What are the five most crucial success factors to which you would attribute your success? This is the fundamental Best Practices question: Why are Best Practices agencies exceptional and how can I be exceptional, too?
For seven years, Reagan & Associates and the Independent Insurance Agents of American (IIAA) have partnered to produce the Best Practices Study. Ideally, the study has helped us clarify the attributes that make agencies successful. We hope that average agencies can learn from the best and become better.
In reviewing the preliminary results for the 1999 study, I'm particularly drawn to a question that we ask our Best Practices agencies every year: What are the five most crucial success factors to which you would attribute your success? This is the fundamental Best Practices question: Why are Best Practices agencies exceptional and how can I be exceptional, too?
The beauty of such questions is their simplicity. We list 18 possible responses, such as employee productivity, profitability, strategic business planning, and quality of customer service. Check off your top five, and we're done.
The danger is that these questions may be too simple.
Don't get me wrong-I'm still a management consultant with a love of benchmarks. But I'm learning that there's much that lies beneath the surface of an exceptional organization or person that can't be quantified so easily. Although you might gain great benefit from the Best Practices responses, ponder these additional questions about yourself and your organization. Honest answers will demonstrate more clearly what it means to be exceptional.
When was the last time a client called or wrote to tell you what a great job you're doing for them?
If no one ever calls or writes to say 'great job!' you're not delivering exceptional service and value to your clients. Period. If you can't differentiate yourself on the basis of service and value in the insurance industry, you're in the wrong business.
When was the last time you took the time to send a thank-you note to someone who exceeded your expectations?
I mean anyone-a boss, spouse, child, associate, God, client, vendor, employee, mailman, McDonald's cashier, whoever! If you're thrilled with someone's work performance, be sure to tell their boss, too.
When was the last time you left some money on the table with an employee, a client, a competitor, or a vendor/supplier as a sign of goodwill?
Prime the pump for the next time you come for water. Beat someone up for that last nickel and you're likely to regret it.
When was the last time you fired a hopelessly misplaced employee who you knew would never succeed in your organization?
Why do you feel like you're doing people a favor by keeping them in a role that's unsuited to them? That's no favor, it's a crime-to the inadequate employee, to your other employees, and to the organization.
When was the last time you spent some time, money, and attention to help a recently fired employee find a better career fit?
Look, if you have to fire someone, recognize that you too made some mistakes in hiring and/or managing that person. Accept that responsibility and do the right thing. There's a good Yiddish term for a decent person, a good egg: Mensch.
When was the last time you convinced a really bright young kid with great potential that a career in the insurance industry, specifically with your organization, represented an unequalled career opportunity?
Quick test: You're 22 with a new college degree and no sense of your limitations. Which option excites you -- (a) a job with an Internet company, (b) starting your own business with some really smart friends, or (c) working for an insurance agency or company with really progressive summertime casual Fridays?
This one hits us where we live. My organization recently managed to hire a smart, talented young Auburn graduate with a plate full of career options. Now that we have him, we have a huge responsibility to make good on the promises we made to get him here. We also face the daunting challenge of continuing to evolve into the type of organization that will allow us to attract and keep the young talent we'll need to succeed in the future.
When was the last time you dove in way over your head at work? When was the last time you tried something so hard and so ambitious that it really frightened you?
Being exceptional requires spending a significant amount of time outside the comfort zone. A great question to this end is, 'What great thing would you attempt to do if you were sure you wouldn't fail?' If you can't name at least one specific, ridiculous goal you're pursuing personally or professionally, you're probably not living an exceptional life.
Years ago, in my first month with Reagan & Associates, I attended a Top Agency roundtable for agency principals. An older attendee, who by all outward appearances was quite successful, prefaced his introductory remarks with, 'As I come to the conclusion of a thoroughly mediocre career...' His words make me cringe to this day. I wonder whether he ever asked himself any tough questions along the way about what it might take to be exceptional.