MRL #083- Always Be H____________!

After putting countless dollars in his pocket…

Micah finally returned the favor and sent me a referral last week.

About dang time.

Anyways…

Micah sent a guy my way in the hopes I could get him a better deal than what he was able to get.

It’s a tow risk, and being that I write a bunch of towing, Micah was hoping I might have a better option.

And I do.

But, I didn’t tell the insured that on our first conversation Friday.

Oh, no!

I told him flat out…

“I might be able to save you money, I might not. No promises.”

I’ll come back to the insured’s response in a minute, but first…

We Have A Big Announcement To Make

Starting next week we’re going to start charging for this newsletter.

And not just charging…

It’s gonna be steep… like $47 a month, I think.

I put in a lot of time and effort into this thing…

Not to mention, the content is gold.

I think it’s only fair that we start charging.

I know that may be unpalatable to you, but hey…

It is what it is.

Now, pause.

What was your first reaction to me springing that sudden price increase on you?

Anger?

Annoyance?

Some combo of both?

Well…

That’s the point of this week’s newsletter, actually.

I’m NOT going to start charging for this newsletter…

I just wanted to demonstrate (in a small way) what it feels like when you hand unexpected increases or set unrealistic expectations and don’t deliver for your clients and prospects.

It sucks.

But, even more so for your insureds because think about it…

As mid-market Producers our deals are big enough that we’re not handing $47 a month increases…

Sometimes we’re handing 10’s of thousands if not 100’s of thousands of dollars worth of increases.

Thus, the decoded name of this week’s newsletter…

Always Be Hedging!

Now, back to our story…

The insured thanked me for my honesty and we agreed to keep moving the ball forward.

I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed…

But I’ve learned after two decades in sales…

The key to happy clients and prospects is under promising and over delivering.

For example…

If the underwriter tells you they’ll have numbers to you by next Monday tell your client it’s gonna be two weeks.

If you think the carrier is going to hand out a 5-10% increase this year, tell your client it’s going to be 20%.

I know it’s hard to hand your prospect bad news…

But, if you over promise you’ve left yourself with no room.

And now you’re gonna have to hand them bad news twice.

Once when you over promise…

And again when you under deliver.

So stop doing it!

Under Promise and Over Deliver!

This is Sales 101 stuff, really.

But, it’s always important to revisit the basics from time to time.

So, don’t get swept up in emotions or the heat of the moment when conversations get uncomfortable.

Always be hedging…

And over shoot the mark a bit.

Then, when you come riding in on your noble white steed early or under estimated premium you’ll look like their knight in shining armor riding in to save the day.

Here the endeth the lesson.

Oh, but before I go…

One more thing about handing out “increases”…

We really are increasing the price of our Producer Playbook in a few weeks.

And like the good boy I am, I’ve been “hedging” and telling you about it for week’s now.

So, snag it for $195 while you can.

Clocks ticking…

Ok, that’s enough for this week.

See you next Sunday.

Kick ass take names,

Maximus F. Revenue IV