Can we truly say “Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills”? Is there really only 5?
An insurance representative is a very important friend to have. Why do you ask? Well they normally have a lot of knowledge when it comes to anything insurance (maybe not health, unless they specialize in it.)
Insurance is not an easy field and insurance in general is not easy. It is complicated and there are a lot of different facets to it.
You have personal lines and commercial lines insurance, within these 2 there are a spectrum of different policies that one needs to understand not only how they function, but also how to write them.
You have to have the ability to understand coverages and explain them to others. You need to be connected well enough to your carriers to understand how to place risks.
So you really have to have a wide variety of skills and skill levels to function and be successful in the insurance industry.
Since Insurance is somewhat complicated and can even be a legal process you must document everything you do, with technology this has gotten easier to do, but it is essential to the success of an agent and an agency.
To move forward to grow, sell, and service clients you must have great client relationships. You must be able to relate to the client, help them, and educate them on their insurance needs.
This will help you retain business. If the customer trusts and believes in you they will keep their insurance with you! With all the items that are being thrown at you at once you must be able to somewhat multi-task, yet be efficient.
I know multitasking has really become taboo in our society, but you do need to be able to use time very wisely to be able to keep phones ringing, customers walking in, technology failing, and other things that happen throughout the day.
You must also determine what client can stay and which should go. I think when I first started my insurance career I was taking any policies I could, but quickly realized there are some I may not want.
Risks that are too risky or clients that do not have ideal situations that would easily end up in losses. Lastly, it is important to cross-sell to current customers. If you don’t cross-sell your book won’t grow. Overall these Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills are vital to your success in this industry.
Documentation
Why is documentation SO important? In this industry, there are a lot of moving parts. Those parts HAVE to be documented for legal reasons, first and foremost.
Second, it is a good practice when you have a large staff or others who need to know what is happening on an account.
Proper documentation falls into the Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills because it can help everyone in the office make better plans and decisions about accounts and if a legal issue arises you will have everything you need to defend your agency. The key elements of documentation are:
- Date and time
- Who you spoke to
- Description of what took place (i.e. they requested, changes made, car added/removed)
- Details: Vin numbers, year make and model of vehicles, the policies themselves will record these finite details, but it is also good to have them in your management system, have you ever had a customer call to replace the red Dodge Durango with a blue one? That always made me laugh.
- Attach any documents that are relevant to the file
This is an example where more is better. The more detail you have the better. You don’t need to write a book, but you do need to be clear, concise, and detailed.
If you are not a good documentor how can you get better at this? I think it takes time and practice but it also takes slowing down to speed up.
It is good practice to type in notes while you are talking to a customer to have written details of the conversation, but if this is not possible you need to take a moment after you hang up the phone with the client to document what you did for them.
Not only is this great for co-workers who have to work on the same file, but it will also cover you legally. I cannot tell you how many times a customer swore they called in to replace a vehicle and hadn’t or they called in to remove a vehicle or coverage and shouldn’t have and had an accident.
Good notes of who called and what they asked for in detail can save your agency a lot of grief. That is why documentation is one of the Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills.
Examples
Joe
I had a customer, let’s call him Joe call in to cancel his life insurance policy. I told him that was not a good idea and asked if he had coverage elsewhere, his answer was no, but I applied for a policy and it will come through next week. I asked if he had done the physical exam yet and he said no.
I again told him not to cancel the policy. His response was I am healthier than anyone my age. He signed the paperwork as required and insisted that the policy be canceled immediately.
I followed his instructions. GUESS WHAT? About a month later he called wanting to “reinstate” that policy. That wasn’t possible and I had good notes in the system.
I was very clear that I told him several times not to cancel the policy. Those notes (documentation) saved my agency from E & O for sure.
DMV/Removing cars with active tags
There have been several instances where someone called to remove a vehicle. The first question we always asked was “ Have you turned in the license plate” because here in NC you cannot take off liability and still have an active plate.
They would always hem and haw and make excuses and just want the car off. We would always ask twice and explain, “ If you remove the insurance and do not turn I tag you will get fined by the DMV.”
I can tell you that many, many times we would get a call back that they got a letter from the DMV. Then you have to do all this research and figure out dates they had coverage and removed it, all because they wouldn’t listen. But it was always documented.
“I thought I had that coverage!”
How many times do we hear that? Yet you have a signed contract stating they don’t have that coverage. This is probably the most common one.
Many people don’t want to pay for coverage until they have an accident/claim and they need it.
If we are not documenting these instances of when we ask about coverage they need and they decline it, we are setting our agency up to fail and have E & O claims filed against it.
WOW Moments, What are they and why are they so important?
- Using a customer’s name
- Knowing details about a customer (pets, family, situations)
- Educating a customer about the coverage they may be lacking
- Calling every customer once a year for a renewal call
- Reviewing customer’s policies annually
Above are just some examples. Of Wow Customer Service. Customer Service is one of the Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills because it has changed.
When I was working my first job “the customer is always right” was how it worked. Then generations and times changed and the industry realized that the customer always being right was costing too much money and “the customers” started to take advantage of this.
But now AFTER the pandemic times have changed. People have honestly changed. We are seeing the value of relationships again. As an extrovert that works remotely, I realized I need to get out of the house and volunteer and talk to people when I am not at work so I can be confident and have energy when I am working.
One way we as Insurance Agents can build that relationship is by getting to know our customers and inserting coins into the customer piggybank by using the above details in our conversations with them.
Ever wonder if your agents are giving WOW Customer service Get our Phone Call Scorecard TODAY!
What are some strategies for giving Wow Service?
- Be Silent and LISTEN to your client
- Listen for background noise, kids, or pets and ask about them- I recently had a secret shopper caller tell me that her small child was talking in the background and the agent didn’t say a word and was actually rude to her, the better way would be, I hear you have a small child, how old are they? (Building Rapport)
- Fill moments you are keeping them on the phone to do quotes with conversations: hobbies, sports teams, non-political good local news
- Do your research, don’t make the customer feel like you are stalking them but get as much info as possible from local sites on their property so you don’t have to ask every.single.thing. Get ahead of that
- BE HUMAN, tell them about you, you may find a connection
I have several clients who have followed me to every agency I have ever worked in. If they didn’t have my number they’d ask or find me on social media. I have had 2 people call me recently.
Unfortunately, I do not write insurance anymore, but I was able to recommend my local agent. One is Wanda and she is a great client. Her husband is in finance and has a high net worth, she always does her research and I was instrumental in educating her about insurance.
She has a primary home, secondary home, rental home, and several cars, her daughters both have a home and auto and her dad in Ohio or Michigan can’t remember has a home, auto, and boat.
She was a loyal Nationwide Insurance customer until recently. She had everything with them except her excess liability because their umbrella only went so high. Everything on EFT.
I am sure you can guess why she called me recently. Her daughter was buying a new home and Nationwide wouldn’t even consider insuring it.
This market is insane and I believe Nationwide is insane for not helping customers with a certain amount of business. Loyal customers with that kind of premium and a new house.
Barely ever file claims and here they are struggling to find insurance because a carrier decides that anything at this point is a risk.
The other one is Ceci. Her husband actually works for Nationwide and they realized their rates were just too high, so they were looking for other carriers.
If I hadn’t built relationships with these customers there would be no reason for them to call me. We have to plant those seeds, educate our clients, and let our actions speak for themselves.
Be the customer service person you would want taking care of you!!!
If you are reading this in December 2023 All Store is 20% off with the code holidays 12/1/23-12/31/23
Managing Your Time: Efficiency in Insurance
So as one of the Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills we have to mention time management or agency efficiency.
How we handle and manage our time is extremely important. We make excuses all of the time!! We really do and if you don’t see them as excuses you are blind!
Kelly’s most hated word is BUSY!!!! How often do you hear that word?
I am too busy, I can’t do that, I am too busy. The question is, too busy doing what? Surfing the web, shopping, browsing social media, chatting with staff?
Ask yourself these questions:
- Do I maximize my time to accomplish my daily tasks
- Do I waste time?
- What could I be doing or organizing better?
- Do I make excuses to not do tasks I don’t like?
- Am I seriously self-reflecting for the good of my agency or for my own stubborn preferences?
If the phones are always ringing and you can’t get caught up, maybe we need a better agency system, organization, or strategy.
APP can help with that. We actually do an assessment where we look at the agency as a whole with the leaders. We review metrics, data processes, and procedures to help determine where improvements need to be made.
You will be part of this process because we are with you the whole step of the way. We have worked with over 1000 insurance agencies across the US and Canada. We know what we are doing and we work to help you and your staff adjust.
We also have an Agency Efficiency Course, but we recommend the assessment first.
So what is challenging you ask? First prioritizing what should come first, but you have to decide this as a team.
Prioritization and Organization
Quotes for new business should always take priority. WHY? Because it is a sale and you only get one first impression.
I know this is about Top 5 Insurance Representative Skills and more about service, however, there are times when a service person needs to or has to sell (cross-selling is the biggest example.)
If a sales opportunity arises, you must make it a priority. Why again you ask?
There are statistics that show that when you reach out to someone that needs a quote within 1 minute you are 391% more likely to sell it. Yes, the statistics show 391%, and drops to 160% if you call within 2 minutes.
That is why prioritizing a sale is important. If someone has liability only and purchases a new car, adding the car with the correct coverage before they drive off the car lot is pretty important.
If you are on the phone with a client selling them a new home policy, that is more important than the person who walks in to make a cash payment every month. Now your agency and staff need to determine the priorities and how you will organize your office.
However, having priorities and organization will help maximize and use your time wisely.
Time Management is a pretty big deal and a big topic for a lot of people. Whether you are good at it or bad at it, it can determine your life’s path.
Have you ever noticed that driven people get up early and usually get a workout in? Why do you think they do this? Do you think it is because they love to exercise?
Well, some of them, maybe. But no, this isn’t why. The reason they do this is to maximize their time and get something hard done as soon as possible. It is a time strategy. Usually, everyone else is sleeping, so driven people get up early and use that extra hour in the morning to get hard things done.
I am sure you have also heard everyone has the same amount of time in their day, it is just how they use it. Are you maximizing the time you have?
I think in this digital age many of us aren’t conscious of how often we pick up our phones. It has become a habit.
Surfing the web, shopping, and going on social media has become so easy that tech companies have retrained us to do what they want.
Hide your phone at work today, I can guarantee it will prove my point. Are we going to allow these companies to be our bosses? OR are we going to take control and work without our cell phones and get 3 times more done today?
Another great tool is planning out your day, scheduling time to do outbound calls, and scheduling time to do things you know need to be done, this will help you reflect on how your time is used. APP staff bases their days around Free to Focus by Michael Hyatt. We plan our weeks, our days, and our hours, so we know what we are doing today and what should get completed.
So follow these strategies:
- Limit distractions while at work (phones, surfing the web)
- Plan out your weeks and days (look ahead)
- Don’t use notepads/sticky notes, use direct entry into your management systems
- Stay in your lane, your role, your job description, but be a team player
I can tell you from my own Insurance Agency Experience that when I realized how easy it was to go to social media and Amazon on my phone I started keeping my phone in a drawer/lock box and took breaks to use it.
I think once agents implement these strategies for themselves they realize how important they are, how “less busy” they are, and how much more you get done.
Client Tiering-YES it is an Insurance Thing!
So when you join some gyms or other programs you can get on a certain program or level. Gold, Platinum, Bronze. These levels determine your status.
At Lifetime Gym it used to be the above, I just checked it and now it is Digital, Standard, and Signature. Why did they change it, to keep up with the world and the way these words are used and represented?
So in this case digital means you can go to one club, Standard is any club without a bar, and Signature is any of their gyms, including the ones with a bar at the pool.
I have the standard membership because I swim and the one in Cary, NC has several pools. So what does this have to do with anything? Well, we have different types of clients in our industry.
We have the ones that walk in or call in every month to pay, they will call for everything. These are actually the lowest level of clients.
Contrary to what we want to believe, these clients usually have the lowest premiums and the most service work. The clients with commercial policies and personal lines with high premiums that are set up on automatic withdrawal are indeed your top-tier clients, yet normally we service them very little.
And there are clients in between. How you decide to tier the clients is up to you.
Now you also have needs and preferences. Some clients have certain needs and contact preferences and you want to make sure all of this information is in your management system.
You can always train your clients and slowly get them to different tiers, like getting them on automatic withdrawal. The goal is to get to middle and higher-tier clients only.
Of course, it all depends on your area and your target markets. If your agency keeps the low-tier clients you need to have strategies, processes, and procedures on how you handle them.
When you are working on a task and they call in or walk in do you handle them immediately and drop everything? Do you make them wait? Do you have someone else handle them? These are all things your agency needs to discuss and come up with guidelines.
Cross Selling: Maximizing Opportunities
Cross Selling is often an overlooked gold mine. You have all these mono-line policies in your agency.
The easiest and best thing for your agency is to cross-sell customers and get 3+ lines of business.
This increases retention rates and is a win-win for the agency. Outbound cross-sell calls are warm calls because your agency already has a relationship with the client.
It is a great way to build more rapport and show the client you are paying attention and you value their business.
The easiest way to find the opportunities is to run a cross-sell list. Auto no home, home no auto, auto-home, no umbrella, auto-home-umbrella-no life, etc…..
Some carriers used to provide these lists but stopped and started using these lists for their internal producers, so we will need to look for these lists or build them in our own management systems.
We need to realize our management systems are the best place to store EVERYTHING. We need to make sure all the client’s information is stored there.
Carriers have also been known to blank out driver’s license numbers so that agencies can no longer remarket accounts, so having all the information in your files is crucial.
Many agencies that start cross-selling see huge success in their retention and their growth as cross-selling builds both.
So the top 5 insurance representative skills are: Documentation, Wow Moments, Managing your Time, Client Tiers, and Cross Selling.
These 5 skills are vital for success. Ongoing training, strategies, and evolving with the world and how things change are some of the most important things you can do as an insurance agency.
It is time for you and your staff to hone in on these skills and sharpen them to be on the top of your game! If we can help find us at agencyperformancepartners.com.
