Do you really want every interaction with you and your team to be attached to a negative event? (Image: Shutterstock)

If I had a dollar for every time I heard an insurance agency claim, “What really sets us apart from our competition is the level of service we provide,” I'd likely be writing this blog from the cabin of my 40-foot yacht moored behind my beach house.

If you find yourself making this service claim, you really need to rethink your message. I do understand the spirit and intent of the service-as-a-differentiator message, but it's a total cop out. And when you make that claim, it's doing harm in ways that you never imagine.

Avoid the bad mojo

Kevin Trokey is founding partner and coach at St. Louis-based Q4intelligence.

When promoting their great service, most agencies are talking about how fast they respond to the needs of their clients when something is broken. They only get to demonstrate their supposed greatest value when something goes wrong.

Related: Proactive customer service: 2 cautionary tales

Do you really want every interaction with you and your team to be attached to a negative event? Especially when you are likely the one who advised them to engage with the guilty party in the first place?

This SAAD message is often the go-to play when trying to close a new deal. After you and your competition have all rolled out the same spreadsheet and the same capabilities presentation, you pull out your SAAD card. But guess what? Every one of your competitors is making the same claim.

Think of how ridiculous this is. There is no way your prospect can experience your service until they hire you and something goes wrong.

Minimum expectations

Perhaps the saddest part of the SAAD message is what would actually happen if any broker didn't provide good service. They'd get fired! And rightfully so. At that point, the broker wouldn't even be meeting the client's minimum expectations.

So, when you are suggesting someone should hire you because you provide great service, you are suggesting they hire you simply because you can meet their minimum expectations. Is this really brag-worthy? Of course not!

Yet, somehow this is ingrained in the very fiber of most agencies. I know because I ask. And, it is this obsessive focus on promoting great service that is holding back your growth.

When we take agencies through an analysis to get a clear picture of what is and isn't working in their business, we always ask, “Would you describe yourself as a sales or service organization?” The answer is almost always an emphatic “Service!”

Many times, they are very intentional in not wanting to be thought of a sales organization. And even when the leadership aspires to be more of a sales organization, many on the team are completely turned off by the idea of selling.

“Sale” may be a four-letter word, but so is “help.” When a sale takes place, it is a clear indication that you helped another business see they had an opportunity to improve their situation. And it has become clear that you've earned their confidence in your ability to help deliver better results.

Most prospects/clients are going to be much more impressed when you demonstrate your ability to proactively help them achieve better results than they are with your promises of great reactive service. If everyone saw themselves as being on the “helping team” instead of getting hung up on the idea of “I don't sell,” agencies would have much healthier top- and bottom-line growth.

Read more: 

• Are you wasting money on customer experience?
• Stop selling and start helping your prospects to buy
• Are you guilty of 'love 'em and leave 'em' marketing?