| It’s great when shoppers get an insurance quote from you and no one else. Until you wake up. This happens occasionally from a referral or networking, but it’s far more common that your quotes are competing with several others for your prospect’s attention. | |
So how can you make your quotes stand out?
Of course having the lowest price is very helpful – but it’s out of your control and isn’t as vital as you think.
And there’s salesmanship – but you don’t always get a chance to use it with every prospect.
If you want to be successful, your quotes ABSOLUTELY MUST stand out from the competition, otherwise your only chance is to win on price.
And if you can only win on price, you won’t be employed for very long.
Here’s 22 ways to make your insurance quotes stand out so you can get more callbacks, sell more, and make more money:
1) Use a Picture of the Insured Item
| If you really want to get your prospects attention, use a picture of the item they’re trying to insure. You can easily use Google Images to get a picture of any car, boat, or motorcycle and for property insurance you can use Google Earth or Google Streetview, and the “Bird’s Eye” imagery on Bing Maps is very cool. | |
A picture of the item to be insured will give your quote a much more “custom” feel and it’ll grab their attention so don’t put it on page 9, use it front and center.
And if you can’t change the way your quotes look, maybe you can add a cover page or something bycombining multiple PDFs.
2) Work Around the Technology
Sure it’s cool when your system automatically sends the prospect a quote, but does it generate the most attention grabbing layout and messaging?
I doubt it.
Be creative and think of ways you could work around this (without violating your carrier’s rules of course)
- Can you email the quote to yourself, make adjustments, and then send it to the client?
- Can you create a custom cover page and merge it into the PDF quote document?
- Can you print the quote on something besides standard white paper?
Keep reading for more ideas…
3) Use Color
I know this sounds like a very basic idea, but lots of bright colors will grab people’s attention.
Especially if they’re looking through lots of boring black and white quotes.
And if you can’t change the way your quotes look, you can still print them on bright colored paper if you’re going to mail them out. Or bright colored envelopes!
4) Add a Personal Video Message
I know it sounds like a pretty daunting task, but if you already have a webcam and you create a simple 30 second script to record a custom video message with every quote you will really stand out.
Check out a service like CoVideo to make it easy. You can find similar services with a simple Google search.
If nothing else, creating a custom video to include with your quotes should get prospects to call you back!
5) Custom Quote Summary Image
| This idea is a bit out there, but open your mind and give it a chance. Why do you think people engage more with images on Facebook and social networks like Pinterest & Instagram are taking off? | |
Use a free online photo editor likePicMonkeyand make it really easy for people to get the major points at a glance. Maybe even use Tip #1 to make it really eye-catching.
I know it sounds like a lot of work but once you come up with a template to use it wouldn’t take more than a minute or two to create each one.
6) Include a Testimonial
If you’re a regular here you’ve heard me say this before:
Your customers can sell your agency better than you ever will.
Get a few of them (or just one!) to let you record them talking about your agency and include a link to the video with your quotes.
If getting a video seems too difficult, create a one-pager with several quotes from many of your most satisfied clients. Just be sure to include images, first names, and towns to add more credibility to the claims.
If you have a whole bunch of testimonials to choose from, consider sending one that matches the age, gender, race, etc. of the prospect.
7) Use The Prospects Name Frequently
If the only customized portion of your quotes is the part that reads, “Dear Mr. ______” why not add a bit more customization?
It wouldn’t take you much longer to add the prospects name into the text a few times and maybe even into different headlines.
As Dale Carnegie has taught us, “a man’s name is to him the sweetest and most important sound in the English language”.
His advice goes for reading it in insurance quotes too.
8) Ask a Question
When the average insurance shopper is looking through several quotes to decide on the best one, anything you can do to stand out is going to help your game.
Even just asking a thoughtful question that makes the prospect stop and think can do the trick.
And there’s another benefit to asking a question: people are more likely to respond to you because our brains want to reply when asked a question. Otherwise many people feel like they’re being rude.
9) Start With Discounts
| I never really understood it because my brain works differently, but shoppers love discounts. (I’m a bottom-line guy) Start your quotes with a list of all the different discounts the prospect qualified for, how much each saved them and why they earned every single one. Discounts are compliments. | |
Think about it – They don’t give you a discount for being a bad driver, owning an unsafe home, or being an unhealthy person, right?
Start your quote with all the discounts and put that prospect in a great mood right from the get-go.
10) Professionally Designed Template
How graphically appealing are your quotes? Do they stand out?
Could you hire a graphic designer to create an overall look to your quotes that would be more attention-grabbing and modern looking?
Does your quoting program spit out the quote for you and you have no control?
What about creating a cover page, or a header and footer that would wrap the quote information together better?
People are visual. Try looking at your quotes through the eyes of a shopper who has never seen them before.
11) Avoid Big Text Blocks
As a web designer and internet marketer, I can’t stand going to a website with a huge block of text on the homepage.
I think, “How arrogant are these guys to think I’m going to read their entire text just to understand what they do?”
The same holds true for your quotes. Do you really think people read through the explanations of all the different coverages?
Sure they might… but if you want to stand out you need to deliver the goods with as much visual and as little text as possible.
12) Scope the Competition
When’s the last time you did some insurance shopping of your own?
It’s not like you don’t already know how to fill out one form and get quotes from several carriers. ;)
I know you’re loyal to yourself (at least I hope so) but you can learn a lot of tricks by going through the quoting process and seeing what all your competition does.
Print out all their quotes along with your own and ask yourself which one stands out.
I recommend you go through this process at least once a year.
13) Include Your Picture
| As a local insurance agent, one of your key selling advantages is the fact that you are a real local person. Not a company hiding behind an 800 number. Add a picture of yourself to every quote you send out. If you really want to go for the human element, use a picture of yourself with your family! | |
14) Include a Picture of the Office Staff
Okay, I admit this is a blatant rip-off of the suggestion above but I decided it was different enough to warrant it’s own number.
If you’re really looking to stand out, I wouldn’t use the standard “short people in front of tall people; everybody say cheese” picture.
Do something funny or original to show that your staff has personality and your agency will be fun to do business with.
Maybe take a picture of everybody in front of a local landmark to emphasize your powerful local presence and separate yourselves from the call centers.
15) Include an Agent Message
By “agent” I’m referring to the owner of the agency, not the person delivering the quote.
Whether it’s a personalized message customized for each quote or a generic video about the mission of the agency, putting the owner front and center on all your quotes will demonstrate transparency and accessibility to your prospects.
This also gives prospects another person in the agency to potentially relate to.
For example, if the owner is an older woman but the producer is a young man, by introducing the agent in the quote some prospects who may not relate with the salesman will sill feel comfortable knowing the business is run by someone closer to their own age, gender, race, etc.
16) Tell a Joke
I think most salespeople understand the power of humor and insurance agents are acutely aware since insurance takes a little more to get people’s attention.
I’m not a comedian so I’m not going to give you the jokes, but the point is that having a little personality isn’t going to hurt you.
Here’s a few ideas off the top of my head to get you thinking:
- If they drive a Ford truck, make a joke about foreign trucks.
- Make a joke about how frustrating it is to shop for insurance.
- Use the email subject line to setup the joke and deliver the punchline inside the message.
17) Celebrity Name
I don’t endorse this idea at all but I figured I’d share it since I see people using it out there and, to be honest, it does get my attention. (for a brief moment)
When you send an email and the “from” name is a famous athlete or celebrity it really does stand out.
Of course, I doubt it’s worth it if you have to always answer the phone as Dolly Parton.
I just put it in here because maybe you’ll get some better idea that isn’t so unethical.
18) Include a Great Educational Resource
All the other agents will be sending your prospect quotes trying to convince them why their company is the best.
Why not create an unbiased educational resource about purchasing insurance and provide it to them instead.
Whatever you give them, make sure it has a very catchy title that an insurance shopper couldn’t resist reading.
“5 Tips for Buying Great Insurance” will be easily ignored but “The 5 Biggest Lies Insurance Agents Tell” will grab their attention.
You could really set some landmines for your competition to step on with that whitepaper!
19) Great Email Subject Line
How much thought have you put into your email subject lines?
There are a lot of general rules for writing good subject lines, but the best way to find out what works is to try new things and keep track of results.
Whatever you do, don’t just cut and paste the same old email subject line into all your quotes and expect the best results.
The difference between a good and bad subject line can result in more than triple the open rates!
20) Special Mailing Package
| Sending a quote by mail? Considering sending it in a special package. It’s always exciting and attention grabbing to get one of those Priority Mail envelopes or a bright yellow DHL package. You could also send something certified mail where they have to sign for it. I know this probably isn’t something you’re going to do for every renter’s insurance quote, but for a big commercial deal this could definitely be worth the investment. | |
21) Hand Deliver
In this day and age of modern electronic communication, it wouldn’t kill you to get out from behind that desk and go deliver a quote once in a while.
Does the prospect work near your agency? Do they live near your house?
Go drop it off. You’ll stand out more than any of the other ideas on this list.
22) Use a P.S.
Did you know people will often pay more attention to your P.S. message than the body of what you write?
It makes sense if you think about it. Most long blocks of text include a lot of unimportant information but a postcript is essential.
As the author you’re saying, “Oh wait! Even though I thought I was done there’s still one more bit of information I absolutely must convey!”
Use your P.S. to add one more tidbit you think will win over the prospects heart and get you the follow up call.
What to Do Next:
Which ideas in this list can you ACTUALLY IMPLEMENT to make your quotes stand out from the competition?
- Can you try at least one in the next week?
- Can you try all the ideas you like in the next month?
Reading my blog will not make you sell more insurance. Taking action on it will.
I hope this helps you,
- John
P.S.
If you got at least one good idea from this article would you hit the “like” or “+1″ button, or share it with a colleague, sales manager, or on LinkedIn?
It’d be a great way to say “thanks” to me and I really do appreciate it!
