Sales and Servicing Strategies

Agency Operations, Marketing

Insurance Sales and Servicing Strategies

to Grow Your Agency’s Business

Jeff Yates, Executive Director of the Agents Council for Technology (ACT), recently wrote an article entitled, Sales and Servicing Strategies to Grow Your Agency’s Business. His article highlights what drives today’s insurance consumers and provides tips on what independent agents should do to compete against direct online carriers. Because we feel the article is highly relevant to independent agencies and aligns with our goals at SIS, we’d like to share it with you.

Inherent in Yates’ messaging is

• That consumers value convenience and personal service and
• That efficient use of technology and web-based tools enables independent agents to effectively offer both.

In addition to several specific strategies he lists to grow personal lines, Yates points out that agents should:

• Communicate regularly and proactively with their clients
• Offer the communications options clients want
• Grow agency client interest in other online communications
• Create a strong online presence

While your Partner XE agency management system will not address all the issues he presents, our marketing features make it simple for you to communicate regularly and proactively with your clients (and prospects).

With Partner XE, email communications (and calendar appointments) from Outlook are synched with your agency management system and attached to the appropriate client’s file, so you can easily track conversations.

In addition, when you take advantage of the functions like Real-Time, Downloads, Direct Mail Marketing Link and Paperless Document Storage offered in your Partner XE agency management system, it enhances the overall efficiency of your operation and frees up more time for personal contact.

Read the full article…

Generate Insurance Leads

Agency Operations, Marketing

Generate Insurance Leads to Grow Your Book of Business

Renew, Upsell, Cross Sell & Find New Clients

As an insurance professional you know you need to constantly work to increase your book of business. You know it is far more profitable to maintain existing accounts and grow your business from within your current client base. You also know that attrition is a fact of life and, oftentimes, due to no fault of your own clients are wooed away to “greener pastures.”  Marketing strategies, therefore, need to be geared at renewing and upgrading existing accounts, cross selling to current customers and getting new business to replace what you lose due to attrition. Generating insurance leads, whether through inbound web leads,  networking, social media, direct mail or other means is an important step in that process.

Direct Mail

In a recent survey of independent insurance agents across the nation, it was determined that direct mail was the preferred marketing channel for agencies utilizing an agency management system. After direct mail came email, radio/newspaper advertising and social media respectively.

Because direct mail was so high on the list, today’s focus will be on how best to utilize direct mail to drive inbound inquiries. Note, we said inquiries, not sales. Direct mail won’t sell your product, but, done correctly, it will open doors for you to do what you do best – help prospects identify the coverage your company provides that best suits their needs.

Postcards

Used effectively, post cards in particular can be excellent conversation starters when it comes to new business opportunities. They are also a great way to keep your name in front of current clients with timely reminders to renew; information on your services they aren’t currently taking advantage of (to cross-sell); information on expanded programs (upgrade), requests (and incentives) for referrals and more.

Benefits behind generating insurance leads with postcards include:

• They stand out in a stack of mail.
• People ACTUALLY READ THEM (not so easy to hit the “delete” button)
• They’re TANGIBLE (how many billboard ads or Facebook posts do you see tacked on the fridge?)
• They’re AFFORDABLE

Targeting

Use your agency management system to identify cross selling and up selling opportunities:

Use the marketing features in your Partner XE agency management system to help you identify renew, cross-sell and upgrade opportunities and use a reputable list provider who “really gets” the needs of an independent insurance agent to help you generate new business lists.

For mailings designed to generate new clients, be sure to target and mail to a very specific demographic of households who match the demographic of your best customers. Look at things like household income, home value, geographical location, marital status and more to pinpoint your best potential customers.

You will get a much higher return on your investment if you do the homework up front.

Tracking

Also, remember to be consistent in your efforts, track your results and reevaluate periodically. When it comes to direct mail marketing, “one and done” cannot be an option. There are numerous studies out there which talk about the number of times someone has to see your message before they take action. Give your plan time to work before you pull the brakes on it or switch directions.

Steps to LeadGen Success

Agency Operations, Marketing

What insurance agent wouldn’t rather follow up on a warm lead than a cold one? Not only is it an easier call to make because you go into the call knowing the prospect has indicated an interest in your product, but you also go into it knowing you have a higher chance of success.

Because of that, lead generation, or LeadGen, (more…)

Nurture Leads for Sales Success

Agency Operations, Marketing

LeadGen, a systematic method of identifying real people and organizations with a need for your services, capturing their information and building your sales pipeline is a critical piece of the insurance sales and territory management puzzle.

In the whole scheme of things, however, generating the lead is just the beginning. Leads need to be managed and nurtured in order to bear fruit. Timely follow-up, lead management and lead nurturing are all critical to moving a prospect through the buying cycle from inquiry to close.

A consistent lead nurturing program will help you stay in front of your leads and, in turn, keep you top of mind.

According to Brian J. Carroll, professional speaker, author of Lead Generation for the Complex Sale, and founder and CEO of InTouch, Inc, “Lead nurturing converts inquiries into qualified leads and starts the qualified leads on a trajectory to capture sales. It essentially follows up and turns qualified leads into future sales opportunities by consistent and meaningful dialogue, regardless of timing to buy.”

In his blog post No Budget and Less Time? Lead Nurturing in Five Simple Steps Carroll offers the following advice:

• Decide what information would be most relevant to them. Begin by asking your producers, “What questions do your customers ask most often? What do they care about? What issues are they facing?” Find content – articles, blogs, whitepapers, and the like – that addresses these issues. Pass this content by your producers. Ask them whether their customers would value it. As much as you can, repurpose content. For instance, industry briefs or letters from your companies can be transformed to articles and articles to blogs.
• Email prospects this relevant content, but whatever you do, don’t pitch. These should be simple emails that are written as if you are speaking to them directly. Be genuinely helpful. Provide your sales team email templates so that they can follow up and engage in their own conversations.
• Follow up with a human touch. Make a personal connection and follow up emails with phone calls to directly gauge prospects’ interest. Never rely on email alone.

Throughout the process, it’s also important not to forget the basics:

• Use targeted e-mail or snail-mail messages to bring your agency to the top of mind either before or after the initial sales call.
• Have specific information and literature ready so that you may use email to send literature and answer questions after your calls.
• Send follow-up summaries to review what was covered during phone conversations or in-person visits and confirm the next steps in the sales process.
• When leaving a voicemail, remember to keep it simple and speak clearly. Include a compelling reason to return your call.
• Take care not to leave multiple voice mail messages in the same day for one person, unless there is an absolute need to.
• Increase the likelihood of reaching the buyer directly by varying the time of day you call and/or drop by.

Remember – companies need insurance. It’s a must have. So being on top of your lead generation and follow-up is critical for your success.

Track your activities. Give yourselves reminders. Be professionally persistent and offer value when you call or email.