Insurance Consultant & Mentor
Scott Simmonds, CPCU, ARM
November, 2006

Helping Insurance Experts Build Great Businesses
www.icmentor.com

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Feel free to forward this newsletter to colleagues. Comments, questions, and suggestions are always welcome. Email: Scott@ScottSimmonds.com or call 207-284-0085.

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A Client-Value Mindset

I believe that success in our business comes from focusing all you do in your business on the value you provide to your clients. Focus on your needs and desires and your business will fail. Focus on providing value to your client and you will thrive.

In my conversations with new and aspiring insurance consultants this battle is one I fight early on. I get questions about how much money can be made. “Newbies” often come to me with calculations of what they need for income, asking if a certain hourly rate is sustainable.

My advice is always the same: “Forget what you need and focus on what value you will provide your clients.”

The purpose of a business is to get and keep clients. Getting and keeping comes from value. Value is simply improvement and quality.

Improvement is making your client better – in our case, better insurance protection, lower expenses, and/or peace of mind.

Quality is meeting the client’s expectations - it is the highest standard. To consistently meet or exceed your client's expectations is very difficult. As you perform, your client expects you to continue to perform - the bar is raised higher and higher and higher. Either you keep performing or you fail your client.

Expectations include every aspect of your interactions with clients - from returning phone calls, to the look and feel of your business card. It’s keeping promises and meeting deadlines. It’s providing advice that is tailored to your client. It’s even the clothes you wear and the car you drive.

As you plan and improve your business, focus on the needs of your clients. Focus on the value you provide. Your business will blossom.

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Free Mentor Sessions - I preach value based marketing. Taking a page from my own book, I'd like to try something different. As a reader of my newsletter you may receive a free mentor session. Email me a bit of information about yourself. Tell me about your current insurance job and where you want to go. We'll set up a time to get together on the phone. I'll provide a free mentor session - no obligation. Let's spend some time exploring where you want to go in your insurance career and how I can help you get there.

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Referral Network - I'm building an online listing of insurance consultants. This may grow into a referral network and directory. I need to know who is out there! If you're interested in being a part of a directory, please complete the form at http://insuranceconsultant.org/listform.htm. There is no cost or fee.

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Insurance Consultant Mentor Program - Designed to help you build your business faster, with less hassle, and fewer false starts. Grow your current practice or gain the edge in your startup. The object is for you to make your business the best it can be - faster and more profitably. Go to http://www.icmentor.com/mentor.htm.

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Insurance Agent Mentor Program - A fair number of my subscribers are insurance agents who have no intention of becoming consultants. Several have talked with me about how my methods can help them. The principles of marketing professional services are universal. I'm glad to talk about how we might be able to work together to build your book of business. Call or email me to discuss.

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Scott Simmonds, CPCU, ARM
Phone 207-284-0085
Scott@ScottSimmonds.com
http://www.ScottSimmonds.com

Insurance Consultant Services Website: http://www.icmentor.com

© 2006 Scott Simmonds - All Rights Reserved. We encourage sharing this newsletter in whole or in part if copyright and attribution (including my web address) are always included.

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