5 Simple Tools to Maintain Connection
In budding romantic relationships, there usually comes a point where you need to make a decision. Do I want to continue having a relationship with this person? Is this going to be exclusive? Is this someone I want to stay with long-term?
Sometimes you’ll be the person who says no; other times it will be the other party. Most of us go through this cycle many times before we find “The One.” We become trained to move away from relationships quickly to start looking for something better. That may protect our hearts, but it doesn’t teach us much about learning to sustain relationships.
As someone who sells insurance, it is in your best interests to maintain a book of business filled with long-term clients. This is why focusing some attention on how to keep client connections strong is worth your time. Here are five simple tools that can help you do that.
1) Be Upfront
While it might freak out a first date, it’s perfectly acceptable to declare your intention to have a long-term relationship with a new client. You could make that clear by saying something like this early on in your conversation:
“I always try to build lasting relationships with my clients, so feel free to give me feedback as we go along here. Like if I’m overexplaining or not giving you as much detail as you want, please let me know either way so I can adjust and make this a better experience for you.”
A statement like that makes your intentions clear, signals openness on your part and empowers your customers to exert control over the process.
2) Show Adaptability
Meeting clients where they live—in the broader sense and sometimes literally—is another way to build connection. This might play out in any number of ways such as: making yourself available for a late-evening call with someone who works nights; downloading a faxing app so you can communicate with an older client who prefers faxing to emailing; or setting up a translation call to make sure a client whose native language isn’t English understands their insurance options completely.
Relatively easy actions like these can have an outsize impact when it comes to demonstrating compassion and building trust.
3) Avoid Multitasking
Especially during your first contact with a new client, avoid multitasking. Don’t check your social media or watch a basketball game with the sound off on a different device while you chat. You may think you’re very adept at hiding what you’re doing, but even miniscule delays in conversational response times are noticeable and drive little wedges into what ought to be a smooth beginning. Keep your focus where it belongs—on the new client you are hoping to win over as a long-term customer.
4) Withhold Judgment
During the getting-to-know-you part of your relationship, try to approach each client with curiosity instead of judgment. They may prefer an insurance choice that doesn’t make sense to you, tell you they want to consult a psychic before they sign any paperwork or start boasting of their political support for a candidate that you detest.
Remember that your relationship is not personal. It can be much easier to accept a person as they are in a business setting. Try to understand the why behind their choices. You don’t have to agree with them to be able to glean something about their personality or worldview that can be helpful to you going forward.
5) Share Yourself—But Wait First
When the time is right, sharing parts of your personality or life circumstances can also be a good way to beef up your connection. Often this means waiting until you discover some kind of commonality based on what your prospect tells you.
Topics like animals and children and usually safe ones to bond over. Common interests like sports or hobbies can also build bridges. More sensitive subjects like politics or religion can build alignment, too, but you’ll definitely want to make sure you’re really on the same page before you head into that territory. And make sure you never make the conversation all about you; the focus should always be on your customer and providing solutions that will meet their needs.
Keep reminding yourself of your goal: to grow a client base of loyal insurance-buying customers who will keep your agency successful for years to come. This can happen if you keep your focus on building relationships and deepening connections with each prospect that you contact.
Hometown Quotes is pleased to provide insurance agencies with high-quality leads filtered by policy type, geographic location and more. Call us at 800.820.8921 to find out how we can help you achieve your sales goals.
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