Homeowner Renewal Dates

[padthaiforlunch]

If you could figure out who pays their insurance through impounds and skip them, you would do very well. People who pay through impounds don't respond.

Dan

Dan -- What are impounds?

 

[djs]

Impounds are where you pay a little extra in your mortgage payment every month and the mortgage company uses this to pay your property taxes and insurance.

The majority of mortgages are setup this way, it prevents people from 'forgetting' to pay their bills.

Why do this? Well, my property taxes are $14000 a year. It is easier to pay an extra $1200 a month then it is to write 2 $7000 checks a year. Of course, I still write the checks, but in most cases, people think it's a lot easier to have it as your monthly payment, rather than as a lump sum.

Personally, I pay the extra onto my line of credit, then run it back up again... it works.

Dan

 

[stuartmoore10]

How do you do the Haines website for free?

On their site it looks like they are going to charge you.

 

[djs]

Haines isn't free. I don't know any xdate source (in quantity) that is.

Dan

 

[surestart]

any comments on how to best automate the x dates marketing sequence???
which is the preferred vendor for x dates and why?
what cost per thousand is fair?
when you factor 1% success rate if your commission on one HO3 policy is $50 are you really breaking even, including your time spent on the marketing and mailing process?
what other innovative marketing methods are used out there? i find traditional newspaper and coupon mailer advertising a hit and miss...some months we get phone calls, and then nothing. i don't put too much into yellow pages or radio either.
thanks, gary

 

[1manshow]

I can see the value to Auto Xdates..... Geico, Esurance and Progressive had commoditized the auto insurance markets to price, price, price and marketing on price can be successful.


In our area the average homeowners premium is $500-600year. Hard to get clients to move if you're marketing on price. Marketing a $500 product on value in this enviroment is more than a tough sell. Maybe if you could be more specific on how your idea is being marketed successfully ???

 

[bobson]

Impounds are where you pay a little extra in your mortgage payment every month and the mortgage company uses this to pay your property taxes and insurance.

The majority of mortgages are setup this way, it prevents people from 'forgetting' to pay their bills.

In my neck of the woods that is called an escrow account not an impound.

$14,000 in property taxes? Don't you wish you owned your home rather than the state owning it?

 

[djs]

Let's do some numbers:

Mailpiece cost:
Postage: $0.26 (bulk mail)
Printing: $0.10 (depends what you send)
Envelope: $0.04
Data: $0.10 (more or less)

Total cost per piece, not including any overhead: $0.50

Send 500, 1% response rate, 5 responses, lets say 3 closes.

3 policies @ $50 / policy = $150 gross proceeds.

500 mailers @ $0.50 per mailer = $250 total expenses (again, skipping any overhead)

Profit: Well, we were shooting for a bailout anyway ;(

Couple of things, $50 per policy is low, at least in my area. I would estimate more $125. You won't get real high value policies via this method, but should get 'average' policies.

1% is a decent response rate. You may do better or worse, but it's a good place to run numbers. Don't believe people who tell you that you'll get better. You might, but if you plan on it, you'll have problems.

You should be able to crossell auto and maybe some life. Business policies few and far between... Occassional health.

You'll need to fix the average commission rate to make this work.

Dan

 

[Rick Deckard]

I've posted previously on how I do this. I get a list from Haines of upcoming anniversary dates and the public record info on the home.

I generate a quote and mail it to them.

I get a 1% response rate, with an 80% closing ratio of the responses.

When you boil it down, by itself, its a break even proposition for first year business. It's a decent way to grow a book of business, but it is far more work than most people realize. The funny thing is, no matter how many times I say it is far more work than you think, people who try it come back and say they didn't realize how much work it would be.

You can outsource it, you will lose money. The whole trick is to automate it.

If you could figure out who pays their insurance through impounds and skip them, you would do very well. People who pay through impounds don't respond.

Dan

This thread makes me very hungry to want to plow ahead. I have to ask why these people DO NOT respond. I would think since they already are paying them they would be perfect. Why no response? That's got to be a lot of folks.

 

[KenP]

I agree the cost gets too high, especially if salaried agents are making these often dead calls.

Akin to what you're saying but purely account rounding: My office has had good success calling up people after their HO renewal and breaking the barrier down by asking if they got documents, need anything, etc. The phone numbers are good and the clients are receptive, naturally.

First off, it's good for retention because sometimes there are frustrations or concerns. But after that, you then move into talking about grabbing their other lines of business. They already know and trust you so getting the takeaway isn't terribly difficult.

It just makes more sense when you look at the cost because the call itself its helpful for retention, account rounding helps retention, and grabbing new lines of business gets some nice premiums to help cover the cost of doing this work.