Search CompleteMarkets

... an Umbrella, especially with a different carrier than the primary, check that the necessary underlying limit requirements are being satisfied. Adding or deleting the wrong vehicles from a policy. With a Commercial Auto fleet of significant size, maintaining an accurate list can present a challenge. When the customer contacts you to add or delete specific vehicles, get the request in writing. This will help ensure that you're modifying the policy correctly, not only for the vehicles, but also for the coverage specific to those vehicles. Because the policyholder might have two vehicles of the same year and make, ask them to provide the vehicle identification number (VIN) for each vehicle being modified. When you mail the policy or endorsement to your customers, include a cover letter advising them to check the policy to make ... On the other hand, symbol "7 " is only for vehicles listed on the policy. There would not be coverage for leased or non-owned vehicles with this symbol. Consequently, getting answers to these questions from your customer will help when requesting that coverage be structured appropriately. Symbol "9 " is only for non-owned vehicles. Other items to consider "Named Insured" status/"Drive Other Car" coverage. It should be standard practice to offer the owners of the business (where the business is the named insured) additional "Named Insured" status or "Drive Other Car" coverage. If a business owner suffered an injury as a pedestrian or as a passenger in another vehicle, he or she would need this coverage to collect uninsured motorist (UM) or underinsured motorist ( ...

... made. Was a "prospect standard" established? Was the standard given each producer so that compliance could be measured? Did management measure and evaluate the selling skills and product knowledge of each producer? Was the potential of each producer measured and evaluated, establishing and measuring the progress toward this potential? If no such checks exist, create them. If you have checks, scrutinize each item and modify it to obtain the desired results. It's essential to do a total review of all components, not just some of them. The next step is to implement needed changes; this task isn't always feasible without outside help — either consultants or company people. Another good source for input is an associate in the community who's active in sales or sales management. Self-education through reading and community involvement can ... sending to prospects and clients. What message do they see? What message do they hear? What message does the agency ask them to think about? It might come as a surprise, but people generally do what you ask them to do for at least three seconds. They'll also do what you ask them not to do. For example, telling someone "Don't think about your very first car!" will probably bring a picture of that car to the person's eye. If this thought lasts more than a few seconds, the picture will turn into a movie in the mind and keep running, as the person compares this car to the vehicle that you own now. Prospects react the same way: see, hear, and think. 2. Does your agency meet the objectives ...

...etermine whether coverage can be modified to save the account. Perhaps high de...

...rn done) remained unchanged, you modified your emotional commitment to the goa...

...ons on it with information about modified expiration dates, coverage types, an...

...be without in the event of a loss (cars, home, building, employees, etc.). ACC...

... find the best candidate: Set realistic goals for the job and have a clear, measurable description of what performance on the job means. Do a personal interview with character-determining questions. Use call simulations. Offer the candidate a never-seen-before script and have them call you from the next office. Let them call twice: first to read the script word for word to test reading skill, and then to modify it to their own style. If you have the luxury of time, send the information home with the candidate, and have them call the next day ready to sell. Include buying signals and referral possibilities in your responses to see if the candidate hears and responds to them. This tests listening and communication skills. If the candidate seems viable at this point, send them to another person ... 1 productivity killer reported by telemarketing experts is a badly managed software and fulfillment (literature) system. Agencies that have spent considerable time and effort to hire well-paid telemarketing professionals to communicate with clients and prospects often bog them down with customized letters, customized proposals, multiple databases that don't connect with each other, 10-second (or longer) screen response rates, etc. This is like forcing a race car driver to make a pit stop after every lap. One of the best investments an agency or independent producer can make is to bring in an outside systems analyst to chart the flow of the telemarketing off-phone process. This process should be analyzed in detail and boiler-plated until at least 90% of a telemarketing person's time is spent doing what they were hired to do: call the next client. ...

... sales efforts will be enhanced by offering unique combinations of insurance protection and target-focused services, instead of simply selling off-the-shelf policies. Use your knowledge, experience, and contacts to build a database of mother-child' targets. Then  solicit them aggressively. Don't ever expect to attain the perfect program. Ask each prospect which of your services are important to them and which are not. Modify your list of services as the marketplace requires. Remember, since your program is completely in-house, you can make key changes on a moment's notice! Portions of this article are reprinted with permission from Agency Ideas newsletter. Login or Register (for FREE) to gain access to thousands of other great articles. Need more reasons to join? Need insurance for you, your business or ... , building replacement cost appraisals, and 24-hour claims service, can be packaged easily, even though they're not unique to your agency. After all, in its TV commercials, Allstate lays claim to the safe driver discount' as if it were the only insurer to offer it! Veteran agents might recall that Allstate used this same successful marketing device in the 1970s when they claimed the universally available compact car discount' as their own. In contrast to your routine offerings, prospect-specific services must vary for each one of your targeted groups. For example, a seasonal contractor will appreciate a payment plan that will not bill him while he's temporarily out of business and out of funds. A computer reseller will relish an agent taking the time to review his insurance limits periodically to account for the volatile value ...

... you want to spend with each person. Spending time with ready buyers and people who are soon to buy is a high-payoff activity. If you know their time frame and willingness to take action, your chances of gaining their commitment increase dramatically. Ask questions such as, "Would you make a change if it were in your best interest to do so? Would you revise, adjust, or modify what you're doing now to help you get what you want? Would you act if the right opportunity came along? If it would be beneficial to you to [reach your goals, increase your income, buy the second car, finance your children's education], would you make a change right now? Are you committed enough to take action or do something about it?" If you ... these are too direct for your taste, tone them down as you see fit. Direct questioning should not be intrusive or sound like an interrogation-but if you don't get these questions answered, it will be like shooting at a moving target miles away with a blindfold on. That's why so many sellers live in hope. They hope a person is going to buy. They don't know, because they haven't asked the important (and in some cases, hard) questions. Step 7. Commitment: Is This Problem Worth Solving? This is the commitment question. "Is the problem worth solving? Is this challenge or dissatisfaction worth doing something about? Is the opportunity worth pursuing?" If they say, "Yes!" they've stated explicitly that they want to do something about it. ...

... . If agency personnel are bogged down with servicing work or have an attitude problem and can't provide a quote for several days, can't rate, underwrite, and process it automatically, or couldn't care less whether the account is written, you're not meeting your customers' needs. It's a waste of the agency's valuable resources to try to write new business in these lines. Do something about it. Modify job descriptions and workflow, change compensation arrangements, shift personnel, find new companies, get a new computer system. Or revise your marketing plan to de-emphasize new business for clients whose needs you can't meet. With medium or large Commercial prospects the producer or CSR usually can't meet all the needs alone. To get the right price from the right companies in a timely manner, a team approach ... might not be working well? Assure accountability. Establish complaint handling performance standards for CSRs and producers and formalize procedures that direct employees on how to deal with angry or overly concerned customers. Reward those who respond to and solve clients' problems skillfully. Track reasons for canceled or lost business. Ask why they're canceling. Send a postage paid card to non-pay cancellations. If they sold the house, car, or business, did they buy another one and where did they get the new insurance? Why didn't they come back to your agency? Solicit comments. Routinely send short response cards to all clients with questions revolving around whether they'd recommend the agency to others, if they plan to renew, or if they have any concerns. You might want to send some clients a longer customer survey ...