Do youreally want every interaction with you and your team to be attachedto a negative event? (Image: Shutterstock)

If I had a dollar for every time I heard an insurance agencyclaim, “What really sets us apart from our competition is the levelof service we provide,” I'd likely be writing this blog from thecabin of my 40-foot yacht moored behind my beach house.

If you find yourself making this service claim, you really needto rethink your message. I do understand the spirit and intent ofthe service-as-a-differentiator message, but it's a total cop out.And when you make that claim, it's doing harm in ways that younever imagine.

Avoid the bad mojo

KevinTrokey is founding partner and coach at St. Louis-basedQ4intelligence.

When promoting their great service, most agencies are talkingabout how fast they respond to the needs of their clients whensomething is broken. They only get to demonstrate their supposedgreatest value when something goes wrong.

Related: Proactive customer service: 2 cautionarytales

Do you really want every interaction with you and your team tobe attached to a negative event? Especially when you are likely theone who advised them to engage with the guilty party in the firstplace?

This SAAD message is often the go-to play when trying to close anew deal. After you and your competition have all rolled out thesame spreadsheet and the same capabilities presentation, you pullout your SAAD card. But guess what? Every one of your competitorsis making the same claim.

Think of how ridiculous this is. There is no way your prospectcan experience your service until they hire you and something goeswrong.

Minimum expectations

Perhaps the saddest part of the SAAD message is what wouldactually happen if any broker didn't provide good service. They'dget fired! And rightfully so. At that point, the broker wouldn'teven be meeting the client's minimum expectations.

So, when you are suggesting someone should hire you because youprovide great service, you are suggesting they hire you simplybecause you can meet their minimum expectations. Is this reallybrag-worthy? Of course not!

Yet, somehow this is ingrained in the very fiber of mostagencies. I know because I ask. And, it is this obsessive focus onpromoting great service that is holding back your growth.

When we take agencies through an analysis to get a clear pictureof what is and isn't working in their business, we always ask,“Would you describe yourself as a sales or service organization?”The answer is almost always an emphatic “Service!”

Many times, they are very intentional in not wanting to bethought of a sales organization. And even when the leadershipaspires to be more of a sales organization, many on the team arecompletely turned off by the idea of selling.

“Sale” may be a four-letter word, but so is “help.” When a saletakes place, it is a clear indication that you helped anotherbusiness see they had an opportunity to improve their situation.And it has become clear that you've earned their confidence in yourability to help deliver better results.

Most prospects/clients are going to be much more impressed whenyou demonstrate your ability to proactively help them achievebetter results than they are with your promises of great reactiveservice. If everyone saw themselves as being on the “helping team”instead of getting hung up on the idea of “I don't sell,” agencieswould have much healthier top- and bottom-line growth.

Read more: 

• Are you wasting money on customerexperience?
• Stop selling and start helping your prospects tobuy
• Are you guilty of 'love 'em and leave 'em'marketing?