Other than asking for referrals, approaching existing clients to ask about additional lines of business they may need is probably the most underutilized opportunities I see when working with insurance agents. Most of the time they see the value for both the agency as well as the client but feel like they are coming off “salesy”. The lack of desire to leave their comfort zone combined with the fear of hurting a relationship leaves this critical component of customer service unacted upon.
Before we jump in, I will reiterate what we all know, which is that writing all of the insurance for a client is in their best interest. For every reason from price to protection to service, there is virtually no drawback to having all of the insurance possible with one agency. As long as we believe this, we can start to look at our approach. Knowing we are doing what is right for our client we can take a service approach to selling if we follow this definition of good service: Providing the client what they need not just what they ask for.
The approach we take at Agency Performance Partners is fairly simple. There are three parts:
● Because you have…
● We recommend…
● What this means for you is…
Because You Have
As part of our AppX Retention program, we utilize a pre-call checklist to identify the likely additional line of business. Whether this is a planned proactive call or an inbound call, the first step is to identify what line of business you are going to identify to the client as something that you believe they should consider. Once you identify the policy type, determine the risk that you can use in an example of why they need that policy. Make it personal and unique to them so they can see the risk and the value in the solution you are providing.
For example, if you have an auto and home client and you want them to consider an umbrella, what is the personal reason this should be considered by this individual. Do they have a dog, pool, youthful driver, etc? Although everyone should have an umbrella, people will only consider it if they can see their own risk. Having some examples of claims scenarios can also be helpful when telling the story as to why an umbrella is necessary.
“Because you have a pool…”
We Recommend
We’ve already identified the product when we were reviewing the account, so this is the easy part. (I know some agents don’t like to use the word “recommend” due to E&O so replace that with whatever you use – “you should consider” is a good replacement.) Here we are going to simply state the product. We are not going to go into a big explanation.
“…we recommend an umbrella policy.”
What This Means For You
Many people don’t understand their risks or the solutions that can be provided. We identified the risk in the “Because you have” introduction. We now want them to understand the solution we have provided. We are not going to go into a long explanation, just show them in our example what they would be receiving. We may need to do further explaining later in the process, but in creating the opportunity, we want to keep it simple.
“What this means for you is that if someone slips and falls you would have an additional $1 million dollars of liability protection.”
Bringing It All Together
This all should happen very conversationally. Often it helps to set it up early in the call when helping with the service issue or doing the review. For example, you can say “after we take care of this issue, I have one quick thing I want to review with you that I noticed on your account”. Then later you can come back to this using our script above. “I had mentioned that I wanted to review one thing with you before we get off this call.” We want to end with an estimated premium (using monthly figures), definite next steps, and a specific ask for the business that drives a decision.
“Because you have a pool, we recommend an umbrella policy. What this means for you is that if someone slips and falls you would have an additional $1 million dollars of liability protection. Without this coverage, you would still owe the money if found liable and they can take assets or even garnish your future wages. For $10-$15 per month I can get this coverage added to your homeowner policy. I can get the application put together in the next 30 minutes. Would you like me to email it to you for you to print and sign or would it be easier for you if I set it up to be electronically signed?
It’s that easy. Keep it nice and simple and don’t leave it up to the client to identify their risks or determine the solution. That is your responsibility!
