Author: Al Diamond
We often espouse building relationships and maintaining those relationships between the agency and its clients as the best method of securing high client retention levels. Assuming appropriate customer service levels, no hefty rate increases and proper claims handling as needed, your customers have no reason to leave you unless they forget you.
This is not as far-fetched as it may seem.
Most agents pursue prospects with a passion as long as the prospect appears to be positive and amenable to working with the agency. However, most agents also forget about the client after the policies have been issued and checked and the premium is paid. The next time they think about the client is when the renewal is on the horizon IF changes are needed in the coverage.
Unfortunately, the most common phrase in our lexicon for renewals is “Renew As Is" with no more than a cursory review (in house- without the client's participation) of the expiring policy.
All of the promises about on-going reviews of the clients' other lines of business and frequent visit opportunities are forgotten as small and large opportunities and crises arise to draw out attention away from our current clients during the working year.
But if you want to know how the most successful agents grow their client base, I'll let you in on their deep secret – THEY COMMUNICATE WITH THEIR CLIENTS — FREQUENTLY!! THE BEST AGENTS IN THE COUNTRY WILL NEVER LET THEIR CLIENTS FORGET WHO THEY ARE AND HOW VALUABLE THEY ARE FOR THE CLIENTS.
You need to do the same to assure controllable customer retention rates approaching 100%.
There are two forms of customer retention, controllable and uncontrollable. You have no control over death, retirement, and business combinations. Some of your clients will pass, others will move away and others will sell their businesses every year. However, most clients who simply stop paying their premiums, especially commercial clients, do not simply decide to operate without the protection of property or casualty insurance coverage. They CHOOSE to leave for another opportunity because of the advertising, marketing or personal contact made by other insurance entities while you were spending your time selling to new clients, doing clerical as service-related tasks or worrying about the overall state of your agency.
NO ONE EVER BUILDS RELATIONSHIPS FROM INSIDE YOUR AGENCY'S OFFICE!
Spend much more time outside your office with clients or with prospects than in your office handling paper. Count on your service staff to actually “service" your clients instead of acting as a message-taker requiring your time after they have spoken to your customers. And create and implement marketing methods to keep your name and value fresh in the minds of your clients at least four or five times every year besides your renewal visits.
Agency Consulting Group, Inc.'s relationship management program, The Asset Protection Model of Relationship Selling emphasizes multiple sales calls to prospects every year for three years as the best familiarization program for creating new clients. Our commercial selling program provides for four to five visits PER YEAR to establish and build personal relationships with new prospects.
But we don't stop when the premium is paid and the client is ours!
After the sale, we institute additional marketing visits to analyze and review EVERY type of exposure for which the client is facing insurable risk (personal lines, other commercial lines, life insurance, health insurance, disability protection, Long Term Care, etc). These visits (pre-planned and scheduled) gives you the opportunity to get to know the client and his family and business associates and further places you in the client's circle of advisors. Done properly, the client will not do anything that is risk-subject without contacting you. You become like his family doctor.
But, along with personal visits, you must also use automation and social media to keep your identity fresh with your clients. Greeting cards have gone digital and is an excellent way to remember your clients on their birthdays, anniversaries and other special occasions. This reminds us to always get special dates for clients and their families for this purpose as well as to know their vital statistics for life insurance and other purposes.
There are hundreds of ways to communicate with clients. The reason to do so is because you promised them that you were DIFFERENT and would be a valuable resource for them, now and in the future. It's time to live up to those promises. Once your mechanize the process your CSRs and admin employees can manage the process for you to further leverage your time.
Call us 856 779 2430 if you have questions or would like help in establishing your Communications Program. It is the core of both your Cross-Sell and your Referral programs that add dollars to your bottom line and assure that you are properly protecting all of your clients.
Reprinted from The PIPELINE, the national newsletter for agency principals. The PIPELINE is published by Agency Consulting Group, Inc., a leading consulting firm for independent agents in the U.S. for over 35 years. Call 800-779-2430, E-mail info@agencyconsulting.com, or visit www.agencyconsulting.com for information about the content of this article or PIPELINE subscription information.
Last Updated: December 21, 2018