Insurance is a sales-driven business, which means it requires a different approach than, say, engineering. While an engineer might thrive on peace, quiet and minimal interruptions, you’re never going to find that at an insurance agency. Instead, incoming leads, ringing phones, and frequent problem-solving interruptions are the order of the day.
With that in mind, here are some hacks that might help you work more efficiently in an insurance sales environment:
1. Jump on Your Fresh Leads
There’s nothing better than a fresh lead when you’re looking to make a sale. If you’re a Hometown Quotes customer, you get the pick of the litter—leads generated and qualified in real-time. These are individuals who are actively shopping for insurance; if you reach out immediately, you improve your chances of closing the sale!
But what if you were in the middle of creating a new sales spreadsheet and you’re afraid you’ll forget where you were in the process? While it might seem less efficient to interrupt one task for another, it’s all about prioritization. If responding to fresh leads immediately helps you make more sales, that’s more efficient in the long run than finishing the tool that will help you track them.
2. Pick Up the Phone
Along the same line, if your phone rings, pick it up. If you’re truly busy—meeting with a client or preparing for an important meeting that starts in 15 minutes—it might make sense to let a call go to voicemail. But when you find yourself avoiding a ringing phone just because, it’s time to adjust your mindset.
Everyone needs insurance, so every phone call is a possible sale. Even the woman from your landlord’s office who is calling to tell you the parking lot is going to be repaved next week. And often a call is an actual customer calling for information or advice.
3. Schedule Regular Marketing
Another way to keep a steady flow of leads is to schedule time for marketing efforts at regular intervals – daily, weekly, or monthly. Take half an hour at lunch every day to post and comment on social media or schedule a week’s worth of posts every Monday morning. Block an afternoon every month to evaluate your most recent email campaign—did it generate any new customers? Was it more or less successful than your last campaign? Why do you think that is?
Planning, executing and evaluating your marketing is one of those slow-down-in-order-to-speed-up things. You’ve got to let customers know you’re there if you want them to find you, and establishing a solid brand as an agency can pay solid dividends in the long run.
4. Spend Time with Your Sales Metrics
Whether you own an agency with multiple employees or are a one-person shop, you can always extract information from your sales metrics that will help you be more efficient.
Who was your best closer last quarter? Put together a quick training with that person to share and practice their best sales techniques with the rest of the office. When’s the last time you tried to upsell or cross-sell to your current customers? Take a look at your customers who only have one line of insurance and spend time targeting them instead of making cold calls—your sales percentage will likely be higher with the folks who already know you.
5. Update Your Phone Scripts
You’ve been using phone scripts for years, right? No? If not, you might start by reading this post, then creating a few. Some of your goals with scripting are to streamline your sales calls and try to mitigate any anticipated objections.
If you already use scripts, when’s the last time you updated them? Take a look now with a critical eye and ask yourself how you can use your scripting to make your sales process easier or more likely to succeed. It might be that there’s a new technology that you could mention to potential customers. Or maybe you can cut some of the verbiage and turn your script into a series of bullet points that are easier to review when you’re on the phone.
Final thought: the most important principle that each of these hacks has in common is intentionality—deliberately thinking about and working on your business regularly. Making that a habit may be the greatest hack of all.
Ready for more fresh leads? Give us a call at Hometown Quotes, and we’ll help you tweak your lead settings and explain the benefits of trying outside-your-usual-box choices like weekend leads and other options. 800.820.2981.
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