The Importance of Online Referrals

August 13, 2010 – 2:39 pm

   You may have noticed that more and more businesspeople are touting what customers and others are saying about them online — on Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, Yahoo! Local and other sites. One thing you can do to be aware of what people are saying about your agency is to set up a Google Alert, which sends a daily e-mail to your inbox listing all the mentions of you online in a given day, based on a Google search. Keeping up with online comments gives you a good idea of what customers think about you and your agency, as well as what you could be doing better.

   It’s a good idea to direct your customers, especially those who you interact with via social networking sites, to leave feedback on those sites and others. That way, when someone searches for the type of insurance you sell on Google, not only will you be one of the top results, you’ll also be one of the highest-rated. People put a lot of stock in those ratings.

   Yelp and other sites offer stickers and flyers that give you the chance to promote what people are saying about you online. A sticker in your window can do a lot to direct customers and potential customers to the good things people are saying about you online.

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Insurance Leads | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

4 More Tips For When a Customer Calls You

August 12, 2010 – 4:09 pm

   Explain how you can help. Once the customer has given you the rundown of what they’re looking for, they’ll be expecting you to, just as quickly, let them know what you can offer them. It’s important to be so familiar with your policies that you can spout off details and benefits on the fly.

   Relate to the customer. If possible, find something you have in common with the customer. Maybe you both grew up in the same town, or you drive the same type of car. Finding something in common will allow you to deepen your relationship with the customer and make them feel more comfortable around you.

   Make sure they understand the basics. The customer is calling you for a quote. Before you can provide one, you should make sure they understand what factors affected the price of the quote and how the type of insurance policy they seek works. That way the customer better understands what they would be paying for, and will be more inclined to close the sale.

   Tell the customer about your company. When providing customers with a quote, they should have an understanding of just what makes your insurance agency better than the rest. Make sure the customer knows what they can expect from you and the agency (i.e. great customer service, 24-hour assistance, easy claims process, etc).

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Selling Tips | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

3 Tips for When a Customer Calls You

August 11, 2010 – 2:03 pm

If you get a phone call from a customer wanting to talk about a policy, you need to be ready for it. Here are some tips to avoid being caught off-guard:

Keep a notepad nearby. Nearly every customer contacting you for a quote will be an unexpected call. So keep a notepad and pen handy at all times (i.e. by the phone, at your desk). That way you will be able to jot down notes about the customer and their insurance needs, and will be able to use those for your follow-up call.

Be professional. A customer may call you anytime and anyplace seeking an insurance quote. Whether you’re in the middle of a stressful assignment or taking a coffee break, you want to come across as ready to do business when a customer calls. If you can’t achieve this, don’t answer. You’ll lose their business. Instead, call the customer when you are more collected.

Listen well. A customer calling you may or may not know exactly what they want or need regarding their insurance. Listen to what they have to say. Some will know exactly what they want; others may only have a very general idea. Respond to the needs they list, and anticipate ones they may not have thought of but may apply to them. Also, avoid cutting customers off while they are speaking. It sends the message that you don’t respect
what they have to say, and you’re also stopping them from saying something that may affect the entire sale.

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Insurance Leads, Selling Tips | Tagged , , , | Leave a Comment

3 Reasons Your Customers Want You to Use Social Networking

August 10, 2010 – 2:43 pm

Your customers want you to join social networking sites. Why? Because, in a lot of cases, that’s where they already are. It’s a place they feel comfortable talking about things. And for these reasons:

The feeling they are being heard. Customers want to know that businesses are attentive to them and their personal needs. Social networks give them the opportunity to directly make their needs known.

Convenience. Rather than having to go to an office or pick up the phone and deal with an automated system, a customer can now go to the social media site which they most often use to have an exchange with service providers.

Mutual respect. Businesspeople succeed on the Web if they respect and treat their customers as human beings. Customers are becoming more and more used to that sort of treatment online.

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Social Media | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment

12 Common Objections #12: “I’m Overwhelmed with Options”

August 9, 2010 – 2:08 pm

Put yourself in a customer’s shoes. They fill out a form online and all of a sudden they’ve gotten five phone calls from insurance agents looking to sell them something. How can you tell them apart? What if you choose the wrong one?

As the agent, you should let the customer know you can relate to what it feels like to get information overload. Tell him or her how frustrating it can be when there are so many options and no one to trust to help walk through them. You need to connect on a personal level and tell the customer you can be the person to help him or her through the process.

Start off by trying to get the customer to list his or her goals and worries in as simple a way as possible. Get them to throw out a few really quick ideas about what they want to accomplish with the policy. Does the customer want to protect his or her health, family, home, car, something else? Narrow it down to the core concerns.

Next let them know you will be laying out some basic options about what you have in mind for him or her. Nothing too specific, try to be very general. Ask the customer which one sounds like what they are looking for and only then do you start to explain that policy in more detail.

Let the customer know you’re someone who can be trusted by using customer testimonials, awards, association memberships and online reviews.

Lastly, make sure you establish why you are a different than most agents and what makes your agency the right choice. You probably have some great little pitch about why your agency is special; this is the time to use it.

Previous Articles

12 Common Objections #1: “I Can’t Afford It”

12 Common Objections #2: “I Need To Think It Over”

12 Common Objections #3: “I want to shop around.”

12 Common Objections #4: “I Need More Information”

12 Common Objections #5: “I’ll Stick With My Current Provider”

12 Common Objections #6: “I’ve Never Heard of You”

12 Common Objections #7: “I Hear Bad Things About Insurance Companies”

12 Common Objections #8: “I Don’t Need Insurance”

12 Common Objections #9: “I’m Too Busy”

12 Common Objections #10: “I’m Just Not Interested, I Don’t Need a New Policy”

12 Common Objections #11: “I Need To Talk To Someone”

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Selling Tips | Tagged , , | Leave a Comment

12 Common Objections #11: “I Need To Talk To Someone”

August 5, 2010 – 2:18 pm

Occasionally customers will tell you that before they can make decisions about big investments like an insurance policy, they need to consult their husband/wife, attorney, financial advisor, other family members or someone else.

So let them. But try to get the consultation to happen in your office. For instance, if the person wants to talk to his or her spouse, see if you can get both of them in your office at the same time or on a conference call. Same goes for advisers. Tell the customer to bring that person into the office or to give you a call so you can go over everything together.

Once you get the group together, review the policy with them and try to set up a follow- up conference call later.

The key to this objection is to always try to get all the parties involved into a meeting. Keep in mind, you are walk­ing in front the firing squad here and they are going to grill you on every aspect of the policy. So you need to know you answers inside and out and you absolutely must tell the truth. Stick to the facts.

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Selling Tips | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

12 Common Objections #10: “I’m Just Not Interested, I Don’t Need a New Policy”

August 4, 2010 – 3:51 pm

Despite the fact that the customer was interested enough to talk to you and maybe even shop for insurance online, there’s a chance he or she will tell you this once you’ve gotten through your presentation. In most cases, this means the customer doesn’t see how your policy offers more value than the one he or she has, based on what you’ve shown him or her.

One way to deal with it is to offer to change the policy around to make it more enticing to the customer. You could lower the deductible or change the coverage until you hit the sweet spot where the perceived value and price match up.

A fun technique for this objection is to ask a really specific question that the customer might not know the answer to off the top of his or her head: “Does your policy have (really specific feature)?” A lot of the time you will find the customer says, “I’m not sure what that is.” or “What does that mean?” The key is to get your foot in the door and get them to continue to keep talking. If they don’t want to keep talking you can at least try to setup a follow-up call or an appointment later.

If the customer is totally uninterested and currently has a policy, you could also tell him or her it’s a great time for a policy review. Ask if they will go over some of the details of their policy with you so you can help them find any potential problems with their existing policy. Maybe there is something really important missing and there is a big gap in their coverage. Help them find it.

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Selling Tips | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

12 Common Objections #9: “I’m Too Busy”

August 3, 2010 – 12:35 pm

Of all the objections you might hear, this one is one of the most preferable, because it’s not about the policy you’re selling or you, per se, but it’s simply about the customer’s schedule.

So how do you deal with it? Simply work with that schedule.

Ask, “When would be a better time to call back/contact you?” Make yourself available to be able to talk to that customer within that time frame. Bend over backwards to accommodate your customer.

If you want to be more aggressive, try to get them to continue by saying it will only take a few minutes. Stress that you know how valuable their time is and that you will make it as quick as possible for them.

If you get any kind of pushback, stop pushing, and just ask what would be a good time to start the conversation where you left off.

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Homeowners Insurance | Comments (1)

12 Common Objections #8: “I Don’t Need Insurance”

July 30, 2010 – 2:26 pm

   Sometimes you’ll come across a customer, especially younger ones who have maybe never been in a bad accident or had something catastrophic happen in their lives, who tells you that insurance isn’t worth the cost and that he or she will probably never need it.

   Before you jump in with the reasons why it is a good idea, get him or her explain why they feel it’s not necessary. Let them talk without interruption so they have the chance lay out all the various reasons they have. Then based on everything you heard raise concerns that are valid to them.

   Then ask the customer picture what it would be like to have a major loss. Put them in a difficult mental scenario and get them thinking about how big the loss would be. Ask, “If you had a loss like that, how would you end up paying for it?” Tell the customer that the policies you sell can keep him or her from having to start over from scratch. Bring up war stories of really terrible insurance claims that you have seen yourself or that you know of. Make sure they are true stories and verifiable; never make anything up.

   Also, stress no one thinks insurance is a necessity until they actually need it. People typically wait until it’s too late to start thinking about getting the coverage they need.

Previous Articles

12 Common Objections #1: “I Can’t Afford It”

12 Common Objections #2: “I Need To Think It Over”

12 Common Objections #3: “I want to shop around.”

12 Common Objections #4: “I Need More Information”

12 Common Objections #5: “I’ll Stick With My Current Provider”

12 Common Objections #6: “I’ve Never Heard of You”

12 Common Objections #7: “I Hear Bad Things About Insurance Companies”

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Homeowners Insurance | Comments (1)

12 Common Objections #7: “I Hear Bad Things About Insurance Companies”

July 29, 2010 – 2:26 pm

There has been some bad press for insurance companies over the past several years in the news. And it’s led some people to doubt the industry as a whole. For others, bad experiences for family and friends have raised suspicions.

If one of your customers raises those doubts, ask what he or she has heard. Ask if the customer had a bad experience with that company or know someone who has. Is it something they simply heard or did they verify it? Ask them specifically why they feel that way.

Isolate what the real problem is by repeating back their objection and asking if there was anything else that bothered them as well. If they run out of things to list, then you have narrowed down what their real objection is and you can start to work with it. If it’s a fear of the industry in general, explain that yes, bad apples do exist in the industry and that doesn’t mean that all agents are bad and the entire industry is bad. As we mentioned before, use testimonials and memberships in associations to show your trustworthiness.

Show the customer that you won’t steer them wrong, and that customer will stick with you.

Previous Articles

12 Common Objections #1: “I Can’t Afford It”

12 Common Objections #2: “I Need To Think It Over”

12 Common Objections #3: “I want to shop around.”

12 Common Objections #4: “I Need More Information”

12 Common Objections #5: “I’ll Stick With My Current Provider”

12 Common Objections #6: “I’ve Never Heard of You”

By iambrettpayne | Posted in Homeowners Insurance | Comments (2)