e-Agency of the Month
Cheney Insurance
On May 1st of 2011 Cheney Insurance launched an Email Collection Challenge for all of their agency employees. They looked at the number of contacts they typically had in a month, by phone or in person, and they estimated that around 20 percent of these contacts might present opportunities to collect or update their customers’ email addresses. Next they set both monthly and six-month team and individual goals based on 20 percent of total contacts. To measure their progress, they tracked and reported the number of emails updated, by individual and total, each week. They gave out prizes like free lunches and a grand prize of a video camera. The result? They surpassed their goal of 1200 new or updated emails in the six-month period, ending in October! The awareness and energy raised continues beyond their six-month challenge as they steadily increase their customer email counts. It has been inspiring to see the energy and creativity their employees are devoting to going after email addresses!
VPC Idea of the Month
Alandale Insurance
Jeff Smith, VP of Sales, charged his staff with placing calls to competitors, both independent insurance agencies and direct writers, to get quotes. The purpose of this exercise was to measure how his competitors handled inbound calls and the overall quoting process. He recorded these calls and then picked a call each week to review during their sales meeting. The staff would evaluate the calls, identify what worked and what didn’t and compared the results with how they handled calls. This exercise allowed the staff to key in on their own strengths, consider strategies they could incorporate and reminded them of how important it is to ‘kill it’ on the phones. The staff has gained confidence armed with the knowledge that they are out-performing their competitors.
e-Agent Employees of the Month ($50 AMEX Gift Card)
Susan Thompson of Schonning Insurance
The agency was having a slow day so the owner sent out a challenge to reach out to customers and get more email addresses! She even put a gas card on the line. Susan Thompson, who is on the front line answering phone calls at Schonning Insurance, was determined to make a positive impact. She reached out to a specific list of clients and collected the most emails! Way to go Susan!