Creatively communicate with your carriers
There is more to good company relations than just putting an insurer's plaque on your wall. Your agency must meet its agreed commitments, just as the carrier must meet its promises to you. The conduit for converting these mutual promises into reality is free and open communication. Insurers have field reps that relay the company's viewpoint to each agent's office. In contrast, the typical agency makes do with principals or managers who have limited time to respond in kind.
Problems inevitably develop in all agent-carrier relationships. If these issues are not candidly discussed, they accumulate and fester, impacting the amount of business placed, the quality of the submissions, and ultimately, the representation itself. Companies don't want this any more than the agent does. That's why growth-minded agencies must make a concerted effort to message bi-directionally. When important instances need to be transmitted from agent to insurer, the occasional phone call or e-mail may not be enough. It's better to put on a show -- an illuminating slideshow that is.
Put on a show
Microsoft PowerPoint has myriad uses in an insurance office, including as an aid for speaking, training, proposing, and the subject of this column: displaying your viewpoint to a carrier you represent. Use this classic software to convert data that's difficult to express verbally into slides that can be understood at a glance. Then deliver a fully-packaged slideshow to selected recipients. Focus your presentation on logic without ostentation. Company executives are too busy to view the extraneous. Be brief, use standard fonts, and minimize the razzle-dazzle, clipart, and bullet points. Include audio or video clips only when they enhance your message. Direct your completed show to distant company executives or present it in person to local managers as a preliminary to face-to-face discussions. The messages that you display can cover a variety of topics. Below is a simple example.
Sample situation
Over the last 180 days, you have carefully tracked your agency's submission history by carrier. One company has declined and overpriced more accounts than any other. You wish to make this point clear to the carrier's management in order to minimize future placement problems.
For example, slides illustrating agency sales activity with all carriers over the last 180 days might include:
- Bullet-pointed text, audio, or video: Introduction explaining the purpose of your slideshow.
- Three numbers: Number of applications submitted + online quotes keyed-in = total (shows that you are sales-driven).
- Bar graph: Total number of policies quoted vs. policies sold by agency (illustrates your favorable hit ratio).
- Bar graph: Total number of policies sold per insurer (shows "problem company" vs. all other agency carriers).
- Bar graph: Submissions vs. declinations per carrier (compares problem insurer declinations to other carriers).
- Bar graph: Price differential (problem company's quoted premiums vs. the premiums actually sold by agency).
- Pie chart: Current volume by carrier. (Each slice represents each company's percentage of agency volume.)
- Pie chart: Projected volume by carrier for next year. (Shows a larger slice for problem carrier but only if X percent more submissions are not declined or are better priced.)
- Bullet-pointed text, audio, or video: Conclusion suggesting specific solutions.
PowerPoint power
Slideshows have the potential to be more powerful persuaders than text e-mails, numerical printouts, voice calls, or even business lunches. But to be effective, the logic that you display must be attractively presented, easily understood, and built one slide at a time to a clear and summarized conclusion. Otherwise, the effort becomes counterproductive, making you look unprofessional in the eyes of the viewer. Still, slides are not everything. Support their graphic images with PDFs of spreadsheet printouts or other documentation to further convince your carrier. Deliver everything via e-mail or burned onto an old fashioned CD-ROM. With a disc, you can be certain that your persuasion package won't be blocked by a spam filter and you avoid concerns about file sizes.
Conclusion
Agency-generated presentations allow principals to display their leadership as well as slides. The shows are a virtual agenda that guides the direction of important discussions. Use PowerPoint to do more than just explain the negative. Also employ it to unfurl thoughtful requests for producer or acquisition financing, additional co-op ad money, changing or retaining an underwriter, and much more. The software can even be used to creatively express your thanks to a carrier for helping you to build your agency. Now that's something that any company executive will appreciate.
Alan Shulman, CPCU, is the publisher of Agency Ideas, a subscription-only sales and marketing newsletter. He is also the author of the 1001 Agency Ideas book series and other popular P/C sales resources. He may be reached at 800-724-1435 or by e-mail at: shulman@agencyideas.com. His Web site is www.agencyideas.com