How often does an insurance
buyer, expecting to spend at least $400,000, pick up the phone just days before
the renewal, place the order with someone he's never met?...with an agency he
had never heard of?...and disrupt a twenty-year agency relationship?
Well it's happening more and
more all the time. I heard about this concept last week. It's what others call
the "Just-in-Time" business model. Let's start with the “why."
People want what they want.
Typically, they want it "on-demand," hassle free, high-quality and
with guarantees (thank you, Amazon and Google!).
In this case the insurance
buyer was happy with his current agent. They were friends. He just had a
sneaking suspicion he could get better workers compensation results.
He made a few calls to his
industry friends for their thoughts. That's how he learned about an
agency offering a proven workers compensation solution that packaged strategy,
training and technology; the entire packaged solution was ready for immediate delivery. He
had no time for a sales pitch. He simply needed help buying the collective
solutions from the new agency team. The fast track was online and over the
phone. With an endorsement from a highly regarded industry peer, he was on
board.
So here's an overview
of this emerging model...
1. Urgency trumps
process - The
consumer no longer endures the traditional insurance sales process to get what
he or she wants. In today's "now" economy, the successful agency
stands ready to deliver immediately when the customer initiates. Rapid response
will rule.
2. A group solution – The solution is brought
collectively by a team rather than through one individual. It’s a pre-planned,
well-developed, packaged solution that goes beyond the purchase and placement
of insurance. And the interaction of agency team players works like a
choreographed performance.
3. Eliminates
unnecessary meetings –
Consumers are looking for expediency. A well-orchestrated online,
tele-experience can simulate the simplicities of “going direct.” When you do
have an in-person meeting, it must deliver huge value for the lives of the
participants that they could not have achieved in any other way.
4. Proven results – The packaged solution has to work
and, in fact, blow them away with value (again think Amazon, Disney and Apple).
Otherwise the client will just as quickly slip out of our hands. It must
address the deepest needs and be fully supported by super easy (maybe even fun)
technology and cyber speed.
The faster we adapt to the
“Just-in-Time” growth model, the bigger the opportunity to dominate our marketplace.
But this has to
happen now!
There’s no time to wait. Pick your most high value prospect or client outcome
and vet it through the Just-in-Time model. What will it take for us to dominate
our market?
