Your independent insurance agency’s website is your storefront to online insurance shoppers. If your “storefront” looks stale and dreary, you won’t have any customers. But, if you use your website right, it can be an excellent sales and service resources for you and your clients.
In our latest eGuide, A Great Sales and Service Resource: Your Independent Insurance Agency Website, we share some great tips on how to make your website attractive to current and potential clients. We cover how to make your website attractive, findable, actionable and educational as well knowing how your website is performing. These tips will help you:
Gain future clients
Boost your business
Bolster your client reputation, and
Become a leader in your field
This is only one of our many useful eGuides. Check out our others, which focus on topics like Effective Marketing on a Limited Budget and Improving Agency Communication with Cloud Apps. If there’s a topic you’d like us to cover, contact us today!
In our last post, we explored some of the more traditional means of lead generation within the insurance industry. Although these traditional methods are impactful, in order to diversify your efforts, your independent insurance agency should also employ newer, digital means to gain new clients. As with your marketing, it’s important to use a variety of strategies in order to cast a wider net to expand your agency’s client base.
There are numerous digital methods used to attract new clients, and we’ll take a look at three of the most effective and efficient.
Email Marketing
Similar to direct mail, but a digital version
Easy for clients and prospects to share with you and with others via a simple “reply” or “forward”
Tips
Keep content focused and relevant so people keep reading
Pay attention to subject lines, writing so your message to keep it out of spam folders
Include a way to request quotes or gain more information
Know when and how often to send
Organic/Paid Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
Both paid and organic use keywords on your website to move up your search engine ranking
This method catches prospects you may not be able to identify on your own
Tips
Hire someone to identify your best keywords – it pays to invest in this expertise
Use a combination of organic and paid
Use paid for highly competitive keywords like “auto insurance quote”
Use organic for more specific keywords like “discount bundle insurance Cincinnati”
Know the right balance of keywords as overuse can make you look like a spammer
Social Media/Blogging
Social media and blog posts will give a point of entry to your lead generation funnel (social/blog post > website > requesting more info)
Both can be easily shared, passing along your agency’s name
Tips
Build a blog with relevant, educational content to attract interested persons
Publicize blog posts on social media to get the word out
Have your employees share blog and social posts to further increase your reach
Train individuals in your agency: blogging and social media are easy to pick up and maintain with some guidance
With each of these digital strategies, the goal is to get potential clients to your well-designed website. Once there, you’ll be able to direct prospects to places to request more info or get in contact with an agent.
You should be tracking prospects through you agency management system. Our recently updated Partner XE has improved search and reporting tools, providing a leg up in prospect tracking. To find out about Partner XE’s other updates and capabilities, contact us!
Your independent insurance agency’s success lies in your client base and client service – gaining and keeping clients is what keeps you going. Although you may have a solid client base today, you know the fluid nature of the insurance business, and are always on the lookout for new clients. You need to constantly gain leads to keep your agency thriving.
In order to gain leads, you’ll need to take a look at your current clients. Once you have an idea of who you’ve already attracted, you’ll get insight in to what type of audience to target for new clients. Once you know that, you’ll need to think about howto attract more of these leads.
Once you know the who and what, it’s down to how to gain leads. In this post, we’ll look at some more traditional methods for lead generation. In our next post, we’ll cover some newer methods, which should be used alongside these traditional approaches.
DIRECT MAIL
“Snail mail” sent directly to a potential client’s home or business.
Choose the right way – postcard, brochure, greeting card, flyer
Make it stand out – bright colors, eye-catching designs
Include something special – discount, limited time promotion, etc.
Test it – ask trusted clients what they think
Follow up – call, email or send a follow up letter reaching out
REFERRAL
Providing incentive for current clients to refer new clients.
Offer a discount –offer rewards like a free month or a discount on adding a new car to a policy
Create a contest – enter those who referred someone in a drawing to win gift card to a local business, like a car wash or home and garden store
Send in the mail – enclose an easy to pass along flyer or postcard to expand your reach
Thank clients for their referral – call or send an email, and publicize those who have referred on social media, your enewsletter and other forms of marketing
WORD OF MOUTH
Individuals (clients, car dealers, real estate agents, etc.) telling others about your agency.
Give special access – help your clients and partners feel exclusive, letting them in on special announcements and frequently asking for their feedback, so they’ll want to share with others
Make sharing easy – allow individuals to share their experiences and have them seen by posting them on your website, social media, in your enewsletter, etc.
Ask for ideas – when your clients share what they want, make it happen – they will be eager to share about something they feel a part in creating
Identify influencers – specifically target clients who refer often, provide lots of feedback, and have a large social media reach as their word will make a larger impact
Once you’ve got leads coming in, your next step is to create a system to track them. We suggest using your agency management system, as you plan to add these individuals to your client base. Partner XE users find it a great tool for lead management with capabilities like Outlook integration and mobile access, agents can keep track of an individual as they move from prospect to life-ling client.
To find out more about what Partner XE can offer, contact us today at 800.747.9273 or [email protected].
If you’re tracking your agency’s premiums and commissions by Excel STOP right now! Back away slowly from your computer…you don’t need to do this! Using Excel to track your commissions is like using a pair of scissors to cut your lawn: it gets the job done, but it is painstakingly slow and prone to human error. There is a better way!
You want a system that is easy – where you just input premiums and pay out months and you get your commissions in one keystroke. You want something that shows your total commission minus lead costs and other factors. What you want is accounting linked to your agency management system.
A good agency management system offers not just integrated accounting, but integrated accounting that gives you the information you need. This includes being able to see all your commissions owed at one time, and broken down in a variety of different ways.
When looking at accounting systems, be sure to find one that breaks down commissions and premiums by:
Line of business: This allows you to see which lines are performing well, and where you have gaps. By analyzing commission by line of business, you can get a good picture of your strongest and weakest service lines, which will help you determine if you need to put more resources towards one service line over others.
Producer: It’s very important to break down commission by producer so you can see who is doing well and who needs to step up. This type of data is also very valuable to your producers so they can calculate their income.
Carrier: Breaking down commissions by carrier helps you see which carriers owe commission to you and/or your producers. This can help you determine whether or not you need to drop carriers that aren’t bringing in enough business.
In addition to these breakdowns, you should also look for an accounting system that has pre-created reports and customizable ones. The pre-created reports will likely cover the above breakdown options, along with options such as year-to-year comparison reports, and reports that cover areas like marketing campaigns or personal lines to commercial lines. Customized reports give you the freedom to create specific data outputs for the needs of a certain carrier, producer, or employee as needed.
Because it is impossible for any system to know exactly what your agency needs, it is important to work with a provider that will help you create the customized reports you need to run your agency.
At SIS, we know each of our clients is unique, so we work with them on an individual basis to meet their needs. Our Partner XE system offers integrated accounting with pre-created and customizable report options, along with a personal representative to help your agency create the reports you need.
We’d love to hear from you on how we can help your agency. Contact us today at 800-747-9273 or [email protected].
After two years growing SIS’ sales as EVP of Marketing and Sales, Michael Doran has been promoted to President.
The leadership team at Strategic Insurance Software (SIS) is pleased to announce the promotion of Michael Doran to President. In his new role, Doran will be responsible for all client-facing activities, including sales, account management, and client services.
“As SIS continues to grow and evolve, we are constantly evaluating our organization and roles to best service our customers,” said SIS CEO Alex Deak. “Michael’s commitment to serving SIS’ partner agencies and helping them improve their operations is demonstrated by the increase in sales over the past two years.”
Prior to his promotion, Doran spent two years as the EVP of Sales and Marketing for SIS. During that time, SIS increased sales by over 30% and customer count by over 13%. Doran’s oversight of SIS’ relationships with its partner agencies will help make customers’ transition from sales to implementation and service as smooth as possible.
Doran is excited about having the opportunity to make a bigger impact for SIS’ partner agencies: “We have a lot of great customers. The team is very excited as we continue to bring on new clients and find ways to better serve them as they transition to Partner XE and continue to help all of our agency clients get the most from their investment with us.”
Some of the upcoming initiatives that Doran will focus on in his new role include
Expanding the number of regional user conferences.
Forming more partnerships to support the best of breed approach that integrates Partner XE with other third party software used by independent insurance agencies.
About SIS: Headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, SIS is the team behind Partner XE insurance software – an innovative web-based insurance agency management system that helps independent agencies streamline workflow and grow their business. Built on a foundation of strong technology and exceptional service, we’re moving forward with a constant eye on innovation that will make independent agents’ lives easier. For more information visit www.sispartnerplatform.com.
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If you’re tracking your agency’s premiums and commissions by Excel STOP right now! Back away slowly from your computer…you don’t need to do this! Using Excel to track your commissions is like using a pair of scissors to cut your lawn: it gets the job done, but it is painstakingly slow and prone to human error. There is a better way!
Your independent insurance agency’s website is your storefront to online insurance shoppers. If your “storefront” looks stale and dreary, you won’t have any customers. But, if you use your website right, it can be an excellent sales and service resources for you and your clients.