We are a Farmers Insurance Agency providing multi-line insurance products to businesses, families, and individuals in Tulare County and the state of California.
The agency has eleven employees who strive to give all policyholders the type of service they desire and have every right to expect.
We take pride in the quality of our products and the quality of the services we offer.
We bring security and value to those who do business with our Agency.
Our agency's mission statement (see box at right) is not long, but it contains my convictions and a commitment to back them up. Part of that commitment is to provide "all policyholders the type of service they desire and have every right to expect." One of the most common methods by which to accomplish this task is by using the "old fashioned" telephone.
In today's high-paced, electronic world, the telephone is still the principal method of communication for business. But just using the telephone is not nearly enough. It must be utilized properly. Therefore, you must be direct, to the point, informative and--most importantly--absolutely able to best accommodate your client. This will lead to nothing less than total success!
Getting started
My objective in seeking to assure the continued success of my agency is to arrange ten meetings with clients in my office every day. However, we need to have a system by which to succeed. In my office, I have developed the Agency Contact Representative (ACR) position to help achieve these goals.
The ACR, which can be a part-time position, makes sure I am in front of 10 people every day by calling clients about changing their existing policy, upgrading their policy or initiating a policy with my agency. Therefore, it is up to the ACR to contact many people--by phone--in order to achieve 10 meetings for any given day. As a result, the phone conversation must be suited to the client so as to secure the meeting.
Be brief
Over time I have discovered the best time to call clients is between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. During this time, we are able to reach most of our existing and potential policyholders at their office as they begin to wind down their workday and think about going home. However, there are still others we can't reach at work, so we must call them at home, usually between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m.
If you are like me, when you go home it is for "family time." What this means is the television is usually on, the kids are running about the house and dinner is about to be served. Therefore, we need to be right to the point. The last thing we want is to lose the client's interest in the first 15 seconds as he/she begins to pay more attention to other things--watching the kids, watching television or seasoning a roasting chicken.
Scripting
Since it is vital for the ACR to react quickly to the client's responses, I recommend developing a script. Scripting is absolutely essential. This script allows you, to some extent, to cater your call to the specific client. You should have at your fingertips the client's current policy, notes from previous conversations and family status. All of this lends you the ability to respond to the client and to all of his/her questions and comments.
Once you are able to address the client's policy concerns, you will be able to schedule an appointment--the purpose of the call! But never, in this entire process, ever place the client in an uncomfortable position. Inconveniencing a client is detrimental to success. The objective is to try to secure an appointment, not lose the client. Below is an example of a script we use in our office. This particular script is generic; therefore, it can be utilized almost anywhere.
"Hello, Mr./Mrs. ____________. This is caller name calling from Troy Korsgaden Insurance Agency.
How are you? Is this a good time to talk?
The reason I am calling is that our office called you a while back regarding your auto/home/commercial insurance, and you said it would be coming up for renewal around this time and that you might be interested in getting a competitive quote to see if you are getting the best buy for your insurance dollar.
Mr./Mrs. ______________, at this time I would like to get a little information from you regarding your auto/home/commercial in order to put together a competitive quote for you.
Mr./Mrs. _____________, we realize you're extremely busy. What we would like to do is schedule an appointment for you to come into our office whenever it is most convenient for you, so that Troy can go over this valuable information. It should take no more than 15-20 minutes.
What would you prefer, mornings or afternoons?"
The inbound call
The script works very well when we initiate the conversation, but what happens when the client initiates the conversation? Obviously, you won't have at your disposal any information on the client and the last thing you need to do is to start sounding as though you haven't a clue as to what is happening. Let's say a client, Mrs. Jones, calls with an unexpected question. The last thing you want to do is say something like this:
"Uh, I've got to look that up, Mrs. Jones. I just got back from lunch and my secretary is on her break and, uh, can I call you back later?"
Instead, you want to do this:
"No problem, Mrs. Jones. We'll look that up and call you back the moment we have an answer."
Both are basically the same, but don't you agree the second response is much better and more what the client would expect? Whom would you rather deal with?
The bottom line
In order to deliver the kind of service your clients expect, you must treat them with utmost respect and understand their wants for insurance as well as understand that your clients are just as busy--if not busier--than you. When you understand and devise methods to address this understanding, you, too, can "give all policyholders the type of service they desire and have every right to expect." *
The author
Twice named "Agent of the Year" from among 14,000 Farmers Insurance agents and a frequently featured motivational speaker at industry events, Troy Korsgaden has trained nearly 30,000 insurance agents and staff across the country using his industry-specific manual and seminar program, "Achieving Success in Agency Management." His recently released book, Power Position Your Agency; A Guide to Insurance Agency Success, explores, in-depth, strategies for growing and retaining insurance agency business.
For more information, call TKS,
(800) 524-6390 or fax the company at (559) 625-1603.
©COPYRIGHT: The Rough Notes Magazine, 1999