How to Grow Your Insurance Business in a Soft Market

Transcription

1 How to Grow Your Insurance Business in a Soft Market By Clifton Warren Corporate Eye Consulting

2 I know from speaking to other insurance brokers that many, if not all, are concerned about generating new business and growing their revenue is a soft market. Even experienced professionals who ve traditionally grown their business organically (via referrals, word of mouth and personal contacts) are finding new business growth challenging in today s competitive market. There will be continued downward pressure on general insurance premiums for some time, this mean that simply retaining you existing clients will not be sufficient enough to grow your revenues and in many cases it will decrease. However, doing nothing is not an option. Have your previous marketing efforts been filled with good intentions, but are delivering little tangible results? I d like to show you a simple -step process that top performing firms are using and that anyone else can follow to attract more and better clients with less effort which comprises the following steps:. Focusing on a niche market. Building a high quality list of names. Creating a buzz piece. Employing high impact prospecting. Automating the follow up If you work on just one step a week in just a few weeks you ll have marketing system in place to help you attract more clients with less effort. Let s explore each step of the process in more detail. Step 1: Focus on a niche market Focusing on a market niche is one of the most important strategic decisions that you can make regarding the growth of your business. Research of successful financial services companies shows that focusing offers several advantages: specialty/ niche business is more profitable, easier to retain, obtain leads and provides a stream of new business through referrals. It also gives you the ability to leverage your knowledge, contacts and resources. You can specialize by: Product line Select a product line or risk class that is easily transferable to multiple industries Geographic location Locally, national and international Market/Industry Manufacturing, Retail, Restaurants etc. You can also have the best of both worlds by remaining a generalist and selecting a niche market to further diversify your business.

3 Selecting a market I recommend selecting one-to-three markets. There is no magic formula for finding your ideal markets, begin with the markets that you re currently serving using these questions: What are the markets of your best clients? Is this a good fit for you and your business? Is this of interest to you and your staff? Do you have strong non - client referral sources? Can you quickly build a list of prospective clients? After selecting a market, the next step is to learn as much as possible about the needs, challenges and problems that prospective clients face that you can address with your product or service. Step 2: Build a list of high quality prospects Create a target list of prospects that fit your ideal client profile. When building your list, quality always trumps quantity. You are much better off with 0 good names that you ve sourced than to randomly compiling a list of 0,000 names. Start by identifying the businesses, specific individuals and their contact details: 5 tips to build a prospect list. Join the trade association to access the member s directory.. Read industry journals and publications. These often have advertisements and some include business rankings of the top companies in their field.. Local papers - If your market is small business within an area, the local papers will often have stories and advertisements of local businesses.. Local library - Have access to resources to directories and business journals, many of these are available on-line.. LinkedIn - Used mainly by professionals, you cannot only find the names of Prospects at targeted companies but you can also build a list from member groups. Many of this group is open. You can also search for companies by region, industry and local area. Step 3: Create a free buzz piece that focuses on your prospects problems and challenges A buzz piece is an effective tool that can act as a magnet to draw high prospective clients to your business. It s also referred to as a guide or special report but can be created in a variety of formats including: Workbooks Checklist How-to-Guides Bundles of similar articles List of tips Explanation of best practices

4 A good buzz piece is typically -to-0 pages published in an electronic or print format. It can make every aspect of the marketing and promotion of your services easier. The benefits: It can improve the response rates of your prospecting letters and s. It is credible and can position you as an expert Take the chill out of cold calling Improve your networking when you meet someone offer your special report Allows you to blow your horn When your buzz piece is well written, it will wet their appetite for the kind of services that you provide. They will want to learn more about who you are and what you do. Step 4: Employ high impact prospecting tactics You can t acquire a client until you have lead. Prospecting is not just about generating the most leads possible, it s also about quality. The ideal high prospecting tactics should: Be relatively inexpensive Easy to customise Able to control as to timing and content Enhance your desired image Work from within your comfort zone There is no single method or combination of prospecting tactics ideal for all professionals; many top professionals employ one or more of the following tactics: Tapping your personal network Letting family, friends and acquaintances know about what you do and types of value that you re providing for clients and asking for referrals and introductions. Direct mail Contacting high potential prospects by mail and either sending them or special report or directing them to your website to download a copy. Networking Joining organization of their target niche markets, offer to send prospective prospects and clients your free special report. Website Create a website that can be used to get prospects to request your free special report and to opt into your mailing list so that you can continue to build a relationship with them. Regardless of the prospecting tactics you choose, it should be within your comfort zone and you enjoy doing it. Don t make the mistake of confusing prospects with leads. Prospects are people that you ve determined and would be a good target for your business. You ve based this on your qualification of their markets, size or ideal client profile. Leads on the other hand are prospects that have indicated an interest in what you have to offer.

5 Step 5: Automate Your Follow up Process It can take some time before a prospect is converted to client. You need to stay on their radar screen and remind them of your value using a variety of methods. It s easy to get busy servicing existing clients and forget to follow up with prospective clients who ve shown an interest in your services but are not simply ready to do business with you. You can automate your follow up process to allow you to send communications such as newsletters, letters and messages to prospective clients in a timely manner. It may appear building a marketing system is complex, but it really isn t. In fact if you work to implement one of these steps each week, in as little as - weeks you can have a marketing system in place that s probably doing a lot more for you than what you have currently. The marketing process that I ve outlined works very well for many financial professions, including insurance brokers, mortgage professionals, financial advisors, insurance companies and I truly think that it will work well for you too. I hope you have found it to be helpful and that it provided you with some good food for thought. And naturally, if I can ever be of assistance to you, please do not hesitate to let me know. About the Author A successful sales professional in the insurance and financial services arenas, Clifton is the principal of Corporate Eye Consulting. Clifton helps financial services companies develop marketing systems that target, attracts clients and grow revenues. Need help with attracting new clients or expanding services to existing ones? You can learn more how I work with clients here By the way if you found this report useful why not sign up to receive my free monthly newsletter, jammed pack with growth ideas, resources and tools click here. Clifton Warren Principal, Corporate Eye Consulting Clifton@corporateeye.com.au