Having an office also depends on your area, Down here (our office is in retirement central) most of our walk-ins are preferred clients and about 50% of our clients want to come in and meet with us. The rest of the 50% I have never met before, and some never even spoken to on the phone before.Anyway, it has been very profitable for us to have an office.
that is a unique situation since they have moved into the area. most older preferred clients say "i've had this company for 3o years..." i bet you could do retirement planning and estate planning with them as well.
that is a unique situation since they have moved into the area. most older preferred clients say "i've had this company for 3o years..." i bet you could do retirement planning and estate planning with them as well.
It is a unique situation, we get two kinds of walk-ins (well really 3, but we send the last one out the door as quick as they come in). First is the old retired couple that just moved to the area (always friendly), usually referred to us by someone else that they know, easy home auto and sometimes umbrella sales. then we attempt to cross sell with life, annuities, etc. Auto-Owners has an excellent child policy that grandparents can buy, and thats a big hit, with the multiline discounts. There annuity is a big hit too because that multiline discount is 5%.
The second type is that customer, which is from the area, and typically older, 50's and up. They've had State Farm forever and never shopped. Some of you know the situation with State Farm in Florida, so I won't go in to details, but basically they have jumped rates the last 3 years in a row (42%, 58% etc). These people are pissed and just want to take everything from them. Easy home and auto sales, and sometimes umbrella. And again we cross sell for financial products. State Farm has been good to us, and has made us EXTREMELY profitable the last few years. Our customers are saving on average for just home insurance, $1,200. These people are telling all of their friends too. The best part is, State Farm Florida's office, is in my town, so everyone has them!
ALso, USUALLY, walk-ins are the ones who you will have billing issues with......lots of service work, which in reality, costs you money and time dealing with them.
I work from home, so obviously, I do NOT take monthly payments, if they dont have a checking account or a credit/debit card, I am not going to deal with, I will not go meet someone to collect a payment.
90% of my clients are on EFT, the rest pay in full, I think i have 2 clients who are on direct bill, which are actually friends of mine, so I have no worries.......
i really wouldn't want a csr tied up takin payments all day either. a friend of mine stopped taking cash payments and lost about 5% of his book in 3 months. but he instead had his csr to call leads all day and built it back with more stable business.
