Insurance is a customer-driven industry, and it is the goal of every successful insurance agent to build strong and lasting relationships between their agency and its customers. But what exactly is an agency-client relationship and what are the keys to successful client relationships? Here we take a look at what these relationships are, why they are important, and how you can help nurture and grow successful agency-client relationships.
What is an agency-client relationship?
An agency-client relationship is a partnership between the agency and the client. In the insurance industry, as an agent you act as a representative for your client, providing them with the coverage they need. When building a relationship with your clients, your focus should be on open communication and establishing a trust to nurture and maintain a positive and successful relationship.
Why is it important?
Building strong agency-client relationships is essential to the success of any insurance agency. As you begin to grow and nurture your relationships, you gain the trust of your clients. As this trust grows, it leads to increased renewals, referrals, and additional sales opportunities, helping to boost your bottom line.
Roles of the relationship
When it comes to agency-client relationships, each party plays a crucial role in both its development and maintenance.
Role of the agency
As an insurance agent, your role is critical in making this relationship work and it begins before you even sign the client up. You need to know the right questions to ask to best calculate what services your client will benefit from and how exactly you can best meet their needs. You need to be able to listen to your clients, understand their needs, and be able to address any questions or concerns they may have.
Role of the client
The client plays an important role in this relationship as well. It is important that they are open and honest with you during the onboarding process and set clear goals and expectations for your service.
Keys to a successful agency-client relationship
When working to establish and nurture agency-client relationships, there are a few key things to focus on to be successful.
1. Under-promise, over-deliver
While many companies will promise the world to gain a client, many also often fail to meet these promises. In order to help build trust and nurture a relationship with your client, it is better to under-promise and over-deliver. Keep your promises realistic and within your boundaries of service so you can easily meet and exceed the client’s expectations.
2. Tailored solutions
No two clients are the same and no solution you offer is one-size-fits-all. By understanding that every one of your clients is unique, you can better cater your services and conversations to their unique needs and concerns. This helps to gain their trust and show that their needs are your top priority.
3. Transparency
Transparency helps to establish trust and set realistic expectations. While this doesn’t mean that you need to provide a client with a step-by-step overview of the entire process, offering a comprehensive overview shows the effort you are putting in to meet their goals and helps to build trust in you as their agent.
4. Communication
Regular communication is key to building any relationship and an agency-client relationship is no different. In today’s modern world, with many interactions occurring online, communication has never been more accessible. Utilizing your CRM can help to schedule routine email correspondence or social media interactions, you can maintain regular communication that helps strengthen your relationship and keep your client engaged.
5. Realistic expectations
It is important when creating a relationship that you set expectations on both sides. This helps ensure that your agency receives the information it needs on time and your client gets the services they need. These expectations and standards allow you to evaluate progress throughout the process and your relationship. As expectations change, so can you.
6. Feedback
Feedback is an essential component of building a solid relationship. As an insurance agent, it is always important to ask for feedback to ensure that you are meeting a client’s needs. In addition, check in with your clients regularly will help you gain insight into changes with the client that may require policy adjustments or new policies to meet their needs.
7. Show your appreciation
Customers are essential to your business success and nurturing a relationship with each client helps to ensure they stay with you for the long term. They must understand how valuable they are to your agency. While you are always working to impress new clients, it is just as important to continue impressing your established clients. Keeping in regular communication and showing regular appreciation can go a long way when it comes to building a successful relationship. For example, sending out birthday greetings with a gift card for their favorite coffee shop or an anniversary card for their policy renewal can show them that they are appreciated.
Creating successful agency-client relationships is essential
Quality customer relationships are essential for a successful insurance agency and taking the time to build and nurture these relationships is a necessary part of your business. Following these tips can help you show your clients just how important they are to your business which, in the long run, will help to bring in more clients.
Better Agency can help boost client relationships
At Better Agency, we understand the importance of quality agency-client relationships in the insurance industry. As former insurance agents, we designed our insurance management software to help you grow and nurture your client relationships and boost your bottom line. To learn more about how our team of experts can help, contact us today.
