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Before I got into this biz, our dealership was pretty much responsible for the success of the biggest nonstandard agency in town.
Ask yourself if you really want to get into this market. If you want success, you've got to take the good along with the bad. Commit to handling ANY customer the dealership sends your way, and doing so WELL.
Your job is to help make the sale of the vehicle go as smoothly as possible, and getting the dealer the documentation they need to make that sale happen, quickly.
To begin with, you're only going to get their nonstandard business. No prior, needs comp/collision at a moment's notice, often outside the normal 9-5 business hours. Price sells for these customers, and I wouldn't commit to less than 4 nonstandard carriers if you want to be consistently competitive. (I have 6 - the more they can get deals closed with only one call for insurance rather than their customer wasting an hour calling 4 different agencies, the more they'll call YOU) You will have a servicing nightmare, and your loss ratios will probably get worse before they get better.
About 25% of the nonstandard business you write may become preferred business in a year's time. Maybe a little less. Work that demographic hard, because oftentimes you're going to be dealing with someone who doesn't know anything about having a standard or even preferred carrier, and how much it could benefit them.
Until you've consistently been a boon to that car salesman, he or she has no reason to waste time trying to sell you to their customers who already have proof of insurance. Become valuable to them first, then the "good" referrals could begin. See if you can get them to work it into their pitch that since they "saved" their customer money on their car deal, maybe they could call in a favor for them and get them a deal on insurance, too.
Oh, and just about every outfit out there has Progressive, Titan, Dairyland, etc. Those are all good to have, but dig deep for any regional nonstandard carriers that could give you an edge.
Getting those initial referrals are the hard part. Every agent in town has shown up at the dealerships with cards, pens, mints, cookies, whatever. You'll need to stand out. I wish I had a good answer for this, but I really don't. Maybe provide the office lunch? Talk to the sales manager and offer to sponsor a sales initiative for the staff? Offering a bird dog fee seemed like an easy way to get their attention, but it hasn't worked all that well for me. Heck, maybe you could try doing a giveaway drawing like some of us do with our current customers to get referrals - offer a flatscreen or something and each referral gets them an entry?
Ask yourself if you really want to get into this market. If you want success, you've got to take the good along with the bad. Commit to handling ANY customer the dealership sends your way, and doing so WELL.
Your job is to help make the sale of the vehicle go as smoothly as possible, and getting the dealer the documentation they need to make that sale happen, quickly.
To begin with, you're only going to get their nonstandard business. No prior, needs comp/collision at a moment's notice, often outside the normal 9-5 business hours. Price sells for these customers, and I wouldn't commit to less than 4 nonstandard carriers if you want to be consistently competitive. (I have 6 - the more they can get deals closed with only one call for insurance rather than their customer wasting an hour calling 4 different agencies, the more they'll call YOU) You will have a servicing nightmare, and your loss ratios will probably get worse before they get better.
About 25% of the nonstandard business you write may become preferred business in a year's time. Maybe a little less. Work that demographic hard, because oftentimes you're going to be dealing with someone who doesn't know anything about having a standard or even preferred carrier, and how much it could benefit them.
Until you've consistently been a boon to that car salesman, he or she has no reason to waste time trying to sell you to their customers who already have proof of insurance. Become valuable to them first, then the "good" referrals could begin. See if you can get them to work it into their pitch that since they "saved" their customer money on their car deal, maybe they could call in a favor for them and get them a deal on insurance, too.
Oh, and just about every outfit out there has Progressive, Titan, Dairyland, etc. Those are all good to have, but dig deep for any regional nonstandard carriers that could give you an edge.
Getting those initial referrals are the hard part. Every agent in town has shown up at the dealerships with cards, pens, mints, cookies, whatever. You'll need to stand out. I wish I had a good answer for this, but I really don't. Maybe provide the office lunch? Talk to the sales manager and offer to sponsor a sales initiative for the staff? Offering a bird dog fee seemed like an easy way to get their attention, but it hasn't worked all that well for me. Heck, maybe you could try doing a giveaway drawing like some of us do with our current customers to get referrals - offer a flatscreen or something and each referral gets them an entry?
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