10 best ideas for increasing retention

[OnTheFrontLines]

There are some really good ideas here.

The idea of not being stuffy is absolutely 'dead on target!' because the reality is a "break from the crowd" approach can create affinity as well as "rememberence". If you don't believe this then recall what Johnny Carson said about the American public and I'm paraphrasing...but it was along the lines of ...'if want to know what the American public values the most between entertainment and education just look at my salary compared to the the head of Harvard's salary and then you'd have your answer'...So to provide education to clients (reviews, coverages, policies, even a newsletter) is important, but delievering the information with some flare from TheInsuranceLady could provide some added glue to make the customers stick. You could come up with an easy to remember marketing message like "When Lady Luck Is Not With You, Then You Better Be With The Insurance Lady"

It is actually very important to put personality into your agency. Be different WITH a purpose. Be different ON purpose.

And the easy way is via the paper newsletter as some other saavy agents have stated.

Now it may be controversial, and that's fine, but the 'save to stay' philosophy is only going to further deteriate you lapse/cancellations because you know as well as everybody else, that if they stay with you for price then they will leave you for price...and you'll NEVER always have the lowest price.

The newsletter on a monthly basis that does NOT try to sell all the time, but rather provides Value and good info in such a manner that makes them look forward to reading it will go along way.

One more thing, 'Kudos' to the the wise agents who are spot lighting customers as well as featuring 'business of the month' type of exposures...this is truly a great way to foster stronger bonds and another great 'in road' to referrals from those clients at some time in the future. One more thing to add is depending on the product that your business spot light provides -Smart agents could get that business to provide some kind of valuable service to your clients and to get the service they simply have to take a coupon in that came from your newsletter. This helps your business clients to grow their business and it also adds value to your agency becasue you were able to get this arranged for your book of business.

The ideas are limitless, but information and knowledge without implementation is equal to ignorance.

So I hope you act on these great ideas

 

[saieddie]

I don't know what everyone else on here does, but when I get unsolicited mail/email, I skim it and chuck it.
Automated voicemails are just irksome and take up space on my answering machine.
B'day cards are a nice touch, but Christmas cards get lost in the holiday shuffle. (I do like the Labor Day card my realtor sends, he's the only one who does that)

Our retention takes care of itself w/us. We don't do anything special.
We mail a letter at renewal to send us any changes or questions. Then call 30 days from renewal to verify and see if we need to shop their rate.
We always try to answer the phone by the 2nd ring, and call back msgs w/in the hour.
Take care of claims, endorsements, and billing promptly and with a personal touch.
The customers that leave for price will never have good retention and don't value good service. We don't want them anyway.

 

[Insurance Phoenix]

It's been said the more you keep in contact with clients throughout the year the better the retention is. I do a bad job of that like many others. But one agent told me he sends letter before every renewal and that helped greatly.

 

[Peter Ryan]

The best thing I've ever done for increased retention is a monthly newsletter.

Most agents on this forum will say "It's too expensive." But how much does it cost you to lose business? To buy leads, to advertise, to cut prices just to keep clients?

Of course it's not "too expensive" is a client worth 2 bucks per month to you? If not then we're all in trouble.

Anyway, use an engaging, personal interest story, don't just spew out insurance jargon.

A good newsletter has a good intro article written by you, (keep the whole thing very personality driven), then some tips, some celebrity gossip, it'd be really cool to talk about the celebrity insurance gossip.

Who's house burned down, who got in a car accident, what insurance carrier paid for angelina's baby delivery, etc.

Keep it interesting, and informative, and don't sell too hard.

 

[Zachery]

I send a monthly newsletter to all my clients. It is NOT about insurance, but about human interest stories...has a contest in it to get them to act...has fun and interesting facts...and a section where I highlight the client of the month...lastly, I have a section where I write about what is going on in my life.

It is increased my retention to over 90%

Yes, it takes a bit of work to get it together and in the mail each month, but definitely worth it for the increased retention and the guaranteed. continuity income.

Zach

 

[saieddie]

How long have you been doing your newsletter?

 

[1manshow]

Among other new marketing activities, my newsletter has been going out quarterly for one year now and my persistency has climbed over 3% !!! Freakin awesome! That equates to around 20K in commission I "WILL NOT" lose out the backdoor this year. Currently at 93.4% and shooting for 95% by 2009

added bonus is the PIF growth bonuses we will be getting

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

I have to admit...that I am amazed when I see these retention numbers at 93%...95%....

I assume these are first-year numbers only. Because if these are 2-5 year numbers...then it is bologna...like a lot of things you read on this forum.

Don't get me wrong. The vast majority of content is factual. But there are some real interesting "I did this" and "I do that" comments out there.

 

[saieddie]

Between 93% and 95% of statistics are made up.

 

[1manshow]

My retention numbers are on on my overall book of P & C business for as running 12 month period. At it for 22 yrs and the newsletter and proactive marketing(account rounding) in the last 18 months have done more to profitably grow my business than anything else I've done in the past 22 years.

I may have stated this on the forum before, but I don't really give a rattsass what others on here think is true or false. I occasionally share my experiences when I think someone may benefit from them. I certainly do not have the time or desire to be on here everyday policing the ranks to see who is full of crap and who isn't.