Most brokers are ignorant of the cyber issues that will impact their clients at some point in time. According to this article from Fox News, the US is one of the worst culprits of poor security systems that allow cyber crimes to take place.
If we are going to do our jobs as Risk Advisors we need to be proactive in helping our clients manage this risk. What must we do?
- Help them identify potential risks.
- Help them have strong security systems to avoid the risks.
- Help them build defensible systems to mitigate loss if they get hit. They need to be able to tell a good story in court.
- Help them insure the risks.
- Help them educate employees on the risks to avoid human error.
This is a huge opportunity that most insurance agents avoid because THEY are not comfortable with technology.
You can differentiate by helping your clients in this area.
The Author, Larry Linne, is the CEO / President of Sitkins International.
Sometimes a new client (Sitkins member, in our case) shows up and creates immediate value. They see something that the rest of us just didn’t see as clearly because of being so entrenched in our work. This happened this past week.
John Doetzer from Consolidated Insurance Center in Baltimore, Maryland opened my eyes. John has been through the Producer Training Camp and loved it. However, it immediately became as frustrating to him as everyone. He said, “This stuff is GREAT, but how are we going to implement all of these details?”
He got to work but the task to change was daunting at best.
Then he went to Extreme Networking. This experience may be one that becomes a benchmark in the agencies future success. When John returned and I asked him what value he received from the event, he said, “I learned that the entire value of the sale is really based on changing the conversation!”
He then went on to say:
“The ‘ah ha’ moment I had at Extreme Networking was that I wanted a “tangible” tool (i.e. worksheet/workbook/outline etc.) to assist in completing the risk assessment part after the producer training.
However after attending the event it became apparent to me that there was no ‘tool’ for the assessment. Instead it was all about the conversation and identifying those specific issues of concern through Q&A.“
It just so happens that “changing the conversation” is an agency theme this year but it all came home to both of us. Our process changes the conversation. It changes it from:
- Insurance to Risk.
- From narrow focused total cost of risk definitions to broad TCOR discussions.
- From placement of insurance to a more important strategic approach to risk.
- From a vendor or subordinate relationship to an Advisor relationship.
- From a product discussion to a strategic discussion requiring high business acumen.
- From product to advice!
I could go on…
This is powerful.
The reality is that changing the conversation is the real beginning power of the sale. Of course, we have to follow through with great risk identification, risk assessment, and quality plans to proactively manage their risk. However, buyers are saying they are making a decision if they want to do business with people in the first 15-20 minutes of meeting them. If the conversation is changed… I believe you are on the right track to results!
The Author, Larry Linne, is the CEO / President of Sitkins International.
Take a rectangle and draw a diagonal line through it from bottom left to upper right. One triangle is Culture and one is Process.
When people implement change, where do they start: Culture or Process? Most people start with process. For example, when a problem arises in an agency, everyone will meet to discuss it, analyze options for addressing it and agree upon a change to resolve it. And that's it. Months later, nothing is any different because the change was never embraced. The employees didn't buy into it or agree with it because culture was never part of the discussion.
To us, a company's culture is the language and behaviors that are normal. It's really the foundation of the organization. Therefore, gaining an agreement on the culture that you want is of utmost importance. Once the culture has been established and implemented, then you can address the process(es) to support it.
Remember, Culture before Process.
Here are the Three Phases of Implementing Change:
Phase 1: 80% of what you focus on is Culture and only 20% is Process
Phase 2: 50% Culture and 50% Process
Phase 3: 80% Process and 20% Culture
Any change requires time for an organization to fully accept. However, as change is implemented, you'll gradually be able to shift attention away from culture and on to process — not before.
The Author, Roger Sitkins, is the Founder and Chairman of Sitkins International.
While it's tempting to blame sluggish revenue growth on the economy and other factors, it's counter-productive because these are things beyond your control. Besides, when people face the same recurring problems, usually what's holding them back is their DNA — things they Do Nothing About.
Common examples of DNA include but aren't limited to:
- The Service Trap
- Unmanaged Client Experience
- Price-Only Selling
- Differentiating your agency from the competition
- Energy-Draining Producers
- Carrier Relationships and Contingency Income Results
Is your agency growing at the rate you'd like? If not, what are your DNAs and what are you doing about them?
The Author, Roger Sitkins, is the Founder and Chairman of Sitkins International.
We recently had our Extreme Networking Conference in Las Vegas and my husband and I decided to stay for an extra few days. Both being fans of Jerry Seinfeld, we decided to go to his show. I personally haven’t laughed that hard in a very long time.
Jerry did a segment on cell phones (aka “the small rectangular box that we can no longer live without”). Of course it was very entertaining but it got me thinking about this very important device that we seem to have in our possession 24/7. It seems we cannot even sit down and visit family and friends without constantly checking that little rectangular device.
Here are some facts about this little rectangular device that seems to be an extension of our body:
Driving while using cell phones, even if hands-free, is risky business!
Distractions, such as cell phones, now join alcohol and speeding as leading factors in fatal and serious injury crashes. It is actually now the #1 cause of death.
The challenge that we are facing is that drivers don’t understand or realize that talking on a cell phone distracts the brain and takes focus away from the primary task of driving. Visually – Eyes are off the road. Mechanically – Hands are off the wheel. Cognitively – Our mind is off driving.
Hands-free will not eliminate cognitive distraction. I often hear that we can multi-task. The truth is multi-tasking is a myth. The human brain will not perform two tasks at the same time. It will switch between one task to the other.
The bottom line is that we have seen a BIG shift in our driving culture. Millions of people are talking and/or texting while driving. Let’s continue to educate our family, friends, colleagues & clients on this risky behavior.
The Author, Bonita Argent, is a Vertical Growth Advisor with Sitkins International.
Earlier this month at our Extreme Networking event in Las Vegas, Larry Linne gave a presentation titled "The Best Sales System", which generated a lot of interest from the membership.
Typically we don't release any of these presentations as they are exclusively available to the members who attended the event. However, Larry's presentation made such an impact that we decided to take a clip that provides insights into the perfect sales system and share it with all of you.
Enjoy!
We went to Chubb, Mountain States Insurance, Travelers, C N A, Blue Cross, United Healthcare, and Central Insurance Underwriters when I was in the insurance agency sales business and asked the following question:
What percent of the time did they get complete applications that asked for all credits, and provided the necessary information to properly rate a client?
They ALL said 30% of the time. They hardly hesitated when I asked them and they came across as frustrated when they answered.
Since that experience, I have asked over 50 underwriters that have been in my classes the same question. ALL of them have said 30% or LESS.
So, the message is that every business has less than a 30% chance that an insurance agent is representing them properly. They may be missing credits, or more important, they may have gaps in coverage due to poor submissions.
All agents/brokers are not created equal! Business decision makers should be aware of this reality. I would want to make sure my agent had a very clear process that would guarantee my business was being represented properly to the insurance market place.
If you are allowing your company to have a random approach, one that is up to the individuals and proper behaviors to submit… you may be one of those 70% who have “bottom of the stack submissions”.
We used to eat your type of agency up and spit them out. With a few well-crafted questions to the prospect, we could have them terrified of being uncovered or not getting the best price. I have a long list of prospects that became clients, just from creating this pain and bringing a clear process as a solution.
You may want to do your own investigation with underwriters and see if you can put together your process that brings greater value to the client. It may win you some business.
The Author, Larry Linne, is the CEO / President of Sitkins International.
When it comes to hiring, far too many firms seem to take a haphazard approach – one that is very much reactive.
Three things tend to happen when we are more reactive in our hiring approach.
1. We hire for need rather than want - causing leaders to make a more desperate hiring decision rather than one that gives them confidence.
2. Our hiring pipeline is small to non-existent - preventing us from being able to get a good look at several great candidates and putting us in a position where we are choosing from two candidates. The best of two is never as good as the best of five or six candidates.
3. Confidence shrinks - I see far too many owners lacking the confidence around hiring because they have a history of making bad hiring decisions that leave them gun shy.
The solution? Create a Proactive Hiring Process.
Here are 5 tips to consider when creating your process:
1. Build a Pipeline Building Team - Every company that is serious about building a solid pipeline of potential new hires needs a team of people who are identified as part of the pipeline building team. This team should be responsible for bringing a certain number of prospective new hires into the pipeline every quarter. One person cannot do this alone.
2. Create an Ideal New Hire Profile - Once the pipeline team is built, it is imperative that they understand what they should be looking for. The right target is the key to hiring success. Without clarity in this area, your hiring process will still lack success.
3. Structure an Interview Process - Now that the pipeline team is built and the target candidate is clear, a decision should be made on what the hiring process should look like. The big mistake here is that often each person going through the interview process ends up going through the process differently. So, what should be included in this process?
- Number of interviews
- Who will be a part of each interview
- Questions asked at each interview
- What tests to use and when to use them in the process
- How to sell the right candidate on WHY they should consider working for your company
- How to compare multiple great candidates
4. Stick to the Plan - Any plan is only as good as its execution. Bottom line, if you are not good at follow through in driving a process, find someone who can help you drive this process and make it culturally normal.
5. Identify the Right Onboarding Process - Most new hires are exceptionally engaged when they first work for a company. Engagement tends to wane before the first year anniversary is over. A lack of clarity in job requirements and job performance as well as a sense that the employee doesn't have the necessary tools to do the job adequately are reasons for waning engagement.
The Author, Gregg Goodmanson, is a Vertical Growth Advisor with Sitkins International.
Earlier this week I went into my workout completely unprepared. I was in a hurry and decided I just needed to get it done. Being pressed for time I stopped after about 25 minutes and did my cool down and stretch. I was sweating and breathing heavy, but not nearly as much as I wanted to be. Why? Because I didn’t spend the 5 minutes pre-workout to plan.
Without a plan, I was bouncing around not really sure what to do next. I wasted time in-between exercises by having to think about it. In the end, it was an ok workout, but certainly not my best. I finished feeling unsatisfied and somewhat frustrated. The reality is, I’ve worked out before and I know what I am doing, but the prep time just makes me better.
This happens all too often in the sales world. We go into a meeting unprepared, thinking “I’ve done this before” and we wing it. At the end, we leave disappointed because things could have gone better. At Sitkins we talk a lot about relentless preparation. This is key to ongoing sales success.
Planning and prep time is crucial in order to be at your best. Before every sales opportunity you should sit down with someone you trust to plan and prepare for the meeting. Here are a few questions you may want to answer before your next sales opportunity.
- What questions should I be prepared to ask?
- What potential opportunities exist that I can leverage to teach the prospect something new or open a new file in their mind?
- Who is going to be in the meeting and how can I engage them effectively?
- What possible objections or resistance do I need to be prepared for?
- What is the ultimate purpose of this meeting and what end result am I looking for?
- How do I best drive toward that end result?
- What would truly differentiate me from my competitors with this prospect?
The Author, Gregg Goodmanson, is a Vertical Growth Advisor with Sitkins International.
I was out of shape. I knew it. I had been working too much building my career and not doing enough to take care of my body. The vessel that was to last 100 years was going to give out at age 40 at the rate I was going. I was 245 pounds, hovering about 25-30% body fat and was finding fat rolls in places I had never seen them before! To put that into perspective, I weighed 240 lbs. playing football in college but I was quickly realizing that this new weight was distributed a little differently (sarcasm intended) than it was in college. I knew I had to do something to change. I was lamenting to a friend about my physical slump, and he was in the same boat. Two former college athletes hitting physical rock bottom! I told him that I would see him at the gym the next morning at 6am. He would call me or I would call him at 5:45am to make sure the other was awake. It was brutal, but we were there. We started by running with some light weight lifting during that first week. I had never been more sore in my life (or so I complained at the time)!
The morning routines transformed into almost a year of P90X training, with others joining us as they were seeing the physical transformation. Our group was six members strong a year later and all of us were regulars for one reason: accountability. We all knew that if one of us missed a workout, there was going to be a group text message going out later that morning questioning the commitment of the missing. It also meant that there was to be some additional pushing the next day for hitting the snooze button! I was being pushed out of bed every morning.
The word accountability is a negative word in business today. People hear it, and almost all cringe. It has been beaten into our collective psyche that this is the "judgement" meeting. Somewhere today, a manager or an organization is using this term only when something is going wrong and they want others to pay for it! For those of you that view accountability in a negative light, allow me to share a new view of accountability: one that is positive, principled and one that becomes something everyone embraces as helpful to getting results.
It begins with understanding that we are responsible for our own success. Everyone in the organization relies on others to assist and help them reach their goals (this is a fundamental principle of teamwork!) but this does not mean that we rely on them exclusively to reach our goals. When my friend and I both understood that we were out of shape, we had to decide as individuals that we wanted to succeed. My new workout partner wasn't going to run on the treadmill on my behalf (if he did, my physique wouldn't change). The same is true that no one is going to pick up the phone and make the calls to open doors for me professionally. The real power of accountability comes when our focus is on taking greater personal responsibility for achieving results. This focus manifests itself as greater personal ownership, buy-in, investment and engagement.
The next critical step is to find someone that will challenge you and keep you honest in your progression. This is the person or persons to whom you will communicate your objectives and the action items that you will use to achieve your goals. This is the team that will push you out of bed each morning by reminding you regularly those items that you communicate. I told my workout group that I needed to get to 222 pounds because that was a weight at which I felt great earlier in my younger years:). How I have seen this applied professionally is best displayed in Sitkins International's Sales Mastery program. We see the best of the best determine in the first meeting (of a three year program) those individuals in the class that are going to push them. They engage outside of the regular class schedule to push each other and hold each other to a higher standard that to what others may hold them to inside their own organization. This drives results.
Lastly, be clear in what you want to achieve. Communicate to yourself as well as your accountability partner(s) specific targets that you want to be held to in between sessions, meetings or calls. Agree, as a group, that you will accomplish these targets IN FULL by the next time you are together. I communicated to my workout group that I needed to be at 222 lbs., not that "I just want to get to a weight that I feel good" or "I want to look good in my Speedo" (disturbing mental image!). What does success look like? How do you get there?
Accountability is not a bad word. When used correctly, it can increase your ability to execute and deliver results. Finding the right person(s) to personally push you by challenging you to make commitments and will help you measure your progress, can help you reach a level that you have yet to experience. Or, in my case, get me back to a weight where I haven't been in fifteen years! The picture that accompanies this article was taken April 5th, 2013.
My next goal is getting to 215 lbs....I have made up my mind that I will get there. Who of you are going to help push me now that you know my target?! More important: Where do you want to go and who is going to help push YOU?!
The Author, Brandon White, is a Vertical Growth Advisor with Sitkins International.