FREE Insurance Sales & Marketing IDEAS » QUESTION #6
From the Q&A Column in Agency Ideas® newsletter

Q>

Any ideas (apart from super-qualifying) to prevent a commercial prospect from giving his current agent the last opportunity to match the coverages and pricing we’ve proposed.  Business managers seem to think it’s OK to ask the incumbent agent to quote any missing coverages we’ve identified as long as they don’t divulge the actual pricing.

A>

The best way to prevent the current agent from capitalizing on your hard work is to agree on the rules before you draw up your proposal. A "proposal agreement" can help you to arrive at a clear understanding.  Use this clarifying document to lay out exactly what it takes to get a commercial prospect to move his account to you. Include definitions of key phrases that are often misunderstood like "lower premium" and "more coverage."  For instance, does "lower premium" mean every policy proposed must be lower or just the overall quotation?  Also specify carrier selection details, whether a "yes/no" decision will be made immediately after your proposal presentation, and if the incumbent agent gets to see your work.  

However if your prospect won’t agree to establishing and adhering to these definitions, and you still want to research his exposures and prepare a detailed new business proposal, consider these two defense strategies:

1. Divide your new business presentation into two distinct parts.  Part 1 > Prepare and present a written copy of the apples-to-apples portion of the proposal.  Part 2 > Reveal any problem exposures you’ve uncovered and their solutions on a PowerPoint PC slideshow or verbally, but put nothing in writing.  Then follow up with the close. If the prospect elects to defer the buying decision to give the incumbent another shot, he won’t have your complete proposal to show him.

2. Seek to close the sale by presenting an apples-to-apples proposal without suggesting any of the extra coverages that you know your prospect is missing. Then after getting a firm go-ahead order, carefully recommend the extras as an "immediate afterthought" to better protect your client and to cover against E&O.  This way the former agent won’t learn about the options until it’s too late.