Maximize Your Sales: The Power of Setting Clear Expectations for Insurance Professionals

How to Set Expectations & 5 Key Benefits to Help Boost Your Brand and Sell More Insurance

Let me start off this post by making it known that, setting clear productive expectations for insurance professionals is way easier said than done.

There is an art to setting expectations where they support your brand, vision, intrinsic purpose, your clients, and the company you work at. This post will help you learn how to set shed light on the benefits to setting expectations and how to do it effectively.

Before we dive into what expectations are, what to do before setting them, and the benefits, let's talk briefly about why clients work with you. This is applicable for all insurance professionals who work with outside clients.

It is important to understand that what happens in our life, is directly correlated to the various relationships we have. People repeatedly buy from the people they like. You could be the best at cyber insurance, or insuring coastal commercial property.

You could be a thought leader, and be highly involved in your community, but if someone doesn't like you, or doesn't like the feeling you give them, or they perceive something is "off", everything else doesn't matter, and they will not buy from you if they don't have to.

Why do we gravitate towards certain brands? It is most likely due to the way they speak to us and how it subconsciously resonates with our life.

Yes, we have these mega companies, but why do you go to the stores you go to? Why do you suddenly stop focusing on the cost when you are enjoying your shopping experience with the associate helping you? Most likely because of the experience they created with you during your shopping trip and the way they or the product makes you feel.

Price is only an issue when they cannot see the value in your offer. - John Morgan "Brand Against the Machine"

Why buy a Rolex when you can buy a watch from a big box store?

Would you buy the more expensive TV from a store where the sales person was rude and annoyed with you? Probably not. Contrary, would you buy the more expensive TV (assuming you went there to buy one) from someone who was excited you were there, was honest/relatable, and put in the effort to see you happy? Chances are, yes.

In addition you will probably be thinking about how wonderful the experience was for a long time to come. This is what business and sales are all about!

Having a strong personal/professional brand is integral to a successful career in insurance and setting expectations supports the fundamentals of your brand.

No successful business opened their doors with the intention to give poor customer service, to create a failing brand, to overcharge you just to make an extra buck, or let their ethical compass steer them a different direction. Seriously, what kind of company would last? However, we see this more and more.

How can we as people in business stop the poor customer service trend and really start caring about the people we interact with every day? Yes, this is a loaded question, however my suggestion would be to start with setting expectations with your clients every day.

What is an Expectation?

The Oxford dictionary defines an expectation as a "a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future."

I would personally define an expectation as sharing your game plan/vision with a stakeholder on what you are going to do for them, when they are needing something from you in a timely manner.

Before Setting an Expectation: Do This

I caution you to set expectations that would be pushing the envelope for you and are one sided.

A productive expectation is one that has buy-in from the 3rd party and makes the expectation a reality exactly the way you communicated it to them. This type of expectation is where you will see the benefits in your career shared in this post.

A non-productive expectation is one where you might have had the best intentions, but you didn't make the expectation a realty in the time period you said you would, or you didn't give them what you said you would do. This type of expectation leads to disappointment and hurts your brand and career.

If you are going to set an expectation it is important that you do what you say you are going to do in the timeframe you set. If you are unsure about something, voice it early with your client, and give yourself leeway in your expectation.

The good news is you have control of when you can get something done, or what you can get done. Don't make your job harder, there is enough external pressure that does that for you.

How to Start

Start small with simple requests and get their buy-in by asking them a question. If they don't buy-in then be adaptable with them for you both to come to an agreement.

Here are a few examples of setting small expectations:

• I can have that endorsement to you by Friday, would that work?

• Yes, I did receive your submission, my day is full today, but can look at it tomorrow, could I give you a call to discuss tomorrow at 2pm?

• It looks like your policy was sent to us, I will review and have it off to you today at 3pm if your premium has been paid, does this work for you?

The Power and Benefits of Setting Clear Expectations for Insurance Professionals

Not only does it hold you accountable to live up to your end of the bargain, it also almost eliminates unnecessary disappointment, not only from the people around you, but even your clients. Making working with you a more enjoyable experience while building your brand.

It also builds honesty with yourself and your clients. Which is a win-win situation. You will feel more fulfilled and less stressed in your everyday work, and your clients will appreciate your honesty building your brand and credibility with them.

There are a lot of different benefits to setting productive expectations as an insurance professional when done intentionally. Here are a few more!

Buys You Time to Work on The Deal

When you set expectations, you know what kind of timeline everyone is working with. Your timeline could be entirely different than your prospect or client. When you set a productive expectation on turn around times, you take away the ambiguity and unknowns that the client could have.

If you haven’t set expectations, they would expect something when you didn’t even have it on your radar screen. This doesn’t only cause annoyance, it shows the other person, working with you isn’t as easy as it seems. No one likes to work with difficult people unless they have to.

It is very important to recognize that a follow up is a negative interaction. And with every 1 negative interaction it takes 5 exceptional interactions to make up for the one. Setting expectations can avoid this extra work to break even.

Gives You More Control of Your Brand

Building your brand is an intentional long process if done without guidance.

You get to choose what your brand is with your clients and prospects. With setting expectations this is another great way to build that brand of yours.

If you don’t set the expectation and follow through with them this also builds your brand in a negative way. You might as well build it in a positive productive way.

Without setting expectations you are letting your clients and prospects control what your brand is.

"Branding is about emotion, and emotion turns prospects into buyers." – John Morgan

If you aren't confident in what your brand is, or if it is making a positive productive impact, no worries, you are not alone! I created NextGen Insurance Consulting Group after noticing the extreme lack of support for insurance professionals on building a long prosperous brand and career in insurance. There is an abundance of sales training on how to get to a $1mil book, or how to sell auto insurance, cyber insurance, etc. which are all great, but nothing on diving deep into how you want to show up in your career and making it worthwhile.

This is where I come in. If you are feeling confused, defeated, struggling with getting your name out there, or want a second opinion, my courses and consulting will pick you up and put you on the right path of success for you in your insurance career. Reach out today! I would love to hear from you.

Reflects Honesty (essential for your brand)

The chances of you intentionally lying when you are setting expectations is slim to none which is great, but your clients and prospects are changing they way they buy by the day. They do not like information not being told to them.

The more honest you are with others the more they will trust you and support you. Which means the more they will buy from you and the more loyal they will be. Most importantly the more they will recommend others to work with you.

And I don't mean being honest with just the good stuff. You must be honest with the good, the bad, and the ugly. Which brings us to our final reason to set expectations.

If you want better clients & prospects ... you need a better brand. - Kari Kohal, MBA, AINS

Builds Respect

When you share more with others, including the good and the bad while creating a safe space to work together to fix the challenge, you are not only putting your problem solving skills to work, you are building respect for yourself and others.

In my opinion, respect is one of the most overlooked components of a successful career.

Respect is where the emotions come in. If we know (in general) people buy based on if they like you which is an emotion. Respect is the strongest emotion felt. People are not going to like you if they don't feel you respect/appreciate them.

If you are rushing your prospects and clients off the phone, not returning their calls or emails, you are showing them that you don't respect them. As an award-winning insurance broker, I will never ever work with someone who disrespects me. I don't care what your product is or how much money you will help me make. If you don't respect me, you won't hear from me again. Chances are your clients have a similar view point. Would you work with someone who makes you feel small and unappreciated? Probably not.

Your message is very clear when you rush your clients off the phone, avoid a call or email, or don't set productive expectations and that message isn't a good one.

Helps You Avoid Burnout

It creates less stress on you, your relationships, and your clients.

They will know what to expect from the beginning, you both will have a game plan to follow, and it will eliminate the dreaded follow up emails and phones calls.

Productive expectations will help reduce the negative stress in your work day and will fill it with fulfilling healthy stress and challenges. (We wouldn't be insurance sales professionals if we didn't love a challenge)

You've Got This!

At the end of the day we are all human with human emotions. We instinctually do things that we might not notice. For example, we gravitate and are intrigued with people we respect. Setting expectations is a way of showing respect.

If we can set expectations, not only do we increase our chances of binding more insurance we build our brand in a positive way.

Until Next Time,

Kari Kohal, MBA, AINS

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Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional. The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and should not be considered medical advice. Please consult with a healthcare professional for any medical concerns or advice.