SELLING QUALITY IS QUALITY SELLING
by Eric Moberg
“Hello Mr. Jones, I’m John Smith with the Smith Agency. I’d very much like to offer you a no obligation quote on your insurance when it comes up for renewal.”
Sound familiar?
Webster’s defines quote as: “to name (the current price or bid-offer spread) of a commodity, stock, or bond”. In the context of insurance, it might be the most widely used word when attempting to sell – and practice quoting m light be the greatest area of expertise for many producers and CSRs who have sales responsibility.
When you think of the term “quote.” can you honestly associate this practice with selling? Other than from your stock-broker, is there anyone else you do business with that offers a quote on your business?
As an industry, insurance has set the bar on sales success with price. We have created an environment where the insurance buyer, whether an individual or a business, makes the insurance-buying decision based on price, not the quality of the product, or the expertise of the agent. The TV ads suggest that if you move from company A to company B, you’ll save an average if $512. Given the fact that all the companies seem to claim similar savings, it would appear to consumers that if they continue to shop and change they’ll continue to save. My bet would be that over time they would also have significantly less coverage.
I/m very aware of the competitive nature of our business; however are we truly doing the client, the agency, the company, or ourselves a service by selling only the cheapest product? The client doesn’t drive the cheapest car, wear the cheapest cloths, or buy only the cheapest equipment for their business. Yet, we try to sell them the cheapest (lowest price) insurance products.
When you open the conversation with a suspect or prospect by offering to quote their coverage, you’ve already established the determining factor for your success: price. You’ve told the buyer that the primary factor in doing business will be if you are able to beat the current price they’re paying. You have diminished your skill as a knowledgeable agent with expertise not available elsewhere – .the effort you’ll afford this client by working hard to provide them with the highest quality product to meet their special needs.
In my consulting business, I interview hundreds of producers and CSRs every year. I review their sales techniques through role-playing and actually listen to sales calls they make to new prospects. The “offer to quote” technique is without question the most widely used opening I experience. In addition, I find that most producers don’t use such tools such as checklists or surveys to help discover and determine the exposures for the insured’s personal needs, or business needs.
Producers often tell me that because they’ve been in the business for years they have enough experience and expertise to work with any type of business or exposures they might encounter. Bottom line, they’re offering an “apples to apples” comparison (quote) based on the existing policy limits and terms. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my E&O exposure determined by the quality of the work performed by the “apple” whose business I’m trying to take. Do you think or know that the prior agent took the time to survey the risk properly and propose all the coverages needed? If not, how can you possibly assume that a “quote” based on prior coverage is the proper “quality” solution?
Don’t take shortcuts here! You need to do your own legwork to analyze the risk properly. Use the necessary tools such as coverage checklists, surveys and questionnaires. Then craft a quality written proposal with recommendations that meet the needs of the client. They might not buy all that you recommend, but no one can say that you didn’t offer the coverages needed. Make sure you get them to sign off on any of the recommendations you make that they decide not to buy. That documentation alone could save you in an E&O claim – and that’s the definition of a quality-selling job!
Eric J. Moberg is president of The Moberg Group, Inc (Franklin, NC)., a firm that provides E&O risk-management services, such as E&O agency audits for E&O premium credits, as well as other independent agency consulting on such topics as mergers and acquisitions, agency procedures, and workflow You can reach him at (800) 630-2884; fax (803) 799-8083; e-mail [email protected]; or Web site: www.MobergGroup.com.