The “R” word… Its thrown around the Insurance Industry as the silver bullet… the magic potion… the saving grace of an Agency.
You know why?
Because it is.
When you have an endless stream of referrals coming into your office, more then half of the work is done for you.
Finding the prospect – CHECK!
Getting them interested – CHECK!
Establishing credibility and trust – CHECK!
So why then are SO many Agents and SO many team members so shy when it comes to asking for referrals on a consistent basis?
If you believe that what you are doing is right… if you believe what you are doing is in the best interest of your clients… if you believe you are providing them great protection within the constrains of your clients budget – you should be PROUD to ask for referrals.
But we get it… knowing that and feeling that way are two different things and there are anxieties and fears to get over that no Blog post is going to fix.
So we are going to focus on how even the anxiety struck Agent can ensure that referrals are being asked for from every customer each and every time you interact with them.
When you have a system in place that asks for referrals from your clients even the least confident of Agents can ask for introductions. We highly recommend that you have an email and text messaging drip that goes out to your new clients letting them know what to expect from you as their new Agent and Agency. In that drip, somewhere around day 2-3 a request for referrals and an easy way to get them to you should be included. We like to send links to forms that are easy to fill out. If you are new to this world you can check out www.wufoo.com or www.instapage.com and create nice easy forms to request the info. How do we automate things in Career Agent Concepts? We use www.touchpointsprofessional.com – They allow you to seamlessly drip both texts and emails on your database at the predetermined days and times you choose. A true set it and forget it. We use them for more then a few kick ass strategies. We’ll cover more on other Blog Posts.
Check out a sample of an Agency Referral Request Page here –>> http://hopewellagencyreferrals.pagedemo.co/
You want to be asking for referrals at every opportunity you have to why not include it as part of your email signature? If every time your clients have a positive experience with you they have the opportunity to refer and earn money staring them in the face you can bet that you will pick up referrals throughout the year.
When certain problems are solved for your client those should set off a trigger for your Agency to be asking.. do a good job on claims resolution? Send them a link… Get a mix up with your back office resolved for them? Send them a link. Find an extra discount for them they were missing? You get the idea – Whenever you give a clients a positive experience you should be.
Pour a bucket of it over your head. Seriously though, ICE stands for In Case of Emergency. Every time you close a new deal you should be asking your new clients for an Emergency Contact. Make sure the Emergency Contact is someone that does not live in the home with your client. Take a moment to reach out to that Emergency Contact and introduce yourself and let them know that your client has listed them as who to contact. In most cases a natural conversation will ensue and the opportunity will arise for business.
One of the biggest things we teach in Career Agent Concepts is the need to provide value above all.. and value to your potential referral partners is the opportunity to write more business. When you are providing your Loan Officers and Realtors leads and you are the King or Queen of Referrals at your Networking groups you quickly earn a town mayor type of status. When you are constantly delivering value and not donuts and are filling wallets and not filling our your referral partners waist lines you will see a more consistent flow of referrals. We teach you how to generate leads for these people so every conversation with them can start “Hey Great News – I have a new opportunity for you”
We hope you enjoyed and are ready to implement these 5 strategies into your Agency today.
Career Agent Concepts can help you build your Agency with Our Proven Systems and
Strategies. Request a call with us to learn more!