Selling as a retention tool

It’s amazing how resilient the independent agency system is. In my career, I’ve heard numerous prognostications claiming that the system was doomed, only to see it emerge even stronger—remaining the leading marketing system in the property/casualty insurance business. 

A big part of this resilience stems from the way that independent agency and broker professionals bring value to the various constituents that depend on them. These leaders continue to find unique ways to serve their employees, their clients, their insurance company partners and their communities.

Perhaps the strongest quality of independent agents—and one that has assured the continued success and growth of the system—is the incredible generosity of spirit shown by those agents who have appeared in the pages of Rough Notes. They are not just creative in their approaches, but they are only too happy to share the reasons for their success with their competitors, in an effort to make certain that the independent agency system remains the strongest and the best.

A techie’s approach

Jack Wingate is one of those independent agency owners who looked for a creative way to reach and keep clients when 20 years ago he started his agency, ALLCHOICE Insurance, Greensboro, North Carolina. Jack admits to being a “technology guy” who started his agency from scratch at a time when his wife was pregnant with their second child and they were looking for a way to let her stay home with what was to continue to be a growing family.

Prior to starting ALLCHOICE, Jack began in business by selling mainframe computer hardware after graduating from Appalachian State with a double major in finance and risk management. A fraternity brother at a captive agency, whom Jack went to for reinstatement of his auto insurance, convinced him to take a try at insurance. The business attracted him, but the method of marketing didn’t. He wanted to be able to offer clients a choice and to lead with a service mentality that focused not on making money but on serving, educating, and protecting.

Showing up in style are Jack and his wife, Melinda (second from right), with their children (from left) Peyton, Caylee, and Cooper.

Members of the ALLCHOICE Insurance team.

Front row: Paul Shockley, Life & Health Specialist; AJ Brower, Director of Operations; Ed Johnson, Risk Advisor; Heather Bailey, Director of Client Experience; and John Surigao, Risk Advisor.

Back row: Sara Surigao, Risk Advisor; Cheyenne Mathews, Risk Advisor; Jared Bellmund, Director of Marketing; and Jack Wingate, Founder and CEO.

“[M]y staff has unlimited time off and has never abused that. In fact, the only problem I’ve ever had in that regard was when I had to tell one member of the staff to take some time off.”

­—Jack Wingate

Jack records an educational video for the agency’s website.

“I also use this opportunity to talk about the importance of an umbrella policy, as well as the discount available if they combined their auto with homeowners and the umbrella,” he adds. “At the end, the video offers a variety of choices for coverage, ranging from what we call Platinum coverage down to Bronze.

“The result of this form of ‘meeting’ with the client is that a great number of people who were just shopping for price start to feel that we can be trusted, because we’ve offered them a choice and explained exactly what they are buying,” Jack observes. “And a lot of them opt for the Platinum package.”

“I recognized that I needed to create a system that could get the job done quickly, with quality and repeatable processes, so technology would play a key part,” says Jack. “I also recognized the rap on internet marketing was that it only brought in ‘shoppers’ who would stay with you only as long as you provided the lowest price.”

Jack was convinced it didn’t have to be that way. “What is key, in my opinion,” he explains, “is the way you sell—whether through the internet or cold-calling or what have you. Clients’ expectations are established at the point of sale.

“So, I started writing content for my website that would educate clients about the insurance coverage they were interested in buying,” he adds.

Videos educate

“I share videos with prospects that are about 10 to 12 minutes long that quickly explain what is included in the coverage and offers choices as to what they can purchase,” Jack says. “For example, if a prospect is looking for auto insurance, the video explains the danger of buying just the minimum liability limit, pointing out how a serious accident could result in a lawsuit seeking much greater compensation.

“What is key, in my opinion, is the way you sell—whether through the internet or cold-calling
or what have you. Clients’ expectations are established at the point of sale. So, I started writing content for my website that would educate clients about the insurance coverage they were interested in buying.”

­—Jack Wingate

Jack points out that he recognizes that today’s shoppers expect a nearly instant response when they send in a request via the internet. “We provide that,” he explains. “We have a ticketing system to make certain that we respond quickly.” But it’s not the typical response of a quote.

“Instead, we let them know that they will receive a video within 24 to 48 hours, depending on the complexity of the request, that will explain the coverages we recommend, and that we will offer a number of solutions along with the costs for each,” Jack says.

Dealing with market problems

“Today, we’re also using videos to reach current clients and explain why property insurance rates are rising,” he notes. “We’re actually showing them why, depending on location, they’re lucky to get coverage, even if it is more expensive. Of course, we do offer to remarket their coverage if they want us to.

“The videos have proven to be a way for us to build trust right from the start, because we’re creating educated consumers who understand what we’re selling and why it costs what it costs,” Jack says. “It moves the equation from price to value.

“Because of our approach of leading with education, we have been able to retain clients. Last year, about 70% of our business came from our website, but our retention level remains above the industry average,” Jack adds, proudly.

A lean staff

As the agency has grown, it has maintained a relatively lean profile, starting with one man and his technology to a team that includes Jack at the head as CEO and founder, followed by three senior directors—a marketing director, an operations director, and a director of client experience—as well as a number of outside producers.

The team also includes three virtual assistants Jack brought in using Agency VA. These virtual assistants help with answering the phone, marketing, and other areas where additional support is needed. Agency VA was created by two successful agency owners who saw a need for staffing help within the agency system. They offer people from all around the globe.

“The key in staffing has been to find the right people,” Jack says. “I’ve been very careful to hire individuals who are self-starters, who want to work to get the job done.

“I’ve worked at places where the partners valued money so much that they were not good people to work for,” he adds. “I didn’t want to be one of those guys. I see this as a team effort, and I make certain that everyone feels like part of the team by having Monday morning meetings via Microsoft Teams, where we can discuss anything and everything. We’re creating an environment where change is a regular occurrence.

“I should also point out that my staff has unlimited time off and has never abused that. In fact, the only problem I’ve ever had in that regard was when I had to tell one member of the staff to take some time off,” he adds with a laugh.

Jack leads a meeting discussing sales pipeline stages in the agency’s “Big Conference Room.”

Trying to make it fun

“Let’s face it, insurance is not something that people are excited to buy,” Jack admits. “It’s a product they never want to use and, quite honestly, the industry is kind of a pain to deal with. The product is complex and often difficult to understand and all people are paying for is a promise. Not exactly an impulse buy!

“So, we’re hoping to at least be fun to deal with, so the process isn’t painful,” he explains. “Our goal is to take the need for an insurance purchase off the client’s head space as quickly as possible and become the part of their family or business that takes care of getting the right insurance at the right price so they don’t have to think about it.”

Today, the agency has grown throughout North Carolina, opening four branch offices that serve to make the entire state part of its footprint. Those offices are primarily executive offices because “we don’t have many people who actually go into an office,” Jack notes.

“We’re now in the middle of a four-month revision of our website, as we continually try to improve our service and our education of our clients,” he continues. “Both of these are driven by the website. And this is the fifth iteration of our website. We have been successful providing videos that pre-answer many of the questions clients and prospects may have, and that has served to keep the number of phone calls we get to a manageable level.”

Still, he admits, “We are getting more calls these days, because of the problems in the property market, particularly in coastal areas. But even there we have been proactive by providing videos to clients and prospects that explain the situation.

“Our goal is to continuously assure people that we are looking out for them. And we are,” he concludes emphatically.

Rough Notes is proud to recognize ALLCHOICE Insurance as our Agency of the Month. They have successfully shown that a properly designed and regularly updated website can be effective in presenting the agency as an expert in the field of insurance. This is exemplified by the fact that the site has sent numerous personal lines clients to the agency, but that a large number of commercial clients also came in via that route. In fact, 60% of ALLCHOICE business comes from commercial lines.

The author

Dennis Pillsbury is a Virginia-based freelance writer.