Systems, Processes and Tools

As I travel the world I meet thousands of Managers and a greater number of Agents. Whenever possible I spend one-on-one time with them, with a single purpose in mind. What is it that makes them successful or conversely prevents them from being successful?

And supporting this question is what methods or tools do they use that allow them success? A phrase that I use in all my seminars that is becoming my trademark is, “If you have a problem in your insurance business, find a system, a process and/or a tool and the problem will disappear!” Now it may seem that I am over-simplifying the problems we all face as agents or managers. Please believe me when I say I understand how difficult and how complicated the insurance business is today, and I also have some idea of what the future may look like.

What I am trying to do in this article is to impress upon you that if you do not have a system, process and tool for every aspect of your business you are nuts! Indeed you are destined to fail and suffer a horrible death as an agent or manager. Have I got your attention now? Okay, let us move on!

Broadly speaking the agent only has to worry about 4 major systems. They are: Business Management, Market Development, Activity Management and Sales Process. Everything you do as an agent falls under these four systems. Let me take a moment to explain these four systems.

Business Management is the broad overview of your business enterprise. Included are three key words: Professionalism, Productivity and Profitability. You are running a business. You are not an employee, so stop acting like one! Treat your business like a business and invest the time and energy to ensure you survive as an agent. Be professional, meaning be ethical and honest. Be productive, meaning you do what you need to do each day to get results. Be profitable, meaning getting the best or greatest return on your investment of time and energy. Continually improve the quality of your prospect, your knowledge, skills and abilities so you gain and maintain a competitive edge. The process is how you spend your time each day. The tools are the items you can touch and see that make you more efficient.

Market Development is how you market yourself, your products and your services. It is like your branding process. It may become your competitive difference. Become the agent of choice in your village, town or city. Promote yourself through your behaviours, not just through your words. This is called branding. Successful agents around the world actually become a brand. The Process is what you say and do to get referrals. The tools are things like profile sheets that help you show and explain the kind of prospect you are looking for.

Activity Management is everything concerned with productivity. I believe, based on my research with tens of thousands of agents, that there are only three things you must focus on as an agent when it comes to activity. They are prospecting for potential customers, approaching those prospects and meeting with prospects and existing customers. If you prospect, approach and hold meetings every day you will survive and thrive in this business. In North America, China, Brazil, Greece and even in Slovakia and the Czech Republic, the number one reason why agents fail is inactivity. The process is what you do on a daily basis to accomplish the three key activities. The tools are those things you can see and touch that help you record your activity.

Sales Process is the path you walk with the prospect or existing customer. As I have said in other articles: People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Show your customers you care about them. Care enough to: put their needs before your needs, be really and actively listen to them. Make sure your behaviours support your words. People are not stupid and they are becoming more and more informed of what they should expect from an agent. If you do not meet their needs, then they will buy elsewhere. The sales process should be a path you walk with the customer. It should not be a battle of whits. If you really care about the customer, ask good questions, listen to them, they will buy from you and refer you to others. Your process should be one of joint discovery with the customer. Your tools should be anything the customer can see and touch that helps them understand the concepts, services and products you are selling.

For each system you will need a number of processes to support that system. An example! If we examine your market development system, you would need a process where you identify and build a model or profile of you ideal prospect. Next, you would need to develop a process to get introduced or referred to people who match your profile- the ‘ideal’ prospect. Finally you would need a process by which you would approach these referred or introduced prospects to invite them into your sales process.

So a system is a broad area of operation like activity management. A process is whatever you say or do to support the system. A tool is something you can see or touch that supports the process.

In my books, The Passionate Manager and The Passionate Agent, I give many examples of systems, processes and tools for the agent and the manager. My books are simply written for I believe the insurance business can be a simple profession if systems, processes and tools support all that you say and do.

The rest is up to you. Remember the definition of insanity. You are insane if you keep doing the same things over and over again, and expect a different result. If you want to be more effective, more successful and earn more money, then you must change! Remember success is a choice!

Good luck,
James M. Heidema.