The Insurance Marketing Resource
This site serves as a resource to anyone involved or interested in insurance marketing. You'll find advice and how-to's about insurance marketing. We also supply free content articles about a wide range of insurance topics that you are free to use.
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Insurance Marketing Information
Insurance Risk Calculator Tool Helps You Sell Insurance.
Virtual Insurance Advisor has recently unveiled a new online insurance tool called the Insurance Risk Calculator.
It can be found at it’s own domain: http://insuranceriskcalculator.com
This interactive tool allows users to input their age, sex, and location to learn a great deal about their personal insurance risk statistics. From the expected age of their death, to the odds of being injured by an uninsured motorist, to the potential probability of having a fire claim this year, the statistics are both personal and alarming. Although I am sure my readers can think of many more opportunities, I would like to identify a few uses of this tool while selling insurance.
1 - Show clients their Insurance Risk Calculator Profile while selecting coverages.
When going through an auto, homeowners, renters, life, or disability policy, clients often ask things like: what are the odds that I’ll actually need this coverage. You can take them to the website, type in their information and Voila - “One in Twenty!” One of the most difficult things about selling insurance is helping clients understand not only that bad things happen to good people, but that bad things can happen to them. What’s great about the Insurance Risk Calculator is that it provides probabilities like 1 in 20 that people can relate to.
2 - Use the Risk Calculator as an upselling tool.
If you have identified the clients within your book of business that have auto and home insurance but do not currently have life insurance with you, send them an email with a link to the insurance risk calculator. You could even input their information and send them a link to their results page. This should make it clear to them why they purchased home and auto, and at the same time help them understand they have not addressed all their insurance needs and family risk.
3 - Link to the Insurance Risk Calculator from your website.
When potential customers are visiting your website, a link to the risk calculator will give them an opportunity to see how much individual risk they are exposed to. For most people, this will heighten their sensitivity to the need to purchase not just any coverage, but the coverage that best fits their needs. Since they are already on your site, they will be more likely to contact you for more information and to have a smart conversation about risk.
4 - Look out for the younger insureds in your book of business.
We all know that teenagers cause a lot of accidents. Even teenagers themselves are aware of this. If you take a moment of your time to show a teenager (expecially a boy) the odds of him getting in a car accident or injuring someone else this year, you will heighten his sensitivity to the importance of safe driving. If Mom or Dad get a chance to see this conversation, you will have provided some goodwill to the family, which can hopefully result in more referrals!
Those are just a few ideas, please let me know what other thoughts you may have!
Posted: January 4th, 2010 under Uncategorized - No Comments. Tags: calculator, insurance, risk, sales, tool
Free Insurance Agency Advertising with Virtual Insurance Advisor
I just came across a website offering free insurance agency advertising. That’s right, FREE. The name of the site is Virtual Insurance Advisor and they have virtual characters that provide personal lines insurance advice. Although you might think they are trying to replace the local insurance agent, they are actually trying to open people’s eyes about their insurance needs and encourage them to work with a local insurance agent like the readers of my blog.
Anyway, at the end of each of their “virtual insurance advisor” conversations, they encourage visitors to reach out to a local insurance agent to further discuss their insurance needs. At this point the customer chooses their state and the website brings them to a list of insurance agents in this state.
So the question must be, how can you get your agency on that list?
Although they charge $99 to get your agency listed for the year, you can actually get a free listing if you agree to put a link on your website to theirs. I think they’re just trying to draw more traffic. Apparently your link doesn’t have to be big or necessarily on your front page, but by putting in the link you’ll get a free listing. I said FREE INSURANCE ADVERTISING.
You can learn more about the free insurance advertising on their website.
Posted: October 25th, 2009 under Uncategorized - No Comments.
Develop a Solid Insurance Agency Referral Program.
Currently there are only two ways a majority of clients search for new insurance. The first approach is going online, the other option is asking their friends. You can find more information about website advertising in my other articles; for this piece of writing I am going to concentrate on the best ways of earning referrals from your existing customer base.
Develop a Structured Referral Plan
If you don’t have an existing referral plan, you have to develop one as soon as possible. This means an established way of paying back clients who refer new business to your agency. Your state limits the amount you may spend on one customer for referring an insurance agency. Whether it is with gift cards, gas cards, or money, my advice is to pay your clients as much and often as possible within the limits of the law. It is the best possible way to spend marketing money. I say this because referred business are without a doubt the best type of new client. They are easier to close because you often already have their respect, and since the majority of people will not send poor risks to your company, they are often better for your profitability. don’t be cheap when it comes to paying clients for referrals; do you think you sell better when your commissions are higher?
Make sure every customer understands your rewards.
Unless every single client within your clientele realizes that you reward referred customers and what you offer, you are not going to see the best results. Never forget to refer to the referral program with each and every helpful client communication you have. In your office, create a very visible display that explains the rewards available for referred clients so no one could come through the office without seeing it. Include information about your reward program in every outgoing piece of mail you send your clients. Update the signature in your email program to explain your referral system in every message you send. Spend time during every insurance discussion and when you write every new policy to explain the referral program. Remember to emphasize the benefits to them of referring business..
Instruct your clientele to send business.
It might sound weird, but you must to instruct your clients how to refer your agency. I have continually alleged that an educated customer is the best client and this certainly is true for referring new business. When you make the time to educate your clients you are not only strengthening your connection with them, you are also giving them the tools to teach others about insurance and discuss the advantages of your agency. While you detect an insurance gap, request the customer to think of others they know that could have the same liability. People are always animated to sound bright to their acquaintances. Additionally, when customers comprehend about all the products and services you give, not only do you initiate the opportunity for cross-sales but your clients are better able to spot needs in other individuals they know and refer your office. Offer your clients specific suggestions about referrals like, “who else in your church group would we be able to assist?”
Furnish Clients the Tools to Refer Your Agency
Frequently the only thing preventing your current customers from referring associates is not possessing your contact information on hand. Encourage every client to enter your phone number into their phone so they can speak to you in the course of an accident. This works fantastic because it creates the impression that your agency will be there for them if they need help, and it lets them to hold on to your phone number everywhere. I also advocate creating little tags with the policy information, your phone number, and the local police and fire phone numbers for them to put on their keys. You could do the same on a wallet sized card. The key is giving clients a way to carry along your contact information all the time without them being aware of it.
Implement Your Insurance Agency Referral Reward Plan
The leading misstep agency owners make about a referral strategy is failure to follow through. If you pronounce you are going to remind every client about referring new business make sure your staff and you do. If a customer mentions who referred them, never forget to mail a thank you card. If you articulate the strategy beginning to end at the start, you will have an easier time following through.
And do not overlook the most imperative rule for referrals - Ask!
Posted: June 21st, 2009 under Uncategorized - 1 Comment.
The 4 Hugest Insurance Agency Marketing Mistakes Ever!
Nothing is more essential to being successful in the insurance game than effective marketing.
Nothing.
If you are amazing at marketing you might succeed, but if you cannot promote your business you will definitely fail. During several years in insurance, I saw uncountable advertising mistakes. Save yourself by avoiding the most popular four.
1 - The first error is failing to plan.
I am perpetually astonished at the quantity of insurance agents who do not properly prepare their advertising plan beforehand. Some insurance agents simply set aside a certain amount of their budget and try to spread it evenly through the year. Responding to sales representatives that meet you is not a smart approach. You really need to take time to make a plan for marketing your agency. Think about your prime customers and allocate your budget based on the different mediums that you think will reach them. If your target customers are retired folks you may use a more traditional approach. If you’re targeting clients with many lines of insurance, you will want to spend a majority of your funds on online advertising.
2 - The second agent error is not tracking the effectiveness of various advertising strategies.
Marketing is constantly changing, and what was successful before may not reach target customers today. You always should perpetually try different methods and if you fail to track your results you will never know what to modify. Make sure to learn how each client of yours contacted your business and invest more resources toward the things that bring customers, and stop paying for the ones that are a waste.
3 - The third mistake is utilyzing former strategies.
I know the previous methods of branding your name no longer work. Insurance Salespeople of the past believed that if they bought marketing all around town, prospects would remember their agency when they shop for insurance and contact the agency. That does not work any more. Moving forward, a person could drive past your billboard twice a day for ten years still use the internet to shop. The intent now is to be the first second or third agency they contact when they are searching for insurance. The place to market is on the web.
4 - The final agent advertising error is not using your customer base.
Some individuals don’t go online for insurance, they consult other people. That is why it is fundamental that you develop a referral program where you reward customers for referring people they know. Ensure each customer knows about it and that they always have your phone number. Ensure this by convincing them to program your phone number into their mobile phone in case they get in an accident.
In order to be successful at advertising, you must be ready to evolve. Properly proportioning your budget from the onset, utilyzing new techniques like using the internet, using your current clients, and keeping track of your results will help you head off all these slips and help you develop customers.
Posted: May 23rd, 2009 under Uncategorized - No Comments.