Evolve or Die: Recognizing Consumer Behavior to Survive. Agenda

Transcription

1 Evolve or Die: Recognizing Consumer Behavior to Survive Presented by: Mike D Arelli Executive Director American Agents Alliance Agenda Introduction Selling vs taking orders Importance of the sales driven culture Embracing change and client behavior Statistics of consumer behavior 1

2 Mike D Arelli, Executive Director American Agents Alliance Serving independent agents & brokers since 1962 Members-only Fireman s Fund E&O program Government affairs & political advocacy Largest P&C convention & expo in west Educational scholarship & discounted CE Industry forms and manuals Legal hotline, Agency cyconsulting hotline Discounted affinity products & services And more Day to Day Daily phone calls from producers Part Shell Answerman, part Dr. Ruth Familiar with challenges agents & brokers deal with daily 2

3 Got Hours? In California, what s the difference between an insurance agent and a barber b or a manicurist? Bottom Line Very low barrier to entry has consequences Marketplace corrects over time and thins-out tthe heard Nonetheless, even the agents & brokers that survive, generally cannot sell Leads one to believe agents are at least discussing coverage But they re not 3

4 Rate, Rate, Rate Agents have graduated from order-takers to quote monkeys Selling rate Stop reading menu from right to left, focusing on price Try selling for a refreshing change The Curse of Online Raters We simply tab-tab-tab through online raters and ddrop a price on the prospect Drifted away from building rapport and relationships Business has become difficult for some 4

5 Sales Driven Culture Institute sales-driven culture in your agency Or sell your agency, today Fighting the odds Like salmon swimming upstream Agency Value Worth thless tomorrow, even less the following day Back to Basics-Sales 101 A threshold issue for most agents & brokers Tom Hopkins, Dale Carnegie, Napoleon Hill Building rapport, isolating & overcoming objections, using silence, how to close Watch: Glengarry Glen Ross Slick marketing, fancy website, SEO Won t save you if you can t sell 5

6 The Reality of Leads For many, last thing needed is leads Leads create most value, only if you can sell The Reality of Price Remember what happened to travel agents? If all you give is price, you are giving nothing at all Consumers can get price online Faster Easier More conveniently online and always, cheaper! 6

7 Creating Value Discussing coverage not selling rate Ask questions Educate yourself Develop professionally In the Right Place? Probing, prying, pealing the onion Building rapport Building relationships Don t like it, get out 7

8 Using Hypotheticals Getting to know clients needs Threshold Again, a threshold issue for agents & brokers Must undergo deathbed conversion and learn to sell before spending on marketing Good news: all the prospective business you could dream of is in the file cabinet Good problem, however complicated Agents & brokers don t want to communicate 8

9 Study Although 85% of auto insurance consumers indicate they are loyal, l more than 1/3 shopped for new insurance provider Need to identify consumers who have higher propensity to switch and employ tactics needed to keep their business Satisfaction The most influence on client s overall satisfaction & likelihood lih to renew policy and recommend you? Day-to-day policy service interactions that most hate to deal with 9

10 Statistics Consumers in the at-risk category Have been with you an average of 4 years longer than those who ultimately defect 25% of consumers w/packages (auto & home policies) shop, while 40% of non-packaged consumers shop 25% of those shopping for packages defect 50% of those shopping for only auto insurance switch insurers Statistics (cont.) If you re not selling packages, consider a career as a travel agent 10

11 Slices of Pie Think of every personal & commercial lines client as a pie Home, Auto, Umbrella, Life, Health, Disability, Long-term Care, Retirement, Mortgage Need to harvest & mine every piece You already (or should) have relationships with these folks your foot in the door The Numbers Do you run your agency by the numbers & hold staff accountable to get results? How much do you make on every piece of business? What does it cost you to write every piece of business? How many monoline policies do you have? What percentage of packaged business has an umbrella? How much of your book is on EFT or ACH? SWAG (Some Wild-Ass Guess) method Give employees skin in the game 11

12 Today s Marketplace The phone book is dead How do you get the phone to ring? The cheese keeps moving If learning to sell or selling your agency isn t attractive option, then need to evolve or die News Flash: Having a website is not a digital marketing strategy Just like the phone, it s expected The Insurance Consumer On average, 75% of auto insurance policyholders contacted agent or insurer in the past year with a non-claim-related question, problem or policy change Emerging channels like online chat, text messaging, and smartphone apps now used by nearly 1/3 of all policy holders In past year alone, usage increased d4% Use of smartphone apps, online chat, and text continuing to increase 12

13 The Insurance Consumer (cont.) This past year, 54% of all new auto insurance buyers requested quote they eventually purchased via Internet ½ of those policies were bound online Internet has become key in the shopping process for majority of consumers Traditional one-size-fits-all service strategy no longer meets consumer expectations What the Client Wants Clients prefer to speak with you when: Dealing with coverage questions Billing inquiries Changing vehicles/drivers Obtaining quotes Discussing price Clearly, these interactions involve more dialogue 13

14 What the Client Wants (cont.) However, a significant minority of consumers prefer to transact via the Internet, even for the services just mentioned rather than call or visit you 31% prefer to add/change vehicles online 28% would seek quote via Internet if possible For those transactions that tend to be more routine or mechanical, making gpayments, updating contact info, ordering insurance cards, majority of consumers prefer communicating via the Internet What Does This Say? Consumers are using multiple media channels in everyday lives Result: Expectation that agent will communicate with them via channels they use in everyday life Consumers want flexibility to be able to choose self-servicing options, but have ability to speak to agent if desired 14

15 What Does This Say? (cont.) Consumers are more satisfied when they are serviced when &how they wish hto be serviced In contrast, satisfaction declines when consumers must conform to your business practices If no satisfaction, can result in lost sales An Online World 31% of consumers indicate preference for paying their bill at agency, 45% cite Internet as their mostpreferred bill pay channel Preference for online bill payment is understandable since 81% of all auto insurance consumers pay at least one household bill online However, insurance payments online currently account for only 30% of the market Represents a significant gap compared to 45% who cite Internet as their most preferred bill pay channel 15

16 An Online World (cont.) This indicates substantial opportunity to improve consumer satisfaction & an opportunity for you to make more money Seize the Opportunity Consumers significantly more satisfied when they deal exclusively with agent for all their serving needs Satisfaction among the highest when interaction involves agent AND emerging channels Represents significant competitive opportunity for agents that fully embrace emerging communications 16

17 What To Do? Communicate with your clients the way they want tto be communicated with Get a digital marketing strategy Dial-in your website s SEO Leverage social media The Result Prospects should be coming to you because of your digital it marketing strategy t Remember, none of it matters if you can t sell Take responsibility for where your agency is today If you re doing everything right and your agency has adopted a sales culture, good If not, recognize you must evolve or die 17

18 Thank You Mike D Arelli Executive Director mdarelli@agentsalliance.com 18