Asking the Wrong Questions

So how do you qualify a prospect? Most people screw it up pretty badly. 

Several long-standing industry practices often result in undesirable positioning, wrong conclusions and missed opportunities.

What to do? Recognize there are more practical, accurate, action-oriented options to help you make better decisions about which accounts merit more of your time and your agency’s resources.

Look at these three flawed practices that just might be standard for your sales force:

Assuming clients won’t make a change unless they’re dissatisfied. Many producers believe clients never move their business unless there is an underlying problem with their current insurance program or the relationship with their brokerage. Keep in mind the maxim, “Order takers fulfill needs. Salespeople create opportunities.” If the only time your agency can create a new relationship is when the client’s existing coverage or incumbent relationship is a mess, you don’t need salespeople.

When Apple introduced the iPod, it didn’t wait until everyone’s Walkman stopped working. Apple showed consumers a better way to listen to music. Likewise, an agency that demonstrates the value of a more informed, proactive and strategic relationship will win adopters who want more than what they have now.

Focusing on the relationship with the incumbent. Producers often ask about what the incumbent is or is not providing. Direct questions about your competition can appear self-serving. Don’t ask: “What types of loss-control services does your agent provide?” Instead, try this: “What can you tell me about your current loss-control practices?” Focus your questions on the customer, not your competitor. This avoids a negative perception and yields the same (or more) information.

Expecting an upfront commitment to change. Another much-used qualification method is asking prospects early in the sales process to commit to moving their business if you can show them a superior solution. In addition to being self-serving, this question elicits plenty of unreliable answers. Customers who say they will make a change frequently back away from their commitment. Customers who have no intention of moving their business early on may feel different and act differently once they hear your proposal. If a question makes you look selfish—and you can’t trust the answer—why ask it?

What to Do?

Think of the best accounts and biggest wins in your selling career. In each case you almost certainly had:

• A strong coach—Someone inside the customer organization who wanted you to win and went out of his way to help you do so
• Information—The info you needed about the client’s business and program
• Access—No one blocking your selling strategy or limiting your access to the decision maker.

So how should you deal with each of these?

To assess your quality of coaching, ask a current or potential coach to help you:

• Update and deepen your understanding of the target company by answering your questions
• Give an insider’s perspective of the organization’s situation, direction and challenges
• Provide an organizational chart
• Make introductions to key players
• Preview a draft of a presentation and help you improve it
• Arrange a meeting with the decision maker.

A real coach will rise to the challenge.

To rate your quality of information, try to answer the questions below. Ask a coach or potential coach for help with any questions you can’t answer.

• What are the company’s top priorities in the next 12 to 18 months?
• How does senior management measure success? What metrics are most important?
• Where is the company’s future growth expected to come from?
• What are the greatest external or marketplace issues or challenges facing the business? How about the greatest internal or organizational challenges?
• Beyond keeping premium low, how else does the organization measure how well its risk management/insurance or employee benefits program is working?
• What changes are planned to get even better results from your risk management or employee benefits spending in the coming year?

If you find you are dealing with a strong or stalwart gatekeeper, your basic choices are to try to convert the gatekeeper into a coach, go around the gatekeeper or either accept the blockage or move on to another account. The key is to make a conscious decision recognizing the associated risks.

There are only so many hours in a day. Devote more of them to better opportunities. This small change can have a big impact on your results. Understand your chances of winning and how to improve them. Make them part of how you sell. Better decisions, and better results, will follow.