One of my favorite blogs of all time is by Seth Godin. You’re probably familiar with his books – “Purple Cow“, “The Dip“, “Tribes” and his newest work “Linchpin“.

You can count on Seth to post a morsel of marketing goodness and/or business wisdom on his blog daily. With short, easy to digest, yet incredibly thought-provoking posts, Godin’s blog is a must-have-bookmarked site for any businessperson, whether you’re an insurance professional or not.

A few weeks ago, Seth posted some valuable insight about finding referrals. We know that referrals are a lifeline in the insurance business. The key point of his post is: To get referrals, you must be a remarkable person. I’m including this line directly: “The only thing that will make you remarkable is being worth remarking about.”

Let that settle in for a moment.

What does it mean to be remarkable?

If you’re an insurance professional, chances are pretty good that you’ve heard the word “no” at least a few times during your career.  How do you let “no” affect you? Do you hang up the phone in anger? Delete or throw away the insurance prospect’s file in frustration? I sure hope not.

How you respond after being told “no” will determine your success. (And the previous responses are not the proper or appropriate actions of a successful insurance agent!)

Just because someone tells you “no” on the front-end, that does not mean they are completely shutting down on you. A major component of business is building relationships. Here are a few tips for bonding with prospects and working toward a yes or a referral:

Be intentional. Go out of your way to help your prospects. Learn about their profession and what they’re passionate about. Try to refer business to them. When you refer business to someone else, typically the law of reciprocity comes into play. Invite them to networking events with you. Call them on their birthday. Set a date in your calendar to follow up with them and give an updated insurance quote.

Stay in front of them. Create a monthly email newsletter that includes money-saving tips, interesting articles, etc. and ask if it’s okay to email it to them. Get involved with your local community. Offer to write a column for your local newspaper about insurance and finance. Find ways like this to stay top-of-mind.

Remember that “the fruit is in the follow-up”. Even if you’ve been told “no”, setup follow-up calls in your calendar. Call back in a few months for a check-in to see how things are going. Are they happy with the service/coverage/price they’ve received? According to a Leads360 whitepaper, 6 calls equals success when it comes to lead conversion. Don’t give up!

Sales are the lifeblood of any business. As an insurance agent, what are you doing to keep the lifeblood of your insurance agency pumping? There are multiple ways you can keep your sales funnel full of new insurance prospects. Here are a few tips:

1) Become a Chamber of Commerce member. Chamber members enjoy a multitude of benefits, including networking opportunities, training classes/seminars, member directory listing and more.

2) Ask for referrals. Just do it. You’ll write some of your BEST business through referrals. Don’t be afraid to tell your current customers that your business is built on referrals and that you’d be honored to help any friends or family members who have insurance questions. (We talk about asking for referrals here.)

3) Ask your local media to help you publicize a “Dissect your insurance policy” day. There are SO many people who have no clue what is and what is not covered by their current insurance policies. Have a day where you encourage people to bring in their policies and let you explain, in plain English, what is and is not covered. HIGHLY unlikely the agent down the street is offering that. You may close some sales on the spot.

3) Generate online leads through your very own insurance agency website. If you have not yet created a website for your insurance business, what are you waiting for? The Internet is where many people go first when making a purchase decision. (Click here to read what you’re missing if you don’t have a website for your insurance business.)

4) Let HometownQuotes bring prospects to you! Okay, a shameless plug – but it’s true! HometownQuotes insurance leads are one more way to maintain a steady stream of prospects. Call to learn more: 1-800-820-2981.

May your funnel be full!

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