More than a sales pitch: commercial buyers of insurance want brokers to offer more insight and advice, and anticipate potential business risks.

Business buyers of insurance products and services, particularly those benefiting employees, increasingly want more than the requested products at a good price. They need to have a high confidence level that the salespeople, and the organizations they represent, are not only experts in the products and services they sell, but are also experts in the area of the clients' businesses. The combination of these two knowledge sets provides greater assurance that the products and services delivered are right for the clients and that the clients receive value beyond the products and services alone.

This is especially true of large corporate entities. What a business client wants is to work with someone who can be viewed as a trusted adviser and an additional resource to the company, not just an insurance salesperson. To establish such a relationship with a business client requires that the sales team do a bit of homework to learn about the client company, its industry and its competitive situation. The sales team also has to maintain expert knowledge of the products and services being provided, including all the other resources of the insurance company. This goes beyond the bounds of knowing client information directly related to the products and services being sold, which is the information traditionally collected in selling corporate products and services. The effort level is significantly higher, but the value of learning about these issues can be very significant to both the sales team and the client.

Carriers must establish mechanisms to keep their sales forces informed and knowledgeable of two important sets of information. First, they must assure that their sales forces have complete expertise concerning the products, services and capabilities of the carriers, even those that may not have an obvious connection to the clients. A surprisingly high number of most carriers' salespeople are not well versed on the full array of products, services and capabilities available from their companies. Most develop deep knowledge of the products and services they frequently deal with, a passing knowledge of some closely related products and services and little-to-no knowledge of most of the company's offerings. Typically, the breadth of company offerings and the ability to deliver those offerings continually change. A communication and training capability must be established and maintained to keep salespeople up to speed on these tools available for their clients.

Second, sales teams must be able to easily access information, analyses and reports about current and potential client companies, their key executives, the industry, competitors and the client company's performance relative to its competitors. Such information is not only needed for initial marketing purposes, but for maintaining the ongoing relationship with the client. Sales teams must take on the role of looking out for the interests of the client as if it were their own company. Diligence in this regard will allow them to not only respond to changing client needs and situations, but to possibly anticipate such changes.

For example, a client that is implementing a strategy of expansion and considering new factory sites in several new states would probably appreciate receiving information comparing the costs and requirements of providing benefits programs in those states, the competing vendors for such programs and other similar information. In addition, other information developed in the research, such as competition in the client's industry in target states, also would likely be valued by clients.

Approaching the clients before they feel the need to call on a salesperson can be a very powerful relationship builder. Corporate client buyers of insurance products frequently express their desire for their carrier's representatives to "make them look good" through the advice they provide. Anticipating the needs of the client with appropriate recommendations supported by analysis does exactly that. It also provides the right tools for the clients' changing needs at the right time.

To assure that salespeople know all about the changing offerings of the carriers and about the client companies and their industry requires that a research, communication and training capability be incorporated into the sales operation. Most companies perform training on a regular basis, but it is usually focused on products and services. Some access to client financial and operations information is common, but not usually tailored analyses focused on developing a deep understanding of the competitive situation of the client. Salespeople who can approach a corporate client with more than a mere basic understanding of the greater business needs of the client company will impress the client. Those who can link what they are offering to enhancing the value to the client based on an understanding of its business and situation will win.

Gregory Hoeg Sr., a Best's Review columnist, is a senior vice president of Willis Group Ltd. He can be reached at [e-mail].