As an insurance agent, it’s easy to look at all the potential prospects you have yet to sell to and want to dig in. After all, you have what they need and they just don’t know it yet, right?
While new customers are essential to any insurance agency for long-term growth, you may be overlooking a gold mine right underneath you.
Your existing customers.
Here is why you have an advantage with your present customer base:
- Your clients already know and like you. If you’ve done your job right, your clients are familiar with you and like you enough to use your services as an insurance agent. That says a lot right there.
- You’ve established rapport and trust. Your current clients have most likely met with you (or at the very least spent a good amount of time on the phone with you) and have confidence in your business. You have gotten to know each other and established a solid business relationship. They trust your judgment and advice.
- Your clients like your products. Whether it’s life insurance, long-term care, or Medicare supplement coverage, your clients feel secure with their choices. They know you have solid offerings and understand their needs.
- They have paid you. This is an important consideration. With your existing customer base, you know they have a reliable payment history and want what you have to offer.
- They don’t need to be sold. Considering all the reasons above, your existing clients don’t need quite the same level of the sales process as new prospects. It’s much easier to sell to someone you have a solid relationship with than a prospect that has no idea who you are.
How do you get your current clients to buy more?
- Ask for referrals! Clients who truly value your expertise will have no problem referring to friends or family members to your agency. Create a referral incentive and monthly drawing for customers that give you referrals. Make it fun and worthwhile!
- Maintain strong communication. Don’t be an agency that sells a policy and never talks to their clients again. If you contact them once every two years to try to sell a new or upgraded policy, you’ll fall flat on your face. Call or email every few months to see how your clients are doing and make sure they don’t have any unidentified needs. Maintaining a trusting relationship is way more likely to result in more business.
- Ask for feedback. Create a survey that you send to all your customers after they purchase a policy. Ask what you could have done better and also what was pleasant during the process. Leave space for them to elaborate. You can learn a lot from asking for direct feedback. This can help you learn more about your clients for future sales opportunities.
What would hinder your ability to sell to your existing clients?
- You haven’t earned their confidence
- You have failed to establish a relationship
- Your post-sales support is weak
- Your communication is too infrequent
- You lack rapport
- Your follow-up process needs improvement
If you haven’t been utilizing a process to maintain intentional relationships with your current client base, start now!
If your agency is heavily focused on new prospects, you are leaving business on the table! Existing customers can be your best prospects if you lay the groundwork first. Remember, you were able to sell to them once; you should be able to do it again!
American Senior Benefits has a premium toolkit designed for the success of our agents. Interested in becoming an insurance agent with us? Contact us today for more information.
