Beginning a Referral Program

[indienoise]

I prefer to be asked about our referral program from the customer, that way it seems a lot more natural.

You've got to be suggesting it somehow, some way then. Nobody is just asking an insurance agent about their referral program, for the fun of it.

 

[smcbride]

You've got to be suggesting it somehow, some way then. Nobody is just asking an insurance agent about their referral program, for the fun of it.

I completely agree with Indienoise here. In order to get the referrals you have to at least let the people know that you want them. Plus if you have just helped them or have been helping them then why wouldn't they want you to help their friends and family. I want to thank everyone here I'm going to refer this thread to my boss and push for him to put some kind of a referral program in place for our office. My experience has always been that if you are referred to a person they are more likely to give you some of their time than if it's a cold call.

 

[DHK]

I know that the P&C market is different from what I do... but, in my opinion, a professional referral is a professional referral.

As long as you can ASK without making YOURSELF and the other person uncomfortable... you may be able to cut out all other forms of prospecting, provided that you are doing a fantastic job for them.

http://sandyschussel.com/make-a-referral-mindshift/

You can order his referral training for $37 on mp3:
http://sandyschussel.com/products/

 

[djs]

My experience is when you pay for a referral, you do get a lot more referrals, but its more of a warm body type of referral, rather than a 'need' referral.

Both have their places, my only point is making a distinction in what 'referral' means. If I refer my friend 'Jim' but Jim doesn't know about it and isn't expecting a phone call, its not a great referral, as compared to a mortgage broker referral to someone who is actively buying a house.

Both have their places. Both are good. The COI type of 'need' referral will have a much higher close ratio then the 'friend' type of referral so I can get paid. As was pointed out though, even the friend type of referral is better then internet leads, so it is an awesome approach.

Dan

 

[P&CGuru]

I know that the P&C market is different from what I do... but, in my opinion, a professional referral is a professional referral.

As long as you can ASK without making YOURSELF and the other person uncomfortable... you may be able to cut out all other forms of prospecting, provided that you are doing a fantastic job for them.

http://sandyschussel.com/make-a-referral-mindshift/

You can order his referral training for $37 on mp3:
http://sandyschussel.com/products/

Why would you ever be uncomfortable asking for a referral? If you are completely sold on the value that you provide to your customers than it should make you uncomfortable NOT to ask for one.

Also, as much as we think that customers get uncomfortable when asked, they really don't. My office has never had a customer cancel a policy because we ask for referrals every time they call.

With that being said, if you aren't treating your customers like they are kings and queens, it doesn't matter how many times you ask, you won't yield any meaningfull results.

 

[GXR2]

Another idea ..
On the first day of each month send out a thank you card for the previous months business. In it include a referral card that they can fill out and mail back. This way you can kill two birds with one stone -- A personal than you card that increases retention for your new business and asking for the referral at the same time.

 

[indienoise]

My experience is when you pay for a referral, you do get a lot more referrals, but its more of a warm body type of referral, rather than a 'need' referral.

Both have their places, my only point is making a distinction in what 'referral' means. If I refer my friend 'Jim' but Jim doesn't know about it and isn't expecting a phone call, its not a great referral, as compared to a mortgage broker referral to someone who is actively buying a house.

Both have their places. Both are good. The COI type of 'need' referral will have a much higher close ratio then the 'friend' type of referral so I can get paid. As was pointed out though, even the friend type of referral is better then internet leads, so it is an awesome approach.

Dan

Good point. I am absolutely after the type that require no action on my part. Whether it's from a client or coi, I don't care. I wrote 3 today, one from a coi, one from a client who recommended me, and one from a client who physically brought there friend. I love those, because the new client can see me handing the person who brought them a gift card and thank them emphatically. That is the easiest path to duplication.

 

[HCCIA]

Brilliant advise!!!

 

[JohnWalker]

You are absolutely correct. A referral program is the backbone of an agency. The first thing I will say is make sure that your staff is "asking" for referrals. This may seem obvious but it took my a long time to get my team to ask for a referral 100% of the time and then I started rewarding them for each referral quoted.

But the most important thing is to show your team how to "ask". they used to ramble on and one about our wonderful referral program and never got any referrals. It was when i told them not to say anything about the raffle until after they have received a name. So now we simply ask after ever conversation "is there anything else I can do for you" Customer: No "Ok, can I ask you for a favor?.....Who do you know that I can help"

If we dont get the response we like, we repeat " I just need one name of someone I can save some money too, you surely have one person"

A little persist ency will go a long way. GOOD LUCK

I really like this advice. Thanks for the tip. I need to get my referral game up

 

[Herkster]

We do a referral program in our office as well, and while we haven't had a lot of major influence from it, it has shown to bring some business in the door. Most of it was a local manufacturing company and plant, that used to provide health insurance to it's retiree's decided to stop that practice. So, once word got out that we had helped a few of them, and told them about the referral program, we had a lot more phone calls and appointments.

Now, if I could just get it to work for farm and crop insurance...