Questions & Answers

Though faced with the realities of dramatic economic change, the reconfiguration of the business landscape, and globalization, U.S. companies continue to go down the wrong path. Former U.S. Treasury Department official Michael Jacobs calls it "business myopia."

It may be argued that "enhancing shareholder value" drives the myopic vision of publicly-traded companies, but "shareholder demand" is perhaps more accurate. In privately held companies, myopic thinking results from a desire to increase market share or simply beat last month's figures.

You've made the decision to form a captive premium finance company. You've also chosen to run your operation either by outsourcing to a third-party vendor or using software to run the operation in house. Chances are that your lending arrangement and state licensing are also in place. You're now ready to get started and you want to book your first loan. Before you open your doors for business, take a moment to consider some important factors in this new frontier of insurance premium financing.

Electronic document storage is an issue that every agency should address as part of their management process. Steve Anderson offers some ideas to help you stay ahead of the storage curve.

A few days ago, I received a call from one of our Referral Boot Camp graduates, Greg, who was experimenting with Referral Events and not having the success he’d hoped for. Although many clients attended his events, they didn’t always bring a guest for him to meet — even though it was requested on the invitation. Greg didn’t feel that he could turn down his clients’ desire to attend his events, even though they didn’t have a guest to bring.

When someone is reluctant to give you referrals, it's likely that they're concerned about their friends' or colleagues' reactions to their names coming up in conversation and to your calling them. They could be afraid that their friends or colleagues wouldn't appreciate having a salesperson unleashed on them.

The following section is a varied and important one to a profitable independent agency. In it, you will learn the basis of the Sales Center concept and how Sales Centers have brought increased profitability, retention, and total-account sales into many agencies.

Many agencies establish a Sales Center with their existing personnel, or hire an additional administrative or customer service person to take over additional duties. Others find that the increased efficiency of a Sales Center allows them to expand their marketing efforts, and they hire an in-house or outside telemarketing staff to keep leads coming in to producers.

TELEMARKETER'S SKILLS

You might look toward four basic types of people when you're searching for prospective telemarketers:

Your own administrative or service employees
Professional salespeople
Experienced telemarketers
New employees who express an interest in telemarketing, but have little or no sales background

[NAME OF COMPANY HERE]

Presented by:

Producer's Name Here

Date

ABOUT YOUR PROPOSAL

We ask that you do not accept our brief description of the insurance coverages as a complete explanation of the policy terms. A narrative description can never replace a policy. The actual policy language will govern the scope and the limits of the coverage provided. You may wish to consult your attorney concerning this.

Although the technology is in place to sell insurance via the Net, consumers aren’t giving up the one night a year when they sit in their living rooms and listen to their agent pontificate about the advantages of "Plan A" versus "Plan B."

This dynamic might be changing. Insurers have cleared a huge hurdle for online sales — the need for a customer signature — either by using credit cards to bind coverage until the policy can be issued or by legalizing electronic signatures. Despite this advance, a very low percentage of insurance transactions are being handled online.

With summer approaching, the lull in autumn's new business results can't be far behind. September, October, and November are the weakest months for revenue and sales for a majority of agencies. Theories abound as to the reason, but probably it's because too many producers take the summer off from new account prospecting, or they spend their time continuing to round existing accounts. Sunshine, golf courses, and family take priority, and little new business is set up to be written in the fall.