Goal setting and monitoring are imperative to success in any business. The same is true for a successful insurance agency. This process should be completed before starting an agency and then repeated at least every year of your business. Here are some steps to consider when putting together your plan.
Step 1: What does success look like for you?
Every individual is different, and what may mean success for one person is far below or above expectations for another.
Do you want to grow a $1MM book of business in 2 years so that your agency's revenue gets to $125,000? Or do you want to hire multiple producers and build an empire of $10MM over the next 10 years?
What kind of lifestyle do you want to lead?
Do you want to be a single producer shop where you get it done yourself and have fewer headaches? OR do you want to build a multi-employee operation where you delegate the day to day operations?
This is the FUN part of setting goals tailored to you and what matters most in YOUR world.
Step 2: How do you get from A to E? What are the steps to success?
One way to work this problem is from the result end working backward.
For example:
If you want to grow a $1MM book of premium in two years, break everything down to the month. Let's say your average family unit pays $3,500 in auto/home premium annually. You will need 285 families in your book of business, divide by 24 months, and you want to gain 12 new households a month as clients.
IF your closing ratio is 50% of everyone you quote, you need to quote 24 households per month.
IF you know your average referral source sends you 3 referrals per month, you need to secure 8 great referral sources! See how it works!?
Step 3: Focus on the 'one thing' you can control
In the scenario above, your real, tangible, goal for success in your business would be to secure 8 quality referral sources and RETAIN them. How do you accomplish this goal? Well, that’s where YOU come in. Every agency owner is different, with different centers of influence, and different ‘natural’ markets. What works for one agency owner might not work for you. This can be the really tough part, but it can also be the most rewarding. So put a lot of thought into how you can make this happen!
Step 4: Track it
Every good goal must be measurable. In this case, it is generally pretty easy and can be fun to track as you can watch your business grow. I highly recommend utilizing a customer management system to manage the daily operations of your business and to give you a high-level reporting capability to track the growth and retention of your book. At ISG United, we provide Salesforce to our members and find it an invaluable asset to all who use it.
NOW is the time to start setting goals for your business! At our home office, we spend a lot of time at the end of the year, gauging our success and planning for the coming year. The end of the year is a great time for this exercise.