Top tips in insurance prospecting
Top tips in insurance prospecting | Insurance Business America
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Top tips in insurance prospecting
Looking for ways to build your book of business? Follow these insurance prospecting strategies from industry experts Insurance Business gathered
Effective prospecting is key to a successful career in insurance sales. But in a market where brokers compete for a few qualified leads, this is also the biggest challenge. If you want to have a long and lucrative career in the industry, catching the attention of these potential clients before your competitors do is important.
In this article, Insurance Business highlights five essential insurance prospecting strategies from industry experts that you can use to grow your business.
If you’re new in the industry, this guide can help provide you with ideas on how to attract prospective buyers. If you’re an industry veteran, this piece can give you a fresh take on tried and tested insurance prospecting methods. Scroll down and learn how to prospect for insurance sales just like the experts do.
An effective insurance prospecting strategy is essential for sales professionals battling hard to generate leads and build referral relationships. Some experts believe that you can’t really fail at prospecting unless you just choose not to do it. With the proper steps, you can win over leads consistently.
Here are five essential prospecting tips to help you build your book of business, according to industry experts.
1. Build and nurture human relationships.
In a relationship-oriented industry such as insurance, establishing strong connections with clients is vital to the success of every business.
“Rapport and relationship selling are still very much alive in today’s insurance industry,” said Tim Rooney, former managing partner at consultancy firm Rooney, Earl & Partners (RE&P). “If a potential client likes one broker more than the next, guess who they’re going to buy from.
“It’s a simple equation and it’s something that should really be at the core of every broker’s business strategy. The concept of building really strong relationships and having a high touch communications strategy should help brokers differentiate themselves.”
RE&P was sold in 2022. Rooney has since opened a venture called Won’t Make Butcher, which provides career and leadership development advice. In an interview with Insurance Business, he also stressed that effective insurance prospecting and lead generation is all about people.
“When there’s human interaction, people tend to buy emotionally and rationalize intellectually,” he said. “People buy because they like you. When prospecting new business, if you don’t know how to manage your relationships and present your differentiating qualities, then you’ve got a shortcoming. Schmoozing can’t be done by machines.”
Building meaningful relationships with clients, however, requires a good combination of hard and soft skills.
“You have to be extremely driven, responsive, disciplined and patient,” said Adam Frugoli, vice-president and broker at insurance brokerage firm Leavitt Group. “It takes years to build trust, and it can be wiped away with one bad experience – you’re done, no second chance. Never compromise your integrity or abuse the trust that has been placed in you by the client and the insurer.”
2. Show prospective clients the value that your product brings.
When reaching out to prospective clients, it is important that you can clearly communicate the value of the different insurance products you offer.
Successful brokers can eliminate any jargon and get straight to the point about what differentiates the insurance products and services they’re trying to sell. One way of doing this is to avoid cookie-cutter chatter like “we provide the best customer service” and sell yourself with verifiable facts and examples.
“The products we deal with are sometimes very complex. Insurance is intangible, so it’s even harder to talk about it with clients because it’s not something you can see, touch, or feel. To me, the ultimate broker can simplify the insurance terms so that anybody can understand.”
Rooney added that an effective insurance prospecting strategy involves differentiation.
“A good way for brokers to find success and add value is by focusing on a niche or vertical,” he said. “Rather than trying to be all things to all people, brokers can become the so-called ‘go-to’ people for specific risks in a particular industry.
“They can get involved in a particular business community and build relationships with thought-leaders in those communities. Being known for your specialized knowledge is a great way to differentiate yourself.”
3. Establish a strong referral program.
A referral from a satisfied client is one of the best ways to boost your credibility and promote the quality of your service. But you need a formal system for this strategy to be effective.
A good referral program encourages existing clients to refer you to others through incentives. It also allows policyholders to refer you to others easily. Make it a point to maintain regular communication with clients who recommend prospects from their network. This gives you the opportunity to express gratitude and strengthen your relationships.
It also helps if you can personalize your approach and provide a mutually beneficial program that incentivizes both your existing clients and the new policyholders.
Your customers, however, aren’t the only ones who can refer your services to prospective buyers. You can ask for a referral from people whom you already trust. These include family members, friends, and past colleagues.
Partnering with other professionals who may share a similar clientele can also provide insurance prospecting opportunities. Financial planners, mortgage brokers, and real estate agents are some of the other professionals that you may want to establish a lead-sharing collaboration with.
You can send potential clients to these professionals, and they can do the same for your business in a win-win situation. Your clients may also appreciate your ability to point them to the right professional when the need arises.
In the unfortunate situation that a client cancels their policy, it’s best not to burn bridges. Remind them that they can reach out to you anytime if they need you. Also consider conducting a feedback survey where policyholders can recommend areas for you to improve on.
4. Prepare to overcome objections.
Preparation is key when addressing common prospect objections. Insurance brokers can master the art of handling objections by anticipating concerns and crafting concise responses. As a trusted advisor, you must provide clear and informative responses to typical objections. These include questions about pricing and coverage. Offering flexible solutions can help address different client concerns and allow you to close deals.
If a person’s response is still a resounding no, don’t be discouraged. Remember that objections are part of the insurance sales process. Successful brokers view them as a challenge that gives them the opportunity to show how their products are better than those from industry rivals.
5. Boost your social media presence.
In today’s digital age, social media platforms can serve as a convenient tool for insurance prospecting. The key is knowing how to use these channels the right way.
“Social media sites like LinkedIn can be very useful for starting conversations with new business prospects,” Rooney said. “However, it does take time and effort to manage an effective social media strategy. A broker’s social media needs to be an extension of the value proposition they present in-person in the marketplace.”
LinkedIn offers a great platform to promote yourself as an expert in the field. You can use the professional networking website to share helpful advice and information to help establish your credibility. It also lets you connect with other industry professionals who can assist in your insurance prospecting efforts.
Facebook is another tool for insurance agents and brokers to promote your services, connect with prospective buyers, and get fresh leads.
“Facebook’s unparalleled user base and in-depth information gathering make its targeting capabilities one of the most powerful marketing tools available to the public today,” said Kirk Faulkner, a content marketing strategist.
“Content that finds an audience on Facebook has the potential to create a huge amount of business. The key is to keep working to find what content resonates with an audience and then to use the targeting capabilities to get that content in front of that group as often as possible.”
One Facebook feature that can benefit your insurance prospecting efforts is paid advertising. This feature allows you to reach potential clients based on a range of metrics, including interests and purchasing behavior. You can also access tools that can enable you to track the performance of your ads.
“Targeted marketing via Facebook is an incredibly powerful tool, which can often result in the development of new audiences that would have never been exposed to your brand,” Faulkner said. “Post content, look to see the impressions and engagements each piece gets.
“Figure out which posts are in the top 20% of your content and spend more time and money boosting their reach further. The key is to continually develop your content so that your key audiences find it valuable and shareable.”
Among the quickest and simplest ways to do prospecting in insurance is to use company-provided and third-party generated leads. The drawback, however, is that these leads aren’t exclusive, meaning you must compete with other brokers to close sales.
Here’s a summary of the other insurance prospecting methods you can use:
Cold calling
Cold calling requires you to give a sales pitch to people you haven’t had any prior contact with. This is one of the oldest and cheapest methods of finding potential clients. Winning prospective buyers this way can take plenty of your time and effort. But if you’re confident in your telemarketing skills, cold calling could work for you.
Social media
Social media platforms such as Facebook and LinkedIn can give you access to prospective buyers, but you must be adept in using its different tools and functions. As a professional networking website, LinkedIn can help build your credibility as a trusted industry expert. This can help you attract new clients.
Referrals
A satisfied client may refer your business to another person. Referrals cost little but you can’t merely hope for a referral to get insurance leads as they may come few and far between. To reap the benefits of this insurance prospecting strategy, you must have a good system in place.
Websites and search engine optimization (SEO)
A website that clearly details your credentials and describes the products you sell is one of the most effective ways to establish trust with potential buyers. Coupled with sound SEO practices , your website can rank higher in search engines. This strategy, however, can be time-consuming and without the right SEO know-how, you may need expert help.
Lead aggregators
Aggregators purchase leads and resell them rather than generating them as lead generators do. Leads from aggregators are less expensive, allowing you to purchase large lists. These leads, however, have a high share rate and are often not delivered in real time. This means that the prospects on these lists may have already been contacted by several insurance agents and brokers. Some may have already bought an insurance policy.
Having a role model to tailor your sales approach from is also vital in helping you succeed in insurance prospecting. If you’re looking for one, our Best Insurance Professionals and Brokers Worldwide | Global 100 special report can help. These industry professionals were handpicked by their peers and vetted by our panel of experts as trusted and dependable market leaders.
Take the time to learn more about these talented professionals. Find out how they rose through the ranks to become the most respected players in the insurance industry.
Do you have any insurance prospecting tips that you want to share? Let us know in the comments.
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