Christopher Sholes was a newspaper editor and printer who lived in Wisconsin. In October 1867 he filed a patent application for the early writing machine he developed with the assistance of his friends.
The construction of the “Type Writer” had flaws that made the product susceptible to jams. Jams were often caused by the speed the typist hit the keys. The faster they went, the more likely it was to jam. After numerous tests to fix the jamming Sholes found that rearranging the order of the keys would slow the typist down.
Later this layout became the QWERTY key layout. It’s common knowledge that the QWERTY layout is harder to learn and slower to type with than other layouts. It was invented to slow things down, yet is the default system used to this day.
This paradox is present in many places.
In the INSURANCE AGENCY world, the default way of serving clients is charging hourly or daily.
Today we are doing business in a LESS efficient way. But paradoxically, some of these inefficiencies, things that are slowing us down today, just may be the areas that help our agencies in the future.
An agency only has so much time to use to serve the client. A client has only so much budget to pay the agency. This is why so many agencies hit a growth ceiling. There are only so many hours in the day and only so high we can take rates.
The solution?
Turn your AGENCY EXPERIENCE into the product.
We don’t sell insurance, we sell RELATIONSHIPS. Knowing this, what does your customer experience look like… feel like… smell like?
What feelings are your customers and prospects left with after every interaction with your agency?
What things are you doing today that will help you in the future?
Today, spend some time examining your customer experience.
What are you doing well?
What can you improve on?
What has this last year forced you to do that may have a lasting place in your future?
Don’t fall into the transactional trap of doing business like everyone else.
