The way to sales success has always been doing the "right things" to solve the single most difficult problem facing producers: prospecting!

Doing the right things will generate the activity to build an inventory of qualified prospects for your sales pipeline and the cycle of simultaneously closing a sale, turning a suspect into a qualified prospect, and making a new sales presentation. Are today's "right things" any different from what worked yesterday?

New producers, millennials and gen-Xers look mostly to social media to prospect and maybe occasionally to friends and family. Sure, plenty of contacts can be made via social media, but the objective is to get a qualified prospect — not just a lot of names. They are still learning how to generate new business from total-account selling, account rounding, cross-selling, but are not there yet. In a prior article, I stated the old, but still true, basic criteria to qualify a suspect into a bona fide prospect.

  • Need – has to need what you are selling;
  • Pay – has the financial ability to pay for it;
  • Pass – pass underwriting requirements (losses, health, financial); and
  • Seen – can the prospect be seen under conditions favorable to making the sale, i.e., in person, no gatekeeper, no mail-in proposals, no evenings or weekends?

The intermediate producers, with five to 10 years of selling experience, probably have one foot in the old world of prospecting, such as cold calling, direct mail, free-gifts-with-no-obligation offers in the mail, networking with folks who turn out to be salespeople rather than decision-makers. The other foot is in the new world of social media — and they really don't know what works best. But they have built strong relationships that can be incredibly helpful in gaining new clients from referrals.

Senior producers, with 10 years or more experience selling insurance, are probably now learning to embrace social media, yet still rely primarily on their client relationships for new business and referrals. As a member of this group, I know that millennials and gen-Xers are likely not to answer landline phones — if they even have them — but will respond to text messages, so I am trying to adapt.

By combining past successful prospecting techniques with the new social media tools the opportunities to generate the right activity to identify qualified prospects are actually better than ever.

Old standards that work well:

 

  • For all producers, 80 percent of new business will come from existing customer-base account rounding and cross-selling.
  • Best referrals come from satisfied customers. Just ask – you would be amazed at the positive responses.
  • Centers of influence – you only need two or three over the years to have a mutually profitable referral relationship with other professionals such as CPAs, attorneys, realty brokers and registered investment advisors.
  • Support local charitable activities. While never a golfer, I always supported golf fundraisers by sending a surrogate. My agency business cards were made up for him with the title "Designated Golfer." It was a great marketing tool.
  • Become a volunteer or trustee with an organization whose cause you really believe in. Don't participate because you are interested in their insurance. Over time, if you contribute your time and money, other board members will ask when they need help with their own insurance. Eventually you will also become the trusted advisor and insurance broker for the organization. It happens almost all the time.
  • Sponsor a local Little League team.
  • Buy local whenever possible and look in your checkbook to see where you spend your money. They are great prospects.
  • Write a column for a local newspaper or newsletter.

New activities that work well:

 

  • Public Relations – do you have a line item in your budget for PR? You should. It is a small investment that can really pay off helping you with many of the above activities and gain greater visibility for your business that you can't do. PR will pay for itself if you use the right person or firm. PR can utilize social media available to promote you and your business just the way you want.
  • Be a speaker at local community panel discussions, libraries and Chambers of Commerce.
  • Find business incubators in your area that provide facilities to new start-ups for everything from IT, hospitality, manufacturing and many more. Since 1988 I have worked with the Long Island High Tech Incubator, at Stony Brook, to help start-up companies with their insurance and banking needs. Now, in the NYC Metro area, new incubators have sprung up in the former Brooklyn Navy Yard, Sunset Park (the old Bush Terminal), the Brooklyn Army Terminal, and at Grand Central Station. Hundreds of thousands of square feet are being built and occupied – and, guess what? They all need insurance.
  • Get involved in new industries. Thirty years ago I was marketing to several targets that we specialized in: car washes, historical societies & museums, gold coast mansions, and beverage distributors. Of the latter, we ended up as insurance brokers for both Coca-Cola and Pepsi Beverage Distributor fleets in New York and New Jersey. Today, I am learning and focusing on Cyber Insurance, Alternative and Renewable Energy (solar, wind, water) and Succession/Perpetuation Planning. So pick two or three targets and focus your efforts on those to become a recognized specialist.

Prospecting is the key to sales success and doing the right things — the right activities — will keep your sales pipeline full. So make sure your list of right things represents today as well as yesterday. You are limited only by your motivation, passion and creativity and a very strong desire to win.

Barry Seigerman (bmseigerman@gmail.com) founded The Seigerman Agency in 1975 in Long Island, N.Y.  Now, he is an independent broker/producer, the latest chapter in a very long book of business he's built through the simple power of cultivating relationships. The views expressed here are the author's own.

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