Top 6 Business Intelligence Mistakes to Avoid (Part 1 of 2)

By | February 10, 2013

For insurance sales professionals, gathering business intelligence and then selling to those potential prospects can be an uphill battle. The most successful insurance professionals will turn to a company that provides business intelligence, consult with them to identify potential prospects, and then take that potential prospect through their sales cycle. While it sounds simple enough, it’s a good idea to reassess the way that you purchase, nurture, and manage potential prospects because it means so much to your success as an insurance professional. To begin with, ask yourself if you are making any of these major business intelligence mistakes:

1)      Banking on the “One-Contact Close.” In the insurance industry – and especially in business insurance sales – the one-contact close is a bit like winning the lottery. Sure, there’s a statistical chance it might happen, and you have heard of it happening to other people, but betting your future on the one-contact close is as unrealistic as betting your home on a Lotto ticket. Industry statistics suggest that, on average, it takes between three and seven contacts before a business insurance sale is closed.

2)      Mistaking Email for a CRM System. Your email address is no substitute for a real Customer Relationship Management System. As much as you try to remember to follow-up and stay top of mind hundreds of customers, you are guaranteed to fail if you do not have an automated system in place. To make the most of every lead, get a system that will remind you to reach out personally to your prospects and generate the occasional dose of automated contact.

3)      Not Using Business Intelligence. If you are going to invest money in business intelligence, you expect quality and rightfully so. However, too many insurance salespeople waste their cash on “leads” that are little more than a list of names and numbers copied from some business directory that has been sold, and resold, dozens of times in the past. By choosing to instead use business intelligence from a reputable company, your business intelligence reports will be reviewed on the phone by professionals for accuracy before releasing them to you. Business intelligence can indeed significantly increase your income, but only if your reports contain actionable, voice-verified information. Before you buy leads from a lead generation company, investigate using business intelligence.

About the Author/Host

John Pojeta

John Pojeta - Vice President of Business Development

John researches new types of business and manages and initiates strategic, corporate-level relationships to expand exposure for The PT Services Group. John came to The PT Services Group in 2011. Before that, he owned and operated an Ameriprise Financial Services franchise for 16 years.

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