strategic culture
Strategic thinking is embedded in the culture of high-performing independent agencies, at all levels, in all functions. There is no template for building strategic culture. It is the combination of each agency's leadership style, philosophies, and people. However, there are several traits that distinguish strategic winners.
The entrepreneurial, inner-drive to succeed is strong throughout the agency, and encouraged by top management.
Employees that have contact with policyholders listen carefully to what they say, and pay attention to what they do.
Everyone keeps an eye on the competition.
There is a willingness to challenge prevailing thinking – ask why – not in a threatening way, but to honestly learn.
A collaborative spirit exists within the agency. Personal egos are checked at the door and there is an understanding that we are better, smarter operating as a whole.
Finally, strategic organizations have an uncanny ability to take seemingly unrelated puzzle pieces and put them together to form a new whole.
In a free-market economy, strategy is the foundation of all marketing activity. In simplest terms, strategy is about differentiating yourself from your competitors and showing prospective buyers the value of your people, products, and services.
Not easy in a look-alike business like insurance.
Bottom line: independent agents that operate with a thoughtful marketing strategy are more likely to uncover new opportunities and increase sales.
We show clients how to develop, or enhance, marketing strategies using the following three-step process:
In the analysis phase, a strategy development team of agency and BSR people carefully review the current environment in which the agency operates using an information-gathering template. We give you the template, help you customize it for your markets, and coach you on how to use it.
The number of team members varies. (see tab - the team)
Filling out the template is a rigorous process of documenting the key business elements impacting agency results including, agency assets, market segments, customer expectations, competitor analysis, winning strategies, and key success factors.
The analysis phase is akin to arranging the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle. Here, we turn the pieces right side up, find the edges, and group similar colors.
The analysis template is intended to be a permanent marketing department tool that is regularly updated and reviewed.
Filling out the template is a rigorous process of documenting the key business elements impacting agency results including, agency assets, market segments, customer expectations, competitor analysis, winning strategies, and key success factors.
The strategy development phase has no clear template. Rather, it is the product of the team's ability to take the puzzle pieces uncovered during the analysis phase and rearrange them to the organization's advantage. In other words, think strategically.
However, strategic puzzlers enjoy one very important advantage over those piecing together a real jigsaw puzzle - you can change the shape of the pieces. In fact, that is what strategy is all about - changing the operating environment to your advantage.
The success of Step Two is a direct result of the collaborative brainpower of the strategy development team, and their ability to apply insight, understanding, and imagination to the process.
The outcome of Step Two is a clear statement of the agency's competitive advantages, and a set of draft marketing plans that use those advantages to promote the agency and increase sales.
It is the responsibility of the strategy development team to take the draft marketing plans developed in Step Two and present them to agency management. In doing so, the team is looking for constructive feedback, as well as buy-in to the ideas and concepts behind the plans.
Step Three asks team members to walk a fine line. On one hand, they want to promote the value of the strategy development process and the ideas the process has produced. On the other hand, the team also has to listen carefully for constructive feed-back that will make their work even better.
In Step Three, the team members must also connect with the agency's sales people to determine if the team's ideas will actually help them sell. Again, the ability to listen to and incorporate feed-back are critical to the success of the process.
The outcome of Step Three is a marketing plan and a sales plan that become the foundation of the agency's promotion efforts for the next six to twelve months.
Developing marketing strategy is a collaborative effort. Teams are most effective when individual members can play off and refine each other's ideas and observations.
Collaborative thinking tends to draw out the imagination and creativity resident in the group.
It is not so important what each employee does professionally day-to-day. The key ingredient for team members is the ability to look at the agency in the larger context of what could be, not just what is. Think outside the box, if you will.
In addition to the work outlined in the three steps, the team is also responsible for recommending how the strategy development process could be built into the on-going marketing operation of the agency - further develop the strategic culture of the entire organization.
Bottom line: independent agents that collaboratively create and manage a portfolio of initiatives around unifying themes are more likely to build sustainable sales growth.