Every agency in your market sells the same carriers, products, and technology, so none of those will ever set you apart.
I’ve had some version of the same conversation countless times. An agency owner calls, frustrated by their inability to grow. To help diagnose why, the conversation turns to what they’ve been trying. Inevitably, they’ve been exploring new products, a technology platform, or searching for a program that nobody else in their market has access to yet.
I can sympathize with them. They’re working hard, doing what feels right to break free of their stagnation and genuinely believe if they can find the right solution, everything will change.
It won’t. And deep down, most of those I talk to probably already know that.
Why a new product won't fix your growth problem
A third-party product will never be a true differentiator. Every agency in your market has access to the same carriers, products, and technology. If by chance they do find something nobody has today, that advantage isn’t sustainable. The competition will have it by the end of the week.
The constant search for this elusive advantage is the business equivalent of a placebo: The effort feels productive and creates the sensation of progress; however, the underlying problem of how you work and sell goes untreated.
Your real advantage is how you see yourself
I’ve written before about the client who spent 18 years reaching $1 million in revenue, then, once they started working with us, doubled it in the next 18 months, and about another client who won a $60 thousand P&C (property and casualty) account despite having no P&C knowledge. In both instances, they succeeded because they committed to changing how they work and how they sell.
These aren’t outlier results. When agencies stop looking for external answers and commit to internal discipline, the change they seek happens.
What changed for both of them was a fundamental shift in how they thought about their business and how they acted on it.
Your website may describe you as a benefits agency, which, of course, isn’t wrong. A more accurate description of you is that you are a sales organization that happens to deliver benefits solutions.
That distinction matters more than most people realize. If you see yourself as a product provider, it makes perfect sense to keep searching for a better product. When you accept that selling is your core business, it becomes obvious that your competitive advantage lies in how you sell.
In a market where every agency has access to the same carriers, plan designs, solutions, and pricing, the only sustainable competitive advantage is how you sell. Specifically, the advantage for you is a consultative process that focuses on uncovering the buyer's needs so you can ultimately align the right combination of solutions to address them. This shifts the conversation from products to problem-solving. There are other advisors embracing this approach, but they are a small fraction of those competing on product and price.
Our client who won the P&C account didn’t win it because he had more product knowledge than the competition; he wasn’t even close on that front. He won because he out-processed them. In a room full of brokers who led with product expertise, he gave the buyer a reason to hire him that had nothing to do with what he knew about P&C.
What buyers want from an advisor
Buyers hire advisors who instill confidence. They need an advisor who understands their business and has a clear plan for how they’re going to work together to get the best results possible.
This confidence is the result of process, not product, and it’s something you can deliver yourself.
The agencies growing the fastest are doing so because they stopped spending their time chasing the next placebo. Instead, they took ownership of their future and committed to the hard work of rebuilding themselves from the inside. Admittedly, this is uncomfortable at first, but that’s why it results in a sustainable competitive advantage. Most of your competitors won’t push through the discomfort.
If your agency is stuck, take an honest look at how you sell and find the discipline to build something better.Q4intelligence and Goose can help you with this by giving you a growth platform to help scale your benefits business and help you become the employer of choice.
Frequently asked questions
Can a new product or technology give my agency a lasting advantage?
No. Every agency has access to the same carriers and tools, and anything genuinely new gets matched within a week. The durable advantage is how you sell.
If everyone sells the same products, how do I differentiate?
Through a consultative process that uncovers the buyer's needs and aligns the right solutions to them, shifting the conversation from price to problem-solving.
Do I need deep product expertise to win accounts outside my specialty?
Not necessarily. One agency won a $60,000 P&C account without strong P&C knowledge by out-processing competitors who led with product expertise.
Why is changing how we sell so hard?
It means rebuilding from the inside, which is uncomfortable and that's exactly why most competitors won't do it.
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Content originally published by Q4intelligence
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