The Brokerage Selection Process involves you and several other selected brokers competing for an account on a conceptual basis. The competitions never involve using the insurance carriers as the basis of differentiation. The selected broker then gains complete access to the marketplace and the exclusive authority to negotiate renewal terms on behalf of the client.
Here are the traits of a successful Brokerage Selection Competition:
- It might take you months (or in some limited cases, a couple of years) to set up the deal properly. This will involve using all of the Consultative Brokerage principles: selecting the right prospect, building quality relationships, providing resource capabilities, institutionalizing your firm, and exercising broker control.
- You must practice extreme patience and use every prospect contact as an opportunity to differentiate your organization, learn issues, deploy resources, and establish deeper relationships.
During the prospecting cycle take every opportunity to "Put the Fix In!" Throughout the cycle you need to constantly review with the prospect how you can bring them value.- Always stress your ability to reduce your prospect’s Total Cost of Risk — your ace in the hole against the price shooters.
- Keep your powder dry. Don’t shoot until you can see the whites of their eyes! If you miss an opportunity this time, it’ll make it better in the future. Have you ever quoted an account and found out later that your premium was ridiculously high? What did that say about you?
Here’s why the Brokerage Selection Process is the best method for all parties concerned:
- Most prospect/clients are very busy. They don’t have time for loss control engineers from multiple agent/brokers to interview them to analyze their account in order to present bids. They don’t consider this the best use of their time.
- The process allows each of the agent/brokers to leverage the benefits of their organizations. The firms that have invested in Consultative Brokerage training and resources will win based on merit.
The selected agent/broker will speak with one voice in the crowded marketplace on behalf of the client.- You’re assured of getting paid for your work. Compare this with the expensive endeavor of preparing bids that are usually unsuccessful.
Firms that learn and practice the Consultative Brokerage Selection process report tremendous results. Their hit ratios are skyrocketing and the size of their accounts is increasing.
The goal of the CompleteMarkets editor is to bring valuable content to the CompleteMarkets members. Providing content to insurance professionals to enhance their sales process, increase revenue streams, understand their clients and provide value to their agency.