It’s no secret that the insurance industry is a highly competitive space to be in. Perhaps the most popular way that insurance agencies secure business is by trying to keeping prices low. Especially when it comes to mandated automobile and homeowner’s policies, people want to spend as little as possible without compromising on quality. This is why so many agencies focus on making sales based on price.

While that might seem like a good business-building strategy, it’s riddled with problems. Yes, the price that consumers pay for insurance is important.  However, there are other things considered even more critical—not just for agencies but also for their clients.

Creating Long-term Trusted Relationships

Consider this scenario. An individual receives a marketing email from an agency that offers cheap automobile coverage. Whether on a relatively tight budget or perhaps uninformed, they decide to buy a policy.

At first, everything seems fine. However, the policyholder then gets into a car accident. What should’ve been a straightforward claims process turns into a nightmare. Ultimately, it takes a long time for that person to get the money owed, and even then, it isn’t the amount they anticipated because their “cheap” policy left them drastically underinsured.

Here’s another scenario. Someone opts for a cheap homeowner’s insurance policy in response to an agency’s advertisement. It meets the lender’s criteria but just barely. Even though the coverage isn’t great, the low price proves too enticing to ignore.

Then, pipes in their home freeze and burst. Although the cheap policy covers most of the damage, the policyholder can’t reach their agent, or any other agent for that matter. That person has to wait several days to get any resolution, and the quality of customer support is just as bad as they’d heard about.

These aren’t far-fetched stories but real situations that people experience. Sure, these people saved money, but only in the short term. These individuals would’ve gladly paid a little more to have confidence in their agency and agent.

Tips for Building Trusted Client Relationships

Remember, as part of the everyday service your insurance agency provides, you want your agents to continually look for ways to provide clients with excellent yet cost-effective coverage. That ensures the policyholders always have the right protection but at the lowest price available. So, while you can certainly grow your agency by letting consumers know you offer affordable solutions, don’t make this the primary focus.

An excellent way to stay on top of pricing while building a trusted relationship with your clients is to implement an excellent insurance agency management system. For one thing, you can customize it based on the policies you sell and your company’s overall objectives.

Beyond relying on a robust insurance agency management system, here are some ways to build trusting relationships that last.

• Become an Expert – The more you and your agents know about the insurance industry and the products sold, the more prospects and existing clients will consider your agency “the expert.” By nature, people prefer to get information or make purchases from an organization they believe is on top of its game. This mentality certainly applies to the insurance industry.
• Stop Overselling – You don’t want people to compare your agency with an unsavory auto repair shop that constantly tries to get customers to buy things for their cars they don’t need. Well, if your agents oversell, that could happen. Remember, consumers are smart. So, once they feel an agent is just trying to make more money by selling unnecessary coverage instead of focusing on their best interests, they’ll go elsewhere for insurance. Instead, focus on advising your clients and let them make the ultimate decision.
• Respect the Industry – Even as part of a highly competitive industry, you never want to say anything negative about your competition in front of clients. Doing so would likely make them question what you say about them behind their backs. Badmouthing the competition is a poor business practice that destroys client relationships as opposed to building them.
• Promises Made – Another way to build long-lasting and trusted client relationships without putting all your efforts on price is to follow through on promises made. Whether that involves getting them a more affordable policy or better coverage, applying a discount, or something different, make sure you can do exactly what you say. This is another way the right management system can help. It’ll keep everyone in your agency on track so that promises don’t get broken.

The Bottom Line

Yes, providing your clients with affordable coverage is important, but it’s not the most important factor. The goal is to build relationships with the people your agency serves and make sure that they’re properly covered. As a result, you’ll have not only their business but also business that comes from their family members, friends, and other referrals.

 

When you run an insurance agency, you have tremendous responsibilities. That includes hiring the right people who can help the company grow. Also, you want to provide your staff with training so they can consistently hone their skills and give them the tools and systems they need to perform their jobs optimally.

Unfortunately, there’s another responsibility that no business owner or manager enjoys: terminating employees. Regardless of the industry, that’s tough. However, if you’ve done everything possible to help a person change, but they still fail to meet the agency’s standards, you don’t have any other choice.

If you own or manage an insurance agency, that would include all support staff, managers, and the agents themselves.

The Right Time to Terminate

So, how do you know when you’ve reached that point? The following are some examples that show when it’s the right time to fire an employee.

Excessive Tardiness

Especially in the insurance industry, the only way for your business to grow and thrive is to have dedicated agents who work hard to sell new policies and renew existing ones. If someone’s constantly late to work, they’re doing your business a disservice. If you’ve spoken to the agent and given them more than one warning but don’t see any improvement, it’s time to let them go.

Tardiness among the support staff in your agency is just as big of an issue. For example, a receptionist who’s supposed to start work at 8 a.m. but doesn’t bother to show up until nine or later creates two problems. First, there’s no one available to answer incoming calls. Second, that means one of your agents has to pick up the slack. So, instead of selling policies, that person is fielding phone calls.

Stage Fright

To sell insurance, you want agents on your team who aren’t timid, afraid, or shy to assertively sell policies. When hiring someone new, there’s no way to tell how they’ll do in an actual work scenario. Unfortunately, the only real way to gauge an employee’s performance is to watch them after you’ve brought them on board.

You might have a brilliantly minded and creative agent who comes up with some incredible ideas. This person also works hard and genuinely wants to do a great job. Even so, they also have “stage fright.” For them, meeting with prospects and existing clients is beyond awkward and scary. For an employee like this, you want to provide them with every opportunity possible to improve.

However, if you’ve sent them to training, given them plenty of pep talks, and even tried to find another position in your agency for them, all without luck, you’ll need to let them go. As sad as it is, this scenario is not that uncommon in the business world.

Unacceptable Behavior and Attitude

Your employees are a direct reflection of your insurance agency. One person’s poor behavior and attitude could prove devastating to your business. You want team players, people who get along and respect each other as well as their clients. An employee who acts out can quickly and dramatically affect employee morale. In turn, that can have a significant impact on sales and the client’s satisfaction.

Drama King or Queen

As the owner or manager of an insurance agency, you want to show empathy to your employees. After all, everyone is human, and sometimes life deals some pretty hard blows. So, you can expect someone to bring their personal life to work from time to time. However, when you have an employee who’s a bona fide drama king or queen, it’s time to terminate them. Typically, this shows that the employee is more interested in themselves than your agency.

Failing to Abide by the Agency’s Standards

You know you need to fire an employee if they blatantly disregard the standards you’ve established for the agency. These rules and regulations serve multiple purposes. For instance, rules streamline operations, and they can prevent your business from getting penalized by an employee who violates the law. You can’t afford this kind of liability.

Set Your Employees Up for Success

To run a successful insurance agency, you need to do everything in your power to provide your employees with what they need to achieve great success. Again, that consists of hiring the right talent, providing training, having honest and open communication, and giving them the necessary tools and systems. A perfect example of this is an insurance agency management software program.

This type of insurance agency software benefits support staff members, insurance agents, and clients. When you select the right software, you’ll find that your business operates far more effectively and efficiently. Most important, choose a system that your employees can learn to master quickly and go with a reputable source that offers tremendous support during the learning phase and after.

After doing all this and giving an employee ample notice that they need to correct something but to no avail, it’s your responsibility to fire them. Although this might require some firmness on your part, terminating someone doesn’t equate to acting mean or judgmental.

No, firing an employee is never what you want to do, but there are times when you’re left with no other choice. The bottom line is that you have a business to run. If you want to see it thrive, you need an outstanding group of employees who work as a team and respect the agency as a whole.

Considering that laws exist to mandate insurance coverage for homes, automobiles, and other possessions, you wouldn’t think agency owners have a hard time growing their business. However, this particular industry is highly competitive.

That’s why insurance agencies need to adopt proven strategies to help them stay ahead of the curve. If you own or operate an insurance agency, the following options work amazingly well to build a stronger client base, which equates to generating more revenue.

It’s All About Technology

Perhaps the best way to grow your agency is to update your current software. Today, you can find insurance agency management systems that help agencies run more efficiently and effectively.

As a prime example, rather than manually search for or fidget with an old program to find better and more affordable coverage for an existing policyholder, current technology performs this and many additional tasks automatically.

The right system will keep everyone in your agency organized, send alerts so that no one misses a key appointment, handle billing, and even assist with marketing efforts. Overall, updating your agency’s management system will create an opportunity to better connect with prospects and current clients.

Adopt the Right Mindset

Unfortunately, some insurance agency owners feel intimated by growth. While they want to see their agency reach a new level of success, if that means stepping outside of their comfort zone, they’re hesitant to take risks – even calculated ones. So, another proven way to grow your insurance agency is by adopting a new mindset.

Remember, there’s always someone who can answer your questions and provide guidance as you move through uncharted territory. This is also another way that updated technology can help. With almost everything you need at the push of a button, there’s nothing to fear. Instead, embrace change so that you can see your vision come to fruition.

Set a Definitive Goal

Having an idea and setting a goal are two different things. To grow your insurance agency, you need to take your ideas, turn them into a definitive goal, and tackle them head-on. Your goal can cover many different aspects of insurance, and you may even establish more than one goal.

For instance, you probably want to focus on increasing the number of policyholders that your insurance agency handles. For that, you need a definitive marketing goal, something designed specifically for the industry. Another goal might entail improving communications between your agents and clients. In that case, you can again utilize a more advanced software program and provide in-depth training.

Identify Your Client’s Pain Points

If you aren’t aware, pain points are things that cause your clients to stress. Usually, they have to do with inadequate coverage, expensive premiums, a labor-intensive claims process, and so on. Although every client has unique pain points, by doing some analysis, you’ll quickly identify several things they all experience.

By understanding the primary pain points allows you to develop a strategy to either eliminate or reduce them. Once again, with the right technology, you can enter valuable data about your clients to better understand the areas of your agency that need improvement.

Refine Your Agency’s Sales Strategies

Especially if you’ve been in the insurance industry for a long time, there’s a good chance you’re still following old guidelines that aren’t effective today. This particular industry is ever-changing. For that reason, you also need to change the way you and your agents sell policies.

For this, you can find a wealth of information online. You can also listen to podcasts hosted by respected industry leaders. Take advantage of every avenue possible so you can refine your current strategies.

Broaden Your Knowledge Base

As stated, the insurance industry constantly evolves. That means there are always new things to learn. The key is to avoid getting too comfortable with what you know so that you can broaden your knowledge base. Ultimately, this will allow you and your agents to make better and long-lasting connections with clients. In turn, you’ll begin to see substantial growth.

Don’t Overlook the Value of Content

One thing that every successful insurance agency needs is a professional website. If your agency doesn’t have one, it’s worth the investment to have one designed that perfectly showcases your business, products, and agents. As part of that, you want content that’s informative, interesting, useful, and enticing.

The goal is to draw prospects in and then offer them information that will encourage them to inquire about your agency or purchase a policy. What it comes down to is that an excellent website is a powerful marketing tool.

Remain Staff-Centric

In simple terms, that entails building a team of goal-oriented agents. Sometimes, agents come onboard with existing experience. However, if you have a novice agent who’s eager to learn, this is where training can help that individual become one of your top sellers. When hiring, look for people with a positive attitude and a lot of drive.

Don’t Shy Away From Outsourcing

Sure, you probably want to handle everything in-house. However, if you need a specific skill or have a particular task performed that’s beyond your or your agents’ capabilities, don’t feel nervous about outsourcing. As an example, you might want to hire a professional trainer rather than allow someone on your team to do the training.