This week I had the privilege of interviewing Don H.  He is a successful producer for the Denver office and has been working as a benefits consultant for over 20 years.  Don credits his sales success to being able to think both analytically and creatively.  When a client brings a certain problem to him, he doesn’t want to just give them the most obvious solution, but instead thinks of a number of different solutions that the client could consider.  He emphasized that clients are much more likely to stay with him if he demonstrates that he is passionate about helping them instead of selling them something.

Don has turned down business before if he believed that Gallagher was not the right fit.  He believes that integrity leads to confidence which then leads to trust.  Our profession is built on trust so it is crucial that we maintain a great relationship with our clients.

Don has a unique approach towards selling new business.  Because he has been in the healthcare industry for so long, he is able to speak at a number of trade associations.  He picks the associations he attends based on three criteria: key decision makers are members, the association is in an industry he focuses on, and the association is small enough that he is able to actually speak with the people he wants to.  By speaking at meetings, Don demonstrates to attendees that he is knowledgeable about healthcare and this opens the door to opportunities for sales.

Besides attending trade associations, Don finds new clients by developing good relationships with current clients and following up with them when a key employee moves to another company.  He also asks for referrals or introductions to new prospects.

One analogy that Don used that I think will resonate with everyone after hearing the Risk Manager from BP speak is that finding new business is similar to drilling for oil.  You have to drill in a number of places to find oil and once you find it, keep drilling until its dry (or explodes and causes massive destruction).

Also one last note, Mike and I are wondering why LA made their own prompt to write on.  I will throw out some other ideas for you guys to write about if you want: sea turtles, world hunger, under-water basket weaving, the Peloponnesian war… Let me know if you need any more.

Denver out,

Todd

A successful producer here in the Denver office is one of our senior client consultants, Jerry R. Jerry’s success over the years is due to a combination of hard work, experience in multiple fields, and an effective philosophy as a salesman.  Jerry started his career out as an actuary for Great West Life, he then moved on to become a consultant for Mercer, he later was part of Johns Manville HR Executive Team, and finally he landed with Gallagher as a trusted and experienced client consultant.  Jerry has leveraged the lessons and insights he learned in these other positions and combined them with his sales strategy to become a success at Gallagher.

In my interview with Jerry, he said there are two main tenets to becoming a successful producer:

1)      Ask the right questions to get clients to talk about what they want to talk about – their business and themselves.  Ask effective questions and find ways to delve deeper into clients’ needs and concerns.

2)      It is all about becoming a trusted advisor.  The goal is to develop a long-term relationship built on the clients’ trust with their advisor.

-Michael, Denver, GBS

So first off, I had an awesome time in Itasca.  The program was great.  Each day was packed with things to do and interesting people to listen to and every night was a lot of fun.

For likes and dislikes of the week in Itasca: I really liked the structure of the whole program.  What I mean is, everyday was filled with things to do that were informative and important for our jobs not only as interns, but to become full time employees after we graduate.  I also loved getting fed breakfast, lunch, and dinner and getting to meet so many different people from every corner of the country.  For dislikes, I agree with Todd that it would have been nice to have maybe 1 day of the week scheduled for us to go out to dinner in Chicago so we could have seen some more of the Chicago life.  I also wasn’t a big fan of the tour of the corporate offices.  It just seemed kind of unnecessary to take interns on a tour of the employees’ cubicles and then the executive suites.

But all-in-all the trip was great.  Met lots of people and made lots of friends.  Those of you in southern California, if I got your number get ready for me to be hitting you guys up in August when I’m coming to town.

Best,

Mike – Denver

So for you interns in LA, congratulations.  For every other American citizen, no worries, Denver will stop the Lakers next year before they even have a chance to get to the ship.

But back to GBS…Todd and I had a very eventful first two weeks.  Our first week we met with multiple consultants in the office, went with one of our AVPs, Michelle Moreau, to Colorado Springs to discuss the new health care reform, had a sales force overview, underwriting and financial overview, and even sat-in on a finalist presentation between Standard and CIGNA on our very first day.

Our second week we primarily concentrated on the Kaplan Financial Education course so that we could complete it before leaving for Itasca.  We also had time to do a Bid Analysis overview, and introduction to RFP and Bid Spec, meet with a Sun Life Financial Rep, and have a company picnic.

As a New York native, I love to get out and play basketball and soccer for recreation.  But being that I spend almost all of my time living in Colorado these days, I ski every chance I get.

I’m looking forward to meeting everyone in Itasca on Sunday,

- Mike in Denver

My name is Todd and I am interning with Mike at GBS in the Denver office.  I have lived in Denver my entire life and it is much better than living in LA (sports included). I predict the Lakers will lose in game 7.

I am going into my senior year at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.  I am majoring in Business Management with a concentration in Marketing and a minor in Entrepreneurship.  I look forward to meeting all the other interns in Itasca in a couple weeks.

- Todd in Denver

Hi my name is Michael and I am a 2010 GBS intern in Denver this summer.  I’m from New York (just north of the Bronx) and I represent all NY teams, especially the “Bronx Bomber Yankees.”  I am going into my senior year at the University of Colorado from which I will graduate in May 2011 with a business degree in marketing, a certificate in international business, and a minor in Spanish.

I am honored to have received this opportunity to work with GBS for the summer.  I am excited to learn the many ins-and-outs of the insurance benefits business and to become an intelligible and skilled broker.

I am looking forward to meeting everyone at corporate in Itasca.

Best,

Michael in Denver