When you want to increase profits in your agency there are two big options, right?
- Find New Clients
- Increase Retention
But there is one way that is hiding in between these two. You want to not just hold on to your current client, but increase how much revenue you receive from each of them in the process.
Let’s say you have Client A and he has just a $600 auto policy (assuming he has one renewal and you make 10% commission), you’re going to earn about $120 a year from that client.
Now you can go out and spend money on internet leads or direct mail and try to attract another client around that value OR you could spend almost nothing and try to cross sell the current client into another policy!
We’ve all heard that statistics that clients with multiple policies retain longer. Plus, they already know you and you have the added benefit of offering a multi-line discount at the same time (which gives them incentive to take action!)
I always liked to start with homeowners policies that have no auto. They had the biggest “WOW” discount that seemed to really get a customer’s attention. (Who says no when you call and ask if they want to save $400?) Plus, if you could get close on the auto, the home discount more than made up for it.
Run an audit of your homes with no auto and make a marketing plan. Have a staff member go through and calculate the discount for each one first. Then send a postcard with the discount on it….
“Hi Mrs. Smith,
We were just reviewing your policy and discovered that you could save an additional $256 a year on your home insurance if you had your auto insurance with our agency as well!
We would love to give you a quote and get this discount applied immediately. Please give me a call at XXX-XXXX so we can get started.
Sincerely,
Agent Phone Number”
Simple as that! Remember to have the card signed with your name for branding purposes even if you aren’t going to be writing them or following up.
Mail the postcards and give them about 5 days to get the card and call. If you don’t hear from them, start calling! You can have your staff do this too. Just write out a small script.
Example:
“Hi Mrs. Smith! This is Robyn calling from the Bob Smith Insurance Agency. Bob sent you a card in the mail last week about an additional discount on your homeowner’s insurance that you weren’t receiving. Did you receive the card?”
Tell them how much they can save and that you only need a couple of pieces of information in order to run a quote.
One big key is to make sure that you approach these cross sell’s from the perspective of helping your client. When they feel that you are looking out for their best interest, they’ll feel more loyal to your agency and more apt to move all of their insurance!
Start with homeowners and then move on to cross selling auto insurance and then additional lines (like a personal umbrella, renters policy, etc.)
You could run this campaign annually, every 6 months, or break it down and just work a few every month to keep it steady.
This is an easy way to increase your revenue without spending a lot of money on marketing!
