10 Insurance Agency Retention Strategies: The Ultimate Agent Resource

Retention is necessary to build and maintain a successful insurance agency.

Every agent knows that.

You know small boosts in retention will grow long term profit immensely.

You know it costs more to get new customers than to keep current ones.

And you probably know the pain of losing more policies than you wrote in a week.

You don’t hear as much about these two things:

1. Retention is a sales strategy – Every single thing you do to improve retention makes customers more likely to refer you.
2. Retention requires established processes –  Unless you decide exactly which methods in this article are going to work for you and establish formal procedures in your office to follow through, you will not see results.

I wrote this article so you couldn’t say, “I don’t know how to effect our retention.”

Here’s 34 ways to improve your insurance agency’s customer retention. No excuses, decide which retention strategies you like and take action!

1) More Customer Contacts

Don’t harrass your clients, but the more times they hear from you throughout the year the less likely they’ll consider shopping around.

The key to multiple touches throughout the year is to vary the method and make sure you’re always bringing value. The same email every month about why to buy life insurance doesn’t cut it.

Need ideas? Here’s a few: emails, phone calls, newsletters, postcards, seminars, policy reviews, holiday cards, birthday cards, text messages, surveys, handwritten letters, webinars, community events, recommendations, gifts, billing notices, customer appreciation parties.

2) Cross Sell More

It’s very simple: The more lines you sell someone, the higher their retention rate.

I used to work for a company that gave such a big discount on your auto insurance if you bought a renters policy it was usually cheaper to have both.

A lot of agents thought the company was crazy but I didn’t.

I know the retention rate for those clients went through the roof when we added that extra policy.

3) Annual Coverage Reviews

I could write a book about the value of providing coverage reviews for your clients but you’ve already heard it hundreds of times.

What holds most agents back is deciding they’re going to do it, developing a process, and following through.

Make it easy on yourself and start with a small goal of doing one coverage review a week (or even less) and only go after your best clients.

Remember that even when clients decline your offer to review coverage, they’ll still appreciate the gesture and won’t be able to use, “I never hear from my agent.” as an excuse to shop around.

4) Discount Reviews

Has a client ever left you to save 10% when you could have saved them 15% just by applying all the discounts they were entitled to?

Don’t lie.

It’s incredibly frustrating and I know a lot of agents that will blame the client for not calling you first. This is wrong.

Asking your clients a few questions every year to make sure they have every discount they’re entitled to will make them feel more confident they’re getting a fair price and they’ll be more endeared to your commitment to saving them money.

5) Strengthen Your “Onboarding” Process

Marriage is the most important and longest lasting commitment most people ever make and that’s why every culture makes such a big deal out of wedding ceremonies.

I know it sounds silly, but I encouarage agents to compare their new client onboarding processes to a wedding ceremony.

Do your new clients feel like they’ve just joined a family, or made a business transaction?

Unless Kim Kardashian is your client, the more your onboarding process resembles a wedding the longer they’ll stick with you.

By the way, this is a highly symbolic analogy so don’t toss rice or tie cans to their car.

6) Call Before Premium Increases

I know many agents prefer to “let the sleeping dog lie”, but when you know a client is going to receive a big premium increase I recommend being proactive about it.

If you’re open and honest, the good clients will appreciate it. You can also give people an opportunity to change coverages around or identify any additional discounts to reduce the effect.

Orient your conversation around what is causing the increase and what can be done to offset it if needed. Assume that leaving your agency is not an option.

7) Setup Automatic Payments

Clients on EFT payments renew their policies at a much higher rate than those who write a check and mail it every month.

It’s just too convenient to stay and too inconvenient to leave.

Getting your clients on automatic payments is a mini-sale within the sale and should be appreciated for its value.

Make sure your staff is aware how important it is and compensate them accordingly.

8) Get More Referrals

Every agent loves referrals and you can never have too many, but one value that often goes unappreciated is that clients who refer are more likely to renew.

It’s psychology… if I tell everyone you’re the best agent ever,

1. I’ll believe it more every time I say it aloud.
2. I’d feel stupid switching after saying you’re the best.

Read this article for more ideas on getting referrals

9) Shop Rates For Them

Obviously it won’t work for the captive agents but for the independent guys, sending your client comparison quotes with your other carriers once a year is a great way to keep them with your agency.

It doesn’t matter if you send quotes for the worst carriers, just seeing a few other numbers that are higher than what they’re paying is all most people need to stay put.

10) Pre-renewal Phone Calls

Simple idea: call your clients before the renewal to thank them for their continued loyalty and offer to answer any questions they may have.

If reaching out to your entire book sounds daunting, identify the most important clients and reach out to them. Or identify the “flight risks” and call them.