Video with Bill Walton - Making the Shift to Virtual Learning for Sales:                                         Most companies have invested in great content suited to their sales process and their people. But classroom learning is not a 1:1 transference when going virtual. Listen to Bill Walton as he talks about his firm's process for creating and delivering engaging virtual learning experiences for sales with the "Define, Train and Sustain" approach. 

Video #1: Selling During Times of Crisis: Watch my video as I describe the mindset and tactics for selling during times of crisis. I'll speak to a need for high empathy, the need to go deep in your business acumen, and the need to reach out to your centers of influence with a "giving hand" mindset. Send me your feedback at bwalton@billwaltonsalestraining.com.

​The current COVID-19 Pandemic is forcing us all to shift – personally and professionally. With lockdowns in affect in most states and municipalities, workers of all types are being forced into remote work. For some, it’s no big deal. For others, it’s a huge transition as limited human contact, lack of access to printers, and the removal of informal networks is now gone. 

March 16, 2020: As we enter another week of our National Emergency surrounding COVID-19, I wanted to share with you a few tips that may help us all better manage ourselves, our loved ones and our businesses over the coming weeks. We are featuring an online event at the end of the month that will delve deeper into these areas where we'll help you leverage your energy versus your time to achieve personal success and renewal.

For those selling personal insurance solutions, commitment from high net worth prospects can be tough to come by.  But it’s not impossible. The HNW prospects we speak with continue to articulate that they want counsel and advice on new insurance solutions, but they're not getting it in the way they want it. From our research, high net worth individuals value three things deeply: 

1. Help me understand what I need...specifically
2. I value advice but I also value choice and control
3. I need to feel I made the right choice and my time was and is well spent

So in your HNW prospecting efforts, the approach needs to be more than dialing for dollars and a reliance on COI referrals. The competition does this. Rather it needs to feel and sound like an intentional process that's tailored toward a client type, with a hypothesis or insight in mind that your prospect would likely find valuable. In a way, it’s about knowing more to mean more – a process that leverages your own "issue fluency" to start a conversation. 

Want more? Please visit  www.billwaltonsalestraining.com  and download our newest Whitepaper on prospecting in the High Net Worth Segment or reach out to Bill Walton at bwalton@billwaltonsalestraining.com. 

For more information regarding this Executive Briefing or for programs to help you grow in 2020, contact Bill Walton at bwalton@billwaltonsalestraining.com or visit us at www.billwaltonsalestraining.com .

​Insurance Brokers are currently facing a challenge to grow revenue. Insurance has become an ultra-competitive space and client needs are becoming more sophisticated. Add to that a heightened service expectation and threats from Insure-Tech applications and relationships once thought solid could easily be put at risk.  Insurance clients are seeking value-added services that deliver the transparency and control they need for their businesses and a partner to keep them a step ahead of any exposure. Insurance clients will continue to seek out brokers’ independent advice. But, if brokers want to remain competitive in a time of threats to their growth, they must respond and adapt to increasing trends caused by digital disruption and more complex risks.

Download this white paper that chronicles the value of the day-to-day account professional as value creator and growth engine for insurance brokerage. For additional resources visit www.billwaltonsalestraining.com 

The brokerage community has had a few weeks to reflect on last year and get ready for 2020. Well we’re in it now and the opportunity remains. Grow and be competitive or ______. Whatever verb or noun you chose to fill in the blank the alternative is not great. Not too dissimilar from other intermediated financial services segments, the agency world is still facing challenges from premium increases, competition from larger firms and insure-tech disruptors.
 
In speaking to one agency head, they stated that “we can’t afford to lose any of our top 20 clients”.  As a small business owner, I totally get that. But I’d offer a more aggressive play. 
 
There is no one more qualified and credible to make business building recommendations to clients than your day-to-day account professional. Relationship Managers, Account Managers and even Customer Service Representatives are in a great position to make “intelligent recommendations” to clients. What will this take? 

1. A cultural acknowledgement of the role and it’s opportunity
2. A promise that this is not selling used cars- actually it’s the opposite
3. A framework for how to segue a conversation from the tactical to the insightful
4. Support in terms of messaging and insight sources

 
It’s been our experience that success comes from articulating the behaviors of value creators in sales and service and drawing parallels to what folks are already doing well. Sometimes it’s all about giving account professionals a few high value questions to ask the client that takes the dialogue in a more Socratic direction. 
 
To learn more about converting your account professionals to value (and thus revenue) creators, visit us at www.billwaltonsalestraining.com for additional resources. *To download the presentation from our latest executive briefing on growth in Insurance Brokerage for 2020, click the PDF icon below:
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