Overview:
Competitive insurance rates, friendly customer service and knowledgeable agents are the cornerstones of Cross Insurance Agency. They work with only the best regional and national carriers to provide their neighbors in Washington state with insurance to meet all their needs. Their desire as an agency is to continue to grow and be able to adjust with the changes the insurance industry throws at them. They value their customers above all else.
Location:
Cross Insurance has six locations in the state of Washington: Centralia, Marysville, Olympia, Port Angeles, Tacoma and Vancouver.
Name of President:
Andrew Cross has been the owner and CEO of Cross Insurance Agency since 1998.
Number of Team Members:
Twenty team members participated in the AppX Retention program.
Types of Insurance Sold:
Cross Insurance specializes in small to medium size commercial business and personal home, auto and life insurance.
Reason Why They Purchased:
After the Agency Assessment that Agency Performance Partners performed for Cross Insurance, Kelly Donahue-Piro and Andrew Cross realized that the agency needed a plan to reduce remarketing, increase retention and cross-sell insurance.
AppX Retention Overview
Employing AppX Retention training for your team has been proven to increase client retention, account rounds and remarketing numbers. This six-month program will encourage everyone to be on the same page with being proactive in calling clients annually to review their accounts. It will also train agents to ensure thorough documentation and work to increase referrals and account coverage, all while boosting retention and decreasing workload. These training workshops and bi-weekly calls will teach your team to be in better control of client communication and reduce the number of re-shops, inbound calls, complaints and questions. Additionally, annual client calls personalize the insurance relationship, fostering trust and loyalty. Let AppX Retention show you the difference a great retention rate makes to your overall business. Learn more about how AppX Retention has improved retention rates, decreased remarketing and increased coverage numbers for its clients here: https://www.agencyperformancepartners.com/services/appx-retention/
AppX Retention will provide you with the following once you’ve signed on to the program:
- Training
- Two Onsite Training Days
- Designed Content
- Interactive Session
- Tracking
- Bi-Weekly Tracking
- Tools
- Scripts
- Role-playing
- Worksheets
- Coaching
- Bi-Weekly Coaching Calls
- Workbook
- Plan of Attack
Results
The agents at Cross Insurance worked very hard through the duration of the AppX Retention program and achieved some ridiculously amazing results! Check out these impressive numbers:
- The team achieved 508 coverage increases!
- The team completed 2,269 account reviews in the six months of the program.
- 78% of attempts to review a client’s account with them were successful.
- 48% of the account rounds the team quoted resulted in a sale.
- Their remarket quote to remarket success rate was 85%.
Team Feedback
Initial Responses:
Most of the agents were excited about starting the AppX Retention program, but a few were wary of time management issues. Seven of the nine agents who completed our survey stated that they were excited about trying something that could improve the client’s experience. Time management was an understandable concern, with four of the agents saying they thought they wouldn’t have time to incorporate the new process into their day.
How They Felt a Few Weeks Later:
The responses after a few weeks of employing the program were very positive. Agents noted finding more opportunities for increasing coverage and account rounding, that they were remarketing less frequently and that they were receiving fewer inbound calls from upset clients. Five agents noted that time management got easier once they had a few weeks to practice making the renewal calls. All but one agent thought they were providing their clients with better service by using a proactive rather than a reactive process.
What Was the Hardest Part?
Most of the survey responses about the hardest part of the AppX Retention process revolved around common fears regarding change and stepping out of your comfort zone. Starting a new process is always scary, and for agents who have for years used a reactive method for servicing clients, switching to a proactive method can cause some discomfort. The agents at Cross Insurance responded admirably to their discomfort though. They outlasted the suck and are now providing better service than ever to their clients.
- “Stepping out of my comfort zone.”
- “Change, changing my ways. After doing it for a few weeks it got easier and easier.”
- “Fear of the unknown.”
- “Getting over the fear of picking up the phone and calling our clients.”
What Was the Best Part?
The team at Cross Insurance quickly began to see the positive results of the AppX Retention process for the agency, their clients and for themselves as a team. They were better educating their clients about problems with their insurance, they were improving retention, and they began working more efficiently together as a team.
- “Having a process that everyone understands and will follow. At that point everyone knows what is expected of each other, and we can begin to work together as a team.”
- “Higher retention, because the clients have more communication and trust in us.”
- “Finding legitimate coverage problems, valuation problems and opportunity to educate clients.”
Recommendations to Other Agents Starting the Program:
The team at Cross Insurance had some great advice about time management, keeping a positive attitude and maintaining good communication with your team.
- “Go with the flow. Everything is 100% easier if you take each step with a positive attitude and an open mind.”
- “Don’t pre-underwrite. I know you want to. We all want to call prepared. However, you can spend all that time and never get a hold of them.”
- “This is an excellent program/plan. Follow through with it, communicate with your co-workers, raising your hand does not mean you have failed!”
Thoughts About Working with the Agency Performance Partners Team:
The team at Cross Insurance loved working with Kelly Donahue-Piro and appreciated her help getting them through the difficult first few weeks of the AppX Retention program.
- “I am beyond grateful to Kelly and the team for all the resources, laughter, suggestions, talks, encouragement and everything else you did to help us get past the suck. So grateful for you!”
- “Very good program. Teaches you how to communicate with your clients on renewals and better protect them.”
- “Kelly is awesome. She has put together a great program that any agency will benefit from and she is there to work with you through the ‘suck’ and get to the other end of the tunnel so you can enjoy the rainbow.”
Thoughts from Cross Insurance’s Team at the Completion of AppX Retention
- “Once I changed my operations to proactive versus reactive, I was able to build the client/agent relationship stronger which will lead to more referrals.”
- “It was an overall eye-opening experience that helped me grow as an agent.”
- “Restoring the connections with those clients you hadn’t talked with for ages and the way clients respond to you [is the best part of the new process]. You think you are bothering them, but they really appreciate you being proactive. It also makes it so you have a lot less angry clients as they aren’t caught off guard and they have already talked with you.”
- “Give yourself time and breathe. It’s a lot at first, but it’s worth it. Clients appreciate it more than I can express.”
