Insurance Journal has listened to readers, spoken with experts, combed through columns and articles and even searched outside insurance circles to find the best sales and marketing tips for independent agencies today. Here are 101 ideas, in no particular order.
1 – Know Your Client
Be alert to details that matter to the client and recognize what makes every encounter with each client unique. Our brand promise, "Because You’re Different," hinges on employees knowing their distinctive clients and sustaining a positive relationship. Tell your client things you are doing for them that they might not know about and make a point to ask them questions about their business. – Jackie Donnelly, Heffernan Insurance Brokers
2 – Link Up
Ask key commercial clients for their permission to include a link to their websites on your agency’s website. You can bet they will give you their OK and will probably appreciate your loyalty to them, which should help you bond with a long-term client. – Phil Tuccy, Insurance Group Consulting LLC
3 – Share Problems
Make the customer’s problem your problem. – Scott Mikkelsen, Mikkelsen, Kelly, & Kipp Insurance
4 – Mobile Friendly
Make your insurance website mobile-friendly so your customers on-the-go can easily access your information if they need it. – Laird Rixford, Insurance Technologies Corp.
5 – Customer’s Shoes
Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. Think: "If I were them, what questions would I ask?" – Scott Mikkelsen, Mikkelsen, Kelly, & Kipp Insurance
6 – Referral Partnerships
Enter into a mutually beneficial agreement with a referral partner (i.e., accountant, car dealership) with the objective of sending each other hot leads. I gain a lot of new business using this approach. – Eric Lanzillotta, CBIA Insurance Agency Inc.
7 – Foot in the Door
For commercial insurance: Drop off a cookie in the shape of a foot to a prospective insured. The cookie should have a note attached that says, "Trying to get my foot in the door." – Trisha Wright, The Hartford.
8 – Checklists
Use coverage and exposure checklists to increase sales. By doing the job of a professional insurance agent, you will also create a great reputation for yourself. – Chris Burand, Burand & Associates LLC
9 – Make Friends
Stop pushing product and price. Make friends and they will become your best clients. – Al Diamond, Agency Consulting Group Inc.
10 – Thank You
Send a handwritten thank you card to clients when they send you referrals and say the following, "The sincerest form of flattery to my agency is in a referral from you, our client. Thank you so much for your vote of confidence and we will take special care of your referral." Then enclose two more of your business cards. – Catherine Oak, Oak & Associates
11 – Measurements
Measure customer sentiment with social media – not just negative, but positive, too. If your customers are singing you praises, use that to tell more people about your great customer service and get some real marketing mileage out of it. – Don Wolff, Astute Solutions
12 – Umbrellas
Sell increased limits on umbrella policies. Invite personal and small commercial lines umbrella insureds to increase their policy limits beyond $1 million. Many CSRs and producers write a small umbrella once – and then forget to suggest adding another million, or more, at renewal time. – Alan Shulman, www.AgencyIdeas.com
13 – Promote Your Website
Promote your website on all of your marketing. This could include business cards, brochures, emails and social media. Basically, anywhere you have your agency logo, your URL should be there, too. – Laird Rixford, Insurance Technologies Corp.
14 – Turn to Your State Association
If you have an agency challenge, chances are that someone else has already faced it – and solved it. Turn to your state agents’ association for a broad range of solutions to problems you face as an agent or agency principal. – Sharon Emek, Work At Home Vintage Employees (WAHVE)
15 – Screen Share
It’s not always possible to get an in-person appointment. Using easy-to-use screenshare technology such as Join.me is a good way to share a presentation, or go through your website while you’ve got the prospect or client on the phone. – Julie Tinney, Insurance Journal
16 – Virtual Checks
Use remote deposit to electronically deposit checks without leaving the office. Remote deposit captures images of both sides of checks, analyzes them for image quality and authenticity, and automatically balances deposits before submission. That makes the bank available 24/7, saves time and money, and boosts security. Remote deposit does not require application software, and uses a scanner (typically provided by the bank) as well as a PC with an Internet connection. – Mary Grazen, InsurBanc, a division of Connecticut Community Bank N.A.
17 – Great Customer Service
It’s not a secret tactic, but it is the most effective one. When our agents provide customers with outstanding service, they show their appreciation by giving us referrals. – Trident Insurance Agency
18 – Give Them Something
Never leave your client or prospect empty-handed. Give them something useful and informative that will make them think of you every time they see it and use it. – Christopher J. Boggs, Academy of Insurance, www.IJAcademy.com
19 – Track New Business Appointments
New business production is the ultimate indicator of sales performance, but understanding meaningful activity may be the missing piece of your sales management platform. – Tommy McDonald, MarshBerry
20 – Website Design
A well-designed website will serve as the hub of all digital agency marketing. When done well, it can serve multiple purposes: customer service, education, sales, retention. – Laird Rixford, Insurance Technologies Corp.
21 – Tracking Metrics
Growing agencies have one thing in common: They track where every new piece of business is coming from, so they know which marketing efforts are paying off. They also track the number of policies per client, so they know whether they are building deeper relationships. – Jeff Yates, Agents Council for Technology
22 – X the Lingo
Get rid of lingo and find a way to talk to clients in words and phrases they can easily understand. – Anonymous
23 – Strategize
All marketing needs a strategy and a goal. You want to post a banner? Send an email to a list? Start a newsletter? Great. Why? – Anonymous
24 – Double Referrals
Create a referral program that rewards existing and new customers. This creates a win-win which is naturally what a referral should be. Dropbox and Uber have successful referral programs that award the existing customer and new customer with bonus storage and service credit when the new customer signs up. – Josh Carlson, Wells Media Group
25 – Believe in Your Brand
Passion is contagious. If you love where you work, shout it to the rooftops. Let others know why your agency is the best. You’ll be much more likely to generate genuine enthusiasm, which could drive more customers to use your services. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
26 – Data Goldmine
For more than 20 years, agencies have had the most lucrative gold mine locked up in customer data. You may have 20 valuable nuggets of information about every client in your system: birthdays, claims, policies held, policies not held, ex-dates and so forth. So, if you’ve got 5,000 customers, you’ve got 100,000 pieces of information …that changes every single day. Technology exists to turn that "dead data" into a marketing goldmine. – Michael Jans, Agency Revolution
27 – Be in Position to See Opportunity
Work hard and try to put yourself in a position where, if luck strikes, you can see the opportunity and take advantage of it. – Mark Cuban, chairman of HDNet
28 – Drip Marketing
Use a consistent drip marketing campaign: Bring value by providing useful info or ideas. You will be (hopefully) top-of-mind when the need for services will arise. – Brad Tamulski, Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners
29 – Unique Landing Pages
Use landing pages that are designed to match specific marketing campaigns (e.g., an email sent to auto insurance prospects should link to a landing page that discusses auto insurance and matches the design of the email). This will improve your conversion rate. – Laird Rixford, Insurance Technologies Corp.
30 – Social Media Content
Provide useful, engaging content on social media to attract new customers and retain relationships with existing ones. Always remember that social media is conversational. Never ignore anyone. Respond to all inquiries, comments, etc. – Valerie Foster, Monitor Liability Managers
31 – Community Like Its
Partner with a community charity on Facebook. Preferred Insurance Services is partnering with Pet Project Rescue in Minneapolis until the beginning of September in the hopes of garnering $500 for the non-profit. Preferred has committed to donating $1 to PPR for every new "like" it gets on its Facebook page between now and then. In just three weeks, Preferred doubled its fan base – and raised nearly $200 for PPR in the process. – Preferred Insurance Services
32 – Don’t Forget to Ask
Ask for the business. After showing value and laying out distinct advantages of a partnership, be clear about asking for business. You will either get it or find out remaining obstacles. – Brad Tamulski, Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partner
33 – Community Involvement
Savvy agencies and their employees are becoming increasingly involved in local causes to support their communities, and these efforts are generating new clients for them – clients who want to support businesses striving to make the community better. – Jeff Yates, Agents Council for Technology
34 – Target Marketing
Smart call – target certain industries/client sizes/etc. and tell them exactly why you’ve identified them as benefiting from what you have to offer. Prospects can be more receptive. – Brad Tamulski, Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners
35 – Social Media Marketing
Social media marketing is more than tweeting/posting and running; it is roll-up-your-sleeves interactive work that builds solid relationships and reputations. – Tammy Elizabeth Southin, social media marketing consultant
36 – Show You Care
Show your customers you care by helping them when they’re in trouble, responding quickly and effectively to complaints, or providing sympathetic feedback. It’s up to you to build a symmetrical feedback loop of appreciation and understanding. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
37 – Clients in Common
Find out from each of your key clients who their attorney and CPA is, and then contact those professionals and let them know you have the same good clients in common. It gets the attorney and CPA to send you more referrals because their clients use you. – Catherine Oak, Oak & Associates
38 – Video Testimonials
Collect mini-video testimonials. Identify your happiest and most influential insureds. Ask them for a brief video testimonial you can tactfully use. A 6-second Vine or 15-second Instagram video recorded on your smartphone can be fun for your insured and for you. Use them online for marketing purposes and display them in-person when actively selling. – Alan Shulman, www.AgencyIdeas.com
39 – Bigger Footprint
You have a license to sell insurance throughout your state, or more. Then do it. One of my clients shot from 95 contractors to 2,000 in four years. Her small town location did not dictate a small town marketing plan. – Michael Jans, Agency Revolution
40 – Email
Use email marketing to cross sell. – Laird Rixford, Insurance Technologies Corp.
41 – Decide Once and For All
Average marketing will flow from the unconscious decision to be "OK" with an average agency. Great marketing will flow from the decision to be great. Insanely great marketing will flow from the decision to be insanely great. It’s up to you, cowboy. – Michael Jans, Agency Revolution
42 – Go Out of Your Way
Going out of your way to help a customer will likely benefit you in terms of customer retention and word-of-mouth. But it’s also just a genuinely good thing to do – and that’s worth something, too. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
43 – Buyer’s Remorse Review
What do you do when you discover that your personal or commercial prospect’s policies just renewed? One response is to target their post-sale period of uncertainty and offer to provide a "buyer’s remorse review." Your prompt second opinion can open an unsure prospect’s mind to many valid criticisms. – Alan Shulman, www.AgencyIdeas.com
44 – Free Coffee
We have a promotion on our website that offers a $5 Starbucks giftcard for referring a friend to our agency. – Trident Insurance Agency
45 – Build a Community
There is strength in numbers. Look for people who are excited about the work you do and highlight them. Create an ambassador program to get even more people involved. You’ll suddenly find your brand popping up in more places: in conversations, blog posts and "Best Company" lists. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
46 – Dissatisfaction Surveys
What’s wrong with your insurance? Don’t use the same old "let me quote" approach when soliciting commercial lines. Instead, employ a business "dissatisfaction survey" to differentiate yourself and to let the buyer vent about what’s wrong with his current insurance program. When you know exactly what bugs him, you can provide a custom solution. – Alan Shulman, www.AgencyIdeas.com
47 – Turn to Training
The industry’s nonprofit organizations are a rich source of training and education. The CPCU Society, ceu.com, AIMS Society, and NAPSLO are a few of the national organizations that offer specialized classes in property/casualty insurance. Local associations and affiliates also are helpful and even more accessible. – Sharon Emek, Work At Home Vintage Employees (WAHVE)
48 – Featured Partners
We feature prospective clients and existing clients’ companies on our "partners" page for cross referrals. – Trident Insurance Agency
49 – Email Drips
Set up email drips in an automated agency marketing system to automatically follow up on every prospect over a period of time. This will help keep your agency in front of the consumer without you having to remember to do the follow up. – Laird Rixford, Insurance Technologies Corp.
50 – Shopping Carts
We have our president’s picture on shopping carts! We advertise our agency at the local grocery stores. – Trident Insurance Agency
51 – Reduce Redundancy
Maintain your records and solidify your data with data download. – Real Time/Download Campaign co-chair Joyce Sigler, Jones & Wenner Insurance Agency
52 – Consider Your Audience
It’s all about the customer experience. Think about their experience and what they’re going through. Gather feedback. Consider what they like and what they don’t like. Try and fix the things they don’t like. Use their recommendations and concerns to change your company’s tactics or direction. Your customers will appreciate it. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
53 – Real Time Saves Real $$$$
Implementing real-time functions in your agency saves time and money. A typical agency with four CSRs each doing 15 transactions per day via real time (versus a company website) will save 90 days of CSR time and $14,400 annually, according to surveys. – Real Time/Download Campaign co-chair Stuart Durland, Seely & Durland Insurance
54 – Be Quick
Be quick and responsive to a client’s need. When I get a referral or an Internet lead, I try to make contact right away. – Anonymous
55 – Soft Stalking
If a prospect is not responding, begin following their company on Twitter and Facebook and participate. It’s surprising how many business-owners and CEOs actually check to see their new likes and followers. This is particularly true of smaller companies. It’s just another way to get your name in front of them without asking to personally connect on social media with someone you’ve never met, which can be creepy. – Julie Tinney, Insurance Journal
56 – Virtual Connections
Use your existing technology to give producers immediate system access while they’re working remotely. Two technologies built into Windows make it as secure to connect to the office server from across the country as from across the hallway: virtual private networks (VPNs) and remote desktop protocol (RDP). – Frank Sentner, Work At Home Vintage Employees (WAHVE)
57 – Online Banking
Use online banking to streamline processes. Sending and receiving funds electronically, transferring funds between accounts, scheduling direct deposit of payroll, and creating wire transfers are all ways to be more efficient as an agency. Bankers familiar with insurance agencies can help develop programs to create an efficient process in managing agency funds and accounts. – Mary Grazen, InsurBanc, a division of Connecticut Community Bank N.A.
58 – Varied Methods
If you put all your time and energy into social media, you may end up ignoring the potential customers who aren’t on social media. Embrace a variety of marketing methods to succeed, including everything from face-to-face interaction to grassroots tactics. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
59 – Set Up Knowledge Transfer
Experienced workers are valuable sources of insurance expertise. Before they retire (and 10,000 Americans hit retirement age every day) and take their institutional knowledge with them, set them up as mentors for newer and younger producers and employees in your agency. – Sharon Emek, Ph.D., Work At Home Vintage Employees (WAHVE)
60 – Real People
Delete your Facebook, delete your Twitter, meet real people, sell insurance. – Josh Carlson, Wells Media Group
61 – Listen Carefully
Listening to clients’ concerns and answering their insurance questions thoroughly is extremely important in maintaining mutual trust. The client trusts that you are looking out for their best interests and that you are providing them with expert industry advice. – Trident Insurance Agency
62 – Be the First to Know
If you are tired that your agency’s not getting data before your customers do, encourage your carriers to initiate activity/notifications for real-time notifications and policy data. – Real Time/Download Campaign co-chair Joyce Sigler, Jones & Wenner Insurance Agency
63 – Become an Expert
Encourage your producers to develop an expertise on an industry group or technical niche, and become the go-to person in the marketplace. Enhance the reputation by participating in national events, publishing articles and hosting seminars on the subject. – Laura Sherman, Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partners
64 – Carrier Help
Ask your carriers for content to use on your marketing materials, website, blogs or social media. They have a wealth of information to share about risk trends and industry changes, as well as claim examples/scenarios. Also, follow them on LinkedIn or Twitter, and you can share or re-Tweet any relevant information. – Valerie Foster, Monitor Liability Managers
65 – In-House Social Media
We have an in-house social marketing consultant that stays up-to-date with our blog and social media sites. They reach out to local businesses and post useful insurance tips that elicit calls to our agency for quotes. – Trident Insurance Agency
66 – Amplify Success
Rather than trying to accomplish all of your promotion goals at once, focus on growing over time. Once you gain recognition, whether it’s a mention from an important influencer on social media or a front-page story, you can use that to show more potential audiences why your brand matters. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
67 – ‘I Don’t Know’
Don’t be afraid to say: "I don’t know." No one expects you to know everything; plus you now have the opportunity, and a reason, to connect with the client or prospect again. Not only will you know you have provided the correct information, you will have built trust." – Christopher J. Boggs, Academy of Insurance, www.IJAcademy.com
68 – Keep Score
Become obsessed with being the best through performance benchmarking within your agency and within the industry. Top performers are motivated by winning. Encouraging competition internally creates a growth culture that helps you compete externally. – Tommy McDonald, MarshBerry
69 – Get Out What You Put In
Start small and strengthen over time. Put in the hours to build relationships with the media and your customers. Brand recognition does not just happen overnight. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
70 – Hire, Hire, Hire
Predictable, sustainable growth is directly dependent on systematic reinvestment within your production staff year-over-year. – Tommy McDonald, MarshBerry
71 – Why Measure?
You don’t have time to spend on efforts that don’t yield results. You have to illustrate how your efforts increase brand awareness, create buzz and generate new business; otherwise you’ll never know what gets you noticed and what ends up being overlooked. Demonstrate growth and illustrate investment. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
72 – New Client Thank Yous
Every new client gets a personally written thank you card with their agent’s information and a note that says: "We love referrals. Thank you for referring us." – Trident Insurance Agency
73 – Total Agency Sales Culture
Producers are the quarterbacks of a growth team, but key technicians and high-level servicers are your linebackers. Employ quality people throughout the entire organization, not just within your sales staff. – Tommy McDonald, MarshBerry
74 – Make Your Value Proposition Valuable
Track utilization on all value added services, charge fees on top of commission, and have a communication process through stewardship reporting to ensure the client knows your value. – Tommy McDonald, MarshBerry
75 – Match Interests
Employees and producers have favorite charities to which they personally give time and donations. Choose one of those for your entire agency to contribute to by volunteering and/or a fundraising. It’ll build camaraderie, help the charity, and make your brand a little better known in the community. – Jill Bookman, American Collectors Insurance
76 – Institutionalize Your Relationships
Develop a long-term retention plan on large-scale accounts by introducing key agency executives to decision-makers. Involve quality service, loss control, claims advocates, and other value-added service personnel during the prospecting process to help diversify the relationship long term. This practice allows for better delegation of servicing responsibilities, sells the team, and helps transition relationships as employees move on or retire. – Tommy McDonald, MarshBerry
77 – All Aspects of Life
The bottleneck for selling comes from lack of activity. Turn your life gray and open the opportunity of prospecting with every part of your life. – Justin Berry, MarshBerry
78 – Take Chances
Someone will always say: "You can’t do that!" Just because something hasn’t been done before doesn’t mean it won’t work or that it won’t make a huge impact. You have to take chances to stand out. – Aimee Woodall, The Black Sheep Agency
79- Understand Customers’ Business
Do your homework. When the customer sees you’ve invested time into understanding his business, there is a certain level of trust established right away. – Sales and marketing consultant Barry Farber, as quoted in Entrepreneur magazine
80 – Be a Solution
Don’t sell product and features rather be a solution and new business will come to you – Justin Berry, MarshBerry
81 – You Can’t Do It All!
Social media and blogging are becoming integral to a growing agency’s daily operations. Consistency is critical. It may be time to hire a part-time or full-time employee to do this. – Real Time/Download Campaign co-chair Stuart Durland, Seely & Durland Insurance
82 – Expand Your Virtual Reach
Try your vendor’s web-based consumer self-serve quoting functionality, so your clients can serve themselves for quotes. – Real Time/Download Campaign co-chair Joyce Sigler, Jones & Wenner Insurance Agency
83 – Google+
Use Google+ for research and lead generation. With more than 100 million active users on Google+, it is a great way to search information. It’s a good tool for finding people in a specific demographic, occupation, employer, etc. – Valerie Foster, Monitor Liability Managers
84 – Once is Enough
With the use of a comparative rater, you can key once and realize multiple sales opportunities. – Real Time/Download Campaign co-chair Joyce Sigler, Jones & Wenner Insurance Agency
85 – Ask for the Sale
No matter what else is recommended, a salesperson ultimately must always ask for the sale. – Chris Burand, Burand & Associates LLC
86 – Free Content
Tap into the insurance content – newsletters, emails, infographics and social networking shares – that carriers and wholesalers provide. Share it with clients and prospects on social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook, and in your email newsletter and on your agency website. This showcases you and gives consumers relevant information. – Laura Packard, American Collectors Insurance
87 – Differentiate
Make building your book easier and use your agency’s institutional and personal differentiation to build partnerships of new business. – Justin Berry, MarshBerry
88 – Set Aside an Employee Day
Pick a day once a year to honor and recognize your agency team with a surprise lunch or other special event that focuses just on them and the work they do all year long. Recognition works. – Jill Bookman, American Collectors Insurance
89 – Pop the Question
It’s amazing what people collect. Ask your next 10 clients or prospects: "Do you keep anything of special value or significance in your home or garage?" That opens up a new line of conversation, expands the relationship, opens up a channel for cross-selling coverage for collectibles or collector vehicles, and reduces E&O risk. – Laura Packard, American Collectors Insurance
90 – In Their Words
Often, an individual can tell you what their primary concerns are in simple conversation. Have broad, open conversations with clients and prospect clients to learn about where they are in life. As you review their insurance needs, use that conversation as the guide for what your clients value most. – Laura Packard, American Collectors Insurance
91 – Get the Experience of Partners
Ask for input from your business partners. Most will gladly pass along solutions that have worked for them in similar situations. It will expand your knowledge, strengthen your relationship and may even lead to additional opportunities. – Jill Bookman, American Collectors Insurance
92 – Find a New Way to Keep in Touch
Client messages related to annual reviews, policy anniversaries and birthday are common. Also consider special communications related to risks. For example, send an email to clients with classic cars or recreational vehicle coverage in the spring when the "toys" are coming out of the garage! – Laura Packard, American Collectors Insurance
93 – ‘Sales’ Is Not a Bad Word
Sales is often seen in conflict with service, but when this function is executed properly, it’s really the essence of good service. Proactive, attentive, needs-based sales in an insurance environment means that you are serving clients by looking out for their best interests, educating them about the need for coverage, and covering potential risk exposures. – Jill Bookman, American Collectors Insurance
94 – Set Your Goals
Goals should be set at both an individual and company-wide level. Be realistic but ambitious. Be measured but strive for the best. Your goals should be based on where you’ve been, as well as where you want to go. – Jill Bookman, American Collectors Insurance
95 – Mine for Specialties
Mine your agency management system to find out where you have a niche. If you have three or four restaurant accounts, then you have knowledge within your agency about restaurants. Ask your current clients about other restaurateurs who could use your expertise. – Insurance Journal
96 – Document, Document, Document
Keep track of what you do and what you tell clients. It provides seamless service when a colleague follows up later with a client at a moment when you are not available to answer questions. – Maureen Boeing, Landmark Insurance Agency and past chair, ASCnet
97 – Multitasking Break
It is so easy to work on the computer while simultaneously talking on the phone. Stop. Commit yourself to focusing on the needs of the client with whom you are speaking. Dedicating that time to the conversation and lending full expertise to his or her situation will build stronger relationships and open the door to opportunities you may not have caught otherwise. – Jill Bookman, American Collectors Insurance
98 – Branch Out
Pick your best niche and expand it like crazy. Keep nurturing your existing book while you grow your new "branch." A well-picked and "niche-branch" can outperform the entire agency. – Michael Jans, Agency Revolution
99 – Budget, Schmudget
I wish more agencies would "act like grownup" businesses and budget their money. And then, I wish they’d know when to throw that budget away. If you’re getting a positive ROI on a marketing campaign that is what every entrepreneur dreams of: free money. Don’t let accountants run your business. Good marketing means that the marketplace pays for your marketing. (Don’t let lawyers run your business, either!) – Michael Jans, Agency Revolution
100 – Agency Newsletters
A newsletter is an excellent tool to help educate customers on insurance issues, to make customers believe that they’re getting something extra for their insurance dollars, and to keep an agency’s name before its customers. – Mary Christiano, Professional Insurance Agents associations of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and New Hampshire
101 – Don’t Use Complicated Diction
When pitching, do not use complicated diction. Pride yourself on being able to explain the concept as quickly, clearly and simply as possible. The biggest problem in sales is client confusion. Confusion does not lead to a Yes. – Tom Szaky, CEO of TerraCycle, a N.J.-based "upcycling" and manufacturing firm, in a commentary in The New York Times
Source: Insurance Journal
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