Growing Your Business, Naturally

    When one year or quarter ends and another begins, the question comes to mind, What can be done differently than last period to affect business growth? These days, there are so many different things that can help a business to grow, so it’s important that business owners pay attention to areas where their business could improve. Recently, a lot of smaller businesses have been starting to digitalize some of their operations. This helps them to increase productivity. However, IT can sometimes cause problems for companies, so it’s important that they have some IT solutions in place to ensure these problems can be fixed easily. Perhaps some companies might want to find a business offering IT Support Melbourne small business services. This should help more companies to digitalize easily, whilst also staying protected from any virus or hardware threats. Hopefully, this will help more small businesses to grow and achieve more in the future.

    Nature is all about growth. The cold, hard tooth and claw of nature seek that which has ceased growing and begin dragging it inevitably and unmercifully toward death and decay. In nature, there is only growing, dying, or dead. The same exigencies define the business of independent life insurance distribution.

    Growth, in nature, is intricate and tangled. Few organisms grow in a linear fashion, unhindered and free.

    In business, we build models, utilize projections and reporting, marketing plans and other tools which contain assumptions of uniformity, consistency, and order. This is not how reality works. Every wholesaling insurance agency must wind its way through roadblocks, disloyalty, stronger competitors, and setbacks. Businesses go through a lot to keep themselves going, they need to test out and do new things to help with their productivity, one way they must be good in, is communication, using a unified communication platform can work with the business to help maintain its growth, these tips on finding the best platform will be useful to the businesses that need to keep connected.

    Profit-tropism for Wholesaling Agencies
    Plants exhibit phototropismthe tendency to grow toward the light. The battle for position in sun-warmed spaces causes plants to twist, bend and veer off in new directions. Life in the shadows is tenuous and near-fatal.

    Similarly, in the business of independent life insurance distribution, the battles are for market share, recruiting candidates and profits.

    Right Questions Lead to Finding the Growth Window and Greater Profit
    The wholesaling insurance agency achieves growth through its producers. Finding the growth window is as simple as shaping producer behavior to reach the potential business in range of these producers. Some decide to better improve their reach as a business by franchising. There are a wide range of factors to consider when franchising though and it depends if you can support a franchise but if you’re interested in learning more about the law around it to make a better-informed choice for your growing business, consider talking to someone similar to LegalVision Franchise Lawyers for insight into how that process might work legally.

    The following questions will discover open space, potential sales and greater profit:

    Which producers are contracted currently with only one or two core carriers? They cannot represent to their clients that which they do not know.

    Which producers are obviously not making a sustainable income from the sales they produce currently? There must be business going elsewhere.

    Which producers tend to write one type of product? (Can all their clients have identical needs?) Limited knowledge of product variety and applicability restricts sales. Perhaps another wholesaling agency is reaping sales in other product lines.

    Which producers have a low average premium? This usually means the producer is not conducting adequate fact-finding or has an inability to capture greater premium commitments commensurate with longer-term insurance strategies. Training in fact-finding and sales ideas will uncover growth opportunities.

    Which producers developed sales in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 but not in 2015? Did they cease writing business in general, or are they simply directing it elsewhere? Time to reconnect with these producers and survey their business growth objectives.

    How many people have the producers served in the past but have not seen in four years? A very high percentage of clients will experience major life changes in every four-year period (different life partners, increases or decreases in number of dependents, new career, promotion, retirement, health changes, inheritances, etc.)

    Which producers have clients that now own small businesses who once worked for others?

    Which producers have clients who are ill-prepared for retirement? College? Chronic illness? Critical illness? Terminal illness?

    What keeps the producers from meeting with these people?

    Which producers have no working knowledge of key financial concepts never before discussed with clients?

    Right Questions Lead to Profitable Pruning
    Often, as in nature, business expansion requires putting off, pruning, shedding and transformation.

    In independent life insurance distribution, profits diminish when time, energy and effort are expended with no results. It is always the right time to discover where cuts can yield growth in profits by expense reduction.

    Which producers have a low placement ratio?

    Which producers order inordinate quantities of illustrations relative to their sales?

    Which producers cannot seem to submit applications in good order?

    Which producers refuse to embrace the greater efficiencies offered through web sites, e-applications, and other technology solutions?

    Action Steps Leading to Profit-trophic Growth
    Schedule producer training on how clients can benefit from todays products.

    Schedule producer training on the right questions to ask in order to discover needs never before addressed.

    Schedule producer training on the right words needed to describe the solution to those needs.

    Help producers develop a process for getting in front of more people, learning about them and proposing ideas.

    Ask producers how many people have they served in the past but have not seen in four years or more.

    Ask producers who among their clients has had life changes since the last meeting.

    Ask producers which of their clients now own small businesses who once worked for others?

    Ask producers which clients they believe are ill-prepared for retirement, college, chronic illness, or critical illness.

    Ask unprofitable producers to find a new home.

    Summary
    Growing is not optional. Survival depends on it. If you don’t know where to start, then ask for help, as there are plenty of options out there. Planned ascent, for example, offer business consultancy and coaching focusing on growing businesses. Space exists in the market for the wholesaling insurance agency equipped to shape producer behavior to reach the untapped and significant potential business in range of these producers.

    The views and opinions expressed are the authors views and opinions as an individual and do not reflect the views and opinions of North American Company for Life and Health Insurance.

    CLU, ChFC, FLMI, is a director, vice president, team leader, speaker and mentor for Global Leadership Partners.

    For nearly four decades Murphy worked in the financial services industry, and has held positions in sales, marketing, product development, training and development, distribution, agency management, and recruiting. In his latest role he was responsible for managing National Account relationships. In this role he shared business leadership and practice management concepts with business owners, marketing organizations and independent financial professionals. He is a frequent contributor to industry trade journals and a keynote speaker at industry events.

    After 37 wonderful years in financial services, it was time for Murphy to give back, to share with others the training, development and experiences he enjoyed by God’s grace, and encourage others who are just starting out or seeking to grow.

    Global Leadership Partners identifies, equips and sends business leaders to speak at leadership seminars in partnership with organizations primarily in Eastern Europe, but eventually, around the world. The intent is to foster development of foreign leaders who will courageously stand for strong values and a high ethical standard. This work is based on the belief that the world will be a better place when filled with leaders who lead according to proven values and bedrock principles.

    Murphy is a frequent contributor to industry trade journals and is available as a keynote speaker for life insurance industry meetings and training events. He can be reached by telephone at: 312-859-3064. Email: murpd191@gmail.com. Twitter: https://twitter.com/InLifeOnPurpose.