Does Your Agency Make Heads Turn?
Kelly Donahue-Piro
President: Agency Performance Partners
Co-Founder: Agency Appeal
With 36,000 agencies in America, does your agency make heads turn? If not, what is your strategy to stick out? Far too many agencies try to sell insurance to everyone and when you sell to everyone you speak to no one. I hope this article encourages you to dive deep into understanding who you really want to write, how you will make them aware of your agency and how you will serve them better than anyone else.
In today’s world 60% of the sales process is done before the phone even rings in your agency with a quote request. This means that leads are evaluating you based on your sales team, website, SEO and networking events. What this means is you need to develop an agency brand that makes your target market’s heads turn. This can often make agents uncomfortable because we are talking about how to stick out. Many of us we would rather blend into the crowd, but in today’s crowded world we need to find a way become memorable.
It will take someone 7 interactions with your brand to start to associate you with the main need you solve. If nothing grabs them in the beginning, they won’t stick around for the next 6 interactions. Not every agency is comfortable being a cartoon character or being too bold. But that doesn’t mean your agency brand has to be boring. You should be working with a branding firm that can make your business become memorable. Professionals can get heads to turn.
In order to start the process of being memorable you need to start by clearly identifying who you are trying to attract to your business. Are you looking for growing families, empty nesters, classic car enthusiasts, small business owners, restaurant owners? We always recommend selecting 5-6 targets. From there we can identify what really matters to them and what their biggest concerns are. Your agency must now think outside of the box and think “How can we serve a growing family? Do you need different office hours, teen driving kits, scholarships?” Now you have something to really market and share that solves their largest concerns and challenges.
When you connect your target’s business concerns with clear solutions you start to get heads to turn which is the purpose of marketing! Now you need to match your team’s customer experience to the needs and challenges you are trying to solve. For example if you like working with growing families, speed is going to be important. We live today in a convenience world. Your processes and procedures need to match your brand. You would need a turn around time on quotes, reshops and general service. More importantly your team needs to be reviewing accounts and making recommendations on every call to accurately protect these families. Your team needs to understand their role in helping these families not only meet their budget but protect their families. When you start to stand for something it’s critical everyone on the team believes in what you do.
Don’t hesitate to do the hard work of clearly identifying who you want to target and what matters to them. Then build your agency brand to speak to them and speak less about you. Your website should be about the challenges you solve not your years in business and carriers. When you build your marketing around the problems you solve, watch the heads turn!
About Kelly Donahue-Piro
As a dynamic public speaker and consultant I have spent the last decade focusing on how small business owners can capitalize on opportunities within their reach. With over 5 years experience in the local insurance agent sector I can bring training, marketing and technology to your agency that helps you effective and efficiently grow your agency. My specialties include consulting and coaching on upselling, account rounding, agency culture change, sales scripting, executive level coaching and benchmarking as well as agency retention skills. Contact me today to learn more about how I can help your agency grow!
As a dynamic public speaker and consultant I have spent the last decade focusing on how small business owners can capitalize on opportunities within their reach. With over 5 years experience in the local insurance agent sector I can bring training, marketing and technology to your agency that helps you effective and efficiently grow your agency. My specialties include consulting and coaching on upselling, account rounding, agency culture change, sales scripting, executive level coaching and benchmarking as well as agency retention skills.
Contact me today to learn more about how I can help your agency grow!
