gyom workbook

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY FINDING THE MONEY IN YOUR OWN BACKYARD

Copyright 2013 Ingenuity Inc.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic

or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or re-

trieval system, except as may be expressly permitted by the publisher in writing or within this

publication.

Ingenuity

110 Victoria Manor Loop #207

Lakeland, Fl. 33805

214-957-2468

[email protected]

www.agencyingenuity.com

YOUR COACH Ted Baker is Founder & President of Ingenuity

located in Lakeland Fl. He has invested over 30

years in the insurance industry.

Ted has helped over 2,500 independent agencies

and brokerages throughout North America. His

passion for this industry and what is sometimes

considered “outside the box” concepts and pres-

entation style, has made Ted a favorite speaker

for many throughout our industry.

Ted has been a featured speaker for numerous AMS, Applied Systems and Instar User

Groups. He has also been a frequent guest speaker for Marsh Berry, Quantum Club, ETFile,

and ARM International, along with numerous other insurance industry events.

His passion is to return the insurance industry to it’s focus on protection rather than process-

ing. Over the past 30 years so much processing work has been put on agents that it is become

the primary focus in many cases. By returning to a protection mindset everyone benefits; the

agency, the staff and the customer.

This course is the compilation of three decades of his experience in this industry and based on

his work with all types and sizes of agencies. Ted encourages you to put aside the past and

it’s paradigms and embrace the amazing future that can be yours through this unique and

fresh approach to growing your agency.

CONTENTS

Introduction Trainer’s Guide How To Teach This Course……………………………………………………… What Staff Needs Most ...…..…………………………………………………… Seven Steps To Reduce Negativity…………………………………………….. Reading List………………………………………………………………………. Unified Culture What Is An Agency Culture ………...…………………………………………… What Is Your Culture……………………………………………………………... What Needs To Change…………………………………………………………. Assignment …...………………………………………………………………….. Rounding Out Accounts Step # 1 - Asking Personal Questions…..……………………………………. Step # 2 - Tell A Unique Story ……….....……………………………………… Step # 3 - Bring To Point Of Decision …………………………………………. Assignment ………………………………………………………………………. Scripts # 1 - Personal Umbrella

Intrion Tde 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

I started in this business in 1979 as a life insurance agent. Knowing absolutely nothing about

this industry I had no choice but to listen to the people that brought me in and were my mentors.

One of the first things that I learned was that the best way to build your insurance business was

from within, not from the outside. I was taught the only people who responded to advertising

were either uninsurable or flakes. In fact, I was not allowed to cold call for the first six months

as an agent. What a difference between this and what many are taught on the Property & Casu-

alty side of the business.

This makes a lot of sense when you think about other professionals, i.e. lawyers, doctors and

accountants. How do they build their businesses? From within - expansion of existing business

(rounding out accounts), referrals and retention.

After nearly 35 years in this business, I clearly understand the difference between the life side

and the P&C side. However, there are certain truths that apply to both, such as the importance

of the quality of an agency’s book of business. I believe that every agency can increase the

quality and the profitability of its business by applying the basic principles taught in this course.

Why do I believe this? It’s because I have seen them work time after time in agencies all

across the U.S. and Canada and I am confident they will work in your agency as well. They

will not only increase your profitability but they also make the job a lot more fun and reward-

ing. Wouldn’t it be nice to find a way to put some fun back into our great industry?

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

TRAINER’S GUIDE

How To Teach This Course

What Staff Needs

Seven Steps To Reduce Negativity

Reading List

How To Teach This Course

This course is designed to be read by all members of your agency/brokerage, not just your management team. One of the primary goals of the course is to build unity in your staff and this cannot be accomplished without their involvement. The Ebook version eliminates the need to print paper copies for distribution throughout your office. Ideally, we recommend that you set aside one hour every week for train-ing. At this meeting you will discuss the course and work through the assign-ments. Please have your staff read the relevant material prior to your training sessions so that they are prepared. It is important to maintain continuity with your training sessions which means holding to the same schedule every week and not varying times or days. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day crises, please but avoid this as much as possible. If you want your staff to get behind this process and “buy-in” to the process they need to see commitment from your management team. Hold-ing to your schedule will show them how important you consider this course. Without consistency they will have a tendency to resist and find reasons to not follow the process. Their commitment is based on your commitment.

If you want

your staff to get

behind this proc-

ess and “buy-in” to

the process they

need to see com-

mitment from your

management

team.

1 TRAINER’S GUIDE

2

ASSIGNMENT This symbol lets you know that you have been given an assignment, which is typi-cally for the entire office. When possible, gather everyone together into one loca-tion. If you have multiple offices consider using video conferencing to allow every-one to meet at one time. One of the goals for this course is to build unity in your of-fice vision and culture. It is impossible to do this if you do not meet and make decisions as a team. IDEAS Throughout the course you will see this symbol. Here we will share ideas which have worked in other agencies/brokerages. In most cases we will include samples of the ideas. We encourage you to use these samples as a catalyst to become crea-tive yourselves. Think of ways that you can personalize the ideas to your office. Cultivate an atmosphere where people are exited about sharing new ideas. The more that you can make the program your own the more your staff will embrace the ideas. HELPFUL TIPS We will also be sharing tips and testimonials from other agencies/brokerages who have been successful in using the techniques taught in the course. When you see this icon share the thoughts with everyone in your office and even create your own to add to the material. COMPONENTS There are four basic components to the course. They are the following:

1. Rounding Out Accounts 2. Referrals & Testimonials 3. Life Insurance 4. Tracking

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

ROUNDING OUT ACCOUNTS

Nearly every agency/brokerage does a pretty good job rounding out accounts.

However, in our course we want to take a fresh new look at a way to not only

become more effective but to make this a consistent part of daily life in the

agency. We also want to make it a part of the culture of everyone in the office

that the only way to protect people is to make sure they are properly insured.

The only way to do that is to talk to people and make sure their insurance plan

meets their needs. It’s not about making more money, it’s about protecting peo-

ple.

REFERRALS & TESTIMONIALS

Here, as with rounding out accounts, most people do a fairly good job. But

imagine how much more effective you will be when everyone in your office is

doing it every single day. The number of referrals and testimonials is a direct

reflection of how people feel about you and the benefits they are receiving from

you. The goal has to be moved from simply happy customers to satisfied cus-

tomers. A happy customer will leave, a satisfied one will not.

LIFE INSURANCE

Now we get to something that many agencies do not focus on. This is a real

shame because both you and the customer loses. Imagine if you could average

ten or more policies per month? This alone would add more than $40,000 to

your bottom line not to mention your increase in retention.

TRACKING

If you don’t play to game to win, then why keep score? Without tracking you

will never reach your goals and see lasting change. We suggest that manage-

ment meet with the staff and enter your statistics together. When they see the

goals generated by your actual numbers it will be clear to them this process is

realistic and achievable. If any of the goals see unrealistic simply adjust your

statistics to modify the goals automatically.

3

NOTES

TRAINER’S GUIDE

I feel like

management

leaves us in the

dark until the last

minute on major

decisions that af-

fect our work.

We recently conducted a poll of staff who were invited to submit their ideas on

what they need most from their managers. Their responses are must reading

for all managers. The following results represent top responses from over 300

contributions.

COMMUNICATION

Staff expressed a need for improved communication.

“I feel like management leaves us in the dark until the last minute on ma-

jor decisions that affect our work”

“I need more information on what is required to do a good job.”

"I would like better communication about things like staff changes, new

building, staff members being sick etc. Everything is a secret to the

staff. At least this is how it seems

CLEAR DIRECTION

Staff expressed a need to understand agency goals, changes and growth. This

includes information on sales, annual revenue, agency profitability and accom-

plishment of goals.

“I would like a clear vision, short term and long term. Let everyone par-

ticipate in the actions needed to accomplish that vision.”

“I need clear and timely decision-making.”

“It seems like messages from management are sometimes not focused

and come across in a muddled fashion”.

4

What Staff Need Most

GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

RECOGNITION

Staff expressed a need to feel valued for who they are, and to be recognized for

their accomplishments and contributions to the agency, including an on-going

Reward & Recognition Plan.

“Take time to learn what motivates your staff, then set goals and incentives

that will make them feel inspired to succeed.”

“I would appreciate more recognition of successes rather than mistakes.”

"It would be nice to hear praise for a job well done."

CONSISTENCY—FOLLOW THROUGH

Staff expressed a need for established ways of doing business that apply equally

to everyone in the agency.

“I would like to see Owners and Producers following the same guidelines as

the staff.”

"Sales staff seems to make up their own rules as they go, frustrating some

staff who expect their compliance with established procedures."

"Internal training on new/existing applications was very slow due to turn-

over."

FAIR COMPENSATION PLAN

Staff expressed a need for a defined, written and fair compensation plan.

“I would like to see the compensation plan in writing, so that everyone un-

derstands exactly what is expected and what is possible.”

“A fair Producer compensation plan in writing which allows for Producer

success and longevity and contributes to the financial growth of the agency.”

“It’s too bad that an agency spends so much time and money to hire a quali-

fied CSR and then fails to recognize or compensate them properly.”

5

NOTES

TRAINER’S GUIDE

“Approach

your staff in a

manner that ex-

hibits your confi-

dence in them

which will en-

hance their confi-

dence in them-

selves.”

ENCOURAGEMEN TO SHARE IDEAS

Staff expressed a need for management to be willing to listen to their sugges-

tions, and encourage the open exchange of ideas – good ideas and not-so-good

ideas.

“Approach your staff in a manner that exhibits your confidence in them,

which will go far to enhance your staff's confidence in themselves. Respect

your staff and the time they spend to grow your business, commit yourself

to your own goals and let your staff see you succeed. Your staff and manag-

ers need to feel as though you are ready to roll up your sleeves and work

right by their side in a supportive nature.”

“Encourage new ideas and create an environment for your staff that will

foster their own desire to succeed... success breeds success. “

COMPASSION

Staff expressed a need for compassionate leadership from their managers.

"Compassion when someone makes a mistake. Take the time to find out

why there was a mistake and help build an understanding of how the mis-

take could be avoided. In other words, be patient and use mistakes as a

learning and growth tool."

Provide opportunities for people to make decisions about and control and/or in-

fluence their own job.

The single most frequent cause of negativity I encounter in workplaces is

traceable to a manager or the organization making a decision about a per-

son’s work without her input. Almost any decision that excludes the input

of the person doing the work is perceived as negative.

6 GROW YOUR OWN MONEY

Make opportunities available for people to express their opinion about work-

place policies and procedures.

Recognize the impact of changes in such areas as work hours, pay, benefits,

assignment of overtime hours, comp pay, dress codes, office location, job re-

quirements, and working conditions. These factors are closest to the mind,

heart and physical presence of each individual. Changes to these can cause

serious negative responses. Provide timely, proactive responses to questions

and concerns.

Treat people as adults with fairness and consistency.

Develop and publicize workplace policies and procedures that organize work

effectively. Apply them consistently. As an example, each employee has the

opportunity to apply for leave time. In granting his request, apply the same

factors to his application as you would to any other individual’s.

Do not create “rules” for all employees, when just a few people are violating the

norms.

You want to minimize the number of rules directing the behavior of adult peo-

ple at work.

Provide appropriate leadership and a strategic framework, including mission,

vision, values, and goals.

People want to feel as if they are part of something bigger than themselves. If

they understand the direction, and their part in making the desired outcomes

happen, they can effectively contribute more. Provide appropriate rewards and

recognition so people feel their contribution is valued.

Seven Steps To Reduce Negativity

7 TRAINER’S GUIDE

NOTES

Treat people as adults; they will usually live up to your expectations, and their

own.

Help people feel like members of the in-crowd; each person wants to have

the same information as quickly as everyone else. Provide the context for

decisions, and communicate effectively and constantly.

If several avenues or directions are under consideration, communicate all

that you know, as soon as you know . Reserve the right to change your

mind later, without consequence, when additional factors affect the direc-

tion of ultimate decisions. Afford people the opportunity to grow and de-

velop. Training, perceived opportunities for promotions, lateral moves for

development, and cross-training are visible signs of an organization’s com-

mitment to staff.


Reading List

UNIFIED CULTURE

What Is An Agency Culture

Your Current Culture

What Needs To Change

Assignment

What Is An Agency Culture This course is based on two concepts. First, your agency has a group

culture and secondly that it is passionate about its value. You can teach some-

one a script, but if you want your customers and prospects to believe you have

value you must believe it and be passionate about it yourself first. No script or

system can replace personal belief or passion.

Passion comes from many areas, but one of the most important is cul-

ture. There is power in numbers. One or two people being passionate cannot

compare to an entire organization showing passion. It is infectious.

Let’s talk first about some basic steps in achieving a unified culture

starting with goals. According to popular author and speaker Zig Ziglar, a goal

must be specific and measurable. To simply say that we want a unified culture

isn’t enough. You must define your goals. When your agency buys into a set

of goals, it takes your agency to a new level. Keep goals in the

foreground at all times. Be creative in how you communicate your goals clearly

to the people in your office as well as your prospects and your customers.

One or two

people being pas-

sionate cannot

compare to an

entire organization

showing passion.

It is infectious.

9 UNIFIED CULTURE

You must also encourage ownership. Your staff must know that goals

are a “win” for them. Help them to feel like pivotal contributors and that they

truly influence the process of reaching your goals.

Gareth Morgan is a best-selling author, speaker and consultant on manag-

ing change. His books include Images of Organization, Riding the Waves of

Change, and Imagination: New ways of seeing, organizing, and managing. He

describes culture as "an active living phenomenon through which people jointly

create and recreate the worlds in which they live." Culture doesn’t happen by

accident. An agency must purposefully determine the world they want to live in.

Why does this not happen more often?

I think that one reason is that we don’t ask ourselves challenging ques-

tions, or we are simply not specific enough with our questions. This leads us to

get what we may have asked for but not what we were necessarily looking for. If

you find yourself saying “Well that’s what I really meant.” then maybe that

should have been stated as your objective instead.

The process of deciding on, and creating culture, takes time, In our Solu-

tions program we deal extensively with culture and vision statements For now,

think about a culture that is likely to attract the people you need to achieve your

immediate goals relating to new production. This works best if you can engage

everyone in the organization and if everyone feels committed to the project and

shares the same vision of how they want to work.

For the purpose of this course we will focus on two key components of

culture. The first is protection. We are in the business to protect people which

brings with it a moral responsibility to ask what we call “protection questions”.

You can give the greatest “service” in town but if the customer isn’t adequately

protected then it’s worthless.

The second is the idea that the majority of the agency’s production goals

will be met through current customers and referrals.


Put a sign in your

reception area

such as “Protecting

Your Stuff” or at a

desk that says

“Protection

Specialist At Work”.

Conduct a blind

survey asking your

staff to be honest

about how they

feel about your

agency and

what management

can do to help

them.

Keep this in mind. If you establish procedures and rules for rounding out

accounts and getting referrals without building it into your culture you can surely

count on resistance. Why? It’s simply one more thing to do. But with a culture

of protection everyone recognizes the responsibility to make sure the customer

has what they need. It’s no longer about us, it’s about the customer.

You need to characterize the existing culture - after all, you don't know

which way to go if you don't know where you are. Earl Nightingale says, “We

become what we think about most of the time.” What do people in your agency

think about most of the time? Is it processing and problems or is it protecting

people? Is it giving quotes to people who randomly call or talking to customers

and referrals?

It is also good to find out what frustrates people, what makes them feel

good, what helps them get their job done and what keeps them coming back.

The only way to get this information is to ask as many people as possible to find

out how they see your agency.

Use the area below to record the comments and impressions you dis-

cover.

Your Current Culture

11 UNIFIED CULTURE

NOTES

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

INTERNAL CUSTOMERS (Your Staff)

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

EXTERNAL CUSTOMERS (Policy Holders)

We are always comfortable with crutches. For example, we were one of

the first to teach electronic filing in our industry. Often times we found that

agencies were keeping both paper and electronic file because they didn’t trust

the electronic records. How did we help agencies past this? We told them to get

rid of the paper files. In other words, get rid of their crutches. As long as the

paper files were there, they would never fully trust the electronic one.

The same is true in marketing. If the agency buys into the culture that

100% of your production goals will be met through existing customers it takes

away the crutches. If existing internal marketing is simply an option then other

things can, and will, get in the way. We can always find ways to not have time.

However, if there is no option then we must find new ways of working and

ways to save time otherwise production goals will not be met.

Once you know where you are, and where you want to go, you can start

planning the changes to get you from point A to point B. However you decide to

do it, you should identify all the negative aspects of your current culture that

you want to stamp out, the positive parts of the current culture that you want to

preserve and nurture, and the aspects of your visionary culture that you need to

create. Write these down in detail so that you will have a road map of the

changes you need to make to create your new culture.


It's all very well to imagine a new culture, and to prioritize the needed

changes, but how do you actually get a culture to change? For each cultural

change that you want to make, try to identify the top five organizational traits

that prevent you from making the change and start trying to eliminate them.

And at the same time, identify the five most important traits that would en-

courage the change and start promoting those traits. You're trying to establish

both a push and a pull to get you to the new culture: the push is to stamp out

negative practices and the pull is to start rewarding positive practices that get

the new behavior started.

What Needs To Change

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________

NEGATIVE ASPECTS

POSITIVE ASPECTS

13 UNIFIED CULTURE

NOTES

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

TOP 5 TRAITS PREVENTING CHANGE

EXTERTOP 5 TRAITS ENCOURAGING CHANGE

We are always comfortable with crutches. For example, we were one of

the first to teach electronic filing in our industry. Often times we found that

agencies were keeping both paper and electronic file because they didn’t trust

the electronic records. How did we help agencies past this? We told them to get

rid of the paper files. In other words, get rid of their crutches. As long as the

paper files were there, they would never fully trust the electronic one.

The same is true in marketing. If the agency buys into the culture that

100% of your production goals will be met through existing customers it takes

away the crutches. If existing internal marketing is simply an option then other

things can, and will, get in the way. We can always find ways to not have time.

However, if there is no option then we must find new ways of working and

ways to save time otherwise production goals will not be met.


As management leads staff into a unified culture there are several rules to fol-

low as you create and talk about your culture.

TALK ABOUT IT IN PRESENT TENSE

Describe your vision statement in present tense as if you were reporting

what you actually see, hear, think and feel, as if your ideal outcome has already

happened. You want to create a mental picture charged with emotion that can

serve to energize and inspire you and your team.

MAKE IT EMOTIONAL

Describe how you will feel when the outcome is realized, including an

emotional

payoff infusing your culture with passion and making it even more compelling,

inspiring, and energizing.

ADD SENSORY DETAILS

Describe the scenes, colors, sounds, and shapes. Describe who is there

and what everyone is doing. Remember, you are actually seeing it happen in

your mind. You don’t “see” in abstracts, you “see” details, hear sounds, feel

emotions.

FOCUS ON PEOPLE NOT THE AGENCY

Focus on people not the company. Focus on how they will feel and re-

act. Your Mission Statement will address your business goals. We are dealing

now with culture which is the world you live in.

Before beginning the assignment, make sure that everyone in

your agency has studied the material on culture and that man-

agement has answered the questions on the proceeding pages.

We also suggest that your staff has had an opportunity to dis-

cuss it within their own departments.

15 UNIFIED CULTURE

NOTES

How valuable is a shared culture?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

How do you feel about our existing culture?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Do you feel that we have a common culture or individual cultures?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

What are we passionate about?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

How do we show our passion?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________


Do we all agree that planning on sales goals being met through existing customers

should be a part of our culture?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

Do we all agree that we need to build a greater focus on protection into our culture?

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

What can we do to display our culture?

Begin the day with a joint meeting Remind ourselves before each call

Put signs in the office Ask customers what they see

Include our culture on our website Include our culture in proposals

Newspaper Ask each other

Comments

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________

17 UNIFIED CULTURE

Begin each day with a group meeting reminding everyone of the culture.

Before you pick up the phone to answer a call remind yourself that the

most important thing you can to is to protect the customer instead of the

most important thing is to provide good customer service.


ROUNDING OU T ACCOUNTS

Asking Personal Questions

Telling A Unique Story

Bringing To A Point Of Decision

Assignment

Asking Personal Questions This course is designed to be read by all members of your agency/brokerage, not just your management team. One of the primary goals of the course is to build unity in your staff and this cannot be accomplished without their involvement. The Ebook version eliminates the need to print paper cop-ies for distribution throughout your office. Ideally, we recommend that you set aside one hour every week for training. At this meeting you will discuss the course and work through the assignments. Please have your staff read the relevant material prior to your training sessions so that they are prepared. It is important to maintain continuity with your training sessions which means holding to the same schedule every week and not varying times or days. It’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day crises, please but avoid this as much as possible. If you want your staff to get behind this process and “buy-in” to the process they need to see commitment from your manage-ment team. Holding to your schedule will show them how important you consider this course. Without consistency they will have a tendency to resist and find reasons to not follow the process. Their commitment is based on your commitment.

If you want

your staff to get

behind this proc-

ess and “buy-in” to

the process they

need to see com-

mitment from your

management

team.

19 UNIFIED CULTURE

gyom workbook

Documents

agency culture

insurance industry events

unified culture

accounts step

insurance business

personal questions

personal umbrella intrion

unique story