How to Attract High Quality Prospects and Grow Your Insurance Business In As Little As Seven Steps

Transcription

1 How to Attract High Quality Prospects and Grow Your Insurance Business In As Little As Seven Steps By Clifton Warren Corporate Eye Consulting

2 2013 IIAB Best Practices Study found that specialty/niche business is more profitable, easier to retain Finding, attracting and acquiring new business is still one of the toughest challenges for any insurance business. Even experienced professionals who ve grown their business organically (via referrals, word of mouth and personal contacts) are finding new business development difficult in today s competitive market. Have your previous marketing efforts have been filled with good intentions, but are delivering little tangible results? I d like to show you a simple 7-step process that anyone can follow to attract more and better clients with less effort and comprises the following steps: 1. Focusing on a niche 2. Solve a problem 3. Position your solution 4. Package your expertise 5. Find high - probability prospects 6. Generate leads 7. Covert opportunities into clients If you work on just one step a week in less than 2 months you ll have a 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 Advantages of focus Focusing on a market niche is one of the most important strategic decisions that you can make regarding the growth of your business. Focusing offers several advantages, 2013 IIAB Best Practices Study found that specialty/niche business is more profitable, easier to retain, obtain leads and provides a stream of new business through referrals. 1 It also gives you the ability to leverage your knowledge, contacts and resources. 3 different ways to specialize: 1. Product line Select a product line or risk class that is easily transferable to multiple industries, for example high net worth insurance. 2. Geographic location Locally, national and international 3. Market/Industry Manufacturing, Retail, Restaurants etc. You can have the best of both worlds by remaining a generalist and selecting a niche market to further diversify your business. Insurance professional Cliff Millar says, Being a generalist gives us constant exposure to multiple lines of business that we can evaluate and determine if it is worth investing our resources in creating a niche. 2 2

3 Learn as much as possible about the challenges, problems and hotbutton issues Selecting a market I recommend one-to-three markets. There is no magic formula for finding your ideal markets, start with the markets that you re currently serving using these 10 questions: 1. What are the markets of your best clients? 2. How many clients are you serving in this market? 3. Is this a good fit for you and your business? 4. Is this of interest to you and your staff? 5. Do you have strong non - client referral sources? 6. Are you able to easily research the market? 7. Can you quickly build a list of prospective clients? 8. How strong is the competition? 9. Can you gain the support and cooperation of underwriters with relative experience in the niche? 10. Is there good potential for growth? Success stories 1. Thoits Insurance is generalist agency that specializes in the rapidly expanding cyber liability market. Niche/specialty business comprises approximately 20 percent of annual premium volume. 2. Merkal Financial Services specialises in 2 niche markets, small business owners with less than 100 employees, middle to high net worth professionals Alan Wilson Insurance Brokers has carved out a niche markets in the Fire protection and plumbers industry. Step 2: Identify the frustrations and problems in which you have a solution After you have selected a market focus the next step is learn as much as possible about the challenges, problems and hot-button issues that prospective clients are dealing with. Insurance professional Cliff Miller says, You need to really get to know your clients and their business--and who your competition, get involved in their trade association, advertise in their trade journals, and go to their conventions. You will become known as the firm that handles that business. 3 ways to research your market: 1. Speak with existing clients you re serving 2. Contact trade associations ask about the biggest challenges their members are facing 3. Read industry journal and magazines 3

4 Building a quality-targeted list by identifying first businesses that you want to after and identify specific individuals and their contact details Success Story Professional Insurors Consultants Agency, Inc., has found a unique niche writing over 100,000 apartment units; 350 to 400 hotels and motels; 50 churches and is the largest writer of mobile home dealers and landscape nurseries in Oklahoma. 4 Step 3: Build a list of high quality prospects Create a target list of prospects that you would like to have as clients that fit your ideal client profile. When building your list, quality trumps quantity. You are much better off with 50 good names that you ve sourced than to randomly compiling a list of 10,000 names. Building a quality-targeted list by identifying first businesses that you want to after and identify specific individuals and their contact details: 5 steps to build a prospect list 1. Once you ve decided on the industry or niche market to focus on contact/join the trade association to access the member s directory. 2. Read industry journals and publications, these often have advertisements and some include business rankings of the top companies in their filed. 3. Local papers - If your market is small business within an area the local papers will often have stories and advertisements of local businesses. 4. Local library - Have access to resources to directories and business journals, many of these are available on-line. 5. LinkedIn - Used mainly by professionals, you cannot only find the names of prospects at targeted companies. 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 4: Create a compelling value statement that positions your business Your goal is to be seen as someone special. A value statement answers the question What you do and positions your business in the minds of a prospective client. It s how you differentiate your business from your competition. Your value statement establishes your credibility and answers the following questions: 1. Who are you? 2. What do you do? 4

5 Your value statement should answer 4 questions on a prospective clients mind 3. Whom have you worked for? 4. What can you do for me? 6 steps to create a compelling value statement: 1. Make a list of all the services that you provide 2. Select the one, two or three services that you are really known for among your clients 3. List the types of businesses within your niche that you typically do this work for (Your target market) 4. List reasons why you re a better a choice than most of your competitors? 5. List the types of value that you bring to the table and express it in a way that means something to your prospect 6. List any clients that are worth mentioning in your niche Take these answers and start creating one or more value statements. You don t have to use every element but try to incorporate as many as you can. Value statement template Your value statement should answer 4 questions on a prospective clients mind. Use the template below to help your create yours. 1. Who are you? We are a firm/business Insurance brokerage Insurance advisory Consulting 2. What do you do? We do (What) Improve something Reduce the cost Add something of value Protect something of value Eliminate some unwanted condition (Specify the value added factors. The core benefit) 3. Who do you do this for? For (Whom)? 4. What value do you bring? 5

6 Prospecting is not just about generating the most leads possible, it s also about quality We are a full-service insurance firm... (Simple description of your firm and its core capabilities Success Story CSI Insurance specializes in two distinct groups, private client and technology companies their value statement: What makes us successful in each of our niches is the fact that: We represent every major insurance carrier in each niche. We have personal relationships with these carriers due to our volume of business. Step 5: Create an information piece that relating to a prospects need or problem Put your value statement to work by creating an information piece, this is usually in the form of a special report but can be created in a variety of formats as well, including: Workbooks Checklist How-to-Guides Bundles of similar articles List of tips Explanation of best practices Books Success story Insurance professional Mike Carroll, specializes in restaurants, pizza franchises and law firms, he is so conversant on the topic that he s written books on all three niches Thebestroibook.com, Insurepizzeriabook.com and Insuringlawyerbook.com. Step 6: Employ high impact prospecting techniques to generate leads Prospecting is not just about generating the most leads possible, it s also about quality. Your goal is to turn the prospects on your list into leads. You can t acquire a client until you have lead. Top professionals adopt a variety of prospecting tactics that produced the best results for their time and money invested. I like lead generation methods that are: Relatively inexpensive Can be customised Can be controlled as to timing and content Enhance a desired image 6

7 A lead can only become an opportunity when you ve had an opportunity to present your services 3 most efficient lead generation methods Survey conducted by Best Review survey of insurance professionals networking, direct mail and online are the most valuable lead generation options. What I like about these tactics is that you can easily work from within your comfort zone: 1. Networking you meet a prospective client, offer send them your information then follow up a few days later. 2. Direct mail Offer prospects your information piece as free download 3. Online Use sites like Linked in to build a targeted list, obtain contact details and offer your free information piece Other popular lead generation methods include: Traditional advertising Cold calling Writing articles Seminar and conferences Speaking Regardless of the prospecting method 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 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. Step 7: Follow up and convert your leads into opportunities Prospecting is just one step in the process; the next is to convert prospects into opportunities. A prospect must become a lead before it can become an opportunity. You must continually move prospects along your pipeline; however you cannot move someone in your pipeline if you don t follow up. A lead can only become an opportunity when you ve had an opportunity to present your services. Examples of opportunities: You have conversation with someone at a networking event about property insurance and you agree to call him later in the week to obtain more information. A lead that you ve been staying in touch will ask you to send a request for proposal 7

8 Determine if the prospects expectation is realistic You send out 100 letters to local businesses in the area and one of them phones you to ask for a quote, they have gone instantly from prospect to opportunity. 4 - Step process for converting your leads into opportunities. 1. Identify a project, upcoming event, or renewal date. Without this, you don t have something tangible to hold on for follow up. Make it a point to thank the prospect for expressing an interest in your services. Next, try to uncover a specific opportunity to focus on. For insurance professionals, this will probably be a review and/or quotation of an insurance program. Ask the following questions to identify a project: What are you looking to accomplish? Why are you seeking to do this work? What s the actual challenge that you re trying to overcome? Based on the answers, try to determine if the prospects expectation is realistic, is this something that you can do well, if this is a good fit for you and your business. 2. Determine the budget- You want to determine if your prospect is serious or is just shopping around. When you have identified a project to quote, it s important to ask about money to determine if your prospect has the budget before you invest your time obtaining quotes and putting your solutions together. Doing early will help you to screen out poor leads. Here are some budget questions to ask: Has a budget been set-aside for this? What is your expectation of premium required? Are there any budget parameters you wish to remain within? 3. Find out about the decision making process. You may not want to waste your time preparing a quotation if they are speaking to 10 other advisors It s very useful to know who your prospect will make a decision, these questions can be useful: Who will be involved in making a decision on this? Are you considering other firms? How will you make a decision? What will it be based on? 4. Determine the timing, pay attention to the answers. Non - committal answers could mean that the prospect may not be serious or is just shopping around. Finally as a few questions about the timing of a decision: 8

9 Using the telephone during your follow up will provide you with a competitive advantage When is your renewal date How soon are you looking to appoint a new advisor? Once I send you my proposal, when should I follow up with you? I suggest that your print these questions on a single sheet and have them with you when meeting with your prospect to ensure that you don t forget anything. Don t forget the phone and voice mail Using the telephone during your follow up will provide you with a competitive advantage; many of your competitors may just rely on 1. Use voice mail wisely - voice mail gives you a good opportunity to provide an uninterrupted message. Don t wing it, create a follow up script that reminds the prospect who you are and reference to the last meeting. 2. Many people who use voice mail instead of PA often will answer their own phone when they are in the office. Try calling different times of the day 3. Be persistent - It may take several calls to reach your prospect. Many times it has taken me weeks to reach some after leaving several messages only to be greeted with an apology for the lack of response. Persistence differentiates the casual caller from the serious. However, after 3 voic messages and 2-3 follow ups over the course of 4-6 weeks, if you haven t received a return call, move on but keep them on your prospect list. 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. Corporate Eye 52/66 Kingsway Glen Waverley Victoria clifton@corporateeye.com.au Need help with attracting new clients or expanding services to existing ones? Contact me at or Clifton@corporateeye.com.au. By the way, if you found this report useful why not sign up for my free monthly e-newsletter? Click here 1 IIBA, 2013 Best Practices Study 2 Best Review, January 2014, p75 3 Rough Notes marketing agency of the month, April 2002, p18 4 How I got that Lead, Best Review, March 2011, p68 9