27 Aug 3 Useful Strategies For Building Relationships With Your Clients

Over the last few weeks, we’ve been focusing on different ways that agents can effectively convert more prospects into policies and use technology to optimize their performance. Expanding on those ideas, we’ll be shifting focus towards the process of building relationships with your customers and going beyond the call of duty. As an auto or home insurance agent, you want clients to be loyal, low-maintenance, and easy-to work-with, but how do you get there?

Taking us through the process today is Arpi Khanpapyan, a dedicated specialist at ZipQuote who carries a wealth of knowledge about working with agents.

Lead With An Invitation

It’s easy to get stuck in a sales-oriented mindset. While being focused on your business goals is always a good thing, hard-selling your product from the opening syllable is not always the most inviting way to get people listening to you.

Keep the following in mind when you make your opening phone call to a lead: the person on the other end of the line is looking for a quote. Since we only sell high-intent, internally generated leads, this means the person you are contacting has expressed an interest in receiving quotes; your job now should be to help them choose your particular quote.

Whether it’s through conversation or in a voice message, let the person know that you are reaching out to provide quote options. Leave a friendly, warm message informing them that you’re sending a first draft, and would like to assist them in their search. Email them a general quote and make yourself available for questions. Be prepared to listen to what they’re looking for, so that you can tailor a policy they’ll use. This might even lead to an upsell opportunity, if they’re looking to bundle home and auto insurance.

We realize that not everyone wants to be best buddies with their insurance agent, but building a friendly rapport and earning trust is a good way to lay the foundation for a sound working relationship.  

Offer Referral and Renewal Rewards

Reward your clients for any referral business they bring in. You can offer a 10% discount, $100 off their policy or a simple gift card for any new business they generate. Part of this is good for retention purposes and general customer loyalty, but it’s also a positive way to create avenues to reach back out to your clients. If you get a referral from a client you haven’t spoken to in a few months, there’s a nice opportunity to open the lines of communication with a phone call to thank them and help reestablish your initial connection.

Build A Personal Brand Within The Community

Personalize every touch-point between yourself, your clients and the community. This starts with looking at the various ways you interact with people and developing a specialized strategy around each one. For context, let’s look at a few examples.

Email: When you’re reaching out to prospects, there’s nothing wrong with using a pre-written script, so long as you personalize it. Nobody wants a robotic email that lacks the voice and personality of an actual person. It doesn’t have to be emotive literature, but adding a personal touch goes a long way towards making your email stand out from the pack of promotional material that winds up in the average inbox.

Additionally, create a personalized email signature that says something about yourself and your business. Be sure to include a good photo of yourself, which makes you recognizable to people in your market area. This also helps to reassure your client that they have a real person they can talk to and trust with their policy.

Mailers: Create a mailer that you can see people putting on their fridge or notice board. Again, use a good photo of yourself (hire a photographer if you can) and work on the messaging, so that anyone who reads it gets to know something about you.

Static Messaging: It’s a good idea to leave a stack of your business cards at any organization, business or community event where your brand would be applicable. Think about car washes or auto supply stores for auto insurance or a realtor’s office for home insurance.

Social Media: Being an insurance agent is one of those jobs where there is a thin line separating your personal from your professional life. Your job requires you to talk to people and get to know their needs. Being active and targeted about how you interact on Facebook and Twitter can both serve your brand and showcase the type of person you are, which has the potential to build trust and referrals from your peers.
There’s a lot to be said about how to build relationships with your best customers and turn them into advocates for your personal brand. Ultimately, it boils down to people skills and maintaining good, productive lines of communication. If there is a topic you’d like to know more about, drop us a line on sales@zipquote.com