Talk about a missed opportunity.

I recently heard Peter Diamandis, founder of the X Prize Foundation, describe an organization's biggest problem as its "gold mine." As I thought about it, I realized he is absolutely right. Identifying your problems and possible pitfalls is the first step in making the necessary changes to correct the trajectory of your business.   Throughout the past seven years, I've seen firsthand the problems that go unnoticed or unacknowledged by agencies — leaving a possible gold mine of opportunity undiscovered. Below are the most common:

Agencies aren't scrutinizing their business practices

• Stop overpaying and under-motivating sales staff. Many agencies tend to pay high commissions to salespeople who have essentially become customer service reps (CSRs) — aka, lazy producers. Evaluate your agency's commission structure for first-year and renewal comp. and commission splits. Agencies that have a true sales culture and consistent sales performance have aggressive commission splits: 50 percent for first-year commission and 20 percent for renewal comp. Motivate your veteran producers to keep writing by creating a large variance in your new business and renewal comp.

• Break the habit of leading with insurance. The best brokers tend to lead with conversations focused on business challenges. This sets the stage for you to become a trusted business partner as you help your prospects and clients work through challenges, as opposed to just quoting and providing access to insurance. Leading with compliance and HR issues will quickly differentiate you from the competition that is still using the stale pitch that focuses merely on how long they have been in business. In fact, Zywave's 2015 Broker Services Survey reveals that 37 percent of groups would change brokers if their compliance needs were not being met, and 40 percent would change brokers if their current brokers only sell insurance and don't offer trusted advice.     

• Don't get caught in the service trap. Do you have groups on the books that are not profitable? An easy way to find out is to audit the amount of time you spend providing service to your neediest groups. Hand-holding clients is fine, but time is money, so make sure the commission you earn justifies the time you spend providing extra service and support.

Agencies ignore lost business

Every firm, no matter its size, has groups that have slipped through the cracks. The difference between thriving and stagnant firms, however, is what they do with their books of lost business. Successful firms have a plan of attack to win back lost business. Do you have a win-back strategy in place, or are you missing out on opportunities because day-to-day busywork gets prioritized? Stay relevant and keep your lost business engaged with these easy-to-execute strategies:

• Make your message meaningful. Stop "just checking in." As a Zywave manager, my golden rule is, "Don't reach out to clients or prospects unless you have something valuable to offer." Each and every interaction must be valuable to your prospects if you're going to get them reengaged. Share success stories that will connect you with your intended targets. For example, "Your organization reminds me of another company that was struggling with preparing for a DOL audit. Let me show you how we've helped agencies overcome this obstacle and become compliant." 

• Create a top 10 prospect or former client list and figure out one or two ways you can add value to each lost opportunity. Make those valuable messages the foundation of your game plan.   

Agencies don't provide a compelling reason to fire the incumbent broker

Think about this: 90 percent of all groups renew with their current brokers. That means that a group replaces (or, let's be honest, fires) its broker only 10 percent of the time. Is your pitch so strong that a group would fire its current broker to work with you? When I ask brokers to define or explain their value proposition, the vast majority of them say, "We have the best people and service in [insert marketplace here]."

Don't just tell prospects why you're different. Show them. Don't just be good enough to be hired. Give them a reason to fire the incumbent. 

Years ago, Hulk Hogan passed on being the spokesperson for the wildly successful George Foreman grill (instead, he misfired with the Hulkamania Meatball Maker). The point is, opportunity is everywhere. Too often, agencies pass up what could be their gold mine because it means they need to go through the painful process of confronting their biggest problems. Heading into renewal season, perform a self-audit on your business practices, take a look at your book of lost business and try to determine how you differentiate your agency. Be honest about your problems and possible pitfalls. Get a manageable plan in place and start executing. Don't be the young accountant from southern Indiana who missed out on an opportunity because he didn't take the time to work through the seemingly insurmountable problem of "working for free."  

About Andrew Metz

Andrew is the Regional Manager for Zywave's small to mid-sized business (SMB) team. He currently manages dozens of sales reps and has developed the SMB team into a group of top producers. Andrew has demonstrated success in driving results for a wide variety of brokerages—working with one-person agencies, mid-sized shops, and large regional and national firms. Among his previous positions, Andrew served as an Inside and Outside Sales representative at Zywave and also worked on sales teams at Oracle. For more than three years, Andrew has been part of the business and communication studies programs at Marquette University.