The Art of Servant Selling

By: williamjones
February 1, 2010

By: Bill Jeatran

During difficult economic times, clients often struggle to look two or three years out to solve their long-term needs, making
it difficult for agents to help customers understand and address strategies for long-term risk management.

In such an environment, agencies may need to fill the gap—to drive a long-term focus when it seems unnatural or impractical for a client to do so. Agents and brokers can assume the burden of protecting clients’ long-term viability and growth, and empower businesses to focus on the short-term, highly-critical challenges they face.The concept of truly helping prospects and clients could be referred to as “servant sales.” Servant sales means doing what is right to help clients, strategically aligning resources and expertise to a prospect’s or client’s needs and, in return, gaining their trust and business.

This approach may come naturally to some agents. Others may find it difficult to grasp. However, success comes only when all employees collaborate toward the common goal of helping prospects and clients. In doing so, they earn trust and respect and continually win new and renewal business.Smart agency principals recognize this. They keep this vision at the forefront and align their resources to support it. To drive this sales approach, these owners ask their salespeople: “What motivates you to sell?” The answer should be, “Gaining the trust of a prospect by helping him or her.”

In the end, if the motivations are genuinely about helping clients and prospects, the producer will gain the client’s trust.
Trust is the foundation of any business relationship. When producers are only focused on the deal, the sale, the product or the commission, it often leads to short-term relationships. If they are self-serving—focused on helping themselves vs. the client—it also will be a short-lived relationship.

Recently a producer told me that the turning point of his career was when he stopped focusing on himself and his income and started focusing on how to help prospects and clients. At that point, his client relationships and his personal success grew rapidly. As true servant sales people, we must understand client businesses as if we were working from the inside—their side. See business from their perspective—understand their challenges, risks and long-term benefit payback. Understand why they might be apprehensive to buy into a new product before attempting the sale.Pinpoint their long-term concerns and bring them solutions before they have to ask for them. We need to deliver what is meaningful to clients—educating them on future trends and opportunities that are appropriate to their long-term goals and objectives. This becomes a proactive stance, which enables us to provide appreciated resources and deliver the expertise and solutions that lead not simply to a one-time sale but, ultimately, to an ongoing partnership.

By adopting this approach, agencies and producers entrench their position as long-term keepers of the vision—providing the strategy, plan and stewardship necessary for the customers’ current and future objectives. Such valuable support during critical times goes a long way in gaining the trust and support of executive management. When clients finally do emerge from their crisis mode, the producer and agency have already established—and demonstrated—their value to the organization.

In order to best serve our clients, we must recognize that we’re not simply selling a product or a price—we’re providing vision, support and resources, and we do so in a proactive manner that anticipates problems rather than reacts to the aftermath.

As the economy and markets turn, clients’ needs and how an agency can best help and serve them change as well. Agencies should focus on offering meaningful service to clients. Smart agency owners always will provide value. They will always strive to be a true, trusted advisor to clients—in whatever ways best serve them.

Servant sales is about serving prospects and clients. It is about putting the client’s interests ahead of anything else. It means winning new and renewal business by helping them. Vendors simply deliver products as they are ordered. Business partners provide ideas, solutions and enthusiasm. To rise above vendor status, agencies must move beyond simple product and price. Only through a consultative, trusting and servant approach can we do so.

It starts by having a clear understanding of our clients’ industry and business—and related industry and business opportunities and challenges. Only with this approach can we truly achieve “trusted advisor” status. By focusing on them and their needs, rather than our own and our sale, we can achieve servant sales.

Every individual within an independent insurance agency has an impact on how the firm delivers on servant sales. Employees at smart firms with vision continually find ways to proactively help customers with their challenging and changing needs and, in turn, develop long-term, trusting and valued client partnerships.

Bill Jeatran (bjeatran@rjfagencies.com) is CEO of Minneapolis-based RJF Agencies and former chair of Assurex Global, the world’s largest privately-held risk management, commercial insurance and employee benefits group.