Your agency is built on trust. You gain and keep customers because they trust you to deliver on your promises and genuinely care for their needs. How do you establish that trust? It all starts by building a relationship.
Think about your longest running and most valuable customers. How do insurance agents get clients like these? Chances are they came from a personal relationship, like a referral or a mutual friend. You or someone in your agency got to know these customers, creating a base trust with them, before they became a customer.
Find out how to gain referrals on the SIS blog
There are more of these types of customers are out there. The trick is being intentional about how you find them. We suggest starting with these five steps:
- Say hello
Any situation where you’re meeting new people can be an opportunity to win new business. Whether it’s the silent auction at your kid’s school or your neighborhood running group, when people are gathering there’s an opportunity. The first step to creating that opportunity is to say “hello.” Introduce yourself to someone new and then…
- Find a connection
Get the conversation going by finding something you’re both interested in. This could be the local hockey team, an affinity for fishing or even a simple mutual appreciation of a finely crafted beer – anything to connect you keeps you talking. And the more you’re talking the easier it is to…
Get more tips on how to gain prospects
- Get to know them
One conversation won’t be enough, so follow up next time you see them. Over time, you’ll get a feel for what their needs may be. You don’t want to randomly offer your services if there’s nothing specific you know you can help with. Once you’ve identified something…
- Be clear on how you can help
People appreciate honesty and clarity. When you see a way you can help an individual, be clear and direct about what you can offer and why you think it’s beneficial. You want to build this relationship the right way. Don’t hide that you are looking to gain business, but frame it to highlight you’re here to provide them with a service they need. No matter how they respond, the next step is to…
- Keep in touch
Whether you win their business or they give you a “maybe later”, you should stay in contact to keep the relationship going. Establish a system to keep up with them. Staying in contact keeps you top of mind as their needs change or they encounter someone else who might need your services.
See these tips for improving your customer relationships
Fostering these relationships is contingent upon keeping track of them. Do you have a system set up to track such leads? Your agency management system is an excellent tool. If used correctly, your management system can give you all the info you need to keep a lead active and turn the relationship you’re fostering into a life-long customer.
That’s why we added elements such as mobile access, outlook integration, and now our latest Producer Results Manager to keep track of your pipeline in our all-in-one Partner XE agency management system.
Discover all that Partner XE has to offer you and your agency. Request a demo and speak with an SIS team member today to find out how Partner XE can help you gain business, and keep it for years to come.
Sarah Deak has been contributing to the SIS team since 2013, covering topics like agency perpetuation, workflow improvements, data security, and marketing. She has a background in small business, working with organizations to improve their online presence and client engagement. Sarah also writes for the SIS newsletters and website, and counts herself lucky to hear from our many passionate, hard-working clients for our client stories. Her favorite part about working for SIS are the dedicated, service-minded people.