The Future Is Now

When considering that commissions have decreased substantially over the last 40 years, is it any wonder that temptation is great for agents to offer only the highest priced products? The NAIC has adopted model legislation that would require new disclosure guidelines for brokers. This was designed to inform customers how brokers are compensated for selling insurance to them. That is why I recommend that producers establish a consulting relationship with their clients and that they fully disclose their fees under a contract of agreement renewable annually.

If you wish to be successful as a consultant in the insurance business, you may want to consider strategies that have worked well for me over the years. First, I urge you to do something of value for the client before engaging in sales. When you show what you can do, without attaching a price to it, you begin to earn the confidence of your clients. I do not enter into an agreement with a client with a preconceived notion of what he/she needs. I consider this a subliminal approach to marketing my services. It is doing something for a client when I don't have to do anything. Rather than spending a lot of time and energy in making a sales presentation, I focus on defining the terms of agreement based on what I can do for clients.

Rather than making an aggressive sales presentation, I wait in order to observe each client's situation. This gives me an opportunity to understand and read clients to find out what is on their mind. I listen to what clients tell me about their situations to better understand the priorities they place on their needs. You may ask, "What do I do when waiting on clients?" Quite often, I use this time to seek the advice and counsel of experts from various sources. In fact, I like to utilize a network of experts in order to establish a helping relationship with clients. My network consists of people representing banking, accounting, mortgage, legal and personal services. By using my network, I am prepared to meet the many contingencies that often arise in serving my clients. There is nothing more rewarding than to offer well-researched opinions based on expert advice.

Finally, I tell the whole story to clients. This means both the pros and cons of each transaction and the long-term implications of their choices. Following these strategies builds confidence and culminates in clients placing their trust in my services. Within the past several years, we all have witnessed the immense growth of information available to clients via the Internet. Web sites offering online broker services are a large part of making products readily available at preferred prices.

I am disturbed when I hear brokers tell only part of the story and not give all the facts to well-informed customers who may have done their homework via the Internet. This deception fails miserably when presented to people who already know about products and pricing.

When clients have put their confidence in me it is because they knew I gave them the whole story. On more than one occasion clients have thanked me for providing financial information they already knew. Nothing was hidden from them. No short cuts are tolerated in telling the whole story. This is the only way to build a client base that will bring value in my consulting relationship with them and will yield clients who gladly enter into an annual retainer fee agreement based on full disclosure. These principles are at the core of business values I learned from my father, James P. Blake, a truly great master trainer of insurance professionals.

Bud Blake, a 44-year industry veteran, is with Blake and Associates in Kansas City, Mo. He can be reached via e-mail at [email protected].

Rather than 'product pushers,' I see the role of agents as client builders, people who develop a comprehensive service plan for their clients over an extended period of time. I challenge carriers to redesign the way their agents are compensated."

==Bud Blake