Workflow That Works

When things go wrong, it's easy to assume that some person or people have made a mistake or didn't follow procedure. Often, though, it's not about the people. It's about the process.

When you find errors or mistakes recurring, the first question you should ask is "Why?" How effective are the existing processes and systems? Is everyone following the same process consistently? Or, are there obstacles to do the job right?

Even if it appears that people are causing problems, understanding the root cause is important. You can't fix people. You can't even change people. You can provide better tools or training. You can improve a process.

Read more about fixing process, not people in the latest newsletter. B.I.G. Strategies for Business Excellence - Build Consistency.

Change Management and Sales

An insurance agency is a sales business. Sure there is definitely a service component but nothing happens until somebody sells something. If you're feeling the economic pinch, and we all are, then sales - to new customers and to existing customers - is more important than ever. If you're not doing something to improve sales effectiveness then you are going to struggle to make it to the other side of this market.

One of the keys to the effectiveness of any sales organization is total commitment. Every one of your employees needs to be on the sales team. Are they? Is "sales" a department or a state of mind in your agency. If not the latter, then cultural change may be in order. And what does that require? Well, more sales of course.

"The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority." As much as I would have hated it as a line manager in corporate America, this quote by Kenneth Blanchard says it all. Of course, if you're the business owner you have the authority. But that's not how you get the best from your organization. You have to sell it. My friend Marsh Egan said it very well in this article on "The Convincing Side of Change."

Employees are customers, too. If you don't think so, remember back to the recruiting and hiring process. You (or someone in your organization) spent a good deal of effort selling that prospective employee on the benefits of working for your business. Just as you don't stop selling to customers, if you want buy-in and commitment to new ideas, you can't stop selling to employees.

It never ceases to amaze me that some of the very best sales people in the world, don't use those skills where they would do the most good. Right in their own businesses.

The Revenue Paradox

If you haven't seen the Insurance Journal article Bad Economy Not Impacting Essential Insurance Coverages it's worth looking at if only as a bit of encouraging news amid all the bad.

The results of this survey shouldn't be surprising - and I'll bet a similar survey of businesses would produce similar results. It highlights what I call the "Revenue Paradox." You must be willing to reduce revenue to retain accounts. And, in fact, you must expend resources to reduce revenue to retain accounts. Ouch!

Managing expenses is more important than ever. There just isn't any room for waste. We're working on tools to help with expense review and reduction as well as a rolling cash flow tool to highlight critical issues before they get to be disastrous.

The good news continues to be, if you manage your business well in tough times, as things get better, you have a distinct advantage over companies that think business as usual is good enough.

Differentiation

"When you fail to differentiate yourself from another service firm, the competition is reduced to choosing between commodities. But, law firms, accounting firms, management consulting firms, financial service firms, insurance firms, and the like are certainly not commodities – unless those in the industry commoditize themselves by failing to differentiate their offering from that of another."

The author went on to say that any buyer, faced with competing firms that all seemed "near clone-like," will either stay with what they have or make their decision based on the best price.

The above quote and reference is from a long blog dealing with the process of responding to RFPs in writing. You can read the entire article here. The message is applicable whether the "proposal" is in response to an RFP, in writing, or verbal. And the point is clear - your ability to differentiate yourself from other insurance agencies and, perhaps more importantly, from Internet carrier and consolidator sites, is what will enable you to survive and thrive in this economy or any other.

Keep Your Eye on the Ball

It's baseball ball season coming on fast and soon Little League will be starting up again. I'm not so much into baseball as I am into watching my grandson play. I'll sit in the stands and watch him swing for the fences - missing a few - while his father stands on the sidelines yelling for him to "Keep your eye on the ball!" That's what I'm suggesting to my business clients, too.

There are so many distractions now - and most of them negative. The market is still too soft. Retention is off. Revenues are down. It's oh so easy to get caught up in the media frenzy about companies laying off workers or closing their doors.

Now, more than ever is the time to keep your eye on what your business is all about. Now is not the time to thrash around looking for some new strategy or some silver bullet program that will distract you from doing what you do best. Now is the time to take a look at your strategic vision and the plan you have in place to reach your goals. Do the tactical details need adjustment? Or do you just need to focus - to keep your eye on the ball?

Can't see the forest for the trees?

Strategic perspective - the ability to manage everyday problems within the context of your mid-term and long-term goals - is often impossible to maintain without a little help.

The ability to help business owners maintain that strategic perspective is what I want to bring to the table. The fact that we have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of successful insurance agents, and we know how the business works - from both the company and the agency side - means we can bring perspective along with practical knowledge and advise.

My biggest kick is being able to help an agency owner see another way to solve a problem.