January 22, 2016
1. Use social media. Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are great tools for communicating with clients and prospects. Once you get a lead, connect with them on social media. You learn more about them to help you deepen your relationship, see if you have anything in common and close the sale. It is also another way to communicate with your insurance leads. If you see that one of your connections has a life event, you can also contact to see if you can help with their insurance. A life event might include a birth, purchase of a new home, adoption, new car purchase, etc.
2. Periodically contact aged leads and anyone that you quoted and didn’t write. Auto insurance leads are never dead since everyone that owns a car and drives must have insurance. If someone doesn’t purchase when you give them the initial quote, contact them back on a regular basis. Eventually when they are ready, you will be there for them.
3. Ask for referrals. Ask for referrals from your clients, from insurance leads you quote, from your friends and family. People will be more than happy to refer potential clients to you if they are happy with your service. Your professional and social connections will want to help you grow your agency as well. Social media is a good place to ask for referrals.
4. Pitch/offer to clients with other products. You may purchase an auto insurance lead for someone who is looking for insurance on their new car, that should not prevent you from asking if they need renters insurance or even commercial insurance, if they are a business owner. Consumers prefer to do business with fewer companies, many will be interested in obtaining quotes for all their insurance needs.
5. Buy the highest quality auto insurance leads and calls. Some agents like to buy the ‘cheapest’ leads available. All they care about is the price of a lead. To close a higher percentage of leads, you should seek to get the highest quality. Exclusive calls or leads usually have the highest close ratio. The key is to move fast on your leads before the consumer seeks to obtain a quote from another source.
6. Offer available discounts. The important thing is to write a policy, make money while doing it and maintain that client for years. Some agents don’t like to offer available discounts as it reduces their commission. If an insurance lead is eligible for a discount, an agent should offer it, this will help you to write more business and make the client feel you are looking out for their interest.
7. Work with clients to create a policy that meets their needs. Many long-time agents like to offer a quote or policy recommendation with a take it or leave it philosophy. If the lead says it is too expensive or is a bit concerned about the level of coverage, many agents won’t seek to review the quote.
8. Be flexible with your availability. The days when insurance agents worked traditional ‘banker’ hours are over. Insurance agents should be available with extended hours and work weekends. We now have a 24/7 economy where people want to be able to shop when they have time.
9. Sell statewide. Traditionally, agents were taught to sell insurance in their local community. To target a five mile radius around their office, so that their clients could come visit them. In the new economy, people are too busy. Auto insurance buyers today just want to make sure their agent is available by phone, email, social media, and text. They want a fast response when they need help with their policy. As such, there is no reason for agents not to sell statewide or in multiple states. The bigger the market, the greater opportunity there is to quote and write more business.
10. Quote everyone. There are agents that do not like to quote certain types of business. They may just want to sell bundled policies or preferred business. While someone may not be the ideal customer today, they may be in the future. It is important for insurance agents to quote every insurance call or lead they get, ask for referrals and work every leads diligently.
11. Sell yourself and the value to bring to the insurance process. For most insurance buyers it is not only about price and coverage. They want to work with someone who is going to work for them to get them the best possible coverage at the best possible price. When working with an insurance lead, you should tell the lead about your background, how you are able to work with them and anything else that you can offer them to add value to the process.
12. Smile. Being happy and friendly when working an auto insurance lead will help you to close more business. Insurance is something that many people don’t like buying, due to the nature of the product. If you are friendly and jovial with the insurance lead, they may like you more and that will help you to write more business. People tend to want to do business with people that they genuinely like.
13. Follow-up, follow-up & follow-up. Sometimes an auto insurance lead will want to think about the quote you provided before giving you the initial policy payment. The lead may also not have time to wait for quote on initial contact. Some leads will require you to follow-up with them. The more you follow-up you do, the more policies you will write.
14. Use technology. Having a CRM and quoting system will allow you to work more efficiently and keep track of your insurance lead communications. Technology is a useful tool to help you quote more and stay more organized.
15. Check-in regularly with clients. Once you write a policy, your communications should not stop with your clients. You should check-in regularly via email, text and social media. Each time you do, you should see if you can help with any of their other insurance needs and if they can refer anyone for you to speak with.
16. Communicate using a variety of methods. Some leads will want you to call them, others will tell you they like text messages and some will prefer emails. You should have everyone on your team trained to use a variety of communication channels. To achieve the highest close ratio, you need to communicate with the lead, how they want to be communicated with, not your preference.
17. Have your best agents work the leads/calls you purchase. The number one thing that you can do to close more auto insurance leads is to have your best closers work the calls and leads. Most agency owners buy insurance leads and have then worked by their worse performers, that is a mistake. Have your best producers work the leads and you will have a much higher close ratio.
18. Review sales funnel daily. It is important to review your agents sales funnel on a regular basis to make sure they are working every lead. If you are working the leads yourself, take a few minutes every morning to review where you stand with your outstanding leads and scheduled follow-ups. If you expect your agents to work every lead, you need to review what they are doing.
19. Have regular spiffs. Most producers or agents like to receive immediate bonuses for achieving sales. The bonus doesn’t need to be a substantial amount of money, it could be first sale of the day gets lunch, a starbucks gift card or really anything special. This will motivate some competitive agents to close more insurance leads so they can earn the spiff.
20. Create professional work environment/dress for success. While most of your producers will be on the phone most of the day, it is important to maintain a professional work environment and have everyone dress professionally. If your agents and producers feel like a professional, they will work harder and be more focused. The environment and how you and your agents dress, will set the tone for the office and impact your success as a team.
21. Role play. Even for the most experienced sales producer, practicing your pitch will help you make more sales. You can practice with a friend or family member or even a co-worker. The more you practice or role play, the more you will get comfortable speaking with your auto insurance leads and closing more sales.
22. Track results and share with team. It is important to track how well your auto insurance leads are closing. You should track and provide the results to your entire time. If one agent is having a lower close ratio, it may encourage them to work harder or even to get help from their co-workers.
Agent Ethan Kosmin Generated over $200,000 in premiums during first year in business thanks to Contact Concierge.
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