How do you compete with Farm Bureau and State Farm in rural areas

Judyinfinity

New Member
15
I am a captive agent with AGLA and am looking for ideas on how to compete with the branded companies in my rural area like State Farm and Farm Bureau for Life Insurance and Annuities. The office I work out of is the home office, but I have no agency; therefore, I have to create my own.
I have driven thousands of miles, stopping by and introducing myself to business owners in multiple counties.
I am looking for a more value added approach (I also just pick up the phone book and call everyone in the yellw pages for that area) I have sent many appointments this way and have made sales, but are there more efficient ways of prospecting that can be more productive?
Your suggestions are welcomed!
Thanks
 
I'm a State Farm agent, so I'm glad to see that no one has any suggestions on how to compete against us!!!
 
I think you just have to keep doing what you are doing. You are never going to "out-brand" big companies that have name recognitions and that spend millions of dollars on advertising their brand.

Is there some feature of your company or your personal service that differentiates you from SF or Farm Bureau?

Turn State Farm's strengths into weaknesses. For example, will your clients get the same personalized service at State Farm (where they may be one of hundreds or thousands of clients in an agency) as they do from you? Make people think...when's the last time they actually met with their agent (not his staff) in person and reviewed their coverages? When's the last time the SF agent came to visit them?

When I was first starting my agency, I often referred to us as being "The Fastest Growing Insurance Agency in the Western Suburbs". No way to prove or disprove this....but in my first year, we grew at an infinite rate, in my second year we grew by 100%, in my third year by 50%, fourth year by 33%. I glommed on to the fact that one reason people did business with State Farm or Allstate (the two big, branded competitors whose home offices are in my backyard) was because they thought lots of other people were also doing business with those companies, and people like to follow the crowd. So, I made it sound as though there were a "crowd" of people doing business with me, too.
 
If folks are buying State Farm or Farm Bureau Life or Annuities, it is because nobody is giving them other options. ;) I can see a problem if you are competing with them for P&C, but Life and Annuities are not their strong points.
 
...and milk it, and offer them cream for their coffee. FYI, You will have to skim it off the top of the milk., but you should already know that if you are working the rural market. ;)
 
Do you offer "extra value"? If you can't list at least five things you're offering that state farm isn't, mr prospect probably won't see you as "value added"

For us it was cultivating referrals, gathering client testimonials, client newsletters, much more nurturing of client relationships,etc.... and having good pricing all in conjunction with lots of hard work, then we could provide the "proof" to our prospects....same stuff your competitors may be doing already
 
Re: How do you compete with Farm Bureau and State Farm in rural a

I'm with State Farm in TX...here we're not super competetive in rural areas
 
Re: How do you compete with Farm Bureau and State Farm in rural a

I would explain to my prospects that Both State Farm and Farm Bureau are excellent companies that specialize in P&C, However like any business you have an area that you specialize in and for State Farm and Farm Bureau that area is not Life insurance and Annuities. If they already have a policy with these companies offer to review it side by side with them with one of your competetive products...My last case where a client had a State Farm policy we discussed how the face amount (only 50K) and term length (5year) did not meet their life insurance needs, the client agreed but told me that was all she could afford. I mentioned that in this area State Farm is not as competetive as other companies and we where able to doulbe her coverage and guarantee the rate for 20 years and still save her some money.
 
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