Fall 2007 / No. 73
Why aren’t we selling more?
By Gil Lowerre
We hear this question several times each year. Typically, we are told that the Company researches their customers, knows what is needed, and works diligently to meet those expectations. The two most common disappointments are:
- We designed, built, and implemented a new (choose one: client Internet portal, enrollment process, enrollment coordinator position, billing system), but sales haven’t budged.
- We built the product, including the features we were told were important, but sales of the new product have been far below expectations.
The first thing we always want is the same: “Show us the data.” And almost always, the answer is the same: “Well, there really isn’t any data. Our marketing officer polled our sales reps and that’s how we determined what was needed.” That may work in an agency situation or in the employer-paid benefits business that changes relatively slowly, but it doesn’t work in the voluntary world. Things are changing too quickly, expectations are on the move, and competitors are constantly innovating.
Don’t rely only on your sales reps, and employees haven’t proved able to predict changes or suggest improvements not available to them. The first audience to survey is your brokers—current, past, and potential. That data should be validated by employer surveys, and fine-tuned by your sales staff.
The keys to quality broker research revolve around three principles.
Ask multi-layered questions.
Avoid getting the answers to high-level questions only to find you need to repeat the survey with a second layer of more focused questions. Design the survey to anticipate the answers you might receive to your higher-level questions. Think about other issues you can include while you’re surveying.
Have a basis for comparison.
Decide, in advance, how you will evaluate the answers you receive. Brokers will always want more—more products, more features, lower prices, more services, and more compensation. Collect comparative data or enlist the services of someone who does these types of surveys and has an external database.
Have the right people doing the asking.
Brokers’ responses will be skewed if collected by you or your reps. Before developing new offerings or revamping your existing offerings, make sure you know what brokers are interested in and what you’ll do with the data, and then take the steps to ensure the data is as valid as possible.
Contact us at info@eastbridge.com if you’d like more information about our broker survey and business line assessment processes.
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