The best businesses are creative, to be sure. They are risk-taking by nature. They are restless, constantly trying new things and new processes, and creating new products.
But they first focus on the basics.
Importantly, in times of challenge, even crisis, they first focus on ensuring that they are managing the basics of their business as well as they can.
That’s why I created the “Amazing Agency Growth Accelerator Thinking Tool™”.
The tool was initially designed to help agency principals think through the short and long term benefits of focus on seven key performance variables. My thinking, in developing the thinking tool, was that it would primarily be used to help agencies grow.
While that is still its primary value, it is also a great tool to use to model downside risk in a difficult, volatile, and unpredictable time like we currently face in the COVID-19 crisis.
The tool allows you to start with your current commission income, number of clients, number of policies in force, and current customer retention rate to model the future you want.
As you think about strategies, tactics, and business plans to improve each of these variables, or if you want to model the impact of crisis on any of them, you simply enter the new variable in the worksheet. The tool will then show you the immediate income result of the change, and it will also show you the change in agency value.
Very importantly, the tool will also show you how these changes will impact your agency over a ten-year horizon. You can view the impact of changes graphically as well. The old saying “a picture is worth a thousand words” is very true here. You will see, instantly, the largest levers you have in your business for improvement.
This matters, because in a crisis you cannot do everything. And you certainly can’t do it all at once. Prioritizing the right actions, in the right sequence, is very important and the tool will clearly show you this in a unique way for your business.
There are two ways you can get the tool – which is entirely free! The first is by emailing me at tonyc@oneagentsalliance.net. The second is by going to www.covidproofyouragency.com/resources. The website, by the way, is for a small book, or resource guide, I cowrote with Matt Masiello and Eric Blew (whose bios you can read on the site). You can download a copy of the book there – also for free – which will help guide your thinking about responding to crisis. At the site you will also find a variety of other useful thinking tools.
Now is the time to make your business better. In fact, there has never been a better and certainly more critical time. I hope you find the tool useful. If you do, would you let me know?