Yes, I’m going to officially state right here that Agency Performance Partners has created the world’s greatest account rounding line ever. (Mic Drop). Big bold statement, right? It works wonders for those who use it. Those who think they have a better way struggle to hit their bonuses. This line works both on new business, account rounds and anything in between.
Drum roll please, are you ready?
“Because you have X, we recommend Y. What this means for you is…. And for only Z per month. Wouldn’t you agree we should add that on?”
Silence, you must be silent because if you speak you will say something like… “Why don’t you think about it.” or “Let me know”. You have to give them time to say yes or come back with a question or objection we can work to tear down.
So here is how it works in real life:
“Kelly, because you have an adorable dog named Roxxy, we recommend additional liability coverage. What this means for you is if your dog ever broke free and bit someone your homeowners policy may not cover all of the damages and your wages could be garnished. This policy also covers you in the event of a terrible auto accident or injury at your home. For only $30 per month, wouldn’t you agree we should add that on?”
Silence….
While I think about my little senior citizen dog breaking free and being scared since she can’t see and biting someone while my wages become garnished, no thank you sign me up for the $30 per month (and yes Umbrella’s in Rhode Island do run hot).
Now where you insert this into your conversation is key so allow me to walk you through some scenarios:
In our AppX Sales program we teach your team hands on how to account round at the point of sale. Statistically, the point of sale is the best time to account round and has the highest results (because no rates have increased and nothing yet has been screwed up.) But many sales people do the bare minimum of 1-2 policies. With our 4 and score mentality we work to get sales people to see the full potential of the account to quote and sell as much as they can up front and have a strong follow up game to get back after those other lines for real (not just in theory). Point of sale cross selling has everything to do with building rapport and making strong and valid recommendations.
Now, on our AppX Retention program we give your account managers the space, time and plan to educate the customers on other lines they need to consider. For many account managers running reactive model, you handle complaints and questions all day from people who don’t truly want to be on the phone with you. By getting proactive we give the team the space to review the accounts, come up with a plan and call every client once per year for a formal account review. From there require each call have one recommendation for increased coverage and one account round. We stress that it’s our job to educate the customer. We had one client in California where the team was really struggling with this. They felt the customer wanted to get them off the phone, no one wanted to spend more money and well account rounding was just too difficult. But then there is always earthquake insurance. Couldn’t we educate every single client on the one thing that terrifies me about going to California? This seemed to click, which indicates they haven’t built up the same skills and muscles yet on making recommendations with confidence. This will be a great stepping stone for them.
One program we are working on (Coming Soon) is our AppX Customer Experience. In this program we will teach your team how to turn inbound calls into opportunity. Finding opportunity in claims, billing questions and endorsements.
We recommend you share this blog with your team so they have a plan to practice getting great at account rounding!
