We all want to keep that income stream flowing, or make that extra commission. But these things are not automatic. Think of your income as water trapped in a dam, and your communication as the floodgate that releases it.
Getting new leads and maintaining existing clients is dependent on how well you can communicate trustworthiness. So if your revenue is falling short of your expectations you need to evaluate how well you’re communicating trustworthiness.
Develop a communication strategy.
Your business plan is incomplete if it doesn’t include a communication strategy. Having a valuable book of business is truly rewarding with the right communication. How do you intend to continually communicate and inspire the trust that results in cash flow?
Your communication strategy must include the right communication tools, the right verbal and non-verbal cues, a schedule that ensures a continual outflow of communication, capable human resources to man these tools, and of course, channels that receive feedback and evaluate communication.
Clients (the insured) want to know that if (or when) the time comes, the insurance company will pay out the premium expressly. They also want to know that the insurance company is financially healthy. In some cases, you even need to convince clients of the need to get insured. Therefore, constantly educating your clients and leads should be included in your communication strategy.
Your communication strategy should include KPIs (key performance indicators) in order to gauge its efficacy. KPIs can include:
- Higher call rates at your call center.
- Higher website traffic.
- Lower occurrence of conflicts.
- Greater followership and interaction on your agency’s social media platforms
Communicating with the Industry
If your insurance agency is a start-up, you have much work to do in terms of networking within the industry. You need to build your clientele, on your own or by buying a book of business. Doing the latter is admittedly an easier way to get a client base, but it comes at a price. It also doesn’t guarantee that you’ll have business coming in, except you are able to convince the old clients that you’re trustworthy and can secure their coverage.
One way of expanding your portfolio is by gaining access to a carrier’s packages, as it gives you more room to be able to serve your customers. However insurance carriers will not just give these out to anyone. You must communicate trustworthiness by displaying a valuable book of business, a credible business proposal, your own track record of success in the industry, and the ability to meet sales targets.
If you’re unable to meet these requirements, then it’s only wise to team up with a group of smaller agencies who can meet them. This means that you’ll have to find a suitable cluster and communicate what your agency can bring to the table. Do you have valuable sales experience, educational certificates, capital, human resource, and a book of business? You’ll have to put your best foot forward, even at this level. Don’t stutter, speak boldly about who you are and what your business can deliver.
Touching base with clients from an existing book of business
Change is constant, yet often unwelcome. Old clients for instance are used to the old agency and their mode of operation. No matter your pedigree, they are likely to doubt your capability and would rather try another agent instead of you. So what can you do?
Research your clients: know their interests, financial growth or decline over the years, understand their financial outlook.
Reach out: Find a suitable way to communicate your plan to maintain their security and portfolio. Let them know the strength of your business. If you’re looking to expand their investment, let them know that you’re willing to help them look through their options. Present your past achievements before them, and let them know your business can be trusted.
Touching base with new clients
Finding new clients is particularly important if you’re just starting out your insurance agency, but the principles for growing your portfolio are the same as if you were an existing business. You still need to communicate trustworthiness.
When communicating with new clients, you need to answer the following questions:
- What’s different about our service?
- What particular benefit(s) will clients enjoy by signing up with us?
- What dissatisfaction(s) do potential leads have with their existing agencies, and how do we mitigate them?
- How do potential leads want us to communicate with them?
- Where do leads feel most comfortable communicating? Depending on the demography, you also need to determine what communication tool will be suitable.
Answering all these questions will guide you to communicate effectively. Meeting with clients? The little things count. Here a few ways you can communicate trustworthiness:
- Dress appropriately, no radical outfits.
- Speak audibly, boldly, and precisely.
- Do your research and start your conversation with an attention grabber. E.g. “It seems that you’re looking to expand your real estate portfolio, and so this place is just perfect for you.”
- Anticipate counter arguments and have a suitable response ready.
- Maintain eye contact.
- Don’t be too shy to talk about your past successes.
How to communicate effectively using various communication tools
Blogs
If you don’t know this already, it is important for you to have a website. But just having a website is not enough, it has to serve as more than a poster that simply gives you basic information. Your website must be designed to communicate and having a blog is one of the best ways to do this.
Blogging regularly gives clients and leads an idea of what your business is about, provides more information about the service(s) you provide, and most importantly, helps to educate them on the importance of their investment(s). What better way to keep your clients close to the heart of your business?
Blogging does not only help your clients, but also your employees. Just as blogging inspires commitment to your business, so does it inspire the dedication of staff members. It’s a significant way to keep internal communication flowing, and much more effective than emails that remain unopened.
You must ensure that your website is accessible to various devices, and that it is designed to receive feedback from visitors. One effective way to do this is by providing live chat options for visitors.
Social Media
According to a report, 84% of internet users have and use social media apps. This implies that your effort should be concentrated on reaching leads on the platforms where they are – Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. Twitter threads are an especially useful tool for educating people on various subjects. So, for instance, one of your communication strategies can be to educate people on the benefits of insurance, the legal technicalities of insurance agreements, and the financial technicalities of underwriting.
As you continue to do this, readers/followers will begin to look to you for advice and counsel. Suffice it to say that when the time comes for them to make a decision to invest, you will be at the top of their list.
Another effective way of using social media is by employing videos to evoke the necessary decision to invest. You should hire professionals for this, share your vision with them, and draw up KPIs to track effectiveness.
SMS, Instant Messaging and Live Chats
Having a responsive website is so important to your communication plan. When visitors come to your website, they come because they have a question or want to confirm an unclear information. They must leave with those answers, whatever they may be, or a promise of an answer.
Live chats help customers to reach you, especially after they’ve read the information you’ve provided on your website. Perhaps an information is incomplete or imprecise, or perhaps the lead’s situation is peculiar and requires a specialized answer, live chats are the perfect way to catch your lead before they explore other options.
If customers are not willing to continue online, or need reminders, SMSs are the way to go to keep in touch with leads offline. With SMS and instant messaging, you can remind clients of important deadlines, send out important investment information, and resolve customer issues.
Surveys: Evaluating your Communication
Wondering how well you are communicating with leads? Thinking of better ways to improve your communication strategy? Take a survey. Surveys provide subjective feedback on your operations and processes. Although this subjectivity is a major concern for many, carefully crafting your questions can elicit useful responses that produce insights.
Some of your questions should include:
- Highlighting the most effective communicating channel you presently use.
- Identifying unused channels that clients would rather communicate on.
- Rating your agency’s responsiveness to clients’ requests.
- Highlighting the quality of your communication efforts.
- Rating satisfaction with your brand and its services.
- Providing suggestions for improvement.
- Brand awareness teasers that reveal common misconceptions.
Carrying out a survey helps you to:
- Identify weaknesses in your business processes.
- Identify the strengths of your business, so you can channel more effort in those directions.
- Track communication KPIs.
