Personal Lines Prospecting

[Air Jer]

I am one of those who likes Dwayne and I enjoyed his post on prospecting for commercial lines. I spend most of my time exclusively in commercial lines too but I would like to build up some personal lines business. With the DNC law, what is the best way to do this? I do ask my commercial customers if I can quote their personal lines but since I don't personally have 1,000 commerical customers this develops meager numbers. What do all of you do?

I should add, I do work out of my house not a storefront. The agency I am with is 60 miles away and with today's technology that is not an issue with commercial lines since you got see the commercial prospects but is this a serious impediment to developing a personal lines book of business?

 

[Scottyj]

I am in a similar situation. The agency I work for is 700 miles away. We are mainly commercial lines but I too wanted to build up personal lines business. DNC laws are pretty hard to get around so what i do is about 4 days a week I leave flyers on peoples doors in surrounding areas and neighborhoods. I even knock doors and introduce myself in a non threatening manner and say something similar to this. "hello My name is..., I am an Agent with... I have been going around talking with your neighbors and handing these out..." then a put the flyer in their hand. "Did you know that we write coverage for over 30 carriers ?... Who do you currently Insure your home and auto with" they usually respond and the conversation starts from there. I do this for 1-2 hours each of the 4 days a week I do it depending on my appointment schedules and success rate for a particular neighborhood. You can usually read it in their face if they do or do not want to talk so if they are a grump one then I just hand them a flyer and say give me a call if you would like to save money. I have been doing this for about 6 weeks now and for the last 3 weeks i have been getting calls and pumping out at least 1-2 quotes per week. Its not much but if you can pump them for referrals later things will only get bigger from there.

 

[infoe]

Damn ScottyJ that is beast mode in my opinion. I wish I could hypnotise myself to be as agressive as some of you guys. Coming from SF (captive) to just getting my indy going Ive always had success in the PL with a much more reactive approach.

internet leads=yes they suck royally but every once in a while u can find 1 or 2 good companies and get their top tier filtered product (easier to request credit if it doesnt work)

direct mail= very low response ratio...takes a while for ROI to kick in (and usually not the best prospects)

telemarketing= this will be my go to method (It's always best to hire someone to do the telemarketing but if you work from home and don't have a station for them to do it at You could always source it out..or do it yourself and then it becomes cold calling of course. ((cole x-dates?))

event marketing= while this is the closest to what scottyj is doing it is still much more reactive...set up a booth at a local supermarket and just raffle some things out for completed lead cards (no purchase necessary)

event marketing 2= joining meetup.com functions...marketing with realtors/mortgage brokers/title companies going to functions or holding functions.

I feel like with all the time ive spent at the farm PL is easy...now I want to get good at doing commercial and I'm wondering if cold calling or just showing up at the businesses is the best way to go about it.

 

[Scottyj]

Commercial equals cold call cold call... Ex dates ex dates. Drop ins work too

 

[jhplat5685]

How bout during the work day when most personal lines prospects are at work? What methods do you use to market personals line during that time?

 

[Scottyj]

Dude I live in the land of stay at home moms. I do all my commercial prospecting between the hours of 9am and 3pm and then from 3-5 I knock door or make calls. Here in Utah school gets out at 2:30 ish and then all the moms are at home by 3pm so literally just yesterday I knocked a neighborhood of 30 homes and only about 8 did not answer... I think its different everywhere you go though... I grew up in Cali and lived there for 20 years... not many stay at home moms there...

 

[jhplat5685]

Good point Scotty. I am right outside the NYC area where there are a lot of rich stay at home moms as well. I'll consider giving these hoes a call starting at three today and when I work up the courage, I'll step out the office and start knocking! Thanks.

 

[Verbgravy]

Good point Scotty. I am right outside the NYC area where there are a lot of rich stay at home moms as well. I'll consider giving these hoes a call starting at three today and when I work up the courage, I'll step out the office and start knocking! Thanks.

I'd avoid calling them "hoes". It'll get their attention, but maybe not the best opener.

 

[Scottyj]

I'd avoid calling them "hoes". It'll get their attention, but maybe not the best opener.

hahaha that put a smile on my face... but yeah, the thing I always say is... what is the worst you will hear ? the word NO and even then your agency and brand awareness increases from that contact. Just keep track of the neighborhoods you knock and go back at least one more time that year... usually like 6 months later... the people who were receptive the first time you will most likely write the 2nd or 3rd time around. Or like many they will even seek you out.

I honestly think it says a great deal of positive things to people when you go out and knock doors for insurance or any financial service. I mean I am pretty sure Im the only agent in my entire county doing this... maybe even the state.

Innovation is not always in the form of new ideas... sometimes its just doing what everyone else isnt.

 

[Bertolinoins]

I have a young lady that transitioned to P&C insurance after years as a title rep. She started cold calling all of the real estate and mortgage offices she used to work with and then branched out to hitting all 337 real estate offices with 5 agents or more in our city. she hit them pretty hard for 45 days and before long she was getting so many HO referrals that she can only visit two offices in the AM and then spend the rest of her day quoting. When she gets a client, she gives them a week or two to settle in after the move and then she drops by with a little plant as a housewarming present and pushes for their auto and tries to write a term policy instead of the mortgage protection they are being bombarded with. Her strategy has been very effective.

Why target individual homeowners when you can target RE agents and Mortgage officers that do 50+ transactions a year? If you get in with a dozen high volume realtors that work the nicer areas... you will have results that are very hard to duplicate with your own individual efforts. A warm introduction during a insurance shopping trigger (home purchase, new teen driver, rate hike) is golden.