4 Best Practices for Building a Successful Sales Culture
by Mark Trinkle, CGO, Anthony Cole Training Group
There are four things that separate high-performing insurance firms from their peers in terms of their sales and revenue growth. Companies who embrace these four things will almost always outperform their peers. These activities are validated by the Objective Management Group’s 30-year stats history of sales skills assessments across the country.
First, top-performing insurance groups assess the skills sets of their existing producers. They do this because it is really hard to change that which you cannot see. There are a set of specific 21 Core Sales Competencies that drive success in selling and CEOs across the country are accessing this information to understand and improve the skills of their current teams as well as hire new high-performing agents. Only by understanding the specific consultative and relationship building skills of each team member can an insurance leader coach, train and build a successful sales culture.
Secondly, top-performing firms don’t make the mistake of hiring new producers without assessing them using a sales skills assessment that is both sales-specific and also predictively valid. There are plenty of assessments out there but the vast majority are personality-based and do not uncover if a salesperson can and will sell for your agency or insurance company. When looking at sales skills assessments, make sure that they come with a proven history of working as well as a recommendation to hire or not hire. And remember, on average top producers drive 10x as much revenue as bottom producers so it pays to have the right tool in place to make certain that you are attracting and hiring the right agents who will sell right from the first step in the hiring process. Hiring is key to upgrading and building a successful sale culture and team.
Third, top-performing insurance firms build out a sales process that is both stage-based and milestone-centric. Then they hold their producers accountable to following that process. On average, this step alone generates a 15% increase in production. The stages in the sales process allow a leader and sales coach to see where a producer may need help and targeted coaching. It is factual that “elite producers”, those in the top 7% of all salespeople, follow a consistent sales process. Almost all insurance companies are using CRMs to track their pipeline and the stages of the sales process should be incorporated into the selling system. In today’s competitive environment, the insurance firms that win more relationships are those who train their salespeople to be more consultative, asking questions far beyond what insurance products a prospect may need. Having an established sales process helps in building a better sales culture.
Fourth and finally, top-performing agencies make an investment in sales leader and sales management training before they even think about training their salesperson. They equip their leaders with skills in standards and accountability, coaching, and motivation. These are the top four skills that sales managers should be spending 85% of their time doing. Since most sales managers typically are promoted up through their specialty area, the sales management skills assessment consistently shows that sales leaders do not have the skills needed to drive consistent sales growth with their teams. We also know that sales managers with a strong coaching bias and established skills have teams that drive 38% more revenue. The development of the sales leadership team is key to building a stronger, more successful sales culture at any insurance company.
How important is it that your firm establish, communicate and create a strong sales culture, a culture that is focused on the needs of your insurance clients?
