We’ve previously preached the importance of meeting with your customers face-to-face as often as possible to establish a strong relationship. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, insurance agents must be able to develop and maintain client relationships via other mediums.
So, while we all wait for a return to “business as usual” here are a few tips to attract new business to your agency from the safety of your home office.
Balance Your Marketing Content with Personal Communication
Marketing is the lifeblood of an insurance agent’s sales pipeline. You have a product that will benefit your client or prospect and you want to get your message in front of them as often as possible. But oversaturation can cause you to come across as disingenuous and do more harm than good.
Balance is key for effective communication. Make sure that you send personalized messages to your clients when it’s applicable and you touch on information specific to their organization. Don’t be afraid to show your personality and charisma as you aim to develop a rapport with clients and prospects alike.
Contact Customers with a Purpose
Consistently reaching your customers with messaging is key to maintaining your client relationships and it’s good to establish a regular communication schedule. However, if you don’t have relevant and valuable content to provide your clients, these messages can do more harm than good. Customers can become disillusioned with your agency if you are sending them the same spam marketing messages that every other insurance provider does.
The same goes for personalized messages. Checking in on a client isn’t a bad thing, but consistently reaching out without any purpose to your message can weaken your relationship. Think about your own interactions with marketers and salespeople. When they reach out to you frequently without providing anything of value, how do you react?
In the end, having a schedule to consistently touch your contacts is important to maintaining client relationships, but only if you keep providing content that is valuable to your customers.
Embracing Video
With social distancing in place, the closest thing to face-to-face interactions is video conferencing. But how do you leverage this medium effectively?
Offering webinars to address hot button issues during these times is a great way to maintain contact with your clients and prospects and leverage your agency as a thought leader in the industry. Whether you’re addressing coverage, lines of business, risk management or another topic of interest, offering your clients learning opportunities is a great way to differentiate your agency from competitors.
Proposals are another way to effectively utilize video to maintain relationships and drive business. Sending a PDF or recapping a proposal over the phone feels disingenuous and lacks the emotional component of the sales process. Video conferencing gives you the ability to offer a visual to the client as you walk them through the coverage and provides an opportunity to meet “face-to-face” and maintain a personal connection as best you can.
Nothing can build and maintain a client relationship better that face-to-face interactions. But with these tips, you can leverage available mediums to stay connected and drive business during these trying times.
By: Tim Woitach