If you are a salesperson, you know that doing top of the funnel sales activities is critical to your agency’s success, but it tends to be the number one thing we avoid doing. In this blog we are going to explore why insurance prospecting is a dirty word, how vital it truly is and how to get producers to embrace the idea that a full pipeline leads to a happy producer.
So why is prospecting so filthy? Because it does not yield instant gratification. We like to think about insurance prospecting like we think about football. This is the work done on our own side of the field. You have to prospect to get your first downs to bring it over the 50 yard line so you can be on the other team’s turf in position for a touchdown. Think of getting over the 50 yard mark as getting to quote! But here is the problem: if we never leave our own side of the field, we can’t quote!
The challenge is too many producers don’t think they have time for that. The problem is, as a salesperson, how can you not have time to prospect? Sure, we would all love highly qualified people knocking down our door begging us to quote their insurance, but hope can’t be your prospecting strategy. If you truly look at prospecting, what better way to spend your time to ensure your sales success?
I get that many agency owners haven’t had to prospect, which is why holding producers accountable to it can seem like being out in the Wild West. It’s difficult to understand something you have not personally embraced. Remember, we hire out activities and find the best people to make it work! Just because you have not personally prospected (or the thought of it is scary), doesn’t mean it’s not a valuable activity.
So, the million dollar question is: How do we get producers to embrace prospecting? The first idea is that we must start managing activity. It’s a novel idea, but activity leads to quotes. Quotes lead to sales. Here is the ideal prospecting strategy we ask agencies to embrace:
- Daily Golden Hour: One hour every day of outbound activity
- A target goal for number of x dates collected each week
- A target for number of business cards handed out
- Accurate and effective use of a CRM tool that counts, collects and maximizes this data
For too many producers, we see the roller coaster pipeline. They kill it, and then there’s a famine. They repeat this cycle. The highs are super high and the lows are super dark — guess when prospecting kicks in? The low times. Then it works so well we stop doing it. What you want is a consistent build that continues to progress and grow. It’s time agents embrace consistent prospecting as their method for success, not a cause for disgust!
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