How Do You Do It???????????

[Herkster]

Alright, I'll get blasted for this, but how are you guys going about prospecting? I'm in an area that is rural, towns of 500 or less, one decent sized city (5k pop) near by..

We write mostly farm, crop, and hail insurance as our big players - home and auto obviously as well, commercial too. All the products we have are competitive in the market in our area, but we struggle to really "grow". We've been around for a long, long time, and most of our customers aren't out price shopping, because they know we offer some great service. Retention is always 95%+. Typically, if we lose a policy, it's due to a death.

I know a lot on here write off of referrals - our customers aren't in the mindset of referring business. We are doing a referral drive, paying for referrals from our customers, mailed out letters - zip, nada. Nothing.

I have a couple in my pipeline, but it's hard to really get a foot in the door unless someone has had a bad experience with their agent or the company insuring them, and that is pretty rare.

We're a bank agency, and even our loan officers aren't great at referring business to us, which I think is the craziest thing ever.

Just looking for thoughts...and again, I'm sure a few frequenters of this forum are going to blast me for something, and that's okay. I'm genuinely looking for ideas, any idea, really.

I know the product, hell, I underwrote for a farm company before becoming an agent, and I now sell for that company as well as a few others.

 

[briko3]

Alright, I'll get blasted for this, but how are you guys going about prospecting? I'm in an area that is rural, towns of 500 or less, one decent sized city (5k pop) near by..

We write mostly farm, crop, and hail insurance as our big players - home and auto obviously as well, commercial too. All the products we have are competitive in the market in our area, but we struggle to really "grow". We've been around for a long, long time, and most of our customers aren't out price shopping, because they know we offer some great service. Retention is always 95%+. Typically, if we lose a policy, it's due to a death.

I know a lot on here write off of referrals - our customers aren't in the mindset of referring business. We are doing a referral drive, paying for referrals from our customers, mailed out letters - zip, nada. Nothing.

I have a couple in my pipeline, but it's hard to really get a foot in the door unless someone has had a bad experience with their agent or the company insuring them, and that is pretty rare.

We're a bank agency, and even our loan officers aren't great at referring business to us, which I think is the craziest thing ever.

Just looking for thoughts...and again, I'm sure a few frequenters of this forum are going to blast me for something, and that's okay. I'm genuinely looking for ideas, any idea, really.

I know the product, hell, I underwrote for a farm company before becoming an agent, and I now sell for that company as well as a few others.

If you haven't already, the first thing I would do is hold a seminar for your loan officers. There's no reason for them not to refer your business, but what I've found is they often don't because they're not 100% sure what kind of person you're looking for. Teach them a little about the business and who makes a good client and then reward them when they bring someone to you. A $50 gift card to Walmart or something after referring the first 3 might get them started and comfortable and then you can reward them in smaller ways. Once they've brought you 3 people, they should feel pretty comfortable with the process. Just make sure to give lots of praise, etc. Don't EVER tell them that it's not what you're looking for.

 

[hesse]

From what I read you have your market pretty saturated. What in the area is their that your current companies are not competitive on?

Find a new company to go after some new commercial risks

Feed/Seed dealers
Grain elevators?

Local restaurants/bars/vfw/American legions?

churchs every town seems to have 1-2 of these

 

[insurance1822]

What exactly do you mean by a bank agency? Are you a producer?

I don't know a thing about crop insurance. It sounds like you're just not in an active local economy. I mean I'm all against making excuses but if my agency were located in a town of 500 people...well wtf?

 

[briko3]

What exactly do you mean by a bank agency? Are you a producer?

I don't know a thing about crop insurance. It sounds like you're just not in an active local economy. I mean I'm all against making excuses but if my agency were located in a town of 500 people...well wtf?

MDRT did a study and determined that it only takes a town of 2000 to support a TOT producer. If you're in a town of 500, and have a few other towns near by as he does, it should be plenty to make a living if he's creative and good at what he does.

 

[insurance1822]

MDRT did a study and determined that it only takes a town of 2000 to support a TOT producer. If you're in a town of 500, and have a few other towns near by as he does, it should be plenty to make a living if he's creative and good at what he does.

^Well isn't it just that simple then ehh? Let's be realistic here about setting yourself up for success & positioning yourself to best capitalize. I use myself for example. I was a producer in captive & now I own an indy agency. What I did when I was fresh out of college is NO different then what I do now. Now...I'm just positioned for success with me keeping 100% of new/renewal business & having of power hitter carriers in my arsenal. What if I listened to somebody saying "oh well babble babble blew bah just be creative & you can be great as a producer..."

This dude lives in small town & let's be realistic about prospective market share. This is economics 101. I bet you're not seeing GEICO billboards around there & there's a reason for that.

You're correct...anybody who's good at what they do will find success, or shall I say will "make" success w/in the confines of their environment. I don't know enough about agencies in different markets operate compared to mine so I can't speak specifically to this crop crow market. My immediate market has around 1,000,000 people & my surrounding markets are equal in magnitude (which I don't think is HUGE..) but it's also not 500 people. It's got to be hard in a small town...with old school small town farmer dudes...trying to grow an insurance book.

For me & my market it was simple to figure it out once I stopped being a pansy. I got tired of looking at the biggest most successful insurance guys & decided it was my turn. I just copied exactly what they did. Find the insurance professionals around you that are what you desire to be & copy what they do. It's really...that simple.

Hey OP if it makes you feel any better I just recently went to a local bank to present to some LO's. They weren't paying total attention...1 was talking to the other for a portion of the time & over all..they didn't take me THAT seriously. Partly because they're LO's for a small local bank & probably don't really care to excel because they're paid a tiny salary & that's it. I no longer feel dumb, or embarrassed...or anything when I strike out.

It's just the numbers game buddy & I struck out on that networking attempt. BUT you never know what will come in the future. I took pride knowing I can take all 4 of them combined in a street fight AND my car is worth more then all theirs put together (literally.) I don't come from a white collar background, but I digress...

So it's important to feel frustrated in this business because it's what (should) motivate you to keep on keeping on. Do what you need to do to grow your business. I've seen you post before about this (what I interpret to be) stale market. Keep at it...copy the big dogs...and you will succeed.

 

[briko3]

^Well isn't it just that simple then ehh? Let's be realistic here about setting yourself up for success & positioning yourself to best capitalize. I use myself for example. I was a producer in captive & now I own an indy agency. What I did when I was fresh out of college is NO different then what I do now. Now...I'm just positioned for success with me keeping 100% of new/renewal business & having of power hitter carriers in my arsenal. What if I listened to somebody saying "oh well babble babble blew bah just be creative & you can be great as a producer..."

This dude lives in small town & let's be realistic about prospective market share. This is economics 101. I bet you're not seeing GEICO billboards around there & there's a reason for that.

You're correct...anybody who's good at what they do will find success, or shall I say will "make" success w/in the confines of their environment. I don't know enough about agencies in different markets operate compared to mine so I can't speak specifically to this crop crow market. My immediate market has around 1,000,000 people & my surrounding markets are equal in magnitude (which I don't think is HUGE..) but it's also not 500 people. It's got to be hard in a small town...with old school small town farmer dudes...trying to grow an insurance book.

For me & my market it was simple to figure it out once I stopped being a pansy. I got tired of looking at the biggest most successful insurance guys & decided it was my turn. I just copied exactly what they did. Find the insurance professionals around you that are what you desire to be & copy what they do. It's really...that simple.

Hey OP if it makes you feel any better I just recently went to a local bank to present to some LO's. They weren't paying total attention...1 was talking to the other for a portion of the time & over all..they didn't take me THAT seriously. Partly because they're LO's for a small local bank & probably don't really care to excel because they're paid a tiny salary & that's it. I no longer feel dumb, or embarrassed...or anything when I strike out.

It's just the numbers game buddy & I struck out on that networking attempt. BUT you never know what will come in the future. I took pride knowing I can take all 4 of them combined in a street fight AND my car is worth more then all theirs put together (literally.) I don't come from a white collar background, but I digress...

So it's important to feel frustrated in this business because it's what (should) motivate you to keep on keeping on. Do what you need to do to grow your business. I've seen you post before about this (what I interpret to be) stale market. Keep at it...copy the big dogs...and you will succeed.

GTFO. You go from saying he has a stale market and "wtf" and then when someone offers encouragement that you can make it in almost any town you act like it's not true and then end with "Keep at it...copy the big dogs...and you will succeed". Either help or don't, but that wishy washy crap isn't what this guy needs. He needs to go out there and make it happen and not come away feeling like he has to move to make it. People that can't/don't produce ALWAYS feel like they could make it somewhere else.

 

[1manshow]

If your current clients aren't in the mindset of referring friends...my first strategy would be to find a way to change that mindset. If they are as loyal as you say I'd suspect that they will give you a few minutes of their time....I'd invest that time into strengthing those relationships, not trying to "buy" their referral...earn it.

You're in the bank and the loan officers don't refer? I'd question my relationship issues again....earn their trust, friendship and I predict that they will think of you first.

I'm surveying a new area to expand in right now...and building relationships with centers of influence. When we get in there...our main focus will be networking and building new relationships in every area of the community...churches, schools, chamber, ymca, etc.

best of luck

 

[Herkster]

From what I read you have your market pretty saturated. What in the area is their that your current companies are not competitive on?

Find a new company to go after some new commercial risks

Feed/Seed dealers
Grain elevators?

Local restaurants/bars/vfw/American legions?

churchs every town seems to have 1-2 of these

We have the local market, probably a 5-7 mile radius, maybe a bit larger, around our home office that is pretty well saturated. We write both churches in town, and the 3 others that are relatively local to us.

Grain elevators aren't locally owned any more and operate anywhere from 3-10+ locations. This IS something we have talked to the local outfit about, however, we know how they operate, and we don't want to write business at the risk of a crappy loss ratio, which is something we think we'd get from our local elevator.
Seed dealers - working on two of them right now, both would have HUGE networking opportunities.

We have one local bar, we don't insure them, and haven't before. We used to have two bars in town, one in which we did insure, but they sold out and the bar is now closed.

Commercial risks is something that we need to do better about. We write a few local contractors, but in the larger city in our area, we have pretty much zilch for business. I'm getting commercial licensed in the next month or so, and will try to learn how to get in the door in some of these businesses.

Thank you for your response!

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What exactly do you mean by a bank agency? Are you a producer?

I don't know a thing about crop insurance. It sounds like you're just not in an active local economy. I mean I'm all against making excuses but if my agency were located in a town of 500 people...well wtf?

A bank agency...
It's a bank, and we are at the far end of the building. The bank has been around for about 100 years (next year), and we've been around for 95 years. There is 3 bank locations, and 3 insurance offices. We are staffed in one of these full time, I am in the other two on a rotating basis.

And scoff if you want to about a town of 500 people, but we have a 1.3m personal lines book of business, probably 2m in crop insurance and hail insurance, and then tack on the commercial risks (including the three bank locations, the city's insurance, and our other commercial risks), and I'd say we have 4-5m on the books.

I am a producer for the agency. The agency hasn't had a "outside" sales person in a long time, because we have been extremely profitable. Loss ratios are spectacular, retention couldn't be a whole lot better, and our customers seem to be pretty happy with what we provide them.

Again, I'm not here to make excuses, I'm honestly looking for input on it, so I appreciate anything anyone can add.

----------

If your current clients aren't in the mindset of referring friends...my first strategy would be to find a way to change that mindset. If they are as loyal as you say I'd suspect that they will give you a few minutes of their time....I'd invest that time into strengthing those relationships, not trying to "buy" their referral...earn it.

You're in the bank and the loan officers don't refer? I'd question my relationship issues again....earn their trust, friendship and I predict that they will think of you first.

I'm surveying a new area to expand in right now...and building relationships with centers of influence. When we get in there...our main focus will be networking and building new relationships in every area of the community...churches, schools, chamber, ymca, etc.

best of luck

Thanks for the response and you make some very valid points about our loan officers. I don't think it is that they don't trust us, because they are always asking us questions, we insure a few of them, and they have never spoke a bad word about us. I think they are worried about over stepping that imaginary line with their customers, and don't want to risk losing the business? I'm not sure, to be honest. The one in our "home" office is very good about referring business to us, but since we have been around so long in this area, she doesn't see many new faces that we don't already insure. However, she has opened the door on two large farm accounts that we will be working on building relationships with this summer, after planting and spraying is done.

And you're right, I think we do need to key in on a couple of our larger customers, who are well known, to see if they could give us some referrals. it's something that we are working on, but it just isn't "sticking" for some reason.

I am joining a local young professionals group in hopes to network in the area of one of our different offices.

----------

^Well isn't it just that simple then ehh? Let's be realistic here about setting yourself up for success & positioning yourself to best capitalize. I use myself for example. I was a producer in captive & now I own an indy agency. What I did when I was fresh out of college is NO different then what I do now. Now...I'm just positioned for success with me keeping 100% of new/renewal business & having of power hitter carriers in my arsenal. What if I listened to somebody saying "oh well babble babble blew bah just be creative & you can be great as a producer..."

This dude lives in small town & let's be realistic about prospective market share. This is economics 101. I bet you're not seeing GEICO billboards around there & there's a reason for that.

You're correct...anybody who's good at what they do will find success, or shall I say will "make" success w/in the confines of their environment. I don't know enough about agencies in different markets operate compared to mine so I can't speak specifically to this crop crow market. My immediate market has around 1,000,000 people & my surrounding markets are equal in magnitude (which I don't think is HUGE..) but it's also not 500 people. It's got to be hard in a small town...with old school small town farmer dudes...trying to grow an insurance book.

For me & my market it was simple to figure it out once I stopped being a pansy. I got tired of looking at the biggest most successful insurance guys & decided it was my turn. I just copied exactly what they did. Find the insurance professionals around you that are what you desire to be & copy what they do. It's really...that simple.

Hey OP if it makes you feel any better I just recently went to a local bank to present to some LO's. They weren't paying total attention...1 was talking to the other for a portion of the time & over all..they didn't take me THAT seriously. Partly because they're LO's for a small local bank & probably don't really care to excel because they're paid a tiny salary & that's it. I no longer feel dumb, or embarrassed...or anything when I strike out.

It's just the numbers game buddy & I struck out on that networking attempt. BUT you never know what will come in the future. I took pride knowing I can take all 4 of them combined in a street fight AND my car is worth more then all theirs put together (literally.) I don't come from a white collar background, but I digress...

So it's important to feel frustrated in this business because it's what (should) motivate you to keep on keeping on. Do what you need to do to grow your business. I've seen you post before about this (what I interpret to be) stale market. Keep at it...copy the big dogs...and you will succeed.

You made some very valid points in this post, and you're right, being a pansy very well might be my issue. I know farming, hell, I help a farmer, and I know my product like the back of my hand. I hate being bothered by people when they stop by my house uninvited when I have other stuff to do, and that's my issue, because I feel like they'll feel the same way, and boot me out the door.

I'm not sure if there is a population of 100k in the three counties (yes, counties, not cities or towns) that we focus in. It does make for a bit tougher market, these are "old farm dudes" that don't like change. However, that is just another excuse for another day - maybe I just need to buck up, which I probably do.

 

[cottonland]

I would work your crop book to cross sell the farm. Having been involved in two bank arrangements myself, they sound good, but I've never seen bank employees actually push it.

We are on some other forums together, so if you would like to discuss further PM me.