Client Plans – What in the heck are you talking about?

No, I am not talking about an Insurance Plan or Insurance Program. This, honestly, has nothing to do with Insurance. We are talking about putting, in writing, your engagement commitments with a client. Your Client’s Plan should include Action Items for each step in your client journey and every planned interaction you have with the client.

You don’t have to overthink this. You already do A LOT of stuff for your client. Just memorialize these into Action Items on their plan. Then, think of any differentiating interactions that can bring and strategically include those as well. In fact, the more that you include touch points and Action Items outside of the actual insurance transaction the broader you will take your engagement with your client.

Clients can visualize their journey.

Client Plans create a tangible way for the client to understand the value they are getting from you. Just by having a Client Plan you will be setting yourself apart from the majority of other Agents you are competing with. Even if you are literally doing the exact same stuff, your competition isn’t making it clear to the client what they are doing. You can, and you should. Client’s should be aware of what goes into maintaining a seamless client experience around their Insurance Program.

Just don’t stop there. Take it that next step further and include other value generating Action Items for the client.

Create MASSIVE results.

Here is where the magic can really happen. When you put a Client Plan in front of a Prospect and they engage your services based on that plan, they are agreeing that they want to execute that plan. So, think for a second – what happens if, in your Discovery process, you asked the prospect when they had last reviewed their Buy-Sell and if it was properly funded?  They tell you, “It has been a few years.” That is a great Life Insurance Opportunity. Instead of trying to push that forward today you take some notes and put an Action Item in your plan – “Review Buy-Sell Funding” with a specific due date. The Client is agreeing to go through that step with you! Then when that date comes around you call the Client up and say “Hey Bob, the next step in our Client Plan is to review your Buy-Sell to make sure you have the appropriate funding in place.” and set up the meeting.

This works well for many other areas that synergize well with P&C Insurance. Think about Health Insurance and Benefits, particularly around Work Comp. Key People and their Personal Lines Planning. Other P&C products like Cyber, Management Liability products and many others. The list goes on and on.

The key is that you are collaborating with the client and they are agreeing with you that they want to tackle this issue at a certain point in the upcoming year. They can always pull it out of the plan before they engage you but if they agree to it in the plan that are much more likely to follow through.

Aren’t they a lot of work?

They don’t have to be. We have used simple templates in Excel and added rows as needed. Word doc templates work as well and I have seen firms use Powerpoint to create a presentation and client plan. Systems like LAUNCH have built in Client Planning tools that make it SUPER easy to build the Plan and keep track of all the activities.

Bottom line is that Client Plans put you on the same side of the table with your client. That is the best thing you can do to put yourself in the seat of Trusted Advisor. By collaborating with your client on a plan up front you are both agreeing to accomplish a common goal!