Closing Rates Captive Vs Independent

Why are so many people obsessed with closing rates? What difference does it make?

You can be the most skilled insurance agent and truly have a gift for persuasion, you still can't bank on whether or not your prospect possesses the mental capacity to comprehend what you are talking about.

Here's what I know to be true, I'd rather focus on talking to as many people as possible about what I do than worrying about who bought and who didn't. Funny thing happens to those of us who work on just talking to people...a percentage of those who say no end up calling me a few months down the road b/c they're ready to take a more serious look.

Closing ratio is a number only amateurs worry about. How to pile the sales funnel full and let the process take it course is what the real pro's do, and it realistically is the only thing you have control over.

BNTRS is right. I think closing rate is meaningless because there are all kinds of ways to control that number. Much much more important is the number of people you get in front of.
 
BNTRS is right. I think closing rate is meaningless because there are all kinds of ways to control that number. Much much more important is the number of people you get in front of.


The most important stat to track is your conversion rate. What percentage you convert from suspect to prospect to client. If you understand those numbers you can work backwards into the income you need to generate. Better salesmen are better at converting suspects to clients so they can either make more or not work as hard to hit a certain income level, weaker salesmen can succeed but they need to make many more contacts.
 
i would guess it depends on how competitive, your captive company is... good name and service, can only go so far..
 
Closing rate is probally the MOST important stat an agent can track, are you friggin kidding me?

if my closing rate was 10%, that means one of 2 things, either I suck ass as a saleman, or I have uncompetitive products, which means I am completely wasting my time in this business and better be working out so I dont get tendinitis waiving HI to people at Wal-mart.

As an IA, Closing ratio is The most important STAT for me to follow, because if I talk to someone and DONT write them, I know get pissed, and try to figure out why. If I lose to a carrier more than twice, then I am going to see why and possibly add them to my agency.

I expect 100% closing ratio right now, but in reality, it is about 75%.

I lost a Household P&C last week, and I was friggin irate all day, but I know why, I had the client with high limits with an umbrella, I KNOW they had to lower coverages, thats the ONLY way I could lose them. PERIOD, not much you can do about that,

The higher the close ratio, means the less harder I have to work, If I close 75% of my quotes, then I can take it easy, but if I close 10-20%, then I have to work my ass off to get in front of more people, AND spend MORE money to get in front of those clients.

If your close ratio is low, then these are the majority of the reasons why....

Your Captive, OUCH
Your suck as an agent,
you have uncompetitive products
You arent offering the correct products
Your marketing to the wrong clients
Your marketing efforts arent very good
People dont know enough about your agency and refer you the wrong clients.
If you selling life, health FE, etc, your marketing to unhealthy or un-insurable clients,

I'm sure I could come up with more, but its too damn early to think on a Sunday!

I still am dumbfounded, more than 1 guy would say closing ratio doesnt matter......

How do you grow your agency and make any money if your wasting your time in front of people not writing policies?
 
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The most important stat to track is your conversion rate. What percentage you convert from suspect to prospect to client. If you understand those numbers you can work backwards into the income you need to generate. Better salesmen are better at converting suspects to clients so they can either make more or not work as hard to hit a certain income level, weaker salesmen can succeed but they need to make many more contacts.

Spoken like a true sales manager.
 
Spoken like a true sales manager.

Or a current agency owner and one time $750k producer for a IJ top 50 agency... However you want to look at it. Guys that don't like tracking those numbers are usually not putting in the work to consistently produce so they hit a wall at about $250-350k in commission and never get over it.

I have a producer that closes 20%... does that mean he sucks? What if he worked on large WC accounts (captives, high deductibles and retro's)
with an average commission of $46 per year and
he closed 1-2 accounts per quarter... would he
still be a terrible producer? Not IMO when you consider the level of competition you face on those types of accounts.
 
I have a producer that closes 20%... does that mean he sucks? What if he worked on large WC accounts (captives, high deductibles and retro's)
with an average commission of $46 per year and
he closed 1-2 accounts per quarter... would he
still be a terrible producer? Not IMO when you consider the level of competition you face on those types of accounts.

Umm, my point exactly?

Look, the point isn't that it's not something to think about from time to time, but ultimately, it's not worth stressing out over too much. And certainly not the most important thing to consider, especially for new people (and if you are going to fret over closing ratios as a captive or indy, chances are you're not knocking it out of the park and should be more worried about things that will actually make you money).

And FWIW:

Or a current agency owner and one time $750k producer for a IJ top 50 agency...

If you're not now doing it, doesn't really matter now does it?
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As an IA, Closing ratio is The most important STAT for me to follow, because if I talk to someone and DONT write them, I know get pissed, and try to figure out why. If I lose to a carrier more than twice, then I am going to see why and possibly add them to my agency.

So do you ask your customers if they'd like fries with that?

Aren't you just as weak a "salesman" (what happened to being an adviser or at least buying consultant, btw?) if all you do it whore yourself to the cheapest/most attractive carrier of the day to ensure that your customer gets what they want (i.e. you close all of 'em)? Who wears the pants in that relationship?

Here is something I hold to be true: I'm not all things to all people. When I don't close someone I move on, if I spent all day being pissed about not closing him/her/them, it be a pretty wasted day, and I've got better things to do.

Al Granum taught us all years ago that, in the life industry, if you sit down and do a fact finder with 3 people, 1 of them will buy. This was pretty consistent across the board. So the best thing to worry about is successfully sitting down with people, this has worked really well for me. But hey, if you want to waste a day being pissed because someone told you no (something you'll never have control over) then be my guest. If you're one of those pompous types who leaves your prospects ready to find a club and beat you to death when they tell you no, give me their number, I'll bet money I can get a few to say yes...eventually.
 
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BN, I will give you SOME of what you say, but I only write P&C, so yes, all that stuff matters to me.

Why is it not OK for me to want to write every person I talk to?

Why is it not ok for me to add carriers that have a more competitive price than I have?

If you want to waste your time talking to people and not gettting their business, well, bones to you buddy, but I hate to waste my time.

If I wanted to waste my time and not write business, i would have stayed captive.
 
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Why is it not OK for me to want to write every person I talk to?

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm trying to suggest it is. I would love to do this as well, and certainly want to, but I stay grounded in the reality that if it doesn't happen it's not my fault so no need to worry. This doesn't mean I don't review every closing attempt in my head and think of what I could have done better to maybe benefit from potentially more success in the future.

Why is it not ok for me to add carriers that have a more competitive price than I have?

Ok, the one situation I suppose I could see this being acceptable would be breaking into a market you haven't worked much in before. But people rarely by things, they buy people. So if it's a competitive situation and they choose the other guy are you really sure they went the other way because he showed them something better? I've been in situations where what I showed was much better than what the other guy had and I lost. I simply didn't have the relationship, and in one situation I had known the prospect for quite a while...the other guy knew them even longer.

Again, this isn't about completely ignoring it, but rather worrying about stuff you actually have control over. I can't ultimately control what people say when I ask them to buy. I can push all I want, but I cannot control what they decide. I can however control my marketing efforts, and marketing is what it's all about.
 
BN, I will give you SOME of what you say, but I only write P&C, so yes, all that stuff matters to me.

Why is it not OK for me to want to write every person I talk to?

Why is it not ok for me to add carriers that have a more competitive price than I have?

If you want to waste your time talking to people and not gettting their business, well, bones to you buddy, but I hate to waste my time.

If I wanted to waste my time and not write business, i would have stayed captive.

P&C is all about rates, rates, and carriers. Medicare supplements is the same way. If you have the right carriers and rates it raises closing percentages a whole bunch. Life insurance, annuities, variable products, etc. is a different situation.
 
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