This blog post was originally published on the Engagex blog on August 13, 2020.
Updated and republished on April 1, 2022.
Regularly holding customer insurance reviews is one of the best long-term strategies to create a valuable book of insurance business.
However, even once you’ve implemented a system to get customers in the door consistently to review their policies, you should avoid these common pitfalls to be as successful as possible.
The First Common Mistake is a Lack of Follow-Up
It is essential to follow up on the action items you discuss with your customers.
What good is the meeting if you don’t take action on the information you uncover?
It may seem obvious, but many agents fail to follow up sufficiently.
Pat Dickey, a MDRT-qualifier agent we work closely with, told me that when he first started our appointment setting services, he realized he was getting too many appointments than he had the time to follow up on.
He had enough time for the appointments we set but not enough time for all the follow-up calls and follow-up appointments.
He scaled back the number of appointments we set for him each month to ensure he and his team members had adequate time to follow up on any opportunities uncovered during the initial review. His agency has found great success while doing this.
To make sure you can turn the information you gather in review meetings into new policies, here are a few tips:
Keep diligent notes and identify specific action items that need your attention.
Review your notes a week after the meeting to ensure you’ve completed all action items.
Create educational content to send to your clients (learn how in this blog post.)
Call your client one week after the meeting to follow up, answer questions, and introduce new potential coverage options.
Another Mistake is the Tendency to Push New Sales
It may feel counter-intuitive to you, but DO NOT attempt to make the meeting a direct selling opportunity.
Nobody wants to meet with you just so you can give them a sales pitch.
A hard sales pitch during a review meeting weakens your standing as a trusted advisor in the eyes of your customers (and can even make them less likely to meet with you again in the future.)
Again and again, during my time as an appointment setter, I would hear variations of, “Well I’m not coming in if he’s trying to sell me something,” “I don’t need any more insurance.”, or even “Last time I came for a review, he just tried to sell me more insurance!”
Instead, use the customer needs assessment, the review meeting, and educational content to investigate and educate your client so they identify their needs on their own or with a bit of help from you.
As we talked about above, if you adequately follow up, these conversations will naturally lead to new sales.
Don’t Wing It
Preparation is key.
You’ve got to review your client’s policies beforehand to make sure you add value to the customer in the meeting.
They won’t want to come back if they don’t see and experience the value you provide through the review.
Make sure you:
Have the customer complete a needs assessment form
Review all the client’s coverage, including policies they do not have with you
Make notes in the customer’s file before the meeting
One Last Common Mistake is an Inconsistent Meeting Schedule
To be as successful as possible, make a goal for the number of appointments you will conduct each day.
Maybe it’s just one a day or three per week, but have a goal set for your agency.
Then consistently work to meet your goal every week throughout the year.
Goal setting and consistency generate momentum and foster a culture of hard work and customer service at your agency.
Starting and stopping for months at a time during different parts of the year has proven, for many agencies, to be an ineffective way to conduct a customer insurance review program.
If you’re not putting in a consistent amount of hours scheduling the appointments, you're bound to have lulls where you don’t meet with anyone at all.
Many agents find that their resources are more efficiently spent outsourcing the appointment setting to us at Engagex - is it time for you to follow suit?