State Farm Business Proposal Form – Fill Out and Use This PDF

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Business Proposal (Presentation)

he Business Proposal is an important part of the interview process. he Business Proposal helps State Farm evaluate your understanding of the agency opportunity and what it takes to succeed. You will hear much more around this component of the process at the Career Understanding seminar but can use the following information to begin planning and preparing your Business Proposal. Research is vital in building a strong Business Proposal.

Market Research

We recommend you begin by researching the local market area where you are pursuing an agency opportunity. his is for your beneit and does not need to be included in full, in your proposal. However, you may choose to include select facts and igures if they support speciic sections of your proposal. You will want to clearly outline how this market research afects the Agency. Relevant data may include some of the following:

Population size	Median income	Job market
Population growth rates	Median age	Major competitors
Demographic make-up	Total households and number insured	Local business environment
Income levels	Unemployment rate	Any other relevant data
Housing costs	Primary language(s)

Initial Planning

Preparing to become an entrepreneur and running your own agency will take commitment and focus. First-time business owners oten don’t understand that good planning is critical to making things happen and getting things done. In business, planning is oten overlooked. As you look more closely at becoming a State Farm agent, you should begin to think about these topics and how you would address them in running your agency.

Vision

•How do you want to be perceived by your customers?

•How do you want your staf to treat your customers?

•What should your oice facility look like to your customers?

•What will distinguish the level of service you provide to your customers?

•How should your oice systems and procedures function?

•How will you continually build the State Farm Brand?

Agency Analysis

•Evaluate Internal/External Market Opportunities.

•What customer segments or needs present opportunities?

•Competitive Review – Who are the toughest competitors? Why?

•Do you provide better value than competitors? Which ones? Why? How?

•How accessible are you to customers?

•Are you stafed adequately? Are you considering adding staf?

•Is your oice environment customer friendly?

•What skills and competencies do you and your staf possess?

•What skills and competencies need further development?

•Who do you consider role models to help you improve your agency?

•What knowledge does your staf need to do a better job?

statefarm.com/agents/career

Goal Setting

•What marketplace trends will you address in your plan?

•How will you maximize the return on your marketing investment?

•What customer segments will you pursue for which products?

•Do you have plans to improve the marketing atmosphere of your oice?

•What is your staing goal? Will the identiied opportunities require a change in your staing?

•Do you have systems to ensure proper customer service, claim handing, and marketing?

•What skills/abilities of yours and your staf need to be developed to meet your goals?

•What are your personal inancial goals?

•What drives your happiness?

•How to accomplish a work / life balance.

Action Plans

•What speciic steps will be necessary to achieve each goal?

•What marketing tools will you use?

•When will you execute these activities?

•How will you ensure that you or your team members have mastered new skills?

•How do you plan to continue to sharpen your skills?

•Determine where your business is coming from.

•Determine where you stand in reference to your goals.

•Document how you will review and evaluate your business plan.

Budget

•How much income would a multi-line policyholder produce in a single year?

•In their lifetime with your agency?

•What percent of that lifetime value will you spend to acquire / retain that policyholder today?

•Estimate the ixed and variable costs in running your agency to determine the amount to be invested.

Your Business Proposal should address the following in 8-10 pages:

•Your strategy for meeting customer needs in the local market you are pursuing •Your plan for investing in your agency

•Your assumptions about what factors shape the sales production and proitability of an agent

Organize your written proposal into three main sections:

•Local Market Context

–Discuss the demographics and growth opportunities in the prospective Agency location.

–How will this market research afect the Agency?

–What speciic customer needs have you identiied?

•Building an Agency

–Capital Investment

•How much capital do you anticipate having accessible in the irst 6 to 24 months?

•How will investing in your Agency impact your other inancial commitments?

–Team Development

•How do you plan to structure, hire, and develop your team to capitalize on the local market?

•What skill sets and experiences will you look for in team members?

•How will you compensate them?