During the Dynamics of Sellingprogram, we impress upon producers how to become one of the top 10percent of producers in their offices, companies or the U.S.Invariably, that comes down to describing the traits of those topproducers.

But to fully understand what you need to become, you must firstunderstand your starting point. We ask the class participants tothink of themselves as members of the general insurance-buyingpublic and to give us a description of what the public thinks ofthe typical insurance agent.

Related: Read “Pre-qualify With Purpose.”

The results from across the U.S. do not vary much and have notfor years. The descriptors include pushy, selfish, lazy, rich,schmoozer, money hungry, dishonest, unknowledgeable andinsincere.

These agents:

• Lead by asking for an ex-date. After all, if you are going toquote something, you need to know the time frame.
• Ask for copies of their policies. You must know what to quote,especially if you are going to give them “apples to apples.” (Bythe way, the copies of the policies will also allow you to put onyour GapFinder cape and point out all the problems with theircurrent policies and show them your intelligence by telling themhow you are going to fix them.)
• Rush to the marketplace so you can block all other contendersfrom getting pricing.
• When it comes time to schedule the presentation, lock in the “Iwant to present last” option.
• Go back to the office and announce you “got a live one”working—another submission to add to the pile.

These shiny shoed, quick smiling insurance quote machines havesuccessfully set the bar low for our profession.

The good news and the bad news about being an insurance produceris the same. The bad news is that when we are meeting with aprospect, that is the image we have to overcome. The good news isthe same—that the bar is set so low for our performance.

Related: Read “5 Ways to Grow Agency Profitability.”

The professionalism we exhibit in our meetings with the prospectwill set the tone. On the surface, this sounds pretty simple; justdon't do what's outlined above. But you cannot just “not do”something, you have to do something in its place. So let's examinethe habits of successful producers:

• No concern for the ex-date.That has nothing to do with whether or not the prospect is going towant to work with you and your company. Try to ascertain one thing:Do I have a viable prospect or not? To make that determination,other criteria must be explored that is far more important than theex-date.
• No need to see copies of the policies until there is anaccount acquisition. That is what the initial appointmentis all about. Acquiring ex-dates and policies assumes you are goingto “quote.” The prospect has to convince us, through our interviewwith them, that we have a legitimate shot of writing their account.If the producer cannot come up with enough issues to unseat theincumbent agent, then all you are doing is playing the pricegame.

Remember, you cannot quote anything unless you have the pen forthe carrier. The best you can do is get quotes for the prospect.This is something any independent agent can do. Therefore, theprospect needs to decide who is going to perform that service(getting quotes) for his company. If you win that battle, it soundslike an agent of record letter, doesn't it?

• Does not rush to the marketplace. In thebest-case scenario, they are the only agent and they have all themarkets. In the next-to-worst-case scenario, they have requestedand received favorable market assignments.
• Presents first and reset the bar. If youpresent first and set the bar high, the competition cannot clear itand you have eliminated the competition.
• Goes back to the office and announce you have a newclient.

Related: Read “Promote Your PersonalBrand.”

In the end, because the bar is set so low, you get to decidewhich game you are going to play. You can limbo and be part of thecrowd or you can hurdle and, at the end of the game, be holding thegold medal.