One of the best benefits of having an electronic or print newsletter available for your clients is that it gives you a great opportunity for cross-selling other lines of coverage.  This ability opens up your agency and exposes you to sales opportunities you might have otherwise missed out on. Continue Reading »

It’s not always easy to be in sales. The poor sales practices of just a few agents and companies have been publicized enough to make some consumers overly suspicious–so much so that they think all sales people have ulterior motives to sell at any cost. When you meet a prospect who exhibits this line of thinking it can be very difficult to change their mind about your motives, but a free agency newsletter could make the difference you are looking for.

1. Newsletters don’t ask for a sale. While the purpose of your newsletter is to educate readers about the many different types of insurance there are, why they need them and, as a result, get more sales, newsletters never come out and ask for a sale. They are subtle marketing pieces as opposed to the louder, “Call me today to get this insurance” marketing brochures and flyers that are sometimes useful. When you do not ask for a sale, you start the process of changing consumer opinion.
2. Newsletters are free sources of information. While free advice from you in-person may be deemed a sales tactic, free monthly and quarterly information delivered via newsletter will likely not be. Because the overt “sales” element is removed your potential client sees it strictly as a source for free, close to objective information.
3. Paper has no ulterior motive. While your ulterior motives can be questioned, the motives of a paper or electronic newsletter generally are not. Newsletters without an overt call to action are usually taken at face value as educational resources and not ascribed a motive.
4. Newsletters show that you are not afraid to invest in your clients. When you show that you are willing to invest money in educating your existing and potential clients, it reflects on your character as a person. Instead of being just another sales person you become an authority, a business owner, and a valued resource.

Think about the newsletters you receive from companies. Have they changed your opinion about company motives over the years?

As an agent, time is one of your most valuable commodities. It is limited in availability and the more you are able to save for yourself and your family, the richer you feel. But because so much of your career is devoted toward customer service and education, your time can be easily used up by customer questions. Even if you have a staff to help share some of the responsibility, you are spending tens of thousands of dollars in payroll and personal time value on answering routine questions. When you have an agency newsletter, however, you can save yourself money and time by providing answers to commonly asked questions within the newsletter itself.

How Your Newsletter Saves You Money and Time

Many agents think of their newsletters more as a marketing tool but in reality they are also great for existing clients who want a better understanding of their insurance policies. Newsletters can decrease the amount of incoming question calls you get because your clients will find answers to many of their questions within the pages of your newsletters. In addition, newsletters can save time in annual customer meetings because–instead of saving their questions up for your meeting–your clients will have been reading your newsletter all year and gaining knowledge.

In order to help keep your clients informed and educated through your newsletters, be sure to suggest that they sign up after taking out a policy with you. It is a good idea to have both an online and print version of your newsletter available so that your client’s individual reading tastes are covered. Additionally, try to have archives available online to help create a virtual research center that your clients feel comfortable accessing.

An informed client is the best kind of client to have because information results in higher persistency, fewer complaints and more repeat customers and referrals over the years–just another way it pays to have a newsletter.