Getting your commercial producers to prospect

Some producers never seek out fresh prospects. Instead, their managers employ list services and telemarketers to spoon-feed them their leads. Still, this is the exception in the agency business and not the rule.

Most producers must uncover their own prospects, make the first contact, qualify the business, and ultimately convert the eligible enterprises into clients. And that’s good. Why? Because it’s the foundation of the P/C success triangle: marketing (including prospecting), selling, and renewing. The end result is an agent’s book that’s healthy and dynamic.

Producers who do their own prospecting usually work especially hard to uncover leads that match up with their personal interests and underwriting strengths. Their commitment to converting a business into a client is strong, since they are the ones who initially discovered it. It’s not just a mere name on a list. Once first contact is made, the relationship begins. It may only last a few moments; or it endures for a career. The odds for a long-term business relationship (the selling and renewing sides of the triangle) are enhanced when the agent is there from the very beginning.

The trick is motivating them to do their own prospecting, when friends at other agencies do not. Here are some suggestions.

Prospect in teams
Hook up a couple of agency pros and let them work together. But before getting started, set some ground rules. Focus everyone on pre-agreed industries or groups of suspects. Carefully monitor the results. Be alert for unfair play. It’s been known for the senior member of a team to slide by on the junior member’s efforts.

Five team formats to consider include: two young producers; young producer and veteran agent; producer and sales-oriented CSR; producer and Internet-savvy intern; and producer and company rep.

Prospect on dedicated days and times
Prospecting requires real dedication to uncover sellable insureds from the thousands of potentials. Without discipline, this task is overwhelming. Agents benefit by actively prospecting for leads at certain times, on predetermined days.

Early Friday afternoon is an excellent time to make outgoing calls. Many business managers are more relaxed than at any other time, knowing that the weekend is just hours away (assuming they don’t work then). Similarly, identify available times to search for leads on the Internet (any day but Monday, which is the Web’s busiest), to check accumulated dead files, review trade association lists, scan newspaper ads, solicit referrals, etc.

Prospect away from the office
Searching for fresh prospects can become tedious. So, invite your producers to occasionally sit outside of the box and make prospecting calls or surf for leads from a different location.

Some possibilities may include: their own home; an insurance company branch office; a sponsoring trade association office; an airport lounge for frequent travelers; various locations by cell phone; a hotel room with free local phone calls and high-speed Internet; or a business client’s location when targeting firms in the same industry.

The individualist
Some agents are individualists who refuse to work with someone constantly looking over their shoulder or along side of anyone else. If you ask them to dedicate specific times, or assign them to a team, they may turn you down flat, revolt, or simply ignore your request.

When dealing with a successful or potentially successful sales rebel, tough love techniques are counterproductive. Instead, give them the freedom they crave, as long as the producer and the agency both benefit. However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t monitor their numbers or make specific suggestions. For instance, when sales results lack consistency, it often means that their prospect count is deficient. When this is the case, point out any successes that fellow agents have enjoyed by employing the above (or other) techniques. If your producer still resists, ask him to suggest ways that he can reach additional executives.

You may learn some different prospecting methods to share with others, or even use yourself. You may also discover that your agent has spent an overabundance of time trying to hit home runs, while skipping opportunities for lesser sales. If he has tried, but not closed any major accounts in a long time, ask him to focus on smaller operations to temporarily steady his numbers. Note this involves some prospecting effort. Then invite him, once again, to join in on the above activities.

Conclusion
There are two diametrically opposed schools of thought regarding prospecting. Some managers insist that their producers propose and close, but never prospect. They prefer to leave the lead finding to commercial services or lesser-paid internal personnel. Others prefer to establish a full-fledged sales culture that insists agents be efficient prospectors and closers. These do-it-yourself offices support producer prospecting efforts with fully budgeted marketing campaigns and continuous sales training. As for the spoon-fed producer, if his lead pipeline ever dries up, he is often ill equipped to uncover salable prospects on his own.

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.

Topics Agencies Commercial Lines