You hear me talk (probably with nausea) about our AppX Retention program. It’s all about how getting proactive makes agencies’ lives easier and improves the key metrics we all want to hit (retention, rounding and reduction in shopping). But you may be curious about what are the real results. Is it possible? Can we make it work? The answer is absolutely and it’s easier than you may think. It does take some time, patience and coaching but when you get through the first 90 days the rest keeps getting better.
We launched the team at Excalibur Insurance in Clinton, Canada back in November. At the time the team was struggling to send out renewal questionnaires in the mail on a routine basis. But with a little Maple Leaf pride, the team was rallied together with their leader, Una Roy, and they got behind the idea and program of calling every client once per year for a proactive renewal call. By laying out the program in bite sized biweekly chunks it was easier to get buy-in and see how to make it happen.
A great side effect of working with this team was they started working together at a deeper level. They all liked each other and would work together on the surface but there was a feeling that everyone was overwhelmed and there was just no one to ask for help. We quickly put a plan into place where if you need help you have to raise your hand. You must alert Una so she can help or work to find help. The team was uncertain at first if raising their hand would work. Where would the work go? Not wanting to overwhelm another team member was a common concern. After working out a few kinks the team now routinely volunteers to help each other so not one person is buried. This is a great accomplishment for an agency with 4 locations.
So where is this team just 12 weeks after launching the AppX Retention program? Let me shout from the roof tops their success (because they deserve it for the hard work they did):
- 100% of renewal calls have been made every single week (even with the holidays, flu and life…)
- There are new account rounds
- 17 increases in coverage last week
- 3 sold referrals generated
Go Team!
One of the greatest comments we heard from our second round training we just completed was that no one was calling in any longer to ask (or demand) to be re-shopped. This program has put them back in control of the client communication thus driving down the number of re-shops they have to coordinate. An average home and auto reshop takes about 45 minutes in Canada so you can do the math on how much time savings this is driving!
Our next steps are to focus on refining the calls to drive the highest number of referrals, CSR24 signups, account rounds and increases. As part of the program we designed with the agency an incentive plan. For every week 100% of the calls were made they received a jeans day. For every increase and account round their name was entered into a drawing to spin for prizes (from cash to bottles of wine!) and if the entire team completed 100% of the calls they all got a 2 hour bonus of time off AND they wanted to do a group yoga class together. We are happy to report they will be booking group yoga in the next few weeks!
The goals are high for the second part of the AppX Retention. We need to hit 5 increases per week per person, 2 account rounds per week per person and 1 referral every 2 weeks. I know this awesome team can keep on it and hit these goals so they can get to their next goals! If you think maybe Excalibur Insurance is special you can also check out our other results.
For those of you looking for a better way, let us help you hit your goals!
