It used to be that specializing in one line of insurance over others was the way to go. When someone wanted a good auto insurance guy they called Steve. When they wanted homeowners, they knew Kevin was their man and that Jill specialized in commercial sales. And who would’ve ever thought about selling life insurance and auto insurance policies at the same time? Well, things have changed tremendously. The insurance industry has become very competitive and it’s hard to get the kinds of sales you’re hoping for by restricting yourself to one vertical alone. One way to get ahead is to become a generalist. Let us explain.
1. Get All Your Licenses
Yes, the exams for all these different types of insurance are not exactly fun to take, but they are good for business if you’re trying to grow yours. Licenses to sell all verticals of insurance product is exactly what you need if you don’t want to cap your income. If you go to your state’s Department of Insurance page, you’ll see the various licenses you can get to sell various kinds of insurance. Becoming, say, a bail agent or cargo shipper’s agent may not be what you are looking for, but you’ll want to consider general licenses for health, life, auto, homeowners, renters and commercial insurance. Look into the following insurance licenses: Accident and Health, Life, Property and Casualty and Commercial insurance. Give yourself a quick break between getting each license but don’t get lazy or else you may just not follow through. If you’re still in college but are pretty much decided that selling insurance is what you want to do, use the relative freedom you have as a student and get all of your licensing out of the way before you graduate.
2. How to Cross Sell Insurance
Start Small, Go Big. Start by buying renters insurance leads from a reliable source like SmartFinancial. No one ever became rich selling renters insurance but if you maintain a healthy relationship with your client, you’ll be in the loop when (s)he starts looking to buy a house. The commission on a home insurance policy is much more profitable than renters one for sure. Also, most first-time homebuyers get roped into a policy without even knowing it. Their mortgage lender just pushes one through along with the mortgage. Not necessarily the best policy on the market, this homeowners policy usually has a bloated pricetag. Your client will be relieved when you save the day by presenting other, more affordable options. Also, don’t forget that this client probably has at least 1 car but more likely 2+ cars in his/her household, so there you go. You now have a homeowners insurance policy and 2+ auto insurance policies, which all started with a renters policy that cost your client about $14 a month! Never underestimate a small policy. The same goes for a yoga instructor who has a small general liability policy just in case a client sues her. She may only be paying $50 a month for a very basic insurance policy, but she may be the owner of a studio in less than 5 years and paying for a $400 a month policy. See, patience and relationship building are the keys to success in these scenarios.
Go Big, Go Small. Go ahead. Go for it! Why not focus only on commercial insurance sales by buying commercial insurance leads? These types of policies are usually more expensive and therefore more profitable. You can then work your way down. What business owner does not own a home or car? What about that business owner’s RV, health insurance, group health insurance, etc.? Where are they getting these insurance products from? Well, hopefully you! The tip here is to get involved in your clients’ lives. You don’t have to gossip about Aunt Mable, but you can let them know that there are all sorts of hidden discounts when you combine all your policies or bundle them all with one carrier. Sometimes, if your clients have some very profitable policies, you can work with the carrier to give them a loyalty discount which would ensure that they stay for quite a while if not forever!
Ghost Your Clients. The term ghosting started when people started to notice that their exes were still checking out their social media accounts. Yes, that’s exactly what we meant to say, so start ghosting lost clients and strategize some winbacks (especially with the pricier accounts). You can also ghost existing clients to cull important information about them. Yes, your homeowners insurance client has a boat, as you can see from the vacation photos on Facebook. Who’s insuring that boat, which is technically considered an RV? And what about his mother, who probably needs a Medicare-supplement plan? What you are doing by stalking your clientele is generating leads for your business.
3. Cross Selling Strategies in Insurance
You don’t have to be aggressive to win. You just have to be around. Seriously, all you need to do is check in with your people and aggressively monitor your social media feeds regularly. These feeds will keep you abreast of births (life insurance, health insurance), wedding announcements (yes, wedding insurance), new pets (pet insurance) and new cars (auto insurance; multi-policy discounts), new homes (homeowners insurance), additions to homes (homeowners insurance adjustments to cover the new value of the house), a new business (business insurance) and so on. Make friends with your clients -- really. And stay tuned in to them on LinkedIn too. Too many insurance agents overlook LinkedIn and lose business commercial leads this way!
4. Who Doesn’t Need an Umbrella When it Rains?
While most people don’t understand what umbrella insurance is and they don’t understand how relatively expensive it is, you may want to tailor a very easy-to-understand fact sheet about this form of protection so that your clients have a good grasp of what it is they’re either buying or rejecting. You can either send this factsheet to all your clients from you email list or you can tailor each email you send out based on that client’s profile. This second way of doing it is much more useful to the client and it does your selling for you. If you don’t get specific about its relevance to your client’s life, you may just get your email may not hook them.
Good luck to you in all your endeavors. No matter which method suits you, you’ll need the best insurance leads to gain leverage over your competition. We’re here to help, so visit us here. Or call us: 877.323.7750.
