Cross Selling Life from a PC Book

FL P&C Broker

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So between myself and 2 other agents we sell about 120 home owners policies a month. We do a pretty good job cross selling auto when we want to. My thinking is that we are leaving a ton of money on the table by not trying to cross sell life.

I am looking for ideas on the best way to present the idea of life insurance to our current customers who write home owners policies for. Not so much for our current customers (when can try with them during renewal.)

For the cross selling guru's what is the best approach without spending to much time? (Our focus is home owners policies and I don't want our average to drop) Any advice is welcomed.
 
I may not fit the cross selling guru label but here is my 2 cents.

A buddy of mine is a top life writer for Farmers. He only sells Farmers. His secret is he ask. And he ask multiple times. Sounds like I am being cheeky, however, That is the answer. Let your clients know that you sell life insurance.

P&C files are a gold mine. Find a life guy to work them. P&C guys think differently than life guys.
 
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For good or bad, with your thinking being that "you're leaving a ton of money on the table not trying to cross sell life", the good news is you're probably not missing out on a ton. As Wino said, p&c and life guys think differently. The other thing is that HO and Auto are a commodity, life insurance is something you need to build the need for. If you want to start selling life then you need to learn how the life sales works and then incorporate that into your pitch with the other policies. Very, very few p&c guys that I know can do it, if they could, they'd be life guys.

That all being said, the best way I've seen p&c agents try to cross sell life (themselves) is to ask when they're doing the quote, who they have their life insurance with. If they don't have any, just say real quick "If you're mortgage balance is $250k, we could give you a $300k policy for ~$30/month (use an actual rough rate), is that something you think would help you?" If they have some, say, "When was the last time you had the coverage reviewed?" Most of them will politely tell you to go play in traffic, but some will bite. It also gives you an idea of how *little* business you might be missing out on the life side.
 
For good or bad, with your thinking being that "you're leaving a ton of money on the table not trying to cross sell life", the good news is you're probably not missing out on a ton. As Wino said, p&c and life guys think differently. The other thing is that HO and Auto are a commodity, life insurance is something you need to build the need for. If you want to start selling life then you need to learn how the life sales works and then incorporate that into your pitch with the other policies. Very, very few p&c guys that I know can do it, if they could, they'd be life guys.

That all being said, the best way I've seen p&c agents try to cross sell life (themselves) is to ask when they're doing the quote, who they have their life insurance with. If they don't have any, just say real quick "If you're mortgage balance is $250k, we could give you a $300k policy for ~$30/month (use an actual rough rate), is that something you think would help you?" If they have some, say, "When was the last time you had the coverage reviewed?" Most of them will politely tell you to go play in traffic, but some will bite. It also gives you an idea of how *little* business you might be missing out on the life side.

I completely agree that life guys and P&C guys are different. I wanted to get into life a few years ago but got really turned off by the captive companies wanting me to compile a list of my 200 closet friends. I was 24 at the time and didn't know many people who wanted to buy life insurance.

So maybe not a ton of money, but we are missing the low hanging fruit.
 
His secret is he ask. And he ask multiple times. Sounds like I am being cheeky, however, That is the answer. Let your clients know that you sell life insurance.

That is the secret! The guy who got me into the business was a life guy who ended up starting a IA multi line agency. He taught me the secret...we asked everyone...and we wrote a lot of life insurance. But over the years since he has retired and I bought the agency it has become more difficult to just ask...so many things come with running an agency that...the little secret gets forgotten.

I actually made my staff all set personal goals a couple of months ago...mine was to start writing more life insurance. I have written 8 life policies in the past couple of months and placed all but 2...one declined (client wasn't tall enough) one in underwriting.
 
That is the secret! The guy who got me into the business was a life guy who ended up starting a IA multi line agency. He taught me the secret...we asked everyone...and we wrote a lot of life insurance. But over the years since he has retired and I bought the agency it has become more difficult to just ask...so many things come with running an agency that...the little secret gets forgotten.

That really is the secret to selling life insurance, period. Asking a lot of people about it. Sure, there is a lot that can go into case design, underwriting, etc. But the first step is the hardest, and that is asking.
 
So maybe not a ton of money, but we are missing the low hanging fruit.

Even at that, there is a ton of competition for that business, especially for homeowners. Again, if you ask some simple questions like the ones I posted above that'll give you an idea of what's going on, but odds are there isn't much. That being said, if you worked it hard enough I'm sure you could pick some up, but consider this:

One of the major scoring points for Allstate insurance agents to get their yearly bonus is their financial products production (for the most part, life insurance) and that is one of their more difficult parts. Most areas have a roving life guy that Allstate will let them use to work their book and most of the agents I know still struggle with it. It's not uncommon for them to take out policies on themselves (not technically themselves, but maybe their wife, cousin, uncle, etc, you get the picture). Again, don't get be wrong, I'm sure there is money to be made there, but I wouldn't kick yourself too hard if you don't chase it because it might very well be more hassle than it's worth.
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I am joint venturing with an independent P&C agency currently, working very well.

How are you doing it?
 
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Even at that, there is a ton of competition for that business, especially for homeowners. Again, if you ask some simple questions like the ones I posted above that'll give you an idea of what's going on, but odds are there isn't much. That being said, if you worked it hard enough I'm sure you could pick some up, but consider this:

One of the major scoring points for Allstate insurance agents to get their yearly bonus is their financial products production (for the most part, life insurance) and that is one of their more difficult parts. Most areas have a roving life guy that Allstate will let them use to work their book and most of the agents I know still struggle with it. It's not uncommon for them to take out policies on themselves (not technically themselves, but maybe their wife, cousin, uncle, etc, you get the picture). Again, don't get be wrong, I'm sure there is money to be made there, but I wouldn't kick yourself too hard if you don't chase it because it might very well be more hassle than it's worth.
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How are you doing it?


A suggestion I will add is have a green sheet. I have a quote sheet (green$) that I use when I start talking to some one about life insurance. It stays on top in every file. Green sheet every one. If you do not sell them today, sell them tomorrow.

In 1987 I was one of the first Life "Specialist" for 3 Allstate NOAs. Unofficial. Ghost writing. Had to be housed in the office next door. We sold enough for all three to go to a Hawaii convention. All of it came from those files. Not one cold call. They really only had one product. I really learned to mine those files. It cracks me up, looking back on it, that I was the "life specialist". I had only been licensed a year and a half.
 
We broker life products to some P&C agencies. They tell us they just ask everyone what they are doing for life insurance. Some agencies have a worksheet that agents use to ask some basic questions then feed those to someone that is the in-house life "specialist".

Get a non-med carrier like Fidelity and one or two full-med carriers. But, the P&C agencies tend to sell more non-med.
 
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