Referrals are the gold standard of business. Nielsen found prospects are four times more likely to buy when referred by a friend – that’s a stat you want to get behind. But how do you adjust your insurance marketing strategies to hit at the 49 percent of consumers who say friends and family are their top brand awareness sources?
See some winning insurance marketing strategies in our post on “How Insurance Agents Get Clients”
Making Referrals Part of Your Insurance Marketing Strategies
We won’t pretend getting referrals is easy; it takes time and effort to cultivate the customer relationships that lead to referrals. However, there are some methods you can employ to streamline the process.
- Identify the right time to ask: Close to 85 percent of customers say they’re willing to refer a friend after a positive experience. This can be after an issue was resolved, following a successful policy bundle, or painlessly closing out a claim. Pay attention to when you’re doing things well and follow up with your request while the customer is in a positive mindset about your agency.
- Look beyond customers to partners: Though customers are the obvious first asks for referrals, you can also ask partners who are working in a similar space. Think relators or auto dealers – these are people who regularly encounter those needing insurance, but they’re not able to provide it. In many cases, you can work out a mutual referral system.
Are you asking the right questions in your prospecting? Find out in our post on the top five questions to ask
- Ask for names rather than referrals: Often, people are reluctant to give out contact info when asked directly for a referral. Instead, ask them for names of individuals they know who, say, just bought a new home or started a new job. Getting these names will allow you to follow up later with a soft ask such as: “I remember you saying Chris and Debbie just had a baby. Do you think they’d be interested in revisiting their life insurance to care for their future like we’ve helped you care for yours?”
- Mention the connection right away: Lead with the referrer’s name when you reach out. This gives you immediate credibility with the prospect. However, be careful not to put words in the referrer’s mouth. Stick to non-committal points like “Ryan agreed a conversation might be beneficial to help protect your new home.” You don’t want them going back to your customer complaining that they set them up for an unwanted sales call.
- Circle back to the referrer: Be sure to reconnect with your referral source regardless of the outcome. People want to know what happened! And if things go well, they are likely to refer to you again.
Get quick steps for retaining customers and gaining referrals on our blog
Get Essential Referral Tools with Partner Platform
We know the power of retaining customers and gaining referrals, which is why we equipped Partner Platform to help agency owners do just that. With a built-in Marketing Automation Manager to track and schedule engagement, integrated texting and email to capture every conversation, and Producer Results Manager CRM to manage and target sales pipeline, our Partner Platform agencies have retention and referral on lockdown.
See what else Partner Platform has to offer your agency – read what our clients have to say and contact us to schedule a demo today.
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.