Selling Strategies

Before You Cut Back, Invest
By Emily Huling, CIC, CMC

The soft market is clearly taking its toll. Revenues on existing business are plummeting 10%. Prospective clients are taking a longer amount of time to make decisions about doing business with you. Competitors are hungry for your business, so retaining high-profile renewals is becoming a full-time job.

I have no doubt that your employees feel like they’re running hard and fast with no finish line in sight. You’re feeling that knot in your stomach more often these days. With a heavy heart, you take out your business plan, profit and loss statement, a pencil and a calculator. You know what you have to do.

Or do you?

Business owners and managers in this situation may think their only recourse is to cut back. In some cases, that is what needs to be done. But before you cut back, this may be a time you should be investing. Yes, I said “investing.”

Many investments in a business don’t cost a lot of money. Plus, they can improve the bottom line, re-energize your employees and show your clients that you care and want their business.

Invest in Yourself
As a manager and leader, you are the role model – for good or bad. Your employees will reflect to your clients and to each other the same attitude you convey. A leader’s down-in-the-mouth attitude will kill the business faster than any other business condition.

Leaders must invest in their own wellbeing. Get enough sleep, eat properly and exercise daily to get those attitude-improving endorphins kicking. Be certain your words and body language reflect a positive attitude and outlook. Proactive behavior diminishes anxiety.

Get out of the office, visit with clients and attend networking events. Listen to or read motivational and business-building messages. Zig Ziglar, Dale Carnegie and Norman Vincent Peale are all powerful motivators. Leaders who aren’t able to manage their own welfare will find it difficult to motivate others to greater success.

Invest in Your Employees
Employees get discouraged when their hard work isn’t producing the desired result. Help them deal with their frustration by introducing ways to enhance job growth and personal satisfaction.

Create a suggestion box asking for ideas to enhance client relationships, improve teamwork and productivity, strengthen carrier interactions and have fun. Reward the best ideas by implementing them and give a memorable prize.

Establish an in-house, cross-training job skill program. Make a list of each employee’s expertise and training needs. Match people, schedule training times, and set measurable criteria and implementation guidelines.

Give your people four hours a month to do volunteer work. Obtain a list of charitable and community organizations looking for volunteers. Chamber of Commerce, United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Meals on Wheels and school tutoring programs are some organizations that may be able to use your employees’ talents. Each individual should choose his own area of interest.

Offer on-site relaxation to reward hard work. Bring in a chair-massage therapist for a day.

Employees treat others the way they perceive they are treated. Supporting your employees is the best investment you can make.

Invest in Your Clients
The easiest and best way to determine how you can assist your clients is to ask. Think outside the insurance box. Can you offer assistance during an automation upgrade, participate in their trade show booth, volunteer for a charitable event they sponsor, help them move to a new office, or train employees to better use your products and services?

Creating a partnership with clients that improves their position is the strongest demonstration of faith and belief in them and their business. The benefits are great. Your employees build personal relationships with your clients and learn more about their business, and your clients will appreciate what you are doing. Both your businesses gain.

Invest in yourself, your employees and your clients. How can you afford not to do it?

 

Emily Huling, CIC, CMC, is president of Selling Strategies, Inc. She helps insurance professionals increase sales and improve customer service. She is the author of more than a dozen books and audio programs including Kick Your “But” – 18 Steps to Removing the Obstacles to Sales Success and Selling from the Inside. For information call 888-309-8802 or visit www.sellingstrategies.com.