Learn why and how cross-selling insurance is an effective way to grow your business and keep your clients happy.
People love cross-selling and they don’t even know what it is. Go to a tag sale and watch as one person offers a reduced price for buying multiple items. Cable TV providers have been bundling phone services for decades. And even insurance companies offer bundle deals for customers who sign up for multiple types of policies. Whether it’s a bundle deal, or just selling multiple products to the same client over the course of a relationship, cross-selling insurance is a great strategy for agents because it doesn’t involve the labor of generating new leads.
With the right processes in place and a healthy dose of common sense, cross-selling should become second nature in your sales strategies. Here are five reasons cross-selling insurance should be a natural addition to your insurance sales.
1. Customers Are Used to It
By now, consumers of all kinds are used to the idea of cross-selling. Bundling, cross-selling, and up-selling are all closely related strategies to sell more products to a single customer. Because customers are accustomed to bundling and the convenience of “one-stop-shopping,” your success rate in cross-selling insurance is already at an advantage. In fact, many customers will seek out the convenience of just working with one agent on multiple needs and the deals just fall into your lap.
2. You’ve Built Systems for Onboarding and Tracking Clients
There are many ways to keep track of clients, prospects, and their data. With advances in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software, managing this information has never been easier. By leveraging your CRM software, you’ll be able to easily identify opportunities to cross-sell. For new clients, developing an onboarding and orientation process can be an excellent opportunity to share other offerings and products. Even just sharing a simple one-page document of the different products and policies you and your agency sell can lead to a cross-selling opportunity.
3. You Reach Out to Your Clients Regularly
Cross-selling insurance is a natural next step once you’ve established a relationship with a client. Part of your client-nurturing involves staying in touch with your client and keeping up to date with their insurance needs. It takes no extra effort to use these natural touchpoints as opportunities to cross-sell. Even if your client is satisfied with another provider, find out when their other policies are up for renewal. Offer your client a free analysis and quote just prior to that renewal.
Another example would be if you’re selling auto insurance and have kept good notes on your client, you may know that they have a daughter who is about to get her drivers’ license. Because you’ve been in touch regularly, you’ve been mentioning new driver insurance information to this client for the last year or so. When the time comes, the groundwork has already been laid and the new policy sale is all but assured.
4. You Trust Your Gut
The secret sauce of cross-selling insurance is trusting your gut. After getting to know your clients and their unique set of circumstances, you’ll know when a cross-selling opportunity is a good fit. Likewise, by listening to your gut you may pump the brakes on immediate cross-selling if a client’s situation is better suited for a sale at another time.
5. You Persist
For agents who persist and follow up with their clients, cross-selling insurance becomes nearly effortless. It’s all about the long game. This isn’t just about staying on track with follow-up calls. It’s about using multiple communication streams and finding ways to meet your clients where they are. Persistence includes using data from CRM software to better understand what type of client you’re working with and what products they might need. It also includes taking thorough notes during or after every call and meeting.
Today’s cross-selling opportunity might yield a “no,” but that doesn’t mean that you can’t get that “yes” tomorrow. This is especially true with long-time clients who say they’re not interested in an initial cross-selling. With regular client nurturing and communication, you’ll find another opportunity or another product to cross-sell. A strong client relationship is more important than any individual sale and cross-selling is the proof.
A good sales strategy includes new lead generation as well as cross-selling insurance. Looking for ways to spend more time building and nurturing your client relationships? Then let HBW Leads handle your lead generation. Their technology and insurance experts will deliver double-verified leads specifically for your business.