Only your E&O carrier and your boss care how smart you are

Different cus-tomers need different styles of presentation, and one way doesn’t work for every account.

Recently I won a large account the old fashioned way. I earned it.

We insure some local rural water districts. One of our customers called and asked if I would call one of their friends, another rural water district. On my visit to the prospect, I found out their current agent, from Dallas, was not taking care of them. Of course I thought to myself, “How could they? They’re 150 miles away.” The prospect informed me that she was going to let two agents work on her insurance this year and I was one of them. I gathered all the information I needed and worked up the best proposal I could. I was to attend the next board meeting and explain my proposal.

On the day of the meeting I waited patiently in the boardroom for my turn. The other agent arrived and, ironically, sat right next to me. How did I know he was an insurance agent? He had his agency logo shirt on. (Remember, this is a rural water district.)

As the board meeting was called to order the first order of business was insurance. The board secretary called my name and the name of the other agent. She asked us who would like to go first. The other agent jumped up and said he wanted to be first. (This was his first mistake.)

I sat in the audience to listen. This agent handed out his proposals to the eight board members, stood in front of them and proceeded to start his proposal with, “Let’s turn to page one. Our property policy has blanket limits.” (This was his second mistake.)

This agent spent one hour going over each page, each coverage, each limit, each endorsement and anything else you could think of. Observing these rural water district members, I could tell that no one understood anything. The president of the board finally stood up and stopped the other agent. The board president then proceeded to spit into a plastic cup. His mouth full of Skoal (remember, this is a rural water district), he said to the agent, “Thank you and please take a seat.”

The board secretary then called my name. I, like the other agent, handed out my proposal. I asked each board member to turn to the back page and look at the premiums. I proceeded to say, “I thank you for your time and I won’t give you an insurance 101 lesson but I am here to tell you I am qualified and I will take care of you. If the premiums are acceptable, please choose our agency.” My entire presentation took only a few minutes.

The other agent was shocked. I’m sure this guy, confident in how smart he was, wondered how anyone, meaning me, could make a presentation like that. The board went into executive session, which took less than five minutes. I was awarded the business and the other agent left confused. I’ll bet he still is confused.

Different customers need different styles of presentation, and one way doesn’t work for every account, but as this story proves, you don’t have to show how much insurance knowledge you have to win.

Greg Wassberg is a producer with Crockett Insurance Services in Crockett, Texas.