How to hold your ground against the Internet marketers

Just because some individuals purchase policies over the Internet doesn’t mean that everyone is similarly inclined. Many personal lines prospects simply aren’t comfortable buying their insurance online or over the phone, at least not yet. This uneasiness gives local-only agents the time and opportunity to appeal to consumers who prefer to do business face-to-face with a nearby professional — instead of having to stare down a computer monitor or disclose personal facts to a distant, disembodied voice.

Fortunately, it is still possible to distinguish neighborhood agencies from their better-financed, nationally-advertised competitors. The formula for this differentiation is the promotion of selected agency services that Internet insurance marketers cannot physically perform.

Here are several low-cost methods to help you to accomplish this.

Make old-fashioned house calls
This seemingly quaint throwback to the pre-Internet era is still a powerful tool. Almost nothing is better for sales than to be a welcome guest in someone’s home. Your agents or CSRs have the rare chance to see all of a family’s policies at once, as well as how they live. Furthermore, your prospects never feel more comfortable than they do in their own house. Plus, the people you close at home often stay your clients longer because of this one-time person-to-person encounter. Still, house calls are time-consuming and expensive. So make certain that if you agree to go house-hopping, that you are guaranteed the opportunity to review a prospect’s complete insurance portfolio. Never agree to stop by just to sell a single auto or homeowners policy unless it’s sizeable or an authentic lead-in to additional business.

Promote hands-on contact
Advertise the fact that “strangers over the Internet,” a strong and intimidating phrase, can’t hand you a claim check, personally look out for your best interests, visit your home, etc., (motorized claims teams, notwithstanding). Then appeal to your prospects by featuring a heartwarming photo in your ad. Run it regularly in publications not generally read by technophiles, such as your local shopping news.

Snap pictures
Immediately after a new auto or home client signs the application and hands over a check, immortalize the transaction by snapping a picture. Invite your new policyholder to stand next to their CSR for a digital or classic Polaroid photo. Write the rep’s name, number, and e-mail address on the back of the printed picture. The CSR then hands it to the insured, saying something like: “This is so you’ll always know that I’m here to help you.” The purpose of the exercise is to build a connection between the insured and the rep, their main agency contact. Politicians have used photos as bonding tools for years. A famous example is when John Street used it during the 1999 Philadelphia, Penn., mayoral election. He had instant pictures taken with his arms around voters that he met on the street by his “Polaroid Posse.” This personal interactivity helped. Mr. Street won a close election that year and is still mayor to this day.

Deliver retro quotes
Online quotes consist of nothing more than computer-generated numbers on a PC monitor or a paper printout. There is nothing special about this style of delivery, which gives you an opportunity to distinguish yourself while proposing the bottom line. Here’s how to take advantage of your local presence.

When sitting face-to-face with a personal lines prospect, your reps shouldn’t simply hand a raw rate quote, fresh from the printer, to the individual. Instead they should take the extra time to hand transfer the automated numbers onto an agency-created quote form, one that has blank spaces for the CSR to manually enter in the person’s desired policy limits, deductible, form, premiums, etc. It’s most effective when the coverages are recapped and the numbers are explained to the person who is sitting there as they are written onto the page. This old school presentation style is far more memorable than mere online output.

Conclusion
With all of the above, it may seem like you are reading a trade magazine from the 1960s. Relax, it’s almost 2007. Check the date on the cover if you’re still not sure. Of course it’s important that you post and maintain a quality agency Web site, one that’s much more than an online billboard. Your site is another important tool, perhaps the most important one, to compete against the major Internet marketers. Unfortunately, there’s not enough room on this page to explore your agency’s Internet options. Perhaps in a future column. For now, just think about the offline things that you can do to attract the personal accounts of all of the people who prefer to insure locally. There are a lot more of them than you may have realized.

Alan Shulman, CPCU, is the publisher of Agency Ideas, a subscription-only sales and marketing newsletter. He is also the author of the 1001 Agency Ideas book series and other popular P/C sales resources. He may be reached at 800-724-1435 or by e-mail at: shulman@agencyideas.com. His Web site is www.agencyideas.com.