Online Commercial Insurance Shoppers Are Expected to Nearly Double in the Next 3 Years

According to a new survey from Semsee and TrustedChoice.com, independent insurance agents can expect a significant increase in online commercial insurance buyers over the next three years. The survey showed that around 42% of agents have been seeing an increase in commercial opportunities since the start of the pandemic in 2020. With such an increase in online commercial insurance shoppers, you need to know what to expect and what changes you can make, so you can build your customer base and increase your commissions over these next few years of demand.

What To Expect

magnifying glass in a circle
Because of the pandemic, people have been searching for their insurance needs over the internet.

Because the pandemic really changed the way people shop for most things, consumers have begun to rely more and more on finding and purchasing insurance over the internet. And, with such a big demand for commercial insurance coming over the next few years, insurance agents should expect to see an increase in leads and customers researching insurance and contacting their businesses. 

So make sure that you are ready for this increase in demand, and can help customers with quotes virtually. That includes knowing how to share your screen with customers, so you can display their options to them without having to meet in person. 

Changes Needed

While the survey also showed that more than 60% of agents rated their digital customer-facing capabilities as good or excellent, the reality doesn’t always match up. Many independent agents will need to make some changes to how they attract all of these new leads online. So how can you use the digital world to your advantage? 

The best way to increase and find new businesses online is by focusing on search engine optimization, or SEO. And while a lot of agents were confident in their digital customer-facing capabilities, the survey found that only 49% currently use SEO as a means of attracting new customers. 

 

SEO is all about moving your website up in Google searches, and the best way to boost your website’s ranking is by doing some research. For example, you’ll need to research keywords and phrases that your specific audience uses when looking for answers online, which means you’ll also have to understand your audience and how they can benefit from your services. When you begin researching, consider:

seo in a circle in front of a keyboard

  • Focusing on local search terms, such as “Florida commercial insurance,” so you can target customers who live where your business is located.
  • Making a list of relevant topics based on the insurance products you offer. Be sure to consider alternate terms that people may search for – for example, “business insurance” and “commercial insurance.”
  • Researching related keywords – for example, the keywords that appear as suggestions in Google when you begin typing in insurance questions or products.
  • Prioritizing keywords with higher volume and lower competition.

Looking For Leads?

Being tech savvy is a crucial part of growing your business, but don’t forget the most important step: building your customer list. And what better way to do this than getting hand-delivered, ready-to-buy leads from Benepath? When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part.

We provide you with real-time leads through a secured process and give you a customized thank-you page so your leads will be ready for your call. This thank-you page assures leads that they won’t be bounced around between agents, and gives them a feeling of connection with you right from the start. We offer the leads, and, while it is up to you to properly nurture your leads, we’ll be behind you every step of the way. You’ll find, though, that our leads don’t need much nurturing because they are ready to speak with you and buy your product! To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

What is Trigger Marketing?

Anybody who owns a business knows that marketing is very important to growing that business. But it might take a little more thought to determine exactly what kind of marketing will work best for your business. There are so many ways for an independent agent to market their business, and it can be overwhelming to research all of them. But we’ve got a tip for you: try trigger marketing. It might just help you to stand out from your competition! Not sure what it is, or how to use it? We’ve got all the info below, so read on to find out how and why you should utilize trigger marketing for your business.

Trigger Marketing

online survey
Triggered marketing focuses on when a customer makes contact with your business such as filling out an online form.

Trigger marketing is an email marketing tactic that uses automatically triggered communications based on specific events in a customer’s life, or at specific points in your relationship. For example, trigger email, or behavior or transactional email, is an automated email that is automatically sent when a subscriber takes a particular action or engages with your company. 

The events that you can choose to trigger emails can include when a customer:

  • Fills out a form
  • Opens an email from you
  • Views your page
  • Interacts with your chat-box
  • Signs up for an event or list

Trigger emails are especially helpful for use with new clients: you can trigger a sequence of welcome emails that will help to nurture your new lead. Or, you can use trigger emails to try to win lost customers back. The great thing about trigger marketing is that it can be set up to run continuously, which will produce results, and save you time. 

Benefits Of Trigger Marketing

 Using trigger marketing can have a lot of benefits for your agency, like: 

  • Trigger emails generate 4x more revenue and 18x greater profit than regular emails, according to Forrester Research.
  • Additionally, triggered emails have been found to contribute over 30% of overall email revenue. 
  • Trigger marketing helps build relationships with customers, because it allows them to feel seen. 
  • You’ll be able to nurture your leads efficiently, pushing them further along in their journey with your business
  • You’ll increase customer retention when you send automated emails to customers who have already worked with you, since you’ll be encouraging repeat purchases and building long-term relationships. 
  • You’ll end up with fewer complaints and fewer opt-outs when you have triggered emails, which ensure customers receive regular communication from you.
  • Your messages will always be timely and customer-focused, which generates more value for your customers. 
  • You will also save time, which will allow you to focus on other things in your business.

How To Use Trigger Marketingsea of people in different colors of black, red and white

If you want to utilize trigger marketing, you’ll first need to understand who you’re targeting. Once you know what kind of customers you’re trying to connect with, you’ll be able to understand their problems and motivations. 

Next, you will need to define your triggering events so that you can automate your system to respond to these events. You’ll need to create a variety of correspondences that align with these events. You can update a customer’s profile, add the customer to a list, categorize the customer, and then see what kind of marketing will suit them. For example, if someone visits your web page, you can have a triggered email sent to them with more related content, so that they can get more of what they’re looking for from you specifically.

One important thing to note is that you need to ensure you are personalizing your messages, because customers want you to feel like you care about them and that you’re making an effort to reach out to them personally. You can personalize automated messages using customers’ names when addressing them, and then identify where they are on their journey with you, so they don’t feel like you’re sending them spam. 

Looking For Leads?

If you’re still looking to build your client list, come to Benepath! Working with Benepath means you’ll be able to free up more of your time and increase your sales. We offer you real-time exclusive leads who are warmed up and ready to purchase an insurance plan. You just have to provide us with the days and times you are available so that we can send you to live transfer calls during your specific hours. 

In short, we do all the work for you, finding you pre-qualified leads and simply passing them off to you to make the sale. Benepath will provide you with better tools, more guidance, unsurpassed sales training, and techniques from the most successful agents and trainers in the industry, not to mention the best leads available! To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

Inside Reality Versus Outside Perception

So, why should customers choose your agency over another? You know the answer to that question: because you’re great at what you do, right? But that’s just the inside reality of your business. That’s not what leads see right away; they have an outside perception of your business, which might be different from what you think it is. It’s important to know the difference between the inside reality and outside perception of your agency, since understanding this will help your business grow even more.

Inside Realitybrain with many words throughout it

The inside reality of your business is basically who you are and how good you are at providing your service. It’s also how you perceive your business – and you might simply assume that you are doing a great job, and have loyal and happy customers, and that’s enough. But take a good, hard look at your business: if your inside reality is not matching up to the amount of business you’re doing, you have some work to do. 

Even if you are meeting your customers’ needs, it doesn’t mean that other customers are going to instantly come to you or seek out your business. You still have to market your business with the outside perception in mind, and not just rely on happy customers and their word of mouth.

Outside Perception 

This is how your business is perceived or viewed by the outside world, especially customers and prospects, based on their interactions with you and your business. They will form this outside perception based on their past experiences with you, and on the ways you communicate with them, as well. 

And remember: you can have great customer service, and your current customers might love you, but that doesn’t mean you have a strong outside perception. You still need to be able to communicate your positive inside reality to those on the outside.

What You Can Do

If you don’t communicate your inside reality in an effective enough way to influence your outside reality, people will perceive that you are no better or worse than any other agent. This is why marketing is very important. So, how can you begin boosting your outside perception?

hands with different pictures around it
You need to figure out your customer touchpoints and see how people are coming to you in the first place.

The first thing you should do is figure out your customer touchpoints and see how people are coming to you in the first place. Then you can determine the best course of action when it comes to marketing, so you can get leads and customers to know, like, trust, buy from, and refer you to others. 

A great way to do this is to get on social media and show how you can help solve their problems and provide answers to their questions. Get on multiple platforms, and be as active as you can. Once you’ve established yourself there, then you’ll be in a better position to show that you’re the best and can offer the best value around.  

Your social media accounts should also refer people to your website, which can be a big boost to your outside perception. So, take a look at your website and see if there are ways you can improve it. Use this space to show what makes you unique, and how prospects should judge what you can offer them. Consider how you provide value in ways that other agents might not. 

Remember, though, there has to be a balance between focusing on working on your inside reality and marketing your outside perception, because if you spend too much time on the latter, it will seem like you are being fake, pushy, or selling a lie about how great you are. On the other hand, if you focus too much on inside reality and don’t know how to market yourself properly, you will be setting yourself up for failure. 

Looking For Leads?

Marketing is crucial when it comes to growing your agency, and so is building your customer list. And what better way to do this than by getting hand-delivered, ready-to-buy leads from Benepath? When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part.

We provide real-time leads through a secured process and give you a customized thank-you page so your leads will be ready for your call. This thank-you page assures leads that they won’t be bounced around between agents and gives them a feeling of connection with you right from the start. We offer the leads, and, while it is up to you to properly nurture your leads, we’ll be behind you every step of the way. You’ll find, though, that our leads don’t need much nurturing because they are ready to speak with you and buy your product! But if they do need some nurturing, follow the effective ways mentioned above to seal the deal. To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

The Insurance Agent’s Guide to Cross-Selling

Cross-selling is a great way to help your business grow, while helping your clients with their insurance needs at the same time. It’s a win-win! But some agents might hesitate to cross-sell, thinking that their efforts will backfire and that they might seem pushy. 

Consider this: according to one study, 60% of insurance consumers feel like their insurance agents don’t offer any value after the initial policy purchase – and cross-selling can be a way to offer more value to them. Think of it as a way to reach out to your customers, and remind them that you can continuously help protect them and their assets. 

So the question is: how do you successfully cross-sell to them?

Cross-Selling Strategies

First and foremost, it’s important to know who you should try to cross-sell to. It would be useless (and possibly detrimental) to simply email everyone in your system; rather, you will have to narrow down your customer list to those who already have specific policies, and personalize communications with specific customers based on what would add value to their life. For example, do you have a customer who currently owns a business? Consider offering them commercial insurance, and ask if they will need personal health insurance for their family or group insurance for their employees. 

What else do you need to keep in mind? The following strategies can help you successfully cross-sell:thw word when made out of questions

  • Learn when to cross-sell- Never try to cross-sell during an initial sale. Instead, just plant your seed, and help them with the initial product they were interested in.
  • Establish relationships- When you interact with your clients, remember to make notes, so you can remember anything they mention that might mean they’ll need other types of insurance down the road. 
  • Use email marketing effectively- Create a series of emails that you can send to clients with informative content that will keep you in mind in case they need more insurance. Include a call-to-action in these emails so they can reach out for help when they are ready. These emails are just meant to emphasize that you are a valuable resource for advice and information, so specific policies shouldn’t be mentioned until the final email.

Showing Your Value

Great agents know that it is all about showing their value to leads and customers. You need to show that you are an expert, not only when it comes to explaining insurance and giving them access to the best policies, but also when it comes to protecting their needs and interests. Remind your customers that you are there to make their lives easier and better. You can do this with regular communication, so you can keep up with what’s going on in their lives and know how you can help. Remember to use emails that are personalized to their needs, and to call them regularly, not just when it’s time to renew their plans. 

Looking For Leads?magnifying glass over colorful group of people

Cross-selling is a great way to build your business, but before you can do that, you need to build your customer list. And what better way to do this than by getting hand-delivered, ready-to-buy leads from Benepath? When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part.

We provide real-time leads through a secured process and give you a customized thank-you page so your leads will be ready for your call. This thank-you page assures leads that they won’t be bounced around between agents and gives them a feeling of connection with you right from the start. We offer the leads, and while it is up to you to properly nurture your leads, we’ll be behind you every step of the way. You’ll find, though, that our leads don’t need much nurturing because they are ready to speak with you and buy your product! To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

Setting Up a Business Facebook Page

When it comes to getting your name out there, nothing beats having a strong presence on social media. This will help your agency connect with customers and build your brand at the same time.  Since social media is the new way to determine what to buy, and who to buy it from, it’s important to establish and develop your presence on platforms like Facebook. But where should you start?

Why Facebook?facebook logo

While there are other, newer social media platforms, Facebook is still a widely used platform, one that arguably gives you access to the widest group of people. Young adults and older adults alike still scroll through Facebook, unlike other platforms that older adults might avoid, like Instagram.

Setting Up A Facebook Page

It might be intimidating to think about setting up a business account on social media, but we assure you, it’s easy. First, you’ll have to sign up for your Facebook page. To do this, go to the “Create” area of Facebook, and do the following :

  • Choose a page name
  • Choose a category for your business
  • Describe your business
  • Fill out the “About” area for your business
  • Enter your business contact information
  • Include a business and cover photo

Branding Your Facebook Page

Next, you will need to consider how you would like to brand your business. You’ll already have included your name when setting up your page, but now you can add your logo, upcoming events (like webinars), photos of your business, and most importantly, content! Adding content will help to boost your brand perception – but what kind of content should you include on your page? Well, first imagine being in your customers’ shoes, looking for insurance, and think about what kind of questions you might be researching. Your content should help answer these questions, but remember not to limit yourself to insurance content. Add some fun and interesting facts, posts that relate to awareness days/months, and a little about yourself, too!

notification bell and bubble next to a phone
There will be notifications that pop up to alert you when people are communication with you or sharing your page.

Monitoring Your Facebook Page

Last but not least, you will need to monitor your page, and check for messages and comments. The bell on the top right-hand side will show you when you have notifications, and clicking on that will tell you if people have shared your page and content, or if someone has tagged you in a post. It’s important to monitor your page so that you can reply to people who are interacting with you, and respond to questions or reviews. 

Looking For Leads?

One of the reasons you make the effort to create a Facebook page is to attract leads and grow your business. It can take a while to get to where you want to be, but in the meantime, if you’re looking for new leads and to grow your business, Benepath can help! 

We offer exclusive leads who are ready to buy – all you have to do is tell us when you are available to work with them. Benepath will provide you with better tools, more guidance, unsurpassed sales training, and techniques from the most successful agents and trainers in the industry, not to mention the best leads available. To get more information, fill out the form above, or call 866-368-0377.

Independent Agents Face Steeper Competition as Carriers Release Captive Agents

In case you haven’t heard, many carriers have been releasing captive agents, and allowing them to become fully independent agents. Insurers have realized that customers want to work with independent agents who can offer them many different kinds of plans from different carriers, not just plans that are tied to one specific carrier. Because of this, many captive agents have made the transition to becoming independent, which has created more competition than ever for independent agents looking for more leads and customers. This might feel a bit alarming to you, but there are still ways you can stand out from the crowd.

Why Carriers Are Making The Switch

change with orange arrows around it forming a circle
Insurance carriers are switching to independent agents so they can increase profits.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, it made sense for carriers to re-examine their business models, and look for ways to grow while also saving money. Low-interest rates have laid waste to the industry’s ability to grow its accrued revenues over the past few years and captive agents, while well versed in the carrier’s offerings, have a high overhead cost. So to increase their profits, many carriers are switching to working with independent agents, allowing the agents that they work with to sell other carriers’ products.

Standing Out from the Crowd

Because many carriers are now choosing to work with independent agents, you will have to work hard to stand out, and to have a competitive edge over others in your field. If you have built a large clientele base,  you’re already ahead of the game. But that doesn’t mean you can get complacent!

You still have to continue to grow, so you will need to focus heavily on marketing and customer service. Make sure that you take the time to build relationships with all of your customers, and work on making your marketing funnel more efficient by:

  • Offering personalized service– To give customers a better experience in the digital world, you need to personalize your customers’ journey with every interaction. 
  • Staying on top of interactions– Anticipate your interactions with your customers by using email automation to help inform your customers about renewal dates and plans that might be right for them.
  • Being straightforward– It’s important to make your website and social media accounts as streamlined as possible.
paper with a stamp of certification on the bottom
When you are first starting out, make sure to get a license and insurance for your business.

And if you’re just starting out as an independent agent, the first things you’ll need to focus on will be the practical aspects of building your business, like:

  • Getting business licensing and insurance
  • Designing a logo and other brand-related elements
  • Creating a professional website
  • Developing a plan to automate your marketing
  • Building your client list

Then you’ll need to focus on acquiring leads, nurturing leads, and converting leads into customers, by:

  • Assessing your client acquisition method 
  • Defining your unique value
  • Focusing on building relationships with your customers and being timely when responding to them
  • Creating a website with informational content that relates to your customer’s needs and answers the questions they are asking
  • Building your social media presence to get your business known and trusted – take the time to post engaging content there, and stay on top of interactions with potential customers. The more accessible you are, the more you will build your customer base.

Looking For Leads?

When dealing with a growing competitive field, the most important step will be building your customer list. And what better way to do this than getting hand-delivered, ready-to-buy leads from Benepath? When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part. 

We provide you with real-time leads through a secured process and give you a customized thank-you page so your leads will be ready for your call. This thank-you page assures leads that they won’t be bounced around between agents and gives them a feeling of connection with you right from the start. 

We offer the leads, and while it is up to you to properly nurture your leads, we’ll be behind you every step of the way. You’ll find, though, that our leads don’t need much nurturing because they are ready to speak with you and buy your product! But if they do need some nurturing, follow the effective ways mentioned above to seal the deal. To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

Building the Foundations of Your Insurance Agency

Starting your own business can be both exciting and downright scary at the same time. But once you take that step and push yourself to do it, you will never regret it. You will find joy in not only being your boss, but also in watching your business change and grow over time. You might be worried about how to grow your business at first, and it can be difficult in the beginning, but it’s not impossible. You just need to focus on the foundation of your insurance agency, because this is what will help you convert leads into customers. 

The question is: where should you start? Don’t worry, we’ve got the answers you need, so you can successfully build your foundation and watch your numbers grow!

Developing a Strategy

plan written on a chalkboard with strategy words around
First you will need to develop a strategy for your business.

Developing a strategy is one of the most important things to do if you want to build a successful insurance agency. To develop a strategy, you’ll need to:

  • Identify your objective and your core values– Your objective is your goal for your business; it should be centered on the problem you’re aiming to solve with your services, and your company values will run hand-in-hand with your objective.
  • Conduct a self-assessment– Do you have the cash flow and human resources needed to see your plan to fruition? What competitive advantages do you enjoy over other agencies?
  • Research your market and past success stories- Find out how similar agencies have claimed their market share, grown brand awareness, and managed a happy and productive workforce.
  • Lay out a roadmap to success- Create a step-by-step guide to achieving your goals and what you are going to do to meet them. This guide will set you up for success and hold you accountable.
  • Stay focused

Finding Leads

Finding leads can be relatively easy if you know how to attract them. The best way to attract leads is by building your brand and creating a sense of trust. You can do this by getting online and showing how knowledgeable you are. You should:

  • Create a website and social media accounts that will help attract and convert leads. 
  • Also comment on sites like Quora, answering people’s questions about insurance, in addition to communicating with leads via social media. 
  • Make and share videos that are informational and useful to leads and customers. 

Nurturing Leadswoman with a headset on

Your first contact with leads is very important: remember, first impressions count! When leads show interest, it’s important to contact them in a timely fashion, but not immediately. Generally, it’s best to send an email or make a call within 12-24 hours; any longer and you risk losing them as a customer. 

After that, you will need to create a schedule to follow up with your leads. After all, it generally takes contacting leads 7 to 13 times to convert them! Your follow-up schedule could look like this: send one email a week and a call or two every quarter.  Make sure your follow-up contact is not just focused on plan renewal or other business; make things personal so you can keep nurturing them long after they’re converted from leads to customers. 

Looking For Leads?

Since you’ll be dealing with a competitive field, the most important step in growing your agency will be building your customer list. And what better way to do this than getting hand-delivered, ready-to-buy leads from Benepath? When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part. 

We provide you with real-time leads through a secured process and give you a customized thank-you page so your leads will be ready for your call. This thank-you page assures leads that they won’t be bounced around between agents and gives them a feeling of connection with you right from the start. We offer the leads, and, while it is up to you to properly nurture your leads, we’ll be behind you every step of the way. You’ll find, though, that our leads don’t need much nurturing because they are ready to speak with you and buy your product! But if they do need some nurturing, follow the effective ways mentioned above to seal the deal. To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

4 Things Every Agency Website Needs

If you’re running an agency, you’re probably constantly investing in ways to market your agency so that you can build your customer list. One of the things you’ve most likely invested in is a website, which is one of the best ways to get your business noticed, and bring traffic to it. But your website has to be done right for you to reap the benefits of it! Remember, it’s not just about having the right information on your site, you also need to make sure it’s well designed and easy to navigate. The best way for your website to be appealing to leads and customers, and to attract more visitors, is by making sure you have the following 4 things.

1. Professional Designhands on a laptop keyboard

One very important element of a successful website is a professional design. A polished, professional-looking website tells your visitors that you are an experienced insurance agent and that you take your work seriously. 

Make sure that your graphics and images are sleek and modern, and that your content presents your business in the right light – remember, it’s all about how your customers perceive your agency! In addition, your logo should look professional, with the right fonts and colors. 

Finally, one of the most important things (which many people overlook) is that your website needs to look good on, and be optimized for, both desktops and mobile devices. Be aware that sometimes a website will not be correctly aligned on a cell phone, or images might not show up, so you need to constantly monitor your site. 

2. Content!

The saying “content is king” holds very true for almost any business, and it’s especially true for an insurance agency. Because you provide a specific service, and you want to make sure that people know you are knowledgeable about your field,  you have to offer up great content that educates and informs. 

Remember, a lot of people that come to your website don’t understand the insurance industry, which is why they are seeking your help. Make sure that your website not only offers information about the type of insurance products that you sell, but that it also answers your customers’ questions, and gives the impression that you are the right person to turn to for help. 

3. Easy Navigation

Have you ever been to a website and found yourself having to search through the whole site just to find an answer that you were looking for, or for contact information? Make sure this doesn’t happen to your customers! Your website should not only be professional looking, but also easy to navigate, with all the answers and information your customers need available with a click of a button.  

4. Good Brandinghand pressing the middle of a target

Branding is the anchor for all of your marketing efforts, so make sure your brand is well represented on your website, especially since your website is the first point of contact for many people. There needs to be a common element in your website design, content, and methods of creating audience engagement. 

When was the last time you updated your website? Have you checked it recently on both a laptop and a mobile device? Have you added content that is up-to-date and informative? Whether you are building a website or currently have one, make sure to check that your site has everything needed to create a good user experience, one that shows you are knowledgeable in your trade and can provide the help customers are looking for. If you have a strong online presence and can answer the questions people have, you will be the person they turn to when they are ready to buy insurance. 

If you are looking to grow your business, Benepath can help! We offer exclusive leads who are ready to buy, all you have to do is tell us when you are available to work with them. Benepath will provide you with better tools, more guidance, unsurpassed sales training, and techniques from the most successful agents and trainers in the industry, not to mention the best leads available. To get more information, fill out the form above, or call 866-368-0377.

3 Steps for Keeping Your Marketing Funnel Flowing

Are you working on your marketing funnel? Or are you unsure where to even begin? If you’re new to marketing funnels, don’t worry, they are relatively easy concepts to understand and implement. A marketing funnel consists of 3 steps: turning investigators into leads, then turning leads into customers, and finally turning customers into ambassadors. It’s important to keep your marketing funnel flowing so you can continuously grow your business, so we’ll break down the marketing funnel flow so you can understand its structure, and can benefit from it.

1. Turn Investigators into Leads

2 hands each holding a magnifying glass
To help convert investigators who come to your site into leads, you’ll want to make sure that the call-to-action on your site is clear!

Investigators are the people who visit your website looking for answers or help. Because investigators are in the “just-looking” stage, they will generally want to keep their commitment to a minimum. 

To help convert investigators into leads, you’ll want to make sure that the call-to-action on your site is clear, and that it helps you to collect the information that you need to contact investigators and move them along in the sales funnel. This means your call-to-action shouldn’t simply be a “Call Now,” button; instead, your CTA should ideally encourage them to subscribe to your newsletter or ask you a question.

2. Turn Leads into Customers

Once you have gotten in contact with an investigator and turned them into a lead, the next step is to convert them into a customer. 

When trying to convert a lead into a customer, you’ll need to deliver content that is value-driven, timely, and convenient. You can opt for video content to answer questions and provide information, since people generally prefer to watch video content over reading a blog to look for their answers. 

In addition, you should make sure that you have an email campaign that provides informational content regularly, so you can show you know your stuff, and that you are the person that leads can turn to for help.

3. Turn Customers into Ambassadors

Last but not least, you’ll need to turn your customers into ambassadors. When we say ambassadors, we mean the people who refer you to friends and family, and even strangers, which will create more business for you. 

cell phone with a hand coming out holding a megaphone

The best way to convert customers into ambassadors is to build stronger, longer-lasting relationships with your existing customers by providing great customer service. Improving customer satisfaction can mean different things for different people, but you should be thinking about developing more personal and authentic relationships and delivering engaging content, as well as simply being there for customers, answering questions, and reaching out not just during renewal time. 

Being successful doesn’t happen overnight, and neither does moving people through your marketing funnel. But if you take the time to create a strong marketing funnel, you will be able to make your business grow a little bit faster!

In the meantime, if you’re looking for new leads and to grow your business, Benepath can help! We offer exclusive leads who are ready to buy – all you have to do is tell us when you are available to work with them. Benepath will provide you with better tools, more guidance, unsurpassed sales training, and techniques from the most successful agents and trainers in the industry, not to mention the best leads available. To get more information, fill out the form above, or call 866-368-0377.

Transitioning from a Captive Agent to an Independent Insurance Agent

When you first decide to become an insurance agent, you have the option to either become a captive agent or an independent agent. Being a captive agent means you will work for one insurance carrier and be paid commissions from the one specific insurance company that you work for. On the other hand, if you become an independent agent, you will be able to work with multiple carriers and be your own boss. 

If you have started your career as a captive agent, and have decided you want to make the transition to being an independent agent, you are probably wondering where you should start. It’s not that hard to make the transition, but there are a few things you should know.

Captive Agent

phone, book and laptop chained together
Captive agents are limited to working with only one insurance carrier and their products.

When working for a specific carrier, you will only be able to sell that company’s products. The downside to being this type of agent is that you will not be able to offer as many options to your customers, so you might end up losing commissions. You will also have less flexibility in your job: being a captive agent usually means having a more traditional, 9-to-5 office job.

Independent Agent

An independent insurance agent doesn’t work for a specific insurance carrier, and works on commission only. They differ from captive agents because they can sell policies from many carriers, which allows them to work with all sorts of leads, and find the best plans available for them. In fact, studies show that independent insurance agents have a 50% higher commission percentage compared to captive agents! Not only that, but being an independent agent means more flexibility in your job, because you will essentially be working for yourself.

Making the Transition

certificate
When you transition into an independent agent, you will first need to get business licensing and insurance.

If you have decided that you want to transition from being a captive agent to being an independent agent, and break free from only working with one insurance company, there are a few steps you will have to take. The first thing you should do is carefully read your contract with the carrier that you currently work for to avoid any non-compete violations.

Next, to begin the process of building your business, you will need to:

  • Get business licensing and insurance
  • Design a logo and other brand-related elements
  • Create a professional website
  • Develop a plan to automate your marketing
  • Build your client list

Looking For Leads?

When making this big leap from working for a carrier to starting your own agency, the most important step will be building your customer list. And what better way to do this than getting hand-delivered, ready-to-buy leads from Benepath? When you work with Benepath, receiving reliable, exclusive leads is the easy part. 

We provide you with real-time leads through a secured process and give you a customized thank-you page so your leads will be ready for your call. This thank-you page assures leads that they won’t be bounced around between agents and gives them a feeling of connection with you right from the start. We offer the leads, and, while it is up to you to properly nurture the leads, we’ll be behind you every step of the way. You’ll find, though, that our leads don’t need much nurturing because they are ready to speak with you and buy your product! But if they do need some nurturing, follow the effective ways mentioned above to seal the deal. To get more information, fill out the form below or call 866-368-0377.

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