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March 3, 2017 is National Employee Appreciation Day

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

March 3, 2017 is National Employee Appreciation DayAs an employer, it is your job to make sure that the morale of your employees stay as high as possible in order to get the most out of them.

National Employee Day is a day in which employers should really consider taking time to show their appreciation to their employees. It’s a good idea because without employees and their hard work, our business cannot go anywhere nor be successful. The only problem with National Employee Appreciation Day is that many employers are unsure how to celebrate it. Here are some commonly asked questions regarding National Employee Appreciation Day.

  1. How can I appreciate my employees in just one day?
    You’re not supposed to fit all appreciation in one day. It’s simply a reminder of the impact that appreciation can have every day! (You don’t only tell your spouse you love them on Valentine’s Day, do you?)
  2. What do employees expect?
    The holiday is so new that employees are unsure as to what to expect. They may expect, at the very least, a complimentary lunch. The important thing to do is ensure that you are sincere in the way you celebrate it.
  3. Is it necessary to celebrate?
    Is it necessary to celebrate your child’s birthday? Is it necessary to tell your spouse you love them? Intrinsically, those things hold no value. The value we place on them gives them meaning and because we care about them, we do those things. Likewise, you should care about your employees if you want them to care about you and your business.
  4. What should I do to celebrate?
    – Throw a party at the end of the day.
    – Give them the day off or allow them to work from home.
    – Everyone loves free food, so buying lunch for them would be a welcomed treat! Just remember that through personal or religious reasons, not everyone eats meat. Make sure there are plenty of vegetarian options for these employees.

Contact Mike Stromsoe’s Unstoppable Profit Producer Program for tips and help on how you can generate new income for your business.

3 Tips for Managing Customer Service

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

If you’ve ever been on the phone with a cable company, you know how much a lack of customer service can make you want to rip your hair right of out your head. You don’t like being treated like garbage; your customers won’t want anything different. Changing your customer service objectives can go a long way for your business. Use these 3 tips to improve your customer service and, in turn, your business!

 

  1. Create Customer Service Plan

Your customer’s feedback should be the backbone of your customer service plan. Once you know the customers’’ expectations of your business, you can begin to build on top of that. Make sure that your policy extends to all customers, not just your top ones.

 

  1. Ask, Listen, Follow Up

Repeat these three things. When a customer is communicating with you, be sure to listen to exactly what they want. Provide solutions to their requests and inquiries, and don’t forget to be polite and respectful.

 

  1. Your Reputation.

Whether you provide an online presence or not, you’re going to build a reputation for yourself regardless. Providing an alleyway for your customers to express their opinions you can better manage them by responding to both the good and the bad. For those negative reviews, be sure to try and address and fix the problem, so you can avoid making the same mistake in the future.

 

Your customers will define whether your business has the success that you were planning on it having. Customer service is crucial for your business to do well. It is time to figure out how you can start earning more, working less, and enjoying life! Contact Mike Stromsoe’s Unstoppable Profit Producer Program to do just that!

Grow a Stable Business!

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

Enhancing stability while growing your business will put your success on the map.

There are many ways to solidify, stabilize, and grow a new business. Starting today, you can help your business to move forward with new, innovative ideas while remaining stable. 

Regulation and Compliance
Attend seminars and join organizations to know which areas in which your organization have compliance requirements, especially specific to your industry. Ensure that all policies are clearly conveyed to your current employees and new hires with posters, pamphlets, and handbooks. 

Network
Introduce yourself, your business, products, and services through social media, personal contacts, and by attending meetings, conferences, and fundraisers. Get involved by being an active member in the community and subscribe to local online newspapers.

Organizational Operations
Establish common goals with strategic plans to reach daily and weekly goals. Define departmental responsibilities, procedures, budgets, and logistics with timelines, checks, and plans to monitor productivity and results.

Employee Experience
Having the right person for the right position is the most valuable asset of an organization. Select applicants with demonstrated competencies aligning with required responsibilities related to the functions of the position.

For your opportunity to know what you can do to grow your business, stay stable, enjoy life, and work less, visit Mike Stromsoe’s Unstoppable Profit Producer Program. The Boot Camp “Leave No Regrets” in San Diego, CA enables you to Be Unstoppable!

Freedom ROCKS and How to Get More of it!

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

One of the most frequent questions I get from other agents and entrepreneurs is how do you get so much freedom and don’t you worry about leaving the office for extended periods of time, whenever you want?  I used to, but not anymore.  You see, the agency that supports the life of my dreams has been carefully built and, consequently, I’ve taught the people that have earned the right to be part of our team to also create their individual opportunities daily to support the life of their dreams too.

I’m talking about the slowly hired team members that work in the Living Agency Laboratory. Yes marketing, operations and the rest is of paramount importance, but having the right team members strategically positioned in each facet of your money machine is the NUMBER ONE priority. One of the keys to maintaining our team is something that we just completed, which I affectionately call “Team Member Vision and Check-Up Day”.  For me, these days are some of the most important days of the year and before the day comes I plan, plan, plan and visualize in my mind exactly how it’s going to go.  This is what it looks like:  Every team member gets approximately one hour in my office, behind my closed door, to have a conversation with me and me only about their current situation, their future situation, and how they can contribute to our business going forward.

Additionally, we allow them some time to talk about personal things, if need be.  Before I go into this day, I always prepare a one-page script of very pointed questions, designed to elicit information, thoughts, visualizations and other matters of importance that need to be discussed.  Through these conversations, we are able to help the team members solidify their current goals, personally and professionally, start planning for their next set of goals for the coming year, and overall discuss how they can be a better team member, contributor to our agency and to the goals of our agency heading into the future.  Every time these meetings happen, it gets better and better.  This not only gives the team members a lift and gives them clarity in what they’re doing, it also helps me be a better leader and helps all of us collectively plan for the future and to set goals for the coming year.

After going through the process this year, I’ve now decided that I’m going to perform this twice a year at a minimum.  The nuggets have become so valuable and have helped create great clearness in where we’re going into the future.  In addition to that, it positions me as a team leader and agency owner to make changes in our personnel and the way we do things, our scripting, our operations, and much, much more.  By designing these conversations with specific questions, we are able to help the team members see exactly where they’re at.  If there are things that need to be fixed, it’s the perfect opportunity.  In the sessions that just ended, I planned one of the chairs in our agency, a very key chair, for many years to come(as long as she holds up her end of the bargain).  That lifts a potential burden off of my mind, allows me complete focus on the things that I need to continue to do so that our agency continues to churn money week after week, month after month, year after year.

Thought it would be helpful to list a few of the key scripted, pinpointing questions that I asked my team t behind closed doors:

1.            What thoughts do you have about your progress and our progress in 2012 so far?

2.            Why do you show up daily?

3.            Are team meetings of value to you? Why or why not? What can be done, in your opinion, to improve them?

4.            What are your expectations of this business to support your growth and advancement in the insurance agency business in the future?

5.            Discuss your expectations for yourself for 2013

Note: the most important part of facilitating these conversations is to STOP TALKING after you ask the questions. The answers and information you are looking for will come if you just listen for it.

Make a Difference, Be Unstoppable, Leave NO Regrets

Mike Stromsoe

 

Unlimited Abundance

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

Walt Disney was a man of extraordinary vision and foresight. He knew what it would take to be successful in his chosen area of business, and he developed a formula that expressed his philosophy, and could be used in any type of business to ensure its success. He called it, his “Law of Unlimited Abundance.” Walt said that it didn’t matter what type of business or endeavor a person was engaged in, they could be successful and enjoy unlimited abundance, if they would simply follow his formula or plan. Walt Disney’s “Law of Unlimited Abundance,” stated, that to be successful, you must: “Do what you do so well, that the people who see you do it, will want to see you do it again, and will bring others to see you do it.” That’s the credo that built the enormous successes of Disneyland and Disneyworld. And in their arena of operation, they stand alone.

 

 

The Law Can Work For You!
It can be similar in your agency, too. You see, the key is to, “do what you do,” not always what someone else does, but what you do. Simply covert the “way” you perform everything done by you and your team. That’s what makes you special, sets you apart from others, and attracts people to you. You are not a conformist.

Then you do what you do, “so well,” that is, provide what your customers require, want, or need in an exceptional manner. It leaves no room for mediocrity, it’s “so well.” That implies exceptional performance.

And if you will do that so, “the people who see you do it,” (your customers), “will want to see you do it again,” (that’s repeat business), “and will bring others to see you do it,” (that’s referral business), you too, can meet with an unparalleled< explosive, success.

Because so few people perform in business that way, it sets you completely apart from all the competition. Customers can’t get the kind of caring protection from anyone or anywhere else. It’s simply not available anywhere, at any price.

So, by default, you become unique, different, and difficult to replace. And it will be reflected in your business and your bottom line. It has to. There’s no choice. It is a basic, eternal law of nature. You simply reap the results of what you’ve sown.

You Reap What You Sow

 

The question you must answer in your mind is, “What are you going to sow, so you will reap the kinds of rewards you wish to have?”
In the world of business, this is a most critical question, and one you would do well to take the time to answer. Fact is, most business people simply don’t understand how important the answer to this one question really is.

You see, many people go into business because it is something they have always wanted to do, or because they want a certain amount of freedom, or perhaps they want to be their own boss.

Now, those are not necessarily bad reasons, but they are selfish reasons for the most part, and while they may sound good on the surface, in actuality, some of them may not be very practical.

If you go into business for selfish reasons, and fail to give the customer his or her rightful due, your chances of success are likely to meet with hard times.

Business, like farming, requires that you do certain things in a particular order if you are to realize an abundant harvest. Now the answer to the question:  “What are you going to sow, so you will reap the kinds of rewards you want?”…is simple. You only have to look at the question backwards.

First, what kinds of rewards do you want? Second, what do you have to do to get those rewards? And third, who is it that can give you those rewards?

If you will always remember that although you may represent certain companies, they are not who pays you.

Hope this helps, hope you take action. Good luck!

 

Mike Stromsoe, Creator of the
Unstoppable Profit Producer Program™
A Coaching Program for Insurance Agents
Call 800-770-9984
www.unstoppableprofitproducer.com

PS As a special bonus for March, since it’s the month of GREEN, I will help you make MORE green. For all of the details, call 800-770-9984 or Email us ([email protected]) today for your F*REE, 29 minute, in-depth, no-obligation Agency Analysis!

 

Here’s What Other Agents Say About the Unstoppable Profit Producer Coaching Program and How Their Lives Have Been Changed:

“I have had the pleasure of working with Mike Stromsoe on various projects over the last four years. I must say that I have never met another individual in business who is more focused on getting the job done, whatever the task, and getting it done right with the utmost integrity. Mike has taught me many things in the business environment but what I am most thankful for is his example of discipline to get things done and get them done right, quick and precise with the customer in mind always. I highly recommend Mike Stromsoe and his team to anyone who is looking for his services.”

Terry Young ~ Southern Risk Services

Freedom

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

The only thing that matters is helping you build a business that supports the life of your dreams.  About 6 or 7 years ago, our agency was gaining momentum and growing quickly. We had acquired an agency, brought in people from the acquired agency, and brought the entire team together through the definition of each specific, documented task. We were firing on all cylinders. I finally had a business that truly “supported the life I wanted to live”. I was free!

Shortly after that, I noticed the team needed direction. Another roadblock in our evolution. That’s when our Intranet was born. Building an Intranet for your agency business can bring a whole new atmosphere to your business and your team.  Here’s just a few of the benefits this can bring:

  1. 1. Reduces Cost – with an Intranet in place, you can publish most of the company documents, memos and such directly through a webpage, go paperless.  This saves you on printing and distributions costs.  What about training costs?  If you could upload training videos directly to the Intranet, for your teams’ use (when they need it), do you think this might free up your time?  That brings me to the next item…

    2.  

  2. 2. Saves Time – How much is your time worth? Have you recently calculated what an hour of your time is worth? With all of your agencies documents in one place, it is easier and quicker to add new or update existing information and make it instantly available.  When your top producer needs a form, they know right where to look – no more searching endlessly through computer folders, numerous workstations and simply wasting your valuable time.

    3.  

  3. 3. Teamwork – An Intranet offers an environment where your team members can share knowledge and support, edit and manage documents/projects as a group and promote virtual team working.  Keep everyone on the same page with announcement section, interoffice memos, team calendar, FAQs, employee handbook, team motivational programs and the list goes on.

    4.  

  4. 4. Increase Productivity and Effectiveness – By reducing cost, saving time at every corner and setting a stage for your team to enhance their communication and collaboration, you have become more productive and effective as individuals and an agency alike.

 

An Intranet has made a tremendous impact in my agency and many others. I encourage you to do a little research and see if an Intranet is the right solution for your agency business.  For an example of an intranet, check out Intranet Concepts.

To your success,

 

Mike Stromsoe, Creator of the
Unstoppable Profit Producer Program™
Phone 800.994.9984
Email – [email protected]
www.unstoppableprofitproducer.com

 

PS  BTW, building an Intranet was not easy and took months of blood and sweat during afterhours work.   If you would like to virtually eliminate your pain and take advantage of my pain, see my limited time offer below.

PPS  If you are ready to take the leap and start living life on your own terms, Call 800-770-9984 or email [email protected]  to schedule you F*ree 29 minute, In-Depth Agency Analysis today.  There is absolutely ZERO Cost and No-Obligations – you have NO RISK!

A Picture of…

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

It’s been said “a picture tells a thousand words”… “a picture of efficiency”,
but a video!

Good news for you. I just shot a video showing the REAL WORLD TOOLS
at my own desk that make each person on our total protection team a
“picture of efficiency” which results in a money making machine,

 

 

Now please go implement!

PS Success Leaves Traces….find out yourself for free, Right HERE.

What Do Jim Irsay and Mark Davis Have In Common?

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

The ANSWER is here..

Having a world class team is the NUMBER ONE priority in any business.

If you would want more info about the Unstoppable Profit Producer Program™ or my Step by Step Hiring System, Take Action Now.  Call 800-770-9984 or Email [email protected] today and start living life on your own terms.

And remember, Implement, Execute and Take ACTION!

PS  “We don’t build businesses, we build people and people build businesses.”    ~ Zig Ziglar

Hiring the Gifted Team-Part 3

Posted on by Mike Stromsoe

Please accept my apology, this is long over due. Our total protection team continues to explode our agency.

Here is a real world sample of the exact autoresponder sent to prospective applicants who get past the first two steps. I am continually amazed at the number of qualified people who cannot follow directions!!

*******************************************
Hello $ToFirstName$,

Thank you for requesting more information about a position on our team. In this email, I want to accomplish several things all designed to save both of us time and effort:

1. Provide a list of requirements and expectations.
2. Provide more detail on the job description.
3. Provide some information about us.
4. Explain how to apply if you decide to pursue this opportunity.

If you can meet all of the following requirements and expectations, I hope you will continue with the next step of our hiring process.

* We are located in anytown, TX. You must be able to get to work reliably.

*Work hours are 8:30am to 5:00pm Monday through Friday. Lunch is 30 minutes and all team members are on flexible lunch breaks.

*You must get to work on time, period. You know yourself, so be honest right now. If you can’t get to work on time, please don’t bother applying.

*You must have excellent computer skills and be open to increased automation of all tasks. We file and fax electronically. We strive to eliminate paper wherever practical. While you do not need prior experience with electronic filing, you won’t be happy here if you are addicted to paper or afraid of computers or automation.

* A high level of proficiency in MS word, MS Excel, MS Publisher and MS Power Point is required

* You must be able to change job tasks on a dime

* You must be able to spell, do basic math functions, and have solid written communication skills

*You must have a positive, upbeat attitude.

*You must be honest and ethical too.

*You must be committed to work when at work. We do have a friendly, fun environment but it is work which is why we pay you. If it was all fun, we’d have to call it an amusement park and charge you to be here.

*Similarly, excessive contact with non-business persons during the work day isn’t tolerated. Everyone has a life. Some personal business must be conducted during work hours. Car’s in the shop, kids checking in after school. Understood. However, such contacts must be kept to necessary contact only – that includes emails too.

*You must be committed to learning. Change is constant and fast in our office. Streamlining and automating systems and procedures, new tools and software, and the ever-changing insurance world. If this scares you, you probably won’t be happy here.

*You must be able to work independently and be organized.

*You must be willing to follow procedures. Some things need to be done a certain way. Other things may require creativity and personal choice. When there are procedures, you must be able to follow them.

*You will work with several account managers. You must be willing to work as part of a team.

If you’re still reading at this point, here’s some information about the job itself. You do not need experience in all the areas, but the more the better of course. Responsibilities include:

*Processing support for licensed agents including data entry, electronic filing, and correspondance.

*Light bookkeeping in support of policy transactions.

*Preparing various insurance documents.

*Additional interface with customers including outbound phone calls to customers to gather data.

* Every day is different. Always a busy and changing environment. Marketing every single day is a must.

*Any other clerical or support tasks as requested. In other words, whatever we need done related to the business.

If you think you qualify and would enjoy this job, then here is some information about us and our benefits:

We are an independent retail insurance agency. We represent many insurance carriers.

We’ve been in business since 1977 and been family owned since 1982.

We presently have a staff of ?? full time persons and ?? part time people

Our benefits program is excellent. Currently it includes:

*Health

*Life

*Retirement Plan

*Paid time off which includes

* ?? paid holidays per year.

*Bonus and incentive plans after a specified period of employment.

If you are interested in applying for this job, please send me your resume and your salary requirements:

1. By email to [email protected]. DO NOT reply to this email.

2. The subject line of your email must state two things:

a. Your first and last name
b. winner

Thanks for your interest

Super Team Leader
President and Team Leader
Future Mega Agency
******************************************

Once a qualified person responds to this, you should have a resume. Personally, I am looking for:

1. ability to write well.
2. not too many jobs in the past 5 years (loyalty to team)
3. intagibles

At this point, if you want to go to the next step, 1-2 aptitude tests are in order. This will be the next blog in our “Hiring the Gifted Team” series. Stay tuned.

How about you? Share your experiences, good and bad, to help others.

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