Does your insurance sales team get hounded for not meeting your targets? Well, there is the general excuse that insurance is not an easy product to sell. This is especially true in India where the market has gradually reached its potential. But that does not necessarily mean that you give up on it.
Selling insurance is all about identifying the right audience and customizing your pitch to suit their needs. Your success lies in how quickly you learn to target and customize your offerings. In this article, we will try to figure out some simple and practical strategies that will make selling insurance easy peasy!
7 Simple Insurance Selling Strategies
All of the following strategies are mostly foolproof. But, that does not mean that all of them would work flawlessly for you. You need to remember that you have to first experiment to figure out what works for you and follow that strategy religiously.
So, here are some strategies that you should try out for your insurance business.
1. Create a Referral System that works
As you go about the business of getting new customers, remember that one of the best insurance selling strategies you can benefit from is through referrals. Word-of-mouth remains the most effective marketing tactic for a reason. So, deliberately design a refer and rewards program that lets your old customers bring more customers.
Think of a family tree, linking different members of your extended family. It’s never-ending. This also means at every point in time, you have a pipeline of potential customers who are waiting to be converted by your insurance sales team.
2. Create more pages on your website
Gone are those days when websites were just figureheads. You know, an online representation of your brand. Now, it is both that and a major lead generation tool. Therefore, the more the pages on your website are educational, instead of salesy, the better. According to HubSpot, organizations with 401 – 1000 webpages get 6 times more leads than those with lesser pages between 51 and 100.
See this as a chance to flex your muscles on your various insurance policies. Create special pages for each insurance policy and make it easy to find. Write informative and engaging blog posts about your offerings and other industry-relevant topics. Work hand-in-hand with a content marketing team that understands the process of generating leads from well-designed content.
3. Establish a clear and concise lead nurturing strategy
79% of leads do not make it into becoming permanent customers. A bulk of the blame goes to a lack of nurture. This topic in itself is deserving of a long blog post. That’s how important it is to the success of your insurance sales team. To get ahead of the game, your team needs to come up with a lead nurturing strategy. This means that your marketing is targeted towards a certain audience and therefore creating a matching buyer persona.
If you are selling vehicle insurance, for instance, your online ads shouldn’t be targeted at college students. It makes following up easier and straight-to-the-point. Imagine calling a struggling college student to ask them if they would be interested in one of your vehicle insurance policies. Not only is it awkward, but it is also a waste of everybody’s time.
Also, your lead nurturing, as part of your insurance selling strategy, should form a cog of your email marketing. Emails remain one of the most effective marketing tools and so, you can create a pipeline of newsletters to be sent out to acquired leads. Infuse your emails with relevant content that immediately sells the value you’re trying to project.
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If you run a multi-policy insurance sales team, cross-selling can be a great way to increase sales. For example, if you have sold a car insurance policy to someone, there is a chance that they might be interested in getting a house insurance or life insurance policy, too.
To make it more enticing, you can introduce discounts to customers who are already subscribed to a particular insurance policy and might qualify for another, based on your lead scoring process. The idea is to kill two birds with a stone.
[Also read: A guide to cross-selling insurance policies]
5. Establish partnerships
This is one of many insurance selling strategies that is often overlooked. However, creating business bonds with relevant partners can bring more business to you. Imagine signing a contract with a car dealership to sell your insurance policies whenever a customer buys their cars. For the car dealership, the partnership can be one of its unique selling propositions. For you, the insurance provider, it is a way of extending your reach offline and also increasing your customer base.
On the other hand, if you sell house insurance policies, you can create partnerships with mortgage providers such as banks. They would already have an existing base of customers. All you have to do is tap into it.
6. Advertise online
Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. are great platforms to run your ads on. My friend who runs ads tells me, “It is easy to create ads. You just click a few buttons, add the ad copy and just hit run. Creating campaigns doesn’t matter. Understanding your audience and running targeted campaigns do.”
I’m passing on this wisdom to you as well. Experiment with your ads: your target audience, demography, images, ad copies, the message, etc to understand what works for your business. You can also experiment with the platforms. For some businesses, Facebook works best, while others swear by Google AdWords.
7. Adopt an insurance CRM
Make no mistake, a lot of the points made above can only be achieved via automation. From lead generation to lead scoring, adopting an insurance CRM ensures that everyone is working in sync. Your sales team is able to capture leads from your online and offline channels and then, distribute to the right personnel for follow-up and possibly, closure.
It also removes redundancy, such that you are able to identify only the best sales opportunities by checking the eligibility criteria, for instance. These include factors such as financial status, occupation, location, policy preferences, and so on.
Choosing the right Insurance CRM
LeadSquared’s insurance CRM software and sales execution platform help you to leverage automation to make more effective use of your leads and turning them into paying customers.
FAQs
Objections are normal. Here are some strategies:
1. Active listening and clarification: Listen attentively to understand the specific reasons behind their hesitation. Clarify their concerns and avoid being defensive.
2. Addressing specific concerns: Tailor your response to their specific objections. For example, if they’re concerned about cost, highlight flexible payment options or the long-term benefits outweighing the initial expense.
3. Focus on value proposition: Reiterate the value proposition of the insurance product. Explain how it protects them financially in case of unforeseen circumstances and provides peace of mind.
Referral programs are powerful. Here are some considerations:
1. Structured referral program: Develop a formal referral program with clear guidelines and attractive rewards for successful referrals. This motivates existing clients to actively promote your services.
2. Tailored incentives: Consider offering different tiers of rewards based on the type of referral (individual policy vs. family plan) to incentivize promoting higher-value products.
3. Seamless referral process: Make the referral process easy and convenient. Provide clients with referral links or digital referral cards to share with their network.
Technology is your ally. Here are some tools to explore:
1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tools: Utilize CRMs like LeadSquared to manage your sales pipeline, track client interactions, and access customer data to personalize your communication and identify potential upselling opportunities.
2. Insurance product comparison tools: Leverage technology platforms that allow you to compare different insurance products side-by-side, highlighting the benefits and features of your offerings compared to competitors.
3. Online quoting and application tools: Offer online tools for potential clients to receive quotes and apply for insurance policies directly. This streamlines the process and improves customer experience.
