Are you tired of asking or begging your team to account round?
Maybe you have team meetings and talk about it but the team sees it more as a recommendation than a requirement. We see the account rounding dilemma in insurance agency’s across the country. There are several main causes of the issue but many of them stem from fear. Fear of rejection, fear of more work, fear of sounding pushy. When you blast through the fear and understand as well as feel the positive outcome your team can have clear and exciting results.
Let’s walk through the main reasons your team struggles to account round.
- They Don’t Want to Sound Pushy: For many account managers they don’t like sales, so the idea of transforming a service relationship into a sales one frightens them. When you are pushed out of your comfort zone you will do everything in your power to hold on to your beliefs (even if they are inaccurate) to avoid change. We have to work to convert the idea that this is sales to this is protection. Providing great customer service is educating the consumer on solutions to problems they didn’t know they had. For the average consumer they aren’t familiar with the risks they face. They can’t buy insurance they don’t know exists. Our role needs to be to continue to educate them. Think of it like planting a seed they may not seem interested right now but as life changes you want them to think of your first to move forward.
- They Don’t Believe in the Product Enough: It’s very difficult to sell a product you don’t believe in or understand. Run a report of your team’s coverage and you will see what they believe in. For account managers in order to feel confident they need to understand the product on all levels. They want to be prepared for every scenario they may face or they shy away from asking. Training is great, but role playing, listening to recorded calls and personal recognition is way better.
- Scared of Rejection: When you account round you will face the work no. In service work this rarely happens. So you will go from solution provider to sales person and well you hear no more. The team has to convert no into not right now. No’s are ok. They still help with E&O and the consumer still learned something new that they need. What helps solve fear of rejection is numbers when you know you have a 50% closing ratio no means the next one will be a yes.
- Belief that No One Has Money For Insurance: Too many times we may infer our own financial situation on others or we hear them complain about price so we take products off the table. By assuming things we make a decision for them, and in the matter of protection that’s simply not fair. For some of the people upset premium costs they may opt to pay in full to save money. Remember your role is to provide people options, we don’t see their bank accounts and in fact if you are struggling financially that’s the exact time you need to invest in more insurance.
- Don’t Know How to Ask: Remember when you get your insurance license you learn about coverage not necessarily how to sell the coverage. If someone struggles with sales starting the conversation is often times the most difficult. If they can get good at positioning it they can win. The fear and anxiety of what to stay and how to start can paralyze people. In stead map out and practice what to stay and how to begin. Also mold it to the person you want to feel comfortable with your script or talking points being like you.
- Not Enough Time: If you quote it, they may want to buy it and then I have to service it and I already can’t keep up. So we sabotage the whole thing and never ask. The problem is that if we don’t have the time to educate people on the coverages they should have, what is more important than that? If processing a cancellation is more important than covering me correctly or at least educating me we all need to check our priorities.
- That’s a Sales Persons Job: Nope sales is everyone’s job today.
Really the best plan of attack is to make account rounding a system. We have two main programs we recommend AM/PM this is where the team is challenged to ask once before lunch and once after. We also have our AppX Retention program. This where we get people to be proactive on renewals and use that as an opportunity to account round. Having open discussions about why will help your team improve and get to a better place!
