A business plan is an essential first step to getting your agency up and running, and a helpful tool to help you voice your mission, vision, and goals and implementing a detailed plan for achieving each goal. You need to be detailed and specific. Writing a successful business plan is your roadmap to helping you differentiate yourself from the competition and sell your value to clients and insurance carriers.
Writing a successful business plan
Before you start an independent business, whether you're opening an insurance agency or a candy shop, you need to be able to verbalize why you want to open a business, what makes you different from your competition, what are your goals, and how are you going to accomplish those goals.
Your mission statement is a great start, but it's only a start. Writing a successful business plan means you have to be as specific as possible.
- Identify products/insurance
- Identify goals - long-term and short-term
- Identify ideal clients - write a client profile
- Plan of Action!
It Gives Your Agency Structure
A business plan should give you a clear path forward and give your agency structure. It should include measurable goals, both short-term and long-term, and keep you on track and organized. A successful business plan is specific and detailed, giving you clear guidelines to run and grow your business.
Identifying your goals and your target audience is just the beginning, the meat in your business plan is how you are going to achieve your goals, your strategy for marketing and reaching your target audience, and real steps you can take to ensure that your agency is always operating efficiently. The more detailed your business plan, the smoother the path to success.
Having a detailed business strategy allows you to always track your progress and enables you to make changes if goals aren't met or a strategy needs to be scaled up or down or reworked entirely. Without a plan you'll end up flailing around, wasting resources, time, and money on processes and strategies that are not profitable to your agency.
A final note about the importance of writing a detailed business plan: insurance carriers will want to see it before they allow you to sell their product. One of the benefits of joining our insurance agency network is gaining access to top-rated carriers. However, our carriers are still going to want to see that you have a business plan they can stand behind. They want insurance that you are going to respect their product and represent their brand. Your business plan will ensure them that you are professional, serious, and motivated.
Starting an independent insurance agency doesn't have to be overwhelming. Our members get the guidance, carrier access, and cutting-edge technology you need to grow your agency bigger, faster, and more efficiently. Reach out to learn more about the benefits of joining AAI and becoming an independent agent.