Generating New Business

[PotentialFarmer]

If it's home and/or auto you seek, buy or generate some x-dates. Tried and true.

Yeah? You like the X-Dates? I was thinking of getting involved with something like that. I figured it would be a nice opportunity to attempt to generate new business. I don't want to do a direct mailer however, I was hoping to try telemarketing them since I found something that will scrub the list for me and give me phone numbers not on the DNC list.

 

[steveadlman]

Besides your natural market you will need to spend a lot of time on the phone cold calling. P&C is different than life insurance because it is a demand product people ask for. Most P&C agents make most of their life sales from people they sell either a homeowners or automobile policy to. Does Allstate have good homeowners and auto insurance rates in your state? Generating new business on a consistent basis will take a lot of hard work on your part and spending a great deal of time on the phone soliciting new business.

 

[CaptiveBroke(r)]

Did you purchase a book of business from a selling agent or are you a "scratch" agency?

If you have an existing book, cross selling your customers would be the first place to start. Allstate's multi-line discounts are usually pretty generous.

Make a list of your renewals coming up at least 1-2 months in advance and have your support staff call them reminding them of the upcoming renewal and that if they have any questions or concerns to contact your agency. You can also take the opportunity at offer them an insurance quote on the line that they don't have with you and making a point of stressing the discount of having both car and home with your company.

You may also want to make a list of your mono-line auto and mono-line homeowner clients and start to call them offering them discounts by having both lines with you.

If you started from "scratch", buy into the Allstate lead programs, such as Real-Comp and utilize the Cole's directory to do mailings and phone calls. If I'm not mistaken, if you subscribe to Cole's as an Allstate agent, you will get a discount annual price and they may be able to "scrub" the lists for Allstate customers which would save you lots of time and telemarketing fees.

Allstate agents that are successful get many referrals from happy clients so make sure you take advantage of that.

Unfortunately, in may states, people don't feel as if they are in "Good Hands" with the systematic homeowner non-renewals and very restrictive auto underwriting.

Take advantage of all the tools Allstate offers, as they have many programs that you can buy into, such as mailings and telephone programs.

I'm familiar with the workings of Allstate, State Farm and Nationwide. If I can be of any further assistance, feel free to email me.

Good luck!

 

[Josh]

I agree...networking is the major way to go...then branding!

That has to be the slowest way in the world to get business.

 

[Kapture]

That has to be the slowest way in the world to get business.

Mass mailing would be the slowest.. and least effective.

Only about 1 half of one persent will respond... and with the price of postage.

People do business with their friends... networking, if done correctly, is one of the best ways... you will have people calling you for a quote.

 

[Josh]

Mass mailing would be the slowest.. and least effective.

Only about 1 half of one persent will respond... and with the price of postage.

People do business with their friends... networking, if done correctly, is one of the best ways... you will have people calling you for a quote.

I have to disagree with you for the simple fact that you can mail as many people at a time as you'd like. If you have a reasonably piece and you're mailing a reasonable area you'll get at least 1%. Even at that, you can mail 100,000 pieces at a time if you felt so inclined an that'd get things going pretty fast. That'd yield around 1,000 leads, doesn't sound like a slow way of growing business to me, but what do I know, I've only been doing this for 7 years.

 

[PotentialFarmer]

I have to disagree with you for the simple fact that you can mail as many people at a time as you'd like. If you have a reasonably piece and you're mailing a reasonable area you'll get at least 1%. Even at that, you can mail 100,000 pieces at a time if you felt so inclined an that'd get things going pretty fast. That'd yield around 1,000 leads, doesn't sound like a slow way of growing business to me, but what do I know, I've only been doing this for 7 years.

Hey PM me I'd be curious what kind of mailers you think are most practical. I'm in SoCal so no competitive factor, help a brother out. When I was a Financial Adviser the saying was always "If your Mailing, your Failing . . . " so wondering if mailers are different for P&C (Auto Home mainly). Also would be curious about how much it costs to do some pieces. 10K mailer pieces to get 100 leads would be awesome for me at the moment, just wondering on the cost so can figure ROI.

 

[CaptiveBroke(r)]

I agree that mailings can be not only slow but useless in many cases.

What I am referring to is the captive agent niche marketing these agents can utilize.

The P&C market is a different breed of customer than the health customer. Where there are some that will ride the wave with you through the company's increases, there are some that are continuously shopping to save a couple of bucks. Those are not the customer you want, especially a new agent just starting out.

Our agency has had some moderate success with mailings that have pre-paid return envelopes (you only pay th PO if they are sent back) and then we follow-up with a telemarketer in the office.

Unfortunately, I have found that buying P&C leads can be a waste of money since they are sold to not only the 4 or 5 agents that the lead generation tells you, but they are also sold to other lead generation companies. By the time you call the "lead", they may have been inundated with 10 calls already and are fed up.

I'm certainly not an expert but I have found that referrals from customers can generate solid new business leads.

Keeping all quotes and calling them systematically also will keep you name in front of prospective clients. Ex-dates have been historically a great way to continuously have a flow of peoples to speak with.

Hope this help some.

 

[JCK818]

STUPID QUESTION ALERT!!!

What is an Ex-date I keep reading about?

 

[CaptiveBroke(r)]

Not a stupid question at all. Usually Ex-dates pertain only to the P&C business since people are always shopping for their car and auto insurance but then once they get the new quote, they tell the agent "Let me wait till I get my bill" or "I will call you when my renewal comes".

Whe you Ex-date, you simply record the renewal date in your records or quotes and make a reminder to yourself or your agency to contact the prospect at the "expiration date" of the current policy, thus the term Ex-date is used.

I know for myself, I Ex-date every person I quote in my agency and continually contact them at every expiration until either I write them or they tell me to buzz off.

Ex-dates are gold.