to reflect upon your previous "top sales" experience & carrier side knowledge to make a decision....a decision of "do I keep my comfortable income/benefits and go to the agency side" or not. Clearly...you chose the latter.

Was it for lack of true confidence in your ability to generate business? Was it for the simple fact you were risk averse? You clearly came to that decision to remain carrier side with more background/experience then most of us. So for me...that's what bothers me a little bit about the carrier side guy throwing out the talking points about agency ownership. My $3,000,000 book of mostly preferred packaged business (being serviced exclusively by the carriers) with 1 part time CSR & commission only producer is generating way more income then any carrier rep. So why...why....why wouldn't somebody with all that experiences not pursue that? It irks me to hear the carrier side guys talk about running an agency for this very reason. I knew less then you at the time & walked from a stable income because of 1 reason...I had complete confidence & a proven record of being able to generate sales.

That being said, it's clear you're "successful" in your trade…but that's not the trade of an agency owner.

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Heck that's not including the fact that being on the carrier side for that long, you should have had an unfair advantage for being able to identify agencies that are likely acquisition candidates