was a busy shopping day and the line to the cashier was long, so I headed down to Nordstrom to check out the tie selection there. Sure enough, Nordstrom had the same tie, but it was more expensive. A sales associate immediately approached me and commented how great the tie looked with my jacket and mentioned that the store had just received a new shipment of dress shirts that would make a perfect ensemble. So I not only bought the more expensive tie, but a new pink shirt as well. What a pleasant buying experience! Sure, I paid more, but the personal service and convenience of the transaction made it worthwhile. I will pay more for quality and excellent service every time.
I guarantee that as you adopt a customer-focused approach you’ll feel revitalized. Why? Because your business will be based on filling customer needs. It’s a subtle but powerful change in how you think about what you do every day.
Chapter Highlights
— There are three categories of agents: the early adaptors, the thinkers, and the super cautious. Which are you?
— Become an “evangelist of change.” The early adaptors are winning big because they discovered a new way of thinking. It’s about what you can do for your clients.
— Ditch the insurance jargon, and use a needs-based approach in helping your customers truly understand what they need to be protected.
— Customer-focused growth is a strategy to sell more products to existing customers, thereby filling more of their needs.
Chapter Three: Leverage the Opportunities You See
You already know you need to embrace change and start seeing your customers differently, beginning with a needs-based approach. But maybe at this point you’re saying to yourself, “All right, fine. A needs-based approach sounds feasible, and it certainly serves my customers. I even buy into the idea that I’ll find the process energizing. But, well . . . how exactly does my agency actually profit from all that?”
Answer: You learn to leverage the opportunities that you already have by taking a holistic view. It’s a mind set, really. Each customer lives in a household. That household could be made up of just one person, two people, or an entire family. The people in the household could be related or not. Society has changed. Households are now diverse. It really doesn't matter. What’s important is how much information you have about the household and its inhabitants. Let’s look at both typical and atypical households. You’ll quickly see where those opportunities lay.
HOUSEHOLD #1
The Johnson household is traditional, consisting of a married couple with two children. They live in a house and have a mortgage. Both spouses work outside the home, so each adult has an auto. The children are 12-year-old Melissa and 16-year-old Scott. You know the Johnsons like to water ski and own a ski boat.
Using just this basic information, you can begin to determine the Johnson family’s insurance needs. They need homeowners insurance, they need an auto policy on two cars, they need a policy on their boat, they need life insurance on both adults, and they may need an umbrella policy. They also need a college savings plan for both children, and they need to save for retirement. Scott will be driving soon, which means they’ll need additional coverage for that as well.
This is where the change in how you think about your customers comes into play. You have to look at what the customer needs for his household instead of looking at just the existing policies. It’s a total reversal in how you regard your customer. Looking at the Johnson household in its entirety, what is the potential for insurance and financial services products? Count them up:
— 1 homeowners policy
— 2 auto policies
— 1 umbrella policy
— 1 boat policy
— 2 life insurance policies
— 2 college savings plans
— 2 IRAs
Minimal potential: 11 products
Other possibilities include life insurance for the children, disability insurance for the parents, health insurance for the family, and, as you learn more about the Johnsons, you may discover additional needs such as insurance on jewelry, furs, and so on.
HOUSEHOLD #2
The Smith household is upper-middle class. Mr. Smith owns an electrical contracting business with 10 employees. Mrs. Smith is a homemaker busy with three active children: Justin, age 10, Jennifer, age 4, and Jeremy, age 2. The family owns a vacation cabin in the mountains, two cars, and a boat.
Even though you don’t have much information on this household, it’s easy to determine the family’s basic needs:
— 2 homeowners policies
— 1 umbrella policy
— 2 auto policies
— 1 boat policy
— 2 life insurance policies on the two adults
— 3 life insurance policies for the children
— 3 college savings plans
— 1 retirement savings plan
— 1 commercial policy for the business
— Insurance to cover the business’s trucks
— Workers’ comp for the employees
— Disability insurance on Mr. Smith as the sole breadwinner
Minimal potential: 19 products
Does Mr. Smith’s business have a 401(k) plan for its employees? There may be potential to write insurance on each of the employees and their households. The possibilities just keep multiplying and multiplying. You’re starting to get the picture.
HOUSEHOLD #3
This household consists of two working professionals in their early thirties: John Jackson, a physician, and his live-in partner Mary Bennett, a computer systems consultant. They own a home together and each has a luxury automobile.
Their household needs:
— 2 auto insurance policies
— 1 homeowners policy
— 2 life insurance policies
— An investment plan for retirement
— An umbrella policy
Minimal Potential: 7 products
If you think beyond the basics, you’ll also see that Mary needs additional coverage on the computer equipment in her home office, and Dr. Jackson needs insurance for his medical practice and workers’ comp for his employees.
That’s just the beginning. This couple could be an excellent referral
