Insurance Agent Marketing

I recently had the opportunity to listen to a very sharp young insurance agent discuss the actions he is taking to generate phenomenal growth in his agency. As usual when a person is actively listening – I was able to take his experience and tweak it just enough to make it uniquely my own.

This young gentleman was sharing about the endless cross-selling he and his staff have enjoyed in his agency. In my own agency I have been frustrated with the mounting effects of missed details of our client’s contact information and the effects it has on our ability to deliver outstanding claims service.
Magically these two situations combine into an elegant solution for our agency. When clients call in–or when we make calls out to clients– we have simply started asking them when possible for all relevant information so we have it on hand in the event of a claim. The information we ask for includes: all phone numbers–home, mobiles and work numbers–plus email addresses. We even ask where each line of insurance is because sometimes insurance companies have to work together to settle a claim. We ask for the major policies, including home, auto, life and health.

This isn’t rocket science but a simple solution. We find we are now more poised than ever to deliver outstanding claims service in my agency–plus we are now properly identifying our cross sell opportunities.

I would recommend that you resist the temptation to cross sell during the initial call where you ask for the information. But hey, just tweak the program however you can and make it your own. Insurance leads are hard to come by–using your current clients to help out makes life easier.

Happy selling.

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Who should I be marketing to?

When it comes to insurance-buying decisions the head of the house may not be the person most male insurance agents think it is. 51% of the population is women. In most markets you will see a very significant number of homes being purchased by single or divorced women. Plus, even in “traditional” households with a married couple and children more women are making the decisions on matters of finances and insurance than ever before. The facts are easy: women are 51 percent of the population and they spend an astounding 81% of the money. It almost makes you want to just bypass the boys and ask for the lady of the house, doesn’t it?

If you are a male and are going to market to women it is wise to adapt an old saying and tell yourself, “Let the seller be aware”. Women are more typically relational shoppers. Men hunt, women experience things. The decor of your office matters here, so does your insurance agency’s website design. Plus, bad service will not be tolerated.

But if you decide to rise up and deliver the experience women are seeking – on average they will refer you 28 clients. The math is easy: one becomes 28, 28 becomes 784, and 784 becomes a very wealthy insurance agent. Your only decision is whether or not you are ready to open your mind, deliver exceptional service and, yes, atmosphere.

Good Selling.

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I wish I could share that this was my own experience in savvy agent lead generation. It actually was the experience of my competition in my own market. Next time the experience will be mine as it is divine to learn from others good or bad.

Another agent with the same captive company that I hang my hat with rented one of those tiny spots in the big open hallway of a local mall. Of all things [Read more →]

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Successful agents are well aware that quality, local insurance leads are crucial to long-term success. Have you ever noticed how the pen that writes up an order for new business is nearly always tied to your telephone? Well, these days many agents find that phone is often directly connected to the internet.

And the internet is different each year. Insurance agents desiring relevant leads have many insurance lead companies to pick from. But, you know how difficult it is to compete in today’s climate–you need a competitive advantage. While paying for every lead on a per lead basis can be effective, it means you are tied to:

1. Your own cost outlay (and budget) for each and every lead.
2. The number of leads any given vendor can supply.

But, another strategy to help you find more prospects on the internet already exists. Actually, it’s not so much alternate as it is complementary. Most agents carry multiple lines to generate different revenue streams; so it just makes sense to use more than one internet marketing method to find new clients.

So, for the greatest chance of success, your insurance marketing should employ a variety of internet tactics to make sure you reach the greatest number of customers. At this point we need to discuss the advantages of local search marketing.

Search is becoming more integrated into every person’s lifestyle. People see an ad for a car on TV and often rather than typing in the web address of the car company they are looking for they just search for the name on Google or Yahoo and find it that way. Google’s stock price and online presence continues to soar as more and more people use search in their daily lives.

The key, then, is how to make sure your clients find you on Google and Yahoo. For many insurance agents marketing their business, we suggest a combination of both pay per click search marketing and natural (also called organic) search marketing. Both have distinct advantages and require specific strategies to be most effective. More about each in upcoming posts…stay tuned.

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Getting ready to spend money to market your insurance agency? You’ll hear everything except: “It’s your money”.

As you proceed in business many people are going to try to sell you goods and services. You will hear: “It’s tax deductible”. This advice will usually come from a salesperson half your age who has never been self-employed and doesn’t realize that you have limited resources to spend and your marketing spend has to make you money or you don’t have any or henceforth owe the IRS any.

You will also hear ‘ You have to spend money to make money’. This is true and if you don’t
[Read more →]

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Many insurance agents fall into a very familiar sales trap. Get busy, hustle hard, uncover new business, and then retreat from aggressive prospecting once the agent begins to write several new policies.

Of course, any successful agent must focus on the business at hand. After all, getting in front of new clients is key to writing more policies. But what about the leads? What do you do with those insurance leads that keep coming in, when you are suddenly busy writing new business?

This is when you need to create and maintain a lead generation machine.

Note that we didn’t say you need need to become that machine. You don’t need to make all the calls. You need to be getting in front of those prospects, but if others in your agency–or outside your agency–can set appointments or answer some basic client service questions, then you’ll have time to spend where you are most needed–in front of that new prospect, writing up a new policy.

Any seasoned insurance agent remembers the ABCs of selling: “Always Be Closing”. The agent needs to always be closing, but not necessarily always dialing. The New Year is a great time to set up some simple procedures in your office to make sure all leads are followed-up and not just piled-up.

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Whether you’re playing offense in acquiring morepolicies or defending your existing book of business you can greatly increase your efficiency by selling oranges instead of apples when marketing your insurance agency. Clients typically ask for apples to apples quotes after they heard some financial advisor, who has never had a property casualty license, on the radio stating that insurance is a commodity

Take advantage of the coverages that make your company unique. Smart insurance agents know the bells and whistles of a policy may not be duplicated so it will no longer merely be about price.

• Raise deductibles
• Raise liability limits
• Add convenience coverages
• AND…find out what the hot spot really is.

A big hint you probably won’t believe ‘IT’S NOT THE PRICE’. Deep in our hearts we know this, but sometimes forget to say it often enough or clearly enough to the client. Stand tall and proud right in front of your product and your skill and integrity as an agent.Insurance buyers have unique concerns and risk, find out what they are and provide the correct coverage for them – that’s what an agent does. If we quit doing that YOU WILL Win and Direct Sellers lose. Insurance companies can get rid of agents they have to pay, replace them with computers that will let people select their own coverages as poorly as they wish and make money.

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Congratulations! You are now a professional insurance agent and you are ready to embark on an exciting new career. You have seen those established agents who only work a few hours per week–they have an awesome tan and smile too match and you are ready to join the club!

Just don’t forget about that goof at your old job who tried selling insurance also and had to file bankruptcy as a result.

What your new employer or district manager won’t tell you is the goof took all of their traditional insurance marketing advice and the agent with the bronze tan of success ignored it all together. As soon as some “expert” tells you to write down your family members and neighbors and get ready to call them know that “expert” is setting you up to fail.

Here is the problem. You will write 50% of those family and neighbors and 50% of them will quickly learn to screen your calls. That is a high opportunity cost to lose half the people you care about to make a few bucks. Of course you should tell everyone what you are doing; some will volunteer their business, some will refer friends and others will pray for you. These are all useful endeavors.

The key to getting that tan, however, is learning how to get people who are actually looking for an insurance agent to find you. Take a moment to think about the individuals in your life that deal with these people: the guy you always buy your cars from, your realtor, your banker and the gal at church who will never skip an opportunity to try to sell you something. These people can be huge in your life if you learn how to leverage your relationships.

Ask all of them what their ideal referral looks like and tell them yours – do not tell them anything that’s not true. They will know this even if you don’t so think about what you’re going to say ahead of time. Emphasize what’s your natural market and what can you underwrite favorably? Give them business and they will do the same. The big deal is that in a month you will know how to prospect instead of having an empty list of friends and family.

Ant you might just have a nice tan. God Speed!

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Every insurance agent marketing to the public needs a strong brand image. Referrals are vital; but guess what–today many people still, even with a referral, visit the internet for a bit more “due diligence”.

This is where having a strong insurance agent website can be extremely powerful in “reinforcing the referral”. Think about it; haven’t you heard a great tip from somebody about a product or service you are interested in and then followed-up by doings a quick search for the website on Google or Yahoo before you trek across town or pick up the phone to call them? Today more than ever, the internet is used as a quick tool to validate information we are receiving.

Your site need not be flashy, or even glorious. But it does need to project the image of professionalism that will instantly inspire confidence in the searcher–and so “reinforce the referral” that is so precious.

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Hello, this is a blog for insurance agents looking to increase their sales using internet marketing, website design and print marketing. We will post articles and tips on leveraging all various online marketing tools and print promotions available to insurance agents and insurance agencies.

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