If you find your agency with plenty of leads but significantly lower sales than you would like, there are some things you can do to help boost your numbers.  Successful companies have been using psychology to advertise since the beginning of advertising, often with great success, and it’s something your agency should try. A simple understanding of psychology can go a long way when you’re attempting to drive sales. Humans are complex creatures, so there is no mind game that will turn all the residents of your postal district into wallet-opening zombies. But if you’re making a push to sell more, consider trying a few of the following:

Find a Common Enemy

Finding a common enemy is one of the oldest tricks in the book, and with good reason. For independent insurance agencies, the best common enemy would be the big, corporate carriers where customers often feel like mere numbers. As a local institution with real people behind the counter, highlight your ability to communicate in person rather than through a call center like the big guys.

Build Anticipation

If you’re planning the rollout of a new product or a partnership with a new carrier, it can’t hurt to build some anticipation with a blog post or a few Twitter or Facebook updates. If you build interest, even something like a new insurance policy can seem like a big event!

Use Novelty to Your Advantage

You may have wondered why many companies release what is essentially the same product year after year? Often, staying in the minds of the customer is the name of the game. If you can find a new or different way to talk about an individual product (even if you’ve had it the whole time), it could be a fresh method of reaching people.

Create a Narrative

Everybody loves a story, so give the people what they want! If you can transport people to another world, even for a second, it can make them experience something in a different way than just having the cold, hard facts.  This is applicable in all areas of the market; for insurance, you’d want to illustrate a real situation in which the policy you’re selling could be someone’s saving grace.

Track Your Results

If you employ any of these methods, it’s important to determine the success so you can use it in the future, or ditch it and go back to the drawing board. Keep a special spreadsheet that tracks your success on each campaign.

Nothing on this list is revolutionary, but one of these could be the thing that clicks with your sales strategy. It’s important to note that you should make sure not to overdo your efforts. Heavy-handed attempts at anything on this list can turn customers off in a big way. Ultimately, you can’t force people to do anything, so you’ll just have to hope your enticing them does the trick!