If you operate in a state where premiums are lower than average, you’re well acquainted with the challenges of growing your agency. It’s especially tough when thin margins keep your budget tight. After all, Katherine Patrick (who managed to grow her book by $3 million in her first year of operation!) says the old adage applies whether we want it to or not: “You have to spend money to make money.”
Austin O’Bryhim has a similarly impressive background, having qualified for the Million Dollar Round Table after just two years in a small-town market. He understands all too well how difficult it can be to grow your business in a town where everyone already knows who you are and it feels like there’s nowhere else to expand.
However, both of these experienced agents stress that it is possible to successfully grow past what you might think are your immutable boundaries. Below is the combined wisdom of both Austin and Katherine as they explain how they broke past the bounds of a small town and a low-premium region to achieve greatness.
If you live in a small town where your reputation follows you, Austin’s approach is your best bet. If low premiums are your primary problem, Katherine’s solutions can help you break away and start generating more revenue.
If you’re dealing with both a small town and low premiums, combine the advice from both expert agents to maximize your potential despite your market’s limitations.
“Change your approach with your customers. Really get to know them. Treat them less as a customer and more as a person…and you’re going to see results,” Austin says.
He emphasizes that this isn’t a “quick draw play” you can use to hit a short-term sales goal. Instead, make excellent customer service an integral part of your long game.
“This is about fostering long-term relationships and getting good referrals,” he adds. “People are being bombarded with ads on social media, emails, streaming, audio, and video. People are tired of getting sold to. They want to feel empowered to be able to buy something.”
Austin says, “I don’t sell life insurance. People buy life insurance from me.”
“I don’t sell life insurance. People buy life insurance from me.”
It’s this “service over sales” mentality that sets him apart in his local market. If someone in town wants to find a great policy that fits their needs without getting hit with a hard sell, they turn to Austin because he has carefully cultivated this reputation of integrity.
“When you’re in a small town, people know you. If you’re doing right by people, being a presence in the community, giving back, then your last name has meaning.”
Your current book of business means a lot when you’re dealing with the close confines of a small town. These people are your best bet for making new sales because they already know you, trust you, and pay premiums to you on a regular basis.
Austin has a “Cradle to the Grave” policy where he tries to meet with his clients once a year for the rest of their lives. “I really mean to the grave,” he says. “I want the final interaction to be handing a beneficiary check to a loved one and helping them out on what is probably one of the worst days of their lives.”
This will take some outreach on your part, since most people don’t remember to call their insurance agents for a chat every year. “This is not a ‘set it and forget it’ policy. When things change, I want to make sure we’re there for it.”
The one caveat to this policy is leaving time for clients to finalize big purchases, navigate red tape, and, if the worst has happened, grieve.
After extending either congratulations or condolences based on the situation, Austin waits a full thirty days after a major life change to reach out so his clients don’t think he’s harassing them trying to make a sale. This approach shows customers you “give a damn about their family. You’re not just there to sell them something.”
Katherine believes in always being the first agent to show up when a client might need help. Since her main challenge was a low-premium region rather than a small town where reputation is crucial, Katherine’s approach leans more toward maximizing internet leads for all they’re worth.
Katherine’s sales style relies on buying lots of leads and then reaching out immediately when they become available.
“When an internet lead comes in, it’s coming in for other insurance agents too. So we want to make sure we’re one of the first people to contact them. The goal is to contact them as soon as humanly possible. If we can do it immediately that’s great. If not, do it within thirty minutes at least.”
As she puts it, “Be annoying. Be really annoying.”
Katherine’s aggressive approach extends to the follow-up process too. Katherine recommends being relentless, contacting each lead eight times over 90 days. Leave voicemails, texts, and emails with your quote so customers know what you’re offering up front.
Katherine’s team leaves messages along the lines of, “Hey, this is Katherine with such-and-such agency. We got your request for an insurance quote and we can insure your Subaru for $50 per month. Is this better than what you pay now?”
Deals on auto policies are relatively easy to close, but the premiums are also cheap. If you’re constrained by living in a low-premium area, the last thing you want to do is further limit yourself by sticking with the lowest-premium offerings.
Instead, Katherine advises purchasing auto leads and then using those conversations to pivot to higher-premium products like fire, life, and health. Your initial conversation — where you provide an auto quote — is an inroad you can use to build rapport and gather information about the client’s family life, home ownership status, and employment to find opportunities for bundles.
Make it clear to your clients that bundling multiple policies is a clear win for them financially!
Katherine says assuming you’ll close the deal can go a long way toward boosting your sales. This is critical because, when you’re stuck in a low-premium area, those multiline policies will keep your business afloat.
“I don’t give prospects the opportunity to tell me no,” Katherine says. “I just tell them we’re going to quote their home, and if they object then I deal with it from there.”
She continues, “The same goes for auto insurance quotes. If we come in at a better price than what they’re paying and we’re offering better coverage, I’m not going to ask them if they want to start their car insurance with us.” Assuming the deal is already done and proceeding forward with confidence helps your customer feel comfortable in your expertise and your ability to write a good policy for their needs.
“You’ll have to invest to get this kind of growth,” Katherine says. “You can’t be scared to spend money.”
This goes back to that adage about spending money to make money. It’s as true now as it ever was. But there’s one key point that’s missing from the saying: You can’t just throw cash at the wall and see what sticks. “We do spend money,” Katherine says. “But we also track ROI.”
Austin agrees that you’ll need to invest in your agency’s growth, but his approach requires more of an investment of time and effort rather than cash.
Since time, money, and effort are all finite resources, you must track metrics to make sure your investments are paying off. Otherwise, you risk running dry on one or all of these resources before you achieve the growth you need.
Among the most crucial points to track are:
These will help you gauge your overall financial and effort-based ROI so you’ll know what works for you (or when to pivot to something else).
“Internet leads are a huge part of [my success], Katherine says. “My whole agency model runs off of them.”
If you plan to break out of your low-premium, small-town market, buying leads outside your usual operating zone can be one of the best ways to “spend money to make money.”
Thankfully, EverQuote makes it easy to find qualified leads that fit your criteria.
Just contact us and we’ll get the leads flowing into your phone or inbox right away.