This is one for the sales leaders. For the state managers, the heads of sales. The financial planning practice manager. The senior adviser. The team leader.
This is one for any one who leads or aspires to lead in a sales environment.....and yes financial planners and strategy solution coaches...that means you too....all sales people....trying to engage a client with an intangible....with a promise.
When we look at our teams we see people on different journeys who have come from different destinations and ended up in our team at our place of work. We induct them, some more in depth than others and we show them what it is that we do here. And some of them even get it. Others don't ...and it's really not their fault. Some do the same job for years and don't really understand at all how the company makes money and stays in business. They don't get how all the things that happen in the work place are interconnected.
They live in their silos ...the silo's mind you ...that leaders have created and maintain.
And then we ask them to share our vision, our goals, to work together to meet our objectives, our sales targets, to put the clients at the centre of their world, to practice stewardship and make customer focussed, commercially sensible decisions at the front line.
Yes, that'll work.
Well actually it won't but yet in our industry businesses operate like this every day and get by. They however are constantly on the look out for new opportunties for the next big idea, the clear water where they can get slightly ahead of the competition if only just for a quarter.
They spend money building new systems, new processes, new campaigns....new yes....innovations no....it's catch up in the donkey race.
Amabile and Kramer, The Progress Principle, HBR Press, 2011, write of their observations, study and findings discovering the essence of progress at work and its' connectedness to meaningful work. And there it is in all its' simplicity.
Progress can be achieved by connecting employees with meaningful work and celebrating the small daily progress that is achieved on the way to a goal.
What does this mean for an insurance providers sales team or for example a financial planning practice?
What it means is this:
1) do an audit of your staff - what in their own words does the business do?
2) what is their role in that objective?
3) what does it mean for the customer?
4) what are some of the daily hurdles that get in the way of their role?
5) what do they see as being daily wins that they feel proud of?
Now, you are not getting to get through to number 5 straight away. PCE thinks you might be talking about 1 for a while.
What's the pitch of what you do that all staff can embrace? And next and most importantly are they willing to walk that talk? Do they embody, practice and believe in the core promise of your business?
For insurance businesses it's pretty easy to work this one out. Do all your staff from front desk to admin, from claims staff to the sales team......do all of them have/or have discussed/planned for:
1) a comprehensive insurance package for themselves
2) a comprehensive insurance package for their significant other
3) insurance such as trauma cover for their children
4) for their siblings they know what cover is in place
5) for their parents they know there is adequate estate planning and powers of attorney
6) for their parents they know how aged care accomodation may be funded
7) for their friends they have encouraged and made sure they they speak to an adviser to get a plan in place for all the above
If the answer is yes to all of the above, then you have a leap ahead of your competition far more than any system upgrade will provide.
What you have at your disposal is a team that understands what it is that the business does and WHY the business does it. They have embraced it. They live it. They believe it. All they need to do now is bottle that story and deliver it to every prospect the business has.
And letting them do that ....that's your job...that's right...the leaders in the business....you need to get out of their way...and remove the hurdles in the way of letting these people shine.
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