How Insurance Agents can Rise Above Being a Commodity

The Insurance Industry has a big problem.  Internet insurance providers are pushing independent agents to compete purely on price.   

But it doesn’t have to be that way.  Dropping prices are killing the industry.  The market is killing itself… However it’s the smart agents who provide more value who will win.

You’re probably a pretty busy agency owner, networking, getting out into the community, and servicing your book of business.  If you’re like most agents you don’t have enough time to follow up with all of the leads you are getting. Not only that but often times your employees just don’t know how to follow up with those leads for you.  

Sales doesn’t always come naturally to most people which is why it’s critical to spend the time to train your staff on following up with prospects, having meaningful sales conversations which convert and how to tell great stories so you can make more sales.

And there is the problem.   You’re too busy to consistently train and evaluate your staff as you grow your agency.  It’s hard enough to get them the product knowledge and get licensed.

I’m going to share with you the 3 keys to improving your sales in a very simple way so you can drive more revenue, beat your competition and stop competing on price alone.

And since this is a system you can quickly teach it to your staff so you can concentrate on building your agency.

Our society has an attention span of a goldfish… about 2 seconds or even less.  Everyone is busy so connecting with them can be very difficult. Your client's search online,  leave a message or fill out a form on a website requesting more information and expect a return phone call or message.   

It’s a sad statistic but 80% of businesses don’t respond to those inquiries.  And only 1% respond within 20 minutes of receiving an inquiry. It’s the 1% who are getting all of the business… well most of it … the rest are fighting for the scraps on the floor.   This means thousands of dollars a month in lost revenue.

The good news is that your competition isn’t persistently and consistently following up on leads.  Initiating a simple follow up system to get your leads on the phone so you can have a sales conversation isn’t difficult to do, yet it has a dramatic impact on your financial results adding thousands of dollars in your pocket each and every month!

Angelica recently implemented my follow up campaign at her State Farm agency.  She was a little skeptical at first because she didn’t want to be thought of as a pest to her potential clients.  When I asked her, “Do you believe in your products and services?” “Of course,” she responded. I replied, “Then isn’t it your duty and obligation to help those people with the best insurance?”  This mindset shift was all it took.

We were pretty amazed at the results after setting up a 60 day follow up campaign which consisted of 15 touches via, phone, email, text, social media, and carrier pigeon (ok maybe not carrier pigeon but you get the idea).   Most people didn’t respond to the messaging until about day 23 when we were going to “break up with them”.

This also happened to be the time when their insurance policy was expiring .. so they HAD to make a decision.   Most people will start shopping about a month or 14 days before their policy expires, but put off making a decision until the last moment.   Angelica was there in their voicemail and email inbox precisely at that moment.

Angelica saw an immediate 15% increase in sales just by following up consistently.  But what was more amazing is that she was able to cross sell to other product lines because people saw her as someone who truly cared about their protection.   

The agent who stays top of mind wins every time.  The best way to stay top of mind is implementing a multi channel follow up system.  Once you have the prospect on the phone, then you just need to convert them to a client using a simple sales system anyone can follow.

Most agency owners don’t have the time to properly train their staff on the entire sales process, role play with them and evaluate regularly.   Most of your time with your employees is spent on product knowledge and rightfully so. Perhaps you feel your staff are just order takers or sell off of the brochure.

Sales is a process and without a simple scripted sales conversation which focuses on asking the right questions and telling the right stories, your staff will be fumbling to make more sales.

Creating a simple sales conversation guide focused on adding value to the prospect and educating them with meaningful stories is the answer.  What this really means is you and your staff are following the same process, speaking the same language, and consistently closing higher percentage of prospects.

The good news is that this takes very little time compared to all of the other education they have to go through.  When you consider all of the time spent networking, write proposals, meeting with clients, fixing just this one element takes ridiculously less time and produces much more revenue.

Years ago in my own business I struggled with believing that this was a waste of time. I was selling a service which was highly commoditized similar to the insurance market today and I was failing to make sales.

When someone was interested in buying personal training, I would tell them all about what I did, rarely would I stop and learn about what their needs were, basically I was selling off of the brochure.  Obviously my close rate sucked. I almost went out of business in six months.

Then I stumbled upon a a great discovery, sales is a process that includes asking the right questions, in the right order to get the prospect to verbalize their needs.   I started perfecting each of the steps in the sales process and focused on selling the results, identifying pain points and suggesting a solution. No longer was I begging for a sale or reducing my prices to get a client.   Instead the prospects were asking to join my program. It was a completely different shift in the sales conversation.

I was asking the right questions, focusing on the result and fixing their problem with my solution.  My close rate went from 45% to 85%, but more importantly my average transaction size went from just $600 to $2600 for the same amount of work.

Then I taught this system to my employees.  And even for those who didn’t like to sell, they were able to follow the system and got even better results.

By training your staff to be true advisors of your clients rather than just order takers you will see a huge improvement in your sales.   They can be trained to engage in a real conversation with that prospect.

There are three things which are missing in most sales presentations, the founder’s story, the sales story and objection handling stories.   Stories are the glue which create a killer sales presentation. That presentation doesn’t just have to happen one on one, you could use your story on the stage, at networking events, podcasts, or even television interviews.  It is the supercharger for all sales.

People buy the connection they have with you, they buy the story. Not only that, it develops a trust and rapport that leads to higher conversion rates and premium pricing.

Recently, I worked with Willie. She has an amazing service helping business owners stay in touch with their clients with greeting cards.  After hearing her presentation and sales pitch, I said, "Logically, I understand why people should buy from you, but I don't see why you care. Why are you so invested?"

So we worked on her Founders Story.  After a few minutes of deep dive questions, I discovered she was so passionate about her service because of a really traumatic event involving her mother and husband, and how a greeting card she received changed her life.   She vowed to dedicate her life to helping businesses create these connections with their customers. When I asked her why she never shared this with her clients and her prospects she answered, "It's painful, and I didn't feel like it was relevant."

I helped her understand why it was relevant and how her audience would love her for sharing.  Her story made her vulnerable and real in front of her audience. I then showed her how to articulate it clearly with the purpose of selling her service. We then went to work getting her to  perform her story, which is much different than just telling the story.  

Shortly after our work together she used her new performance at a conference in front of 50 people.  At the end of her keynote, she booked two more speaking engagements, had a line of people waiting to speak with her and generated $1150 more business than she typically would.

Whether you’re speaking in front of a hundred people or just one person, having a personal story which is carefully crafted is critical to making a strong bond with your prospects and ultimately making a sale.

We just went through three ways you can create more consistent sales in your agency using impactful techniques which your competitors aren’t using.   By following up consistently and persistently you will increase your sales conversations by at least 15%. When you have sales conversations and use a systemized approach you and your staff will increase your close rate dramatically and consistently.  

Finally when you incorporate powerful stories within your sales presentations you will have a bond with your client which will transcend price every time.  Implement these techniques and watch your sales increase by 30% or more in the next 3 months.

I specialize in helping those in the insurance industry implement these processes and train their staff through my consulting practice.