Meeting the New Challenges

Marketing insurance protection has changed considerably since I started my independent agent career many years ago. As I sat behind my desk on that first day with my telephone, criss-cross directory and my x-date cards there was no internet. Prior to coming onboard as an agent I had spent many nights on the phone gathering 500 x-dates which was required in order to start as an Aetna Prime agent. Another advantage I had as an independent agent was my background as an under- writer and marketing rep for several companies along with a one-year career as a Prudential debit agent.

Direct response companies like Geico and Progressive were no real threat and our primary competition came from captive agents and large brokerage houses. We operated a sales center which was an automated depository for prospects’ x-dates to be retained and used in marketing campaigns focused 90-120 days prior to their expiration.

Most prospects switched their coverage on renewal and my job was to get an appointment with them to review their existing coverage, gather some additional pertinent information and provide them with my proposal. Most prospects were not so time sensitive that they needed a quote immediately and the time between gathering the information and presenting the proposal allowed me to develop coverage areas of concern to discuss with the prospect.

Calls from prospects looking for a price quote were treated with suspicion and many times depending on the information we would decline to quote. If the caller appeared to be a potentially good prospect we would advise them we didn’t do immediate quotes over the phone as it was our agency’s procedure to review their existing policy making sure there were no obvious coverage gaps or concerns. We would ask them to drop off or fax a copy of their policy so we could do a quick review and then give them a proposal. Not everyone agreed, however we felt that those who didn’t were most likely price shoppers and our experience was that retention was poor and they took up an inordinate amount of the service staff’stime.

I believe this way of doing business is how many of the principals and owners now in their late fifties and early sixties operated. Producers back then were encouraged to gather as many x-dates as possible by cold calling and then it was just a numbers game. Out of 100 suspects you developed a certain percentage of prospects with x-dates that turned into a smaller percent- age of opportunities to review their coverage and offer a proposal that ultimately became a smaller percentage of sales. It involved a significant amount of one-on-one phone calls and a tenacious attitude. Not every suspect/prospect appreciated the phone calls.

Let’s fast forward to the insurance prospect of today. It’s unlikely many of your prospects are developed by x-date cold calling. It’s more likely your prospect calls in and starts their conversation with wanting to know whether you can save them money on their insurance. That’s the result of an enormous amount of heavily funded advertising that convinced them that the only differential in insurance is the premium. If you step back and analyze who is calling in many instances they are the same price shoppers I dealt with many years ago. There are more because it is so easy to get price quotes on the internet and because they have been ingrained with the idea that they should shop their insurance and they should focus primarily on cost.

Rather than spending significant amounts of time on prospects that call in and are only interested in a price quote, I believe today’s agency needs to go after those prospects that appreciate the value of having professional guidance on their coverage and an agency that advocates for them on a claim. Is price an issue for them? Certainly, however they are looking for a competitive premium and not a rock bot- tom, lowest price at all cost.

I can only think of two ways that can happen in today’s world. One is to systematically and regularly develop referrals from existing clients and centers of influence. The other is to effectively use social media.

In today’s world outbound marketing for business is very hard and isn’t very cost effective. It tends to attract prospects looking for “cheap” insurance who don’t appreciate the risk management service an agency provides.

It’s more effective to do inbound marketing using social media to create prospects that value your agency’s knowledge and expertise and are encouraged by the positive feedback of your existing clients. This requires regular social media marketing either through a designated staff person or by outsourcing the process. It also requires agency procedures that mandate, support and monitor referrals.

Developing clients through social media takes time. You need to get a prospect’s attention, have them recognize you for your expertise and knowledge and then create a relationship that encourages them to call and seek out your services. Remember you are looking to find and work with prospects that appreciate having an agency that offers the coverage necessary to properly protect them combined with hassle-free service. They also don’t want to be ignored or for- gotten once they become a client.

Many times these prospects are not actively looking to move their coverage.

They are moved by all that they see about you and your agency or something happens in their existing situation that causes them to look for someone new to protect them. That’s when you want them thinking of you and all you offer. It may be a chance encounter with one of your staff that leads to a conversation about your agency based on what they have seen in social media and heard about you.

If an agency is going to go through the time and hard work to bring on new engaged clients you also want your existing clients getting enough of the right touches over time to show them they made the right choice. Your clients want to be reminded and assured that you are constantly concerned with them being properly informed and adequately protected. Your day-to-day customer service must operate with the utmost effectiveness. You need to gather as much pertinent information about your client as possible and use it effectively. You also need to be constantly checking your clientele’s satisfaction with your agency and the service you provide. This internal customer service commitment and management develops the foundation for new clients created through referrals and inbound marketing.

Marketing through social media takes time but has many rewards. Prospects that come to you usually have a good idea of who you are and what you offer and that is what drew them to you. They are protection conscious and usually looking for a competitive premium, not the lowest price. They want to receive regular, pertinent information that is informative and helps them to make informed decisions. They also expect agency services that eliminate the day-to- day hassles of doing business.

If your staff is frustrated and your hit ratio is low it’s probably because you’re not marketing effectively in today’s world. Quoting to be the lowest and taking orders is ineffective in today’s marketplace. The customers you do write will leave as quickly as they came. They also will blame you if they aren’t properly protected for a loss even though they didn’t want to discuss coverage. It’s a no-win situation. Why not spend the additional time and effort to locate and write a customer that appreciates what you do and will remain a client for a long time.