2 Easy Ways To Maximize Your Renewal-Time Profits

There are two sources of potential profits that a busy agency can easily miss out on…or mess up. So how is renewal time your ticket to picking up additional sales from both your current clients and the “dead” leads you trashed months ago?

1. Current Clients: A Wealth Of Untapped Value

You know your current clients have potential: the potential to give you referrals, and the potential to buy other products. But tapping into that promise can be delicate.

Your first instinct might be to grab for the phone. Sure, the Do Not Call lists have dealt a deathly blow to irritating telemarketers. And you are a trusted adviser. But the memories of a hundred interrupted dinners linger. So you better have an airtight reason for calling your clients out of the blue.

Touching a client for a referral or to quote them a new product is best dished out with some appreciated customer service. And renewal time gives you the excuse you need for a new conversation.

For example, frame your call as a friendly reminder about their renewal notice:

“Hi Mary, this is Rob Robertson of ABC Insurance calling. I just wanted to let you know that your policy is nearing its renewal date. Unless you instruct me otherwise, on March 1 your policy will be renewed without any lapse in your current coverage.”

Now, gently nudge them towards getting a quote or referral:

“Before I let you go, do you have any questions about your current policy?...It’s been awhile since we touched base. Do you have any other insurance needs that you’d like me to help you out with, or you’d like to learn more about?”

This is a delicate situation. You can’t ask for too much out of this unsolicited phone call. Decide what you want most out of the conversation – a referral or the opportunity to quote – and stick to (subtly) requesting just that. Above all, you do not want to turn off your valuable client by making an overt sales pitch. Be sure to close with a sincere expression of your appreciation:

"It was great talking to you today; thanks for taking the time. I truly appreciate your business and the opportunity to be your agent; I want you to know we’re here for you whatever your needs are.”

2. The Prospect That Got Away

By the end of the year you have a unique pile of “dead” leads sitting in your database – people that you quoted who were interested…they just bought their policy from someone else, or never bought at all. For most agents these leads are destined for the garbage bin, never to be contacted or quoted again.

But for agents with email autoresponders, it’s a whole other story. Sure, they still don’t have time to be calling up and chasing old leads…but they are effortlessly breathing life into them with a slow, invasive campaign of automatic emails.

In the past getting someone to switch their insurance company, plan, or even agent has been near impossible. Most people will settle for ‘good enough’ and let ‘better’ pass them by just because they’re too busy. They don’t want the headache of going through the buying-process all over again.

So when the renewal notice comes they’ll just continue their ‘good enough’ coverage…unless they get your email promising a better experience at just the right time. And if you’re using an autoresponder program like LeadMiner, those perfectly-timed emails include fresh insurance quotes based on the information the lead originally submitted.

Autoresponder campaigns can run for 12 months. So even if you didn’t get the sale initially, when they’re getting their renewal notice you’ll be right in front of them with new quotes and the opportunity to move onto something else.

Your autoresponders don’t just renew a prospect’s interest; they also put you in the position to contact them first. When a prospect views your proposal online, programs like LeadMiner automatically send you an email to notify you. Now you have the opportunity to call them up, engage them, and discuss their frustrations. Ask if they would like to consider this great plan from XYZ Company that you know will be a better fit.

Whether you’re courting current customers or breathing life into old prospects, renewal time can be a terrific, dependable source of extra revenue.

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