//Draft
Writer: Jacqueline Dooley
Draft submitted: 4/7/23

Subtitle: MetLife, a starring planetary insurer, is utilizing an agile selling attack to unlock the powerfulness of self-governing teams, thrust concern growth, and link with consumers.

Other rubric options:

• MetLife’s Pet Insurance income went from ruff to paw-some with agile marketing
• How MetLife uses agile selling to purrfect their favored security sales
• How MetLife uses agile selling to unleash favored security sales

Image provided by MetLife

“Pet security is simply a concern that has a immense magnitude of achromatic space,” said Sabrina Sebastian. “There was a important accidental to grow consciousness and penetration complaint of favored security which is little than 3% for each favored parents today.”

In 2019, planetary security supplier MetLife had acquired PetFirst, a favored wellness security institution founded successful 2004. After the acquisition, Sebastian, PetFirst’s erstwhile CFO, and present MetLife’s AVP for Pet Insurance Marketing, was tasked with increasing the MetLife Pet Insurance division.

In 2021, determination were astir 135.2 million dogs and cats owned by Americans, with astir 3.9 cardinal U.S. pets (mostly dogs and cats) insured that year. As a growth-focused business, MetLife saw a important accidental to grow the favored security division. They’d been utilizing a accepted selling workflow with modular teams that were highly skilled successful marketing. 

Said Sebastian, “If we needed to pat into different teams, we would bash that, but it was a truly accepted mode of working. We discovered that we besides needed to trust heavy connected our tech partners, our information partners, and our concern partners.” 

This request is what drove the displacement from a accepted selling attack to an agile selling framework.

Bringing cross-functional teams together

Agile marketing, which has its roots successful bundle development, is simply a mode for marketers to respond rapidly to the changing needs of customers and thrust palmy concern outcomes. It’s done done a team-based attack utilizing collaborative practices. This caller mode of moving empowers marketers to bash the close happening for the lawsuit astatine the close time, eliminating a batch of wasteful process overhead.

“It’s a precise earthy mode of moving erstwhile you request to pat into different accomplishment acceptable oregon different accidental that exists extracurricular your halfway team,” said Sebastian. “When we started to deliberation astir however we wanted to run and enactment differently, we asked ourselves, okay, what bash we request to beryllium capable to bash that?”

MetLife was already utilizing agile pods successful definite departments wrong the organization. Their planetary CFO and different elder leaders wrong the institution provided the enactment that Sebastian needed to determination from a accepted selling to an agile selling approach.

“We had the enactment and the enforcement sponsorship of the MetLife planetary CMO. He was down these efforts and got everybody other excited astir that,” said Sebastian. “It was large to person that enactment starting astatine the apical and from elder leaders successful each areas of the business. It truly does necessitate a cross-functional team.”

In summation to buy-in and enactment from leadership, Sebastian was focused connected however to enactment unneurotic her multidisciplinary selling team. She yet approached each the teams that needed to beryllium progressive successful the process including accepted marketing, contented strategy, information and analytics, technology, and the much accepted IT and infrastructure teams. 

“We went to those leaders and said, okay, we’re putting unneurotic this squad and we’re putting unneurotic a caller mode of moving and we privation to pat into the resources that you have,” said Sebastian. 

When bringing unneurotic cross-functional teams, Sebastian emphasized the value of starting foundationally and knowing that not everybody is simply a marketer. Marketing needed to instrumentality a measurement backmost and amended assorted teams connected what they were doing, wherefore they were doing it, and however they were readying to get it done. 

“Ultimately, we needed to get them ingrained successful the existent concern goals that we had successful beforehand of us, said Sebastian. “A batch of these radical had ne'er worked connected Pet before. Then secondarily, a batch of the radical had ne'er been portion of a selling squad before. So, we had to bash a batch of grooming and acquisition and truly conscionable marque definite folks were connected the aforesaid page.”

Getting agile disconnected the ground

To get the agile radical up to velocity with the favored security division’s caller agile selling approach, Sebastian’s squad did immoderate on-site grooming to marque definite that everybody understood the foundations and principles of agile marketing. This besides allowed the squad to get to cognize each other. 

“Part of the agile selling process is conscionable making definite that the squad stays connected,” said Sebastian. “There are regular stand-up meetings and antithetic ceremonies that instrumentality spot passim the process to marque definite that everyone is connected the aforesaid page. We besides did a just spot of acquisition and enactment connected our broadside to marque definite that everybody was comfy and getting to cognize each different arsenic a team.”

The agile selling attack is collaborative. That extends to the mode teams are pb and managed. Instead of a azygous manager oregon leader, determination are Product Owners (POs) that assistance facilitate connection and support radical connected. One of the principles of agile selling is the squad is self-functioning and self-governing. 

“It’s not that there’s not idiosyncratic successful charge,” said Sebastian, “But there’s not idiosyncratic who’s the boss. You beryllium connected the squad to negociate itself. We person a PO that does an astonishing occupation of organizing each of the things that request and managing the activities that a PO should.”

Dig deeper: Introducing an in-depth usher to the Agile Marketing Navigator

Focusing connected outcomes and concern impact

One of the biggest challenges that Sebastian’s squad had to overcome, beyond the de-siloing of teams, was to follow a much business-focused mindset erstwhile it came to goals. That is, erstwhile teams are isolated from each other, they thin to absorption connected the goals of that circumstantial team, whether it’s marketing, sales, technology, oregon business.

“The large happening astir Agile is that the concern extremity is truly the guiding rule of what we’re each moving towards each azygous day,” Sebastian explained. “So we’re making definite that we enactment adjacent to that extremity and recognize the ‘why’ down the enactment that we’re doing.” 

Said Stacey Ackerman, spouse astatine NavigateAgile and MarTech contributor, “It’s truly communal successful selling to beryllium going 100 miles an hr trying to bash arsenic overmuch arsenic possible, but if you inquire anyone what extremity they’re trying to execute for the concern oregon the customers, astir marketers person nary idea. What I emotion astir agile selling is that everyone from elder leaders to the squad executing the enactment is aligned and moving towards the aforesaid outcome. Therefore, marketers that are truly succeeding with agile selling are really doing little enactment with amended results,”

MetLife’s agile attack is focused connected outcomes and adding worth versus conscionable being busy. It’s a big-picture mindset that ties selling activities to those outcomes that adhd worth to the business. “That’s 1 of the ways that we truly person seen a displacement successful our team,” said Sebastian. “We’re not conscionable doing things. We’re doing things that are truly impactful, are adding value, and are helping america get person to those large concern goals that we have.”

Sebastian notes 2 cardinal achievements from having implemented an agile selling methodology wrong MetLife. The archetypal is that, portion determination were already respective different agile pods wrong the company, her agile squad has been capable to blaze the way for agile marketing. “We’re laying retired the instauration for however an agile pod should work. And we’re capable to stock that cognition crossed the organization.”

Sebastian confirmed that they’re selling much policies present than they ever have. Year implicit twelvemonth maturation is successful treble digits. “This is decidedly a mode of moving that we’d similar to proceed to grow astatine MetLife, specifically successful the selling space,” said Sebastian. “We’ve seen truly important impacts from the enactment that we’ve been doing.”

“The different happening that’s absorbing is that we person a nonstop transportation with the consumer. MetLife is simply a voluntary benefits company, truthful we person a ample information of our efforts concentrated successful the radical business, but we besides person the accidental with Pet to spell nonstop to consumer. That’s 1 of the reasons that Pet was a bully acceptable for agile marketing. We’re each astir gathering favored parents wherever they are. Being capable to link successful meaningful ways to the consumer, careless of wherever you find them, has been truly impactful for us.”