Independent agents across the country continue to struggle with the combined challenges of the soft market and the growing demands of the modern consumer. As they pursue a winning formula to drive organic growth, several trends have emerged among successful agencies.
According to Marsh-Berry Consulting, the Best 25% of agencies achieved a 12% net organic growth rate 2006-2007[space](after leakage). Using the following list of Core Competencies, take a minute to honestly assess your agency's ability to achieve the same growth rate of the Best 25%. Knowing that you can only manage what you can measure, grade your agency on a scale of 1-5 in each of the following areas. Once you have your benchmark, you can put a process in place to constantly improve:
1. Strong leadership presence. Clearly defined vision.
2. Specific goals for sales and service. Measured on a regular basis with a process for improvement.
3. Working towards a "World Class Sales Culture." Everyone knows their role in support of sales.
4. Effective use of technology for management and marketing functions. What can be automated, IS automated.
5. Clearly defined process for new customer acquisition and cross sales. Deliberate, executed the same way EVERY TIME.
6. People management. Have a clearly defined process in place to recruit, hire, and train team members.
7. Leverage Internet and social media. Have a dedicated person focused on this segment of the market.
8. Compensation. Job descriptions and incentives that drive PROFITABLE new business.
9. Willingness to invest in marketing and growth. According to MarshBerry, 2-5% of annual revenues for growth investment.
10. Desire. A "WHATEVER IT TAKES" attitude to achieve desired outcomes.
If you're like most agency principals, after completing this assessment, you have discovered that it's going to take more than a hard market and more "REFERRALS" to compete with the best in your business. Research shows that there is a widening gap between the haves and have not's in the insurance industry.
What happens when the owners of an agency have no real experience or passion for driving these initiatives? People will do what they WANT to do, not what you NEED them to do. As a result, the agency will continue to struggle to achieve any meaningful growth.
Fortunately, Astonish Results has created a complete consulting and marketing system focused on helping agencies improve in EACH of the Core Competencies listed in the assessment.
Astonish has been featured in Rough Notes magazine as an Unfair Advantage. Recently, the Founder and CEO of Astonish Results, Adam DeGraide, was interviewed on camera by the CEO of the Insurance Journal. You can view this video here.
To find out how your agency can leverage the Astonish Unfair Advantage, take the 180-second tour www.astonishresults.com and discover how you can double the size of agency in less than 3 years. Call today!
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