How to Maximize Your Book of Business

There’s gold in that thar’ book of business. You just have to mine for it.

A producer’s book of business is his most valuable professional asset. Yet, the ongoing opportunities that lie within it often go undisturbed, as producers tend to focus on prospecting for new clients and paying extra attention to their biggest clients. After all, without assistance, it would require a great deal of time and effort by the producer or his staff to keep track of what’s going on with every client in a book of business.

Some companies are actively working to make it easier — automated, actually — to identify opportunities that benefit the client  — and often the producer — as the opportunities become available.

Upstart Jacox-Hilton Corporation, started by a couple of college entrepreneurs (who are the subject of the June cover story in Life Insurance Selling). Babson College (Boston) students Cam Jacox and James Hilton created the startup technology firm with a product that services life insurance producers by mining their in-force business to produce a flow of opportunities that lowers costs for clients, scraps inefficient policies and improves producer commissions.

The software scrutinizes each individual policy and compares it to every available alternative, generating a proprietary report the producer can take to the client, who will usually act on the recommendation because it either saves him money or enhances his coverage.