Is your agency struggling with price sensitive clients? We probably all are to some degree. However, there are some items we can all do to convert price into value at every desk in an agency. It’s a great time to evaluate if we are adding gasoline to the fire or bringing the water to the argument on the importance of price. This is an opportunity to invest in your team and make sure that only the big insurance advertisers are pushing price and we are pushing value! So let’s spend some time on determining if you are adding pricing into the equation without knowing it!
Automatic Remarket
In many agencies they run the download list and see how much someone’s rate increased. From there people hop on remarketing the policies and get to work. Then the only time clients hear from us is when the rate went up and we swooped in to tell them we can save them money. We didn’t stop and find out changes, call them, or review anything. It’s all PRICE. We think we are doing a service by automatically remarketing but clients get trained to ask for reshops and what happens the year you can’t beat it? Bye bye!
Agencies must reject the automatic remarket for several reasons:
- Personal lines reshops take easily 30-45 minutes – they are a time suck
- You may only get 50% of them on the phone – meaning half of the reshops go literally nowhere
- You reshop them to find out they have a pit bull. It’s adorable however, 45 minutes gone….
- Some of the people you contact don’t move
Let’s face it, we automatically remarket out of FEAR. We lack a true relationship with the client so it all becomes price driven. Relationships drive value – remarketing drives price.
The solution – get proactive. Look at our AppX Retention Program. Take the same time wasted on remarketing and start cross selling and earning the renewals.
The Reason Everyone Leaves is Price, Moved, Passed
Have you ever pulled the lost business in your agency and asked why people left? It’s always price… moved… passed…
The story is different when you find out there was limited conversation with the client. Was it price or relationship? Price is the trigger but relationship is the reason.
When you use tools like Rocket Referrals to see how people feel about your service it’s a different ball of wax. It’s “Somebody didn’t get back to me” or “My rates continue to increase with no relief”. Invest in Rocket Referrals to see!
Or send out your own survey to lost customers. Offer an incentive for giving you the real reason. All too often we use price as the excuse not the real reason.
Time To Reshop
We see it all too often. Someone calls in upset about rate, then they go into the “reshop pile”. I have seen my fair share of reshop piles that are 2 weeks deep. The thinking is they renew in 45 days… but they are mad now!
We simply cannot sit on remarketing when we agree to it. It should be done same day or people start shopping.
Check in with the team on how many reshops are sitting and how quickly they are being hopped on. We analyze this and more in our agency assessment.
We Email Remarkets
Imagine this. Someone calls in and says they are upset with their rate. We shop them and email them a new rate.
We don’t call them and discuss options. We just email it on out.
It’s like “Hey great news… we could have gotten you this rate all along but take it now.!” That’s a super way to get people to think about rate!
New Business is Quoted With the Lowest Market
Every 6 years carriers have a cycle they go and drop rates and the next year you end up with unhappy clients because the rate increases. We need to move from rate in the sale process to placing business with the best carriers. This year’s amazing rate is next year’s upset client. We should be working to place business with the companies we are working to support and who support us back.
We Budget For Our Clients
When we see a client’s rate increase a certain dollar amount we scramble. We assume they won’t be happy. The reality is some people just won’t bother with it. This is the debate between % increase and $ amount increase. If we call everyone for proactive renewal reviews you take your opinion off the table and we work with the client rather than assume!
Bottom line: If you are inserting price into a relationship or adding fuel to the price flame we have to stop and ask how are we going to show value over price consistently.
