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Insurance agencies are like snowflakes, no two are alike. However, after spending lots of time with agency owners in hyper-growth mode, I learned that there are several traits they have in common. Below are five that stand out, and duplicating these tips can help your firm become a high-performing agency.

1. Culture - Top-performers have a culture that’s focused on production. When we talk about building a sales-focused culture, people often assume that we’re dismissing the importance of great service. This is not the case. In fact, agencies with the best sales culture tend to have the best service teams as well. Keep in mind: You can’t flip a switch to create a world-class sales culture. It takes communication, training, charisma and an owner that’s laser-focused on their people, processes and tools. You’re slow to hire and quick to fire but top performers love working in your agency. Not only are they growing professionally and personally, they’re having fun doing it. You’re a leader not a manager, and employees know that they have your support every day. Your attitude, not your aptitude will determine your altitude.
   
   
2. Technology - Agents experiencing hyper-growth understand that technology can scale a business quicker than manual processes. When they invest in new technology it’s implemented properly and everyone in the agency buys in. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen agents invest in the latest and greatest technology then expect it to be a magic bullet. Unfortunately, it sits on the proverbial shelf and collects dust because they can’t culturally adapt. It's not faith in technology, it’s faith in people.
   
   
3. Sales & Marketing - Agency owners at the helm of fast-growing agencies view themselves as sales and marketing organizations that happen to offer insurance products. They’re active on social media, email marketing and have a top-notch website. They add to their pipeline with purchased leads and have a strategy for every prospect they encounter. They have a sales process that everyone in the agency follows and it’s reviewed in meetings, trained to new hires and most importantly, it works! The term “sales” isn’t a bad word but is embraced in the hyper-growth agency.
   
   
4. Metrics - Agents that are growing know how many quotes they received today, yesterday, this week, last week, last quarter; well, you get the picture. They know how many sales, lines of business, premium and new commission is written, then celebrate when sales goals are reached or exceeded. They know how many cross-sells the service or sales team converted and chances are; bonuses are determined by these metrics. Whether they have 2, 20 or 200 people they know their teams closing ratios; which rep should get the next lead and have this data available in real-time. Agencies that are data-driven can turn dials, pull levers and make changes on the fly. This ensures a pipeline full of leads that are being distributed to the right person with the highest propensity to close. Stop guessing! You can’t manage what you don’t measure.
   
   
5. Change - How often have you looked at your agency and wondered what could’ve been? Change is a core principle that every agency owner needs to embrace or risks being left behind. Don’t be afraid, you can be whatever you want, but it’s not going to happen unless you change. The world completely changed outside of your agency, has it changed internally? Recruiting top talent, adopting a digital presence and developing a sales process for the connected consumer is key to your success. These are changes that need to be made if you want to not only survive, but thrive in 2015 and beyond. If you’re not changing, you’re dying. One of best things about our business is the ability to create whatever type of agency you choose. You’re unique and there’s nobody that can replicate what you do on a daily basis. You have a choice every day your feet hit the ground so maximize the opportunity and, lets get growing!
   
   

Source: lifehealthpro.com

• New Transamerica Premier Med Supp states effective 4/1/2015 - AL, DC, MD, MT, NH, RI, SC, TX, & VA
• New Medico Corp Med Supp states effective 4/1/2015 – AL, IA, NE, SC, SD, & WI
  

Influence. If you want to become your dream clients’ trusted advisor, you need to be able to influence them. You need people to believe you’re someone worth following, someone worth trusting, someone worth doing business with.

Think about the people who have been influential in your life. These people were honest and acted with integrity. They walked their talk. They had character. And they truly cared about you as a person. This is why you count them among the few individuals who had such a powerful influence over you.

Persuasion. Persuasion is something a little less than influence. It means you have to argue your case. You need to advise or urge someone to take action. To be sure, someone with influence may have to use persuasion at times.

Think about the last time someone persuaded you to do something. It’s likely he was someone with influence—but maybe not someone with so much influence that you’d unquestioningly follow his lead.

Coercion. Coercion is the use of force or intimidation to get someone to comply with your wishes. It includes the idea of manipulating someone. It indicates an imbalance in power. All force isn’t necessarily physical. With coercion, the force is psychological.

If you’ve ever been coerced into doing something, I bet you didn’t like it. People are never happy to be coerced.

When you look at the old-school tactics that salespeople use, they’re closer to coercion than influence. They’re no longer effective or useful to professional salespeople. Tactical things such as “tie downs” may still work, but destroying a relationship to win a transaction isn’t a good strategy for anyone playing the long game. Making people feel bad about their decisions and about you is never a good idea.

Be a person of influence. You want to be a person of influence. You want to be a person of character. The more influence you have, the less persuading you need to do.

If you’re in sales, you’re going to have to persuade your dream clients to take action. You are going to have to persuade them to see things through a new perceptual lens, to change their beliefs about what is possible. You won’t always have enough influence to help people without having to persuade them.

But if you are going to be a trusted advisor, you can never use coercion. You can never be manipulative. The application of psychological force is the strategy chosen by someone who doesn’t want to take the time to become a person of influence.

Source: lifehealthpro.com

• Transamerica Premier Life Insurance Company to release a new Medicare Supplement
  effective 4/1 in the following states: AL DC MD MT NH RI SC TX & VA
  

Seniors are by far the fastest growing market segment in the United States. It’s also one of the most lucrative. According to the latest U.S. census, this demographic comprises 37 percent of the total U.S. population and will grow to 45 percent this year. Seniors also possess approximately $1.6 trillion of all the disposable income in the country and have a combined household net worth of around $19 trillion. They also spend a cool $7 billion online each year.

So it should be no secret then that insurance agents will find the senior population an attractive market to serve. The key to doing so successfully, though, is in the art of the sell. It’s going to take a bit of adjustment on the part of brokers. Their buying habits are different from the Gen X crowd and certainly Millennials, particularly when it comes to Medicare-related policies. Before you make your first call, be prepared to “be” the following eight things:

1. Be more personable.
2. Be a sounding board to their own ideas.
3. Be focused on their quality of life.
4. Be easy to work with.
5. Be digital.
6. Be cognizant of the emotions involved.
7. Be there for life.
8. Be a resource.

Source: lifehealthpro.com

• Transamerica Premier Life Insurance Company to release a new Medicare Supplement
  effective 4/1 in the following states: AL DC MD MT NH RI SC TX & VA
  

It’s easy to build trust when you have the opportunity to connect with customers in person. You can look into their eyes, read their expressions and interact on a personal level. Even on the phone, you can read a customer’s tone of voice and react accordingly. But building trust online is a different story—not necessarily more difficult, just different.

Certain companies have excelled at building trust online, such as Zappos, Apple and Sephora. They have been recognized in many surveys and studies as being among top online retailers. So how can you build trust online? Here are seven uncommon, common-sense ways:

1. Remember that people do business with people. Even in the online world, where customers purchase through a website, that website is designed by people to be used by people. Make your site easy to navigate and simple to understand.
2. Be accessible through multiple channels. In other words, you may have a great call center, but you should also have support available through the other channels, such as email, text, Facebook or Twitter.
3. Make contact information available on each page. Make it easy for a customer to call, email or connect with you by repeating your contact information on each page of your website.
4. Keep telephone hold times to a minimum. It can be frustrating for a customer to have to wait for extended periods of time. It sends a message that the company doesn’t care enough to staff properly. Consider technology that will let the customer know how long the wait time is and offer the option of an automatic callback.
5. When a customer contacts you via social channels, respond quickly. Get back to your customer in minutes, not hours or days. If I wanted my question answered two hours from now, I would have waited two hours to ask it.
6. Share social proof. Use testimonials from happy customers to help prove trust and increase customer confidence.
7. Ask your customers to post online reviews. This shows that you’re confident you will deliver a great customer service experience and resolve any problems which may arise, resulting in a glowing review.

Source: lifehealthpro.com

• Hot Plan G rates – who is best in your area?