This is a true story of a successful Tailor Made producer in San Diego, Ca. who doubled his production last year by treating his business with a non-traditional mindset to generate leads through client advocates.
Prior to last year, he was a $5 million producer, living by the seat of his pants and writing business as it came in the door. We all know and love producers like this and the pattern they follow: Write a substantial amount of business, take long vacations until they run out of money, and then come back to the office to write more business. Clearly, it isn’t a sustainable method of running a successful practice.
Last year the producer turned 50-years old and decided it was time to change the way he thought about his business. He joined a study group of his peers and started thinking more strategically rather than just tactical. He set regular office hours and stuck to them in order to maximize his time in front of prospects and clients. He analyzed his strengths and came to the conclusion that he was great at earning referrals from his current clients.
And then the light bulb came on and he came up with a $1 million idea.
Rather than waiting for his clients to refer or asking at policy delivery, he changed his methodology altogether. He proactivity reached out to his top advocates, especially those clients who were still working but getting closer to retirement.
He found the ideal client advocate who was one of his biggest fans and enthusiastically referred him to friends and co-workers without evening asking for referrals. She raved about how the producer helped her plan for her impending retirement.
He approached his client advocate with an idea to serve a complimentary lunch to her co-workers at her office. Eagerly, she agreed and they began promoting the event.
However, the producer didn’t just bring run-of-the-mill catering like sandwiches and potato chips. He rented a gourmet food truck offering hungry guests fresh salads, sliders, and even Parmesan truffle fries. At 11:30 a.m., the swarm of people rushing out of the office toward the food truck resembled the “Running of the Bulls” in Pamplona. If you’ve never worked in an office building, workers never turn down free food!
Guests ordered from the elaborate food truck menu, grabbed a flier about the services the producer provides and even talked with him about their financial situation while throwing down the gourmet sliders. He went a step further by holding a raffle for an Apple iPod Nano, allowing him to collect contact information for most of the office. What’s more, people from the office building next door noticed the commotion and asked how to get the food truck to cater a lunch for them.
The event was such a huge success that he continues to use gourmet truffle fries as a prospecting tool. He estimates he wrote $1 million worth of business directly from a free lunch with the food truck, which only costs $1,900 to rent. Not a bad return on investment at all. Using this and other business-savvy techniques, our Tailor Made producer went from $5 million to $9.9 million in production in 12 months. And, the best part, he didn’t have to work longer hours to make it happen.
We’ve had other producers incorporate free food to generate leads, which didn’t necessarily require a gourmet food truck. Just start with an “in” at a particular company where you have a strong advocate.
For more creative sales driving ideas, please contact your CreativeOne sales team at 800.992.2642.