"The cumulative effect of this commission quickly adds up, delivering recurring revenue and embedded value to your business"
As disappointing as the final was for England (or semi-final for Wales fans like me), South Africa’s success was inspiring, but it wasn’t instantaneous. Only two years ago they were a study in failure – divided, fragmented, directionless. A new coach, Rassie Erasmus, was brought in with a clear focus, he demanded effort and created an environment of change and open communication between players and coaches. So, it seems fitting that this approach, which so closely aligns with the Japanese philosophy of Kaizen, led to their success in Japan.
The Kaizen philosophy is based on the belief that continuous, incremental improvement adds up to substantial change over time and, by making small changes to your habits, you can make big and lasting improvements. It’s a concept that has been widely adopted, for example in businesses such as Shell, BMW and Bosch, or in other arenas such as British Cycling’s ‘marginal gains’ philosophy. It is based on five core principles of quality, effort, involvement of all employees, willingness to change and communication.
So, how could this benefit your business?
Potentially in many ways but given my role I’m obviously going to talk about general insurance (GI). Small steps to change habits within your business, such as discussing GI on every mortgage case, may initially seem insignificant or not worth the effort, but could lead to big changes in results.
Say, for example, that introducing this new habit means that your business makes just four GI sales a month. This would deliver around £4,500 in revenue in the first year and then each year the policies stay in place. Assuming you make the same number of general insurance sales the following year, even factoring in some clients will cancel their policy, you could expect to earn around £8,000 in year two, then £11,500 in year three and so on.
The cumulative effect of this commission quickly adds up, delivering recurring revenue and embedded value to your business, helping your future earnings to become more predictable. Over the course of five years, total earnings from doing just four cases a month could be more than £50,000, and the recurring revenue will keep on building as long as the policies stay in place.
With the advance of technology in GI, it’s easier than ever for advisers to implement these small changes, change habits and untap this income potential. At Paymentshield, for example, we have developed a flexible technology platform that can easily match your preferred sales journey. APIs enable the effortless transfer of information and, if you adopt the approach of a holistic upfront fact find, the option to provide an accurate and binding GI quote for 100% of your clients with no extra effort, no assumptions, no validations.
So, as the memory of the Rugby World Cup fades, there is solace in the fact that by implementing small, long-lasting good habits you can better protect your client and their home, build a stronger relationship with them and deliver huge benefits to your business – that’s real success.
