Insurance Sales

Agencies cannot grow without insurance sales. For many insurance agencies who have teams that focus on personal lines insurance or small commercial insurance, sales can be a challenge. The challenge arises from not being trained or having no plan on how to maximize sales.

The agency works hard to generate opportunity, and then a team member takes the opportunity and quotes it. However, we need to focus on more than just quoting it. We need to funnel our opportunities through a defined and repeatable sales process.

Rapport

A great insurance agency sales process needs to start with building rapport. When the client feels comfortable with the agent, they will be more forthcoming. That’s when the interaction with the new lead becomes an experience rather than just a transaction. We have to remember that people buy from people they like. Insurance agencies can also use this to pre-qualify opportunities and reject leads that they should not be spending time on.

Information Gathering

Many small commercial and personal lines insurance agencies use quote sheets when really, in many instances, they should be doing direct entry into a carrier website or personal insurance rater. You want to make the data gathering phase an experience, not an interrogation. If you are great at building rapport and using technology, you can ditch the quote sheet and become far more efficient during the data gathering stage. Lastly, we want to focus on gathering information for four policies. Many agencies stop the process at two, but you are leaving money on the table stopping at two. You want to focus on gathering information to quote four.

Set Expectations

Next, agents need to set expectations. If you can quote over the phone, go for it! If not, you need to tell the client what happens next and schedule a time to reconnect with them. You want to stop your opportunity from shopping and making your job more difficult. Instead, set an appointment to quote over the phone. The benefit of setting an appointment is that you confirm you are connecting at a time that is good for both of you.

Present & Close

Lastly, you need to get good at delivering the quote and sharing the value. Insurance agents need to sell the carrier and the four policy coverages they recommend. The conclusion of a great insurance sales experience is to ask for the business and lead the prospect to the natural next step.