P&C Marketing

[richardroma]

Any of you care to share what your experience has been trying to form referral relationships with car dealerships, apartment communities, mortgage brokers for P&C business?

I am curious as to what avenue has generated the most leads. Being a newer agent repping with a nationally recognized company, it has somewhat tougher to break in with these folks since a lot of them already have relationships with another agent, or they seem to gt hit up a lot. I try to be regular about visiting and bringing the usual stuff - pens, notepads, doughnuts, etc. Any success stories?

Any other good avenues for generating PC besides the usual suspects - direct mail, telemarketing and internet leads?

 

[agent C]

I am in the same boat as you. I havent had much luck with car dealerships, apartments or mortgage brokers ( although I would really like too, if any one has any good ideas). I have picked up a few realtors though. If you pick up a realtor just make sure you always return their phone calls, get your apps. completed and never make them wait on you, more than likely they will use you again and again.

As far as direct mail goes it can be hit or miss, take your time to figure out what your target market is and stay consistant.

If i were you I would look into joining a BNI group, I have picked up several good referrrals from there but, it is very dependent on the group. Just like everything else there are good and bad ones, so go visit a few that have some openings and decide which one will be best for you.

 

[Amber Scherloz]

I can relate with your experience. In my case, I had several turn downs with the common strategies that are available. I just gave more effort on leads that I am really sure with and if possible or most of the time I would consider a personal discussion on the offer and do some follow-ups.

 

[pandcbroker]

I took doughnuts to several local car dealerships for a few weeks in the mornings, about once a week. Wrote quite a few policies from that. However, when I was starting out, and still occasionally now, I would take calls after hours and weekends. Doing quotes at 7:30pm on a tuesday night is not for everyone.

 

[djs]

In the end, all realtors, car dealers, and whoever else you talk to have the attitude of what's in it for them???? You have already brought the donuts.

My suggestion, skip the donuts, bring them something that will help them in the long term. Don't fall into the trap of giving them $$$ though, but feel free to spend $$$$ on them.

For ideas, take a look at what you are sometimes offered to write additional business. Depending on the contest, it can be envelope pulls, trips, prizes, whatever. Could you implement something like that, using a referral as an entry?

Or, could you provide the referrer with movie tickets for every referral? Reward good behavior.

Truth is, none of this will actually get you sustained business. You need to do something for them that their current agent isn't. It's tough. You have to be consistent. You have to provide a level of service to the agent/dealer that solves their problem. For instance, what is the problem car dealers have???? They need to have the vehicle insured to get their loan funded. Approaching them with the attitude that you will help them get their loans funded will get you a lot warmer reception than the attitude of please send me your referrals.

Dan

 

[pandcbroker]

What is their current agent not doing? Taking calls at 7pm on a Wednesday and at 3pm on a Saturday. I have written lots of homeowners doing that for realtors. After all, when are realtors showing homes? After 5pm and on weekends.

Also, regarding DJs's post, check with your states regulatory division. Unless they are licensed you cannot share commissions. Also, there is likely a limit on "giveaways" such as $10 and so on.

 

[djs]

I agree, always know your states laws AND what your carriers require!

I also did not mean to imply that giving away trips was a good idea, just that many carriers use it as an incentive. My intention was simply look at what others are doing, and gather ideas.

There is now also a whole bunch of new rules on realtors that didn't use to exist, plus a whole lot that used to exist that are now being enforced. A lot of their rules conflict with insurance rules, making it hard.

Dan

 

[1manshow]

pandc, what attorneys are doing closing paperwork on real estate transactions at 7pm ? and what type of homeowner doesn't research insurance prior to closing ? Those are exactly the type of clients we steer clear of.

richard, fyi, we include all car salesman, realtors in our referral program just like anyone else, they get a $10 gas card for each referral. Some of the salesman get into the free gas I guess, because we get a ton of their referrals. Then again, maybe we're in a town with a bunch of lazy agents. With the apartment complexes i had the most luck with going after the complex and telling them i could negotiate a better package rate if all the tenants carried ho4's with them name as certificate holder. They then referred all tenants who didn't carry prior to our office for coverage as a condition of their lease. I'd skip the lead purchase program and buy from someone who generates the leads for me only,pm me and i'll give you a firm we use. gather testimonials, tons of testimonials and use them in your marketing...all your marketing... the effect will surprise you

 

[pandcbroker]

I never said anything about closing the deal. I am not an attorney. However, at least in wind prone areas, the price of insurance MUST be factored in to the monthly premium. Obviously, you are not in the P&C personal lines industry, as a homeowner cannot do "research" without contacting a licensed agent.

 

[warnerins]

Here is a quick evaluation summary of the dealership business. Please keep in mind that I have been familiar with this market for 11 years and at one point was open 9am to 9pm / Monday through Saturday and writing 300 applications a month (specifically for this market).

I recently went through my data base and analyzed January through September. Here are the results and monthly averages:

Quotes 28
Written 14
Non-Standard 10
Progressive 4
Preferred 0

1 month cancel 5
2 month cancel 1
3 month cancel 1
4 month cancel 1
5 month cancel 0

In-Force after 6 months 6

Average Commissions 420.00
Extra hours open per month 84 / 5.00 per hour

These are numbers of an agent that has already built the relationship and the trust of the salesguys, finance guys and managers.

Upside - This is a good way of getting 30 more names through your marketing pipeline.

Downside - How many quality clients did I get in 9 months from this market.