The Ontario Broker - August 2019 - 22

The theme of today's hard market wove
through the three-day event. Keynote
speakers taught attendees important lessons
to take back to their office and apply to
client pitches. Negotiation expert Fotini
Iconomopolous shared tips on how to
negotiate like a pro. Media trainer Warren
Weeks explained how to turn everyday
moments into opportunities by branding
yourself and creating a personal and lasting
connection with your clients.
"Your personal brand isn't a suit that you
put on or take off. It's not a character
or a persona. It has to be a genuine
magnification of you. If it's not, people will
see it's disingenuous and there's going to be a
disconnect," said Warren.
This year delegates chose a Personal or
Commercial Lines stream to focus on. Sam
Jazayeri of Prime Service Insurance spoke to
Personal Lines delegates about using different
approaches to create a relationship instead of
a sale. Daniel Italiano of Oracle RMS spoke
to Commercial Lines delegates on building,
maintaining and growing a Commercial book
of business. Both keynotes got young brokers
into a mindset of building their pitch for the
Pitch to Win Competition-this year with
a chance to win a $5,000 grand prize split
between the two teams.
"The Pitch to Win competition was a great
way to teach newly licensed brokers the art of
risk management as it forced us to recall our
insurance knowledge and made us apply it
to a real-life prospect/client pitch situation,"
said Michelle Moore from Acumen Insurance,
who was a member of the Commercial Lines
winning team.
Personal and Commercial Lines teams used
different tactics to win. "From the beginning,
our team assigned two individuals to be our
spokespeople while the rest contributed in
other ways," said Michelle. "Leading from
Behind is an effective way to have each team
member participate in moving the group
forward without the power struggles that can
sometimes occur within a group setting when
multiple people want to be in charge."

AUGUST 2019

22

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The Ontario Broker - August 2019

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