You’re standing at the check-out counter of your favorite store and the sales woman asks you if you noticed the sale items to the left when you were shopping. You didn’t, and now you have, and perhaps you’ll even make an additional purchase. This used to be considered one of the most effective cross-selling techniques out there for sales. But since consumer behavior has evolved, so too have the techniques. And, in the insurance industry, you can’t exactly start out with “would you like fries with that life insurance policy?” now can you?
An important part of creating a world class sales culture in your insurance agency is honing the ability of your agents to cross-sell and follow-up with your customers. Service is important for sure, but generating sales is how your agency stays successful and survives.
Everyone’s job is to sell insurance to every prospect and then to sell MORE insurance to them once they become existing customers in your database. But cross-selling may not come easily for everyone. Here are some tips to share with your agency.
1. Be passionate: You want to save these people time, money and provide security. You want to help these people because you are passionate about protecting people’s assets. Tell them that! The more passionate you are about why they should bundle more policies, the more they will see the value in it.
2. Show it, don’t say it: It’s easy for you to explain why something is beneficial, but why not show them. If saving money is the key, show them the amount of savings they could get on paper. Additionally, if you have a policy that protects boats and you are trying to convince your homeowners insurance customer to choose you for their boat insurance, show them photos of all of the other boats you’re protecting – surely you can find some.
3. Educate the customer: Not every person who walks through your door understands insurance. In fact, most don’t. This is where your expertise plays in for cross-selling. Educate the customer on all of the unique benefits. What is the value proposition here? Why do they need insurance? Why do they need more insurance? You know the answers, now show them the light!
We hope these tips provide some inspiration!