Birthday Cards or Letters?

[Frank Stastny]

Us P&C guys get pretty lazy with 3 or 4 thousand renewals coming in, but... last year I had the ladies start "calling" all birthdays on the phone. That's right, on the phone.. we dropped "cards" for personal phone calls!! Unfreaking believable response! Referrals are up, persistency is up, production is up...guess what... give it a try for a few months and see if it doesn't add a value to you as their agent. Or sit on your ass like we "had" been doing and get slowly eaten up by the guys who are out there looking for a way to provide extra value

Wow, that is so "old school"!

Regardless of what technology will let us do today it doesn't always mean that it should be done or that it constitutes providing "service", especially personalized service. Most people recognize all of the automated things for what they really are, a feeble attempt by a lazy individual to provide real, good old fashion service.

I almost consider it an insult when I get a generic birthday card from my State Farm agent. He doesn't know it's my birthday, the card is automatically sent out from corporate. If that's the best he can do then I would prefer not getting one.

I send personalized birthday letters with a cartoon at the top that I have designed, not cards. Each one is signed by me and many have a hand written note to my client on them.

If an agent wants to be remembered and build a relationship with their clients then he/she will do things no other agents are not doing. "Old school" techniques worked well back in the "olden days" and work even better today.

1manshow is the kind of agent I would want to do business with. Good job!

 

[stevem5]

I'm not an insurance agent, but a customer. We have mortgage, medical, dental, 2 life insurance policies each, and auto insurance. And, we never hear from any of our agents. In fact, we hadn't heard from our mortgage insurance agent since we built our home over 20 years ago! Needless to say, when our policy renewed, at 25% higher than last year, and checking, I found it had also increased 25% the year before, I shopped around the policy - never even considering my former agent. It *is* important to keep in touch with clients!

There are a number of realtors who regularly send us "recent sales in your neighborhood" cards, or college sports schedules for our nearby university, which we keep on our fridge. Yes, they remind us of who is taking the effort to stay in touch.

An even better touch? Send a birthday card - a real, entertaining but professional paper greeting card, like those at QuoteArts.com (they even offer a discount for businesses that send a lot). Even a number of local restaurants sell us "free entree on your birthday" cards (appreciated). Just don't send a generic e-card - it comes across as a "networking action", rather than a real reaching out. We do remember these personal touches.

 

[cwatkins44]

I am a relatively new agent.

My auto salesperson was very diligent in sending birthday, anniversary, and holiday cards (Christmas). We kept her name before us, and we always thought it to be a good gesture. Over the years we brought six vehicles from her.

I recently began to send out cards, and I hope it bring me the success she received from my husband and I.

 

[Larry Tew]

Contact is good, but in my opinion if it's too automated / mechanical / generic, it loses its value.

Instead, mix it up. Make it personal. On a client's birthday and anniversary, I either call or email. It's personal and free.

 

[Jerard]

I always send a photo of a horse's head with a note in red crayon.... "Trust me...you never want to cancel this policy."

 

[biaomaha]

Us P&C guys get pretty lazy with 3 or 4 thousand renewals coming in, but... last year I had the ladies start "calling" all birthdays on the phone. That's right, on the phone.. we dropped "cards" for personal phone calls!! Unfreaking believable response! Referrals are up, persistency is up, production is up...guess what... give it a try for a few months and see if it doesn't add a value to you as their agent. Or sit on your ass like we "had" been doing and get slowly eaten up by the guys who are out there looking for a way to provide extra value

That is what we do and my staff talk to clients and the response is great

 

[dominicling]

I can only tell you what I have been having the best success with. LETTERS! I use to send cards and stopped for several reasons.

Letters are more personal, they cost less and my clients seel to like them a lot more. I get a lot more phone calls thanking me for the letter than I use to when I sent cards.

I would definitely not send an "e-card". I sometimes get those and they are deleted as fast as the birthday card I receive from my P&C agent is thrown away that is sent out by State Farm. My agent doesn't even know that I'm having a birthday.

I design my letter with a cartoon at the top and each letter is personally addressed to Mr., Mrs., or Ms so and so. (I can do these very quickly and easily using the computer program I have.) I personally sign each one and put a PS at the bottom thanking them for their business and ask them to pass my name along to others they know.

If you want your client to feel "warm and fuzzy" send out a personalized letter. You want them to be your clients, not the insurance companies.

If you would like to see a sample of one of the letters I send out I will be happy to send you one. Just send me an e-mail with "birthday letter" in the subject line. My e-mail address is: [email protected]

Sometimes I send letters to spouses who don't have insurance with me but never to children. My thinking is, that if the children need insurance the parents are going to buy it, they aren't. If they become a client they get a letter.

Hi Frank, I would love to receive the birthday letter, the the email seems to bounce..