Search CompleteMarkets

... sure that the individual is disorganized. It's the "I forgot to follow up" excuse. Or just as likely, it applies to the person who just realized that the meeting is either tomorrow morning or a half-hour from now and dashes off an e-mail or picks up the phone and leaves a hurried message. How else have you attempted to make contact? Mail? E-mail? A personal visit? Have you been as persistent in this task as you would be in getting scarce concert tickets? Let's get real! "They haven't gotten back to me" is a lame excuse because it's simply attempting to blame someone else for your lack of effort. "I left messages" This, of course, is the other side of the "they haven't gotten back to me" coin. Translated, "I left messages" says, "I honestly believe that my responsibility begins and ends with leaving a message. What else can you expect?" Let's get through this quickly: Leaving messages doesn't count. It's nothing. Zero. "I left a message" is an attempt to pass the blame to someone else for your failure to get the job done. "I haven't heard back from my e-mail." This one is so common that it no longer makes much, if anything, of an impression. Because it's taken for granted, people continue to use it. The response is simple: "OK, you haven't heard. How long are you going to wait? What other steps might you take to complete the communication? A failure to understand the changing ...

... Develop an agency mission statement that defines these objectives. Create written statements of overall financial, operational, and personnel policies. These statements basically set the parameters within which other decisions will be made. For example: "In the interest of maintaining private ownership and to maintain a financially stable organization, we will maintain average annual earnings of 10% over the next five years." STEP THREE: DEVELOP A SALES AND MARKETING PLAN Once you know what you have and what you want to have, you can determine how to get from where you are to where you want to be. This third step in the sales management process will result in a Sales and Marketing Plan. The opportunities and weaknesses identified in the first step and the long-and short-term objectives defined in the second step need to be translated into specific strategies and goals. These goals will then follow certain broad strategies. The strategies state what has to be done, while the goals and objectives outline how this will be accomplished. An agency will usually have one or two major sales and marketing strategies, with other growth needs addressed in strategies that relate to the financial operation and support mechanism. These categories that should form the framework for your agency's specific list of goals and objectives: Sales and Marketing Sales Support Services External Communications Company Relations Financial Stability Personnel Development Automation Internal Communications Space Planning Perpetuation Set the specific goals in a format that facilitates monitoring their completion. Each goal must be measurable, time bound, and have someone with the ultimate responsibility for carrying it out. List all of the goals that apply to a particular strategy ...

... Develop an agency mission statement that defines these objectives. Create written statements of overall financial, operational, and personnel policies. These statements basically set the parameters within which other decisions will be made. For example: "In the interest of maintaining private ownership and to maintain a financially stable organization, we will maintain average annual earnings of 10% over the next five years." STEP THREE: DEVELOP A SALES AND MARKETING PLAN Once you know what you have and what you want to have, you can determine how to get from where you are to where you want to be. This third step in the sales management process will result in a Sales and Marketing Plan. The opportunities and weaknesses identified in the first step and the long-and short-term objectives defined in the second step need to be translated into specific strategies and goals. These goals will then follow certain broad strategies. The strategies state what has to be done, while the goals and objectives outline how this will be accomplished. An agency will usually have one or two major sales and marketing strategies, with other growth needs addressed in strategies that relate to the financial operation and support mechanism. These categories that should form the framework for your agency's specific list of goals and objectives: Sales and Marketing Sales Support Services External Communications Company Relations Financial Stability Personnel Development Automation Internal Communications Space Planning Perpetuation Set the specific goals in a format that facilitates monitoring their completion. Each goal must be measurable, time bound, and have someone with the ultimate responsibility for carrying it out. List all of the goals that apply to a particular strategy ...

... nonsense that obscures or distorts reality. Here are a few examples of the nonsense spouted by professionals who should know better: "We're the best." (Who says so?) "We have 12 service centers." (So what?) "Let our experts help." (Who says they're "experts"?) "Thirty years in the same location." (What's the value to the customer?) Phrases like this are designed to bolster the way the company sees itself, not to attract or hold customers. The same is true with much of today's advertising. The largest type in an ad, for example, is often the company name. This sends no message to a prospect. These ads focus on features, rather than benefits. How does that translate into helping the customer? Becoming customer-focused requires more than a mushy mission statement on the back of a business card. Sell ideas, not just products or services. Xerox takes the lead with its digital multi-task equipment's networking capability. These devices combine a good digital copier with a fax machine — yet that isn't enough anymore. Having a network is the benefit that makes the equipment different. The idea that you can copy and fax from your desk, increasing productivity, makes the sale. Today's customer isn't captured by the latest model, but by the powerful and persuasive idea. From a marketing perspective, differentiating a business from its competitors makes the difference — not the brochures, logos, ads, or direct mail. Be committed. Even though "commitment" is one of the big ...

... In other cases, many foreign nationals sent here on corporate assignments for multinational firms are choosing to stay, and many wealthy citizens from Asia are migrating here and purchasing homes and businesses with hard cash. Despite all this, most agents' tunnel vision ignores minorities, often precluding any marketing efforts to gain their business. One Business Tackles The Market A friend of mine is the second-generation owner of a Chevrolet dealership. He watched his sales plummet as the demographics of his community became predominantly Asian. He had failed to learn the negotiation and buying habits of this minority, let alone figure out how to reach them with advertising. Daily he watched his white sales staff idle away the hours without a single customer. When an entire family (we're talking three generations) would arrive, usually with a translator, the sales staff would seldom close a sale. They did not know how to handle a group negotiation. Finally, before either selling the dealership or going bankrupt, he hired a new general manager who was experienced in trading in the Asian community. The new GM (who, by the way, was not Asian) began a multifaceted campaign that started with an analysis of the community. It turned out that there were about five or six dialects in the local Asian community. Moreover, about 25% of the population was Hispanic. Advertising in the major papers was canceled; ads now run in about a dozen small, local papers written in specific languages. A new sales staff was hired, with language skills being one of the major job requirements. Now, each of ...

... is not as great an issue, you can avoid relocation costs. The option of telecommuting makes your company more attractive to prospective employees. Chances are good that you will even reduce employee turnover by providing a work environment that adapts to a variety of circumstances. Saves money. You are guaranteed to save money with your telecommuters. The quality and quantity of work increase, office expenses decrease, and you retain productive, satisfied employees. BENEFITS OF A VIRTUAL OFFICE TO THE EMPLOYEE Offers flexibility. People are searching for quality of life as they balance work and family responsibilities. A virtual office provides you with flexibility and more control over your life. You can creatively work around personal errands, child care, continuing education, and so forth. Ultimately, the satisfaction derived from this new lifestyle usually translates into greater productivity. Eliminates commuting stress. Futurist Alvin Toffler wrote "Commuting is the single most anti-productive thing we do." For instance, it is estimated that Californians waste 300,000 hours in traffic delays every single work day. A trip that took 15 minutes on a southern California freeway in 1984 will probably take 47 minutes in 2010, and other urban areas are seeing comparable increases in commuting times. A virtual office allows you to translate the wasted time and stress of commuting into top-quality work performance. Enhances productivity. Telecommuters focus on achievement rather than time. Structure your work hours to the times you are most productive and creative. If you function best during the morning, you can begin work at 7 a.m. in your virtual office instead of wasting valuable time in traffic ...

... because it didn't fit into any existing category. The Japanese company that bought the rights did not limit its thinking; it let the consumers decide. Agency management should survey their clients annually for feedback on customer service and suggestions. QUALITY AND THE END RESULT The incorporation of quality techniques into the service industry lags behind a similar movement in the manufacturing industry, perhaps because the concept is confusing. Theories tend to be too simple, failing to allow for the complexity of dealing with real-time subordinates, changing needs, and conflicting demands. Other theories are so complex that only an armchair academic could love them. Faced with declining profits and competition from new sources, agency owners are discovering the advantage of quality. But even when the commitment to quality is made, the question remains, How do we translate our goal of quality to results? ' Quality is not just the process of checking policy forms for errors or documenting feverously to avoid Errors & Omissions claims. Quality is a thought process that everyone must develop. It requires focusing on the end result. Everything we do can have many different purposes. By keeping the end result in mind as we perform a task, we'll open our mind for more innovative approaches to any process. The end result that insurance agencies must focus on is satisfaction of existing clients and attraction of new customers. The decisions and actions made every day must be made with this result in mind. How does this all fit into an insurance agency? Very simple: Chuck out all your old beliefs and tear down the current system-but first finish reading this article! ...

... than agency growth rates. Saying "Increase productivity" is easy. Doing it, on the other hand, requires management skill well beyond insurance technical knowledge. You must create annual objectives — in writing — for this expressed purpose. You must support these objectives with active Action Planning. Saying that you "want" to do something is meaningless unless you pay attention to that goal every day. Action Plans that support this goal include: • Commission Net Growth — Both new business and retention • Cost Control — This word is almost unheard in the agency industry. Cost control means real budgeting, not just monitoring spending habits and hoping for the best. • ICP (Incentive Compensation Program) — An ICP pays employees more money only as they become more effective. Effectiveness in its final form translates into increased productivity. This means no more raises for simple longevity, historical performance (for which they've already received compensation) and because of implied threats of departure. • Automation advances — Permit your staff to do more than transactions within the same workday (i.e. eliminating double handling and the "paper shuffle" that costs each of us so much in lost time) . THE TOOLS The tools to accomplish the rather modest 5% annual productivity gain are the devices in a standard Tactical Plan, an active (rather than passive) budget, and a Management Information System (MIS) that can track the exact issues that will define increased productivity. For instance, tracking new business is fine. Simple tracking worries you if you aren't getting any new business and it strokes your ego in ...

... Jordan As an independent agent, you know that it's becoming increasingly difficult to find products and services. Carriers have incr.. All Articles by CompleteMarkets Editor Comments (0 ) Eight Ways To Evaluate A Marketing Program This content has not been rated yet. CompleteMarkets Editor , John Graham 4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM Rarely will you get something for nothing. But how do you know if you're getting what you should out of your marketing program? This document by John Graham provides you with the guidelines to properly evaluate your marketing efforts. Getting something for nothing seems to be a universal human desire that extends into the business arena. For example, company owners and managers often ask, What should we expect to get out of our marketing program? How will our dollar investment translate into increased sales? All Articles by CompleteMarkets Editor Comments (0 ) Employment Law: Clearing The Minefields This content has not been rated yet. Don Phin 2/10/2015 12:00:00 AM EMPLOYMENT LAW: CLEARING THE MINEFIELDS by Donald Phin The way I look at it, most of today's employment lawyers (like most other professionals) do a poor job of working on their business.. All Articles by Don Phin Comments (0 ) How To Power-Up Your Business This content has not been rated yet. CompleteMarkets Editor , John Graham 4/30/2013 12:00:00 AM If you're thinking about what will be happening on the business scene in the future, the first step is to clear your mind of several popular misconceptions. More than ever, it ...

... x No Thanks Loading.. It's About The Message: Use E-Mail, Voice-Mail, And Cell Phones 4/30/2013 by CompleteMarkets Editor , John Graham This content has not been rated yet. Improved communication has turned us into less adroit communicators. With e-mail, voice-mail, and cell phones, getting the message to another party is so easy that we no longer worry about the content of the message. Poor communications skills translate into lost business. This article by John Graham discusses these consequences and offers guidelines for improving communications.Together with the laptop computer, e-mail, voice mail, and the cell phone are among the best tools business available today. And they keep getting better, more efficient, and easier to use. Although we can't escape from the ubiquitous reach of one communication device or another, it's preferable to being cut off. When the chair of a meeting asks that all cell phones be turned off, half the group goes into withdrawal, while the other half ignores the request. No one says, "I can hardly wait to go on vacation and get away from the phone." Yet, not so long ago these were the last words spoken before heading out. Although the plus side of the communication ledger is impressive, there's another, darker side. And it isn't "wouldn't-life-be-wonderful-without-the-technology" nonsense. There's little room today for latter-day Luddites. The problem isn't the technology — it's the users. Great communications has not produced great communicators. Just the opposite holds true. As communications technology improves, communications skills decline. This includes e-mail, cell phones ...