Written by John F. Carroll on May
13, 2014.
Insurance shopping
behavior is changing.
Are you changing with it?
Compared to the past,
today’s insurance shopper is more likely to do their own online research,
decide what carrier to buy from…
And THEN contact an
agent.
It’s still important to
catch people at the beginning of their insurance shopping process, but I want
you get you thinking about how to capture them at the end…
Right before they pull
out their wallet!
When you are the agent
both search engines and real people most closely associate with your
carrier(s), you’ll be the agency shoppers call when they’re ready to buy.
Here’s 21 ways to be the
agent people find AFTER they’ve decided which carrier they want to buy from.
(NOTE: Some of these
ideas are better for captive agents, others are better for independent but for
all them – don’t use your carrier’s brand in a way that violates your agreement
with them)
1)
Include Every Carrier’s Name on Your Website
This one’s more for the
independent agents.
If a particular carrier
isn’t written somewhere on your website Google will question whether they
should show your agency for a search of that carrier’s name.
A picture of the logo is
great for building trust from your website visitors but it does nothing for
Google because their robots can’t see the picture.
Make sure your carriers’
names are written somewhere in text.
A link to their website
isn’t going to hurt you either.
2) Get
Lots of Positive Reviews
Imagine you’re an
insurance shopper:
You’ve already decided to
buy insurance from XYZ Company but you just need to decide which agent.
You go out to Google and
do a search for XYZ agents and get a page full of agents to choose from.
Would you choose the one
with 10 positive reviews, 1 iffy review, or no reviews?
Get your happiest
customers to write positive reviews before the one unhappy one destroys your
reputation.
3) Get
Listed on Every Carrier’s Website
Whether you write for one
carrier or hundreds, it’s important to take advantage of all the promotion you
can get on carrier websites.
Not only is it huge for
your local SEO, people often use the agent directories on carrier websites to
find an agent close to them.
Making sure you’re listed
is an absolute must. It’s even better if you can…
4) Get
Featured on Your Carriers’ Websites
There are a lot of ways
to be featured on your carriers’ websites. I know some companies give
preference in their agent directories to those with the highest customer
service ratings and other factors.
In any event, the agent
directory is a great place for people who are ready to buy to find you.
The agent directory isn’t
the only way to be featured on your carrier’s website. Work closely with the
PR/marketing team for opportunities to get extra attention on their website or
blog.
The key is making your
carrier look good. If you can do that they won’t mind giving you the extra
publicity.
5)
Create Online Content About Your Carriers
If you have a blog or
other content platform to use, create a lot of content specifically about your
carrier.
Today’s consumer is more
empowered than ever before to research the products available to them online,
and if they’re already seriously considering your carrier enough to research
the products etc, you want them to find you before any other agent.
You can write about the
history of the carrier, their executive members, current events, insurance
products, claims processes, billing procedures, and anything else related to
that carrier.
The best information
would be things people are actually interested in, like how a certain policy
works, but any content you publish online that connects your carrier with your
agency will help.
Obviously you need to
have some discretion and make sure you’re not violating any agent
guidelines. One way to avoid problems is to stick to information about
“your experience”. No one can dispute that.
Most importantly,
remember that when you make the carrier look good you’ll look good too and
it’ll be a lot harder for them to slap you on the wrist.
6)
Include Carriers In Search Engine Profiles
The major search engines
allow business owners like you to create a profile about their business.
Your profile includes the
most important information about who you are, where you’re located, and what
you do.
The search engines use
this information to determine what searches you rank for so put every carrier
you write for in those profiles.
7)
Include Carriers in Business Directory Profiles
Much like the above
example, when you’re filling out a business profile on a website like
Yellowpages or Superpages make sure to include your carriers within your
business description.
The more times Google
comes across webpages with your agency and a carrier name listed, the stronger
they’ll view the connection between the two and the more they’ll show your
agency when someone searches for the carrier.
8)
Plaster Your Social Media Profiles
Make sure to include the
carriers you write for within your social media profiles.
In addition to continuing
to create an online footprint for Google and Bing that associates your agency
with the carriers, you’ll also show up better for searches of the carrier’s
name within the social media websites.
9)
Follow All Your Carriers
Like all the Facebook
pages of your carriers (including their ancillary pages) using your agency
page.
Liking the pages is a
good step but don’t stop there.
Like and comment about
their updates and share relevant information from their pages on your agency
page.
Remember that the people
who run your carrier’s page are in the marketing department and engaging with
their social media efforts can put your agency on the radar at the home office.
10)
Connect with Out-Of-State Agents
I know agents who are so
well-connected with other agents on a national scale that a large percentage of
their new business comes from people moving into the state.
Here’s a great tip:
Connect on LinkedIn to every out-of-state agent you meet so your contact
information is always only a click away for them.
Here’s another one:
Follow the Facebook and Twitter profiles of out of state agents you meet and
consistently “like” their posts.
When those agents lose a
customer to your neck of the woods they’ll send them straight to your door.
11)
Customer Testimonials Focused on Carrier
I write a lot about the
power of testimonials (especially video) and it relates to this topic as well.
You don’t always need to
get testimonials from clients that are specifically about your agency. It also
helps if you can get people saying nice things about any of the insurance
carriers you write for.
Post videos to YouTube so
they can get more exposure and some carriers may even help you promote them.
12)
Create Video Website Tutorials
Are there processes with
your carrier’s website that customers are often asking you about?
Create video tutorials
about using the carrier website. Things like: how to check your balance, how to
print your Dec page, how to file a claim online, etc.
You might get a bit more
value from tutorials about the shopping process like “how to get a quote
online” but any content you can publish that helps customers navigate the
carrier website will reinforce that you’re the expert for doing business with
this insurer.
Don’t forget to include a
link to your webpage in the video description.
13)
Agent Testimonial About Carrier
I already mentioned
creating customer testimonials about the carriers you write for, but an agent
testimonial can work great too.
Create a video featuring
you, or the agency owner, explaining why you decided to sell insurance
for your carrier despite all the other options available and why you’re pleased
with the decision.
A great video like this
can get lots of views and will make both you and the carrier look great.
14)
Inbound Links To Your Page on Carrier’s Website
This is really just a
straight insurance agency
seo play.
Although I could, I’m not
going to go into too much detail here about how to get more links or the types
of links that are important because that’s just not what this article is all
about.
For now just know this:
The more websites that link to your page on your carrier’s website, the
higher that page will show in search results.
15)
Make a Page About Every Carrier on Your Website
I already recommended
independent agents include the name of every carrier they write for on their
website somwhere.
If you want to take this
a step further, create an individual page for each carrier.
When someone searches for
XYZ Insurance, Google is more likely to show a page that is entirely about that
carrier than a page with that carrier and 50 others.
Make the process easier
and cheaper by creating a format for each carrier page so they all look the
same but with the key information changed.
For example, each
carrier’s page could have a logo, headquarters address, claims phone number,
company history, and some simple facts that would be easy to get for every
carrier.
And of course every
carrier’s page needs your phone number and a link to your quote form!
16) Get
Customers to Switch to Your Agency
The rules are always
different with this. Sometimes it’s discouraged, sometimes not. Sometimes
you’ll make commission, sometimes not.
It doesn’t matter.
Regardless of who’s
making the commission, the more customers you have, the more connected you’ll
become with all the carriers that are represented and the more opportunities
you’ll have for referrals.
Even if people don’t
switch carriers, being the agent of record for more clients is worth the
additional servicing time. Most of the time at least 
17)
Engage More With Your Carriers
How hard are you working
to build personal relationships with the employees at your carriers?
Are you connecting
with them and writing recommendations about them on LinkedIn? Are you sending
personal thank you notes?
When I used to work in
the home office of a major carrier there was an agent who would send 20 pizzas
for our entire office once a year.
Every employee knew that
agent and who do you think they referred all their friends and family to?
18)
Wear Carrier Apparel
How many times have you
found yourself in a discussion about insurance just because of the shirt you
were wearing?
It happens to me all the
time.
Wear clothes with your
carrier’s branding everywhere you go so people will always connect you with
that carrier.
19)
Social Ads to Carrier Followers
Facebook allows you to
show ads to people based on what pages they follow.
Why not show ads to
people who already follow your major carrier’s brand?
You could advertise
umbrella policies or some other type of policy that most of the current
customers don’t already have.
They’re already convinced
on the brand, you just need to get them thinking about the product.
20)
Branded PPC Ads
I’m not a big fan of PPC
ads for insurance agents most of the time. They’re way too expensive and most
agency websites have too low a conversion ratio to make it cost-effective.
On the other hand, if
someone is searching for, “XYZ Insurance Quote” and they see your ad, I’d say
that’s a pretty targeted lead to send to your site.
Disclosure: I don’t have
any first-hand knowledge of agents using this tactic so give it a try only if
you think it’s a good idea. It might still be too expensive to be worthwhile.
21)
Drink the Kool-Aid
I’m a pretty critical
guy. In fact, I’m hyper-super-intensely-critical of the way insurance carriers
use their agents.
But I’ve also met agents
who could find a hidden agenda behind everything their carriers did. Agents who
never believed anything, never went along with anything, and tried to resist
everything their carriers said, encouraged, and recommended.
They were not successful.
Of course the carriers
are out for themselves – so are you!
Just remember that you
have to play their game if you want to get all the perks given to their
favorite agencies.
You don’t have to swallow
the Kool-aid, but at least make it appear like you like it.
Conclusion
No matter what you do,
the brands you write for will always have stronger influence and branding than
your agency.
Don’t reject it.
Embrace it.
And share this article
with another agent or sales manager you know that’s willing to embrace it too.
I hope this helps,
John
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