Investing in Commercial Lines, Investing in Growth

Lynn DePasquale, Vice President of Smart Start Commercial Lines

From the Front Line

You don’t close a sale, you open a relationship if you want to build a long-term, successful enterprise. —Patricia Fripp

In this age of social media and technology, I think people have lost the “art of the sale.” Relationship building and actual face-to-face interactions no longer seem to have a priority in the selling journey. As insurance agents and brokers, the cold call is encouraged too often in place of actually driving to a business and speaking to the agency owner in person, and emails and social media interactions have come between the client and the agent in a negative way. Where calls, emails, and social media were originally meant to enhance the in-person conversation that took place, they have instead replaced human interaction altogether.

I find this to be especially prevalent in commercial lines business, as many agents are tempted to simply go through the phone book and call the businesses you’re targeting in the area, instead of just visiting in person to make the sale. It’s certainly possible an agent could receive some business off of just cold-calling, but the agents who are going to find quality, renewable business are the ones knocking on doors and investing time into client relationships.

When trying to gain commercial lines business, it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• Successful agents want to network and see all potential options to assist current and potential clients – this means getting to know your client personally so you’re covering them adequately AND gaining the most business opportunities out of the exchange.
• Successful agents WANT to talk to prospects and new acquaintances, but more importantly they want to LISTEN to them – don’t dominate the conversation; let them do the talking while you make mental notes about their needs.
• Successful agents know that one in-person conversation will likely lead to many more.
• Smart Start Commercial Lines can provide you with a basic questionnaire to bring into those businesses, so you know the right questions to ask to elicit the information you need. USE THIS TOOL!

As a shameful plug from a fellow salesperson, I have to always remind you that Smart Start Commercial is there for you to help you and your clients expand your agency offerings and therefore grow your book of business. If you have a personal lines book that is growing, find out if the client owns a business as well – they may not even realize you can help them insure that part of their lives. You don’t want to be half the solution for your clients; you want to be the TOTAL solution. By having that face-to-face human interaction with your client, you gain trust, you gain humanity, and you gain the ability to properly serve them to the best of your ability. Best of all your retention rates will go up!

As the quote by Patricia Fripp says above, “You don’t close a sale…you open a relationship.” Start opening relationships today and be the expert and confidant that your clients can whole-heartedly rely on today!