Broker Management: To Focus, or Not to Focus

Focus is the narrowing of attention until an issue gets our complete and directed energy. It is when we become present to an idea, or a task, and engage in it fully. It is a brilliant moment when you see someone become truly focused – notably, consider an Olympic athlete at their skill peak.

We see similar “focused skill’ in business – namely an excellent broker producer who truly connects and empathizes with a client in understanding their needs and is able to craft a solution. Watching a seasoned producer in action – especially when closing a large deal – has almost a mystical element to it.

Focus is what lets us create real results for our businesses. Compare the results of someone doing a task with focus, to the results of someone with a scattered approach engaged in juggling too many priorities. The comparison can be startling. There is a great expression: “People fail because of broken focus.”

So, begs the question, “what are we focusing on?” In a business context, we are likely focusing on a lot of things. But focus is challenging because, by design, it does not let you focus on many things. You focus on a few things – very few things normally. So if we had to narrow it down, where should we focus?

As an advocate of exploiting technology to enhance our businesses, it is tempting for me to look toward computer systems and suggest putting focus there. However, although I think businesses need to put more properly directed attention on systems, I do not think this is where they should focus. Businesses should focus on clients. This thought is not revolutionary, but I believe is often overlooked. It is easy to get caught up in the “doing” of business, and lose “focus” on the customer.

Now here is a twist. “Doing” the business is not focusing on the client, but “focusing” does require “doing”. Focus is not a state of mind. It is not an attitude – it is a verb. To be truly focused is to take measurable steps toward a result without being drawn away from its pursuit. Focus requires time, activity, energy and in many cases, the cooperation from those around us.

TECH TOOLS

There are many ways we can focus on our clients. And, there are many tools to help us achieve this end, with technology offering a host of solutions which may, or may not, bring the picture of our clients into clarity. Some obvious solutions would be brokerage management systems and client relationship management software. Business intelligence (BI) technologies are growing quickly and allow businesses to sift through the massive amounts of information stored in databases to yield meaningful business metrics, customer trends and market profiles. But they are still pretty expensive tools for a brokerage.

What I like about both brokerage management systems and business intelligence technologies is that they can help us behave as though we know our clients. The reality, in many cases, is that we do not know our clients – but we need to get to know them in the span of a few mouse clicks, or while we are trading pleasantries on the phone. While this may seem to be a tall order to fill, it is a reality of brokerages every day. So, instead of fighting it, it may make more sense to arm our team to succeed at it. Here are two of my favorite knowledge weapons. It is likely that you have heard of both technologies, but may not have considered them in the same way.

INSTANT INFO

The first is “instant messaging” software – specifically Microsoft’s “Instant Messenger”. Why is software a powerful tool in the workshop of client knowledge? Because when I do not know the details about a client, a situation, or a solution, there is someone else out there who does. Instant messaging allows us to ask questions and communicate with other players on our team – not necessarily just within our business – and get answers quickly. When a client asks a question, we often have a few clarifying questions to ask. While we are doing that, it is a great opportunity to type a quick question to someone who knows this client, or knows the subject and in turn, share that knowledge with the customer.

While there are many with whom I share instant messaging services, I was reluctant to add clients into the mix. Instant messaging is a fairly casual communication tool and does not stand on a lot of formality. It is made up of small snippets of dialog and is really used for quick questions or small chats. Recently, however, I’ve added clients to my list of instant messaging contacts and have been impressed with how smoothly the communication has flowed and how much everyone respects the tool and does not exploit it (which would be annoying at best).

We have seen instant messaging software used for all kinds of routine tasks. Receptionists let people know someone is holding for them. Service staff share information about clients or policies quickly and voluntarily. Branch-office staff are better able to stay abreast of latest developments in the rest of the company. Technology staff help users on the phone while answering questions on instant messaging software. Like any technology, however, bear in mind that the use of instant messaging should be governed by a company policy – there are security concerns that need to be addressed (training is important in this regard).

DATA MANAGEMENT

The other technology that is quickly becoming a star is portal software. Before your heart rate begins to speed up, let us lower our sights a bit – I am not referring to “the portal” – but software packages that allow us to organize information better.

Portal technology is designed to take databases of information, documents, emails and postings and pull them together through a web browser interface to offer each user a unique view of that information, based on their rights. For example, a portal might have a great deal of information in it. But, do all staff need to see the same information? Probably not. Business owners want to see information that is different than what service staff are looking for, which is different again from what accounting may need to see. Portals are designed to accommodate this.

I was extremely impressed a few weeks ago when I sat across from an insurance broker and listened to how the individual explained his brokerage’s need for a solution to help “manage knowledge”. It was the first time a broker had said those words to me, and I think it was an indicator of the foresight this client has – and testament to the importance of how we capture and codify knowledge.

When staff leave, the knowledge goes with them, unless a system has been created to gather information, organize it easily and share it seamlessly and securely with your entire business. When staff leave, the business’ knowledge of its customers should not go with them. Portal technologies are just starting to hit their stride, and with integration into project management software, email systems, and business productivity software suites, portals will become the de facto standard for collecting, organizing and sharing information.

In the “knowledge economy”, the learner is the leader. Having volumes of data about your customers is not good enough. Presenting it, or sharing it quickly, precisely and concisely is critical to truly knowing your client.

But, ultimately, information will not bring us closer to our clients. Focus will not bring us closer to our clients either. To get closer to our clients, we have to choose. We have to make a choice to know – about ourselves, our businesses, our staff and, most certainly our clients. The choice is yours.