Will your prospects commit?

Rough Notes, Jul 2003 by Weinberg, Michael J

Don't quote till your prospect makes four key promises

Some years ago, we sent a couple of our new agents to Roger Sitkins' Boot Camp for producers. One of the most valuable things they came back with was a sign that said: "NO PRACTICE QUOTING"-a concept we have preached for years in our office but one that Roger did a much better job of driving home.

As a commission-driven producer, it's far too easy to allow the tail to wag the dog by agreeing to work on anything and everything and on terms and conditions that are set by the buyer rather than by you, the master of your own world.

All too often I have interviewed (and hired) salespeople who could preach the right sales procedures with complete understanding of how the process should work. Yet when it came time to put this knowledge into practice, it all seemed to go out the window the minute they got in front of a prospective client. It reminds me of when I took up tennis at the age of 40. When I was taking lessons from the local pro, my shots were masterful. But the minute I got into a match, I fell apart and looked like the bumbling beginner that I was. Preaching and practicing are two different animals.

For this reason we ask all our producers, when making a sales call, to get four basic commitments before agreeing to work on an account. And if they get through the four basics with acceptable responses, then we instruct them to ask for "The Big One."

The basic four

The first commitment we ask for is that no more than the incumbent and one other agent will be working on the account. If there are more than three agents, we think it's too crowded for us to be involved. The last thing we need for our producer, our agency, or our companies is to participate in a haphazard and disorderly marketing process.

Often I've called on a prospect who reaches behind to the credenza, hands me a "bid package" from a foot-high stack, and says, "Here's all our information-good luck!" Rarely does the prospect understand when I hand it back and say, "Thanks anyway; I'll pass."

The second commitment is that we will be able to present our proposal to the decision maker and not to a secretary or an assistant. There's no point in preparing our best proposal for a large prospect if we won't be able to present it to the person in charge. Again, some people resent this request. I don't care. If the decision maker doesn't care enough to meet with me in person, I'm out of there.

The third commitment we seek (and one that admittedly is often broken) is that the prospect will not show our work to the incumbent agent and give the incumbent the "last look." I tell prospects straight out that if they are going to enjoy superior coverage and possibly pay less in the coming year as a result of the work we did, then it's only fair that we get the business. I make no bones about the fact that giving the incumbent agent a chance to have a last look and to adjust his/her proposal to match ours is unfair to us and we can't afford it. I also mention that in such a case the incumbent doesn't deserve the business.

The fourth commitment we seek, for obvious reasons, is a complete package for submission with loss runs and premiums and also for firm market commitments. We can't do our job without complete information, and it's pointless for two or more agents to approach the same companies, each swearing that he or she has real control of the account. I explain to prospects up front that for me to do the job right, they must agree to spend considerable time with me for a tour of their premises, a complete explanation of the scope of their operations, and so on. If that scares off a prospect, I'd rather know it up front than find out when Fm deep into the case.

"The Big One"

If we obtain those four commitments, and we usually do, then we ask "The Big One." This is: "All things being as they are now, what will it take to get your business?" We find that this is a critical question. If a prospect doesn't know at this point what it will take to switch agents, then he or she probably won't know when we come back with a proposal unless it's dramatically different from the current program.

I strongly believe that this "up front" commitment is absolutely critical. By the time I'm driving to a prospect's office with my proposal in hand, if I don't know whether or not I'll get the business, then the answer is that I probably won't. It's like going on a trip with no destination in mind and expecting to know when you'll arrive.

The other side of this coin is our companies. How can we possibly ask them to work on an account when we don't know what it will take to write the business? We almost always tell our underwriter, "If you can do X and Y, then we can place the business." And because we do place the business over 90% of the time when the companies meet our specifications, we enjoy tremendous credibility with our underwriters. They know that if they can satisfy our requirements, then 90% of the time they'll get the business. We also tell them: "If you don't think you can do what we need, you don't have to waste your time and energy quoting on a piece of business you're not likely to write." Underwriters truly respect and appreciate agents who do business this way, especially because most underwriters are overworked and can't afford to waste their time on accounts they can't write.