Growing your life insurance business is probably at the top of your to-do list.
As a life insurance producer, one of the best ways to do this is to put some major effort into client retention.
And client retention should begin as soon as you’ve closed the case.
Follow these twelve guidelines to offer lasting value to your clients and ensure that they will continue working with you well into the future.
What are the best ways to retain life insurance clients?
The best ways to retain life insurance clients include:
- Maintaining your reputation.
- Increasing your digital efforts.
- Knowing your clients and their needs.
- Paying attention to referrals.
- Excelling at communication.
- Setting expectations upfront for long-term relationships.
- Concentrating on clients with multiple products.
- Offering an autopay option.
- Thinking about the intangibles.
- Being proactive about changes.
- Rewarding renewals.
- Giving gifts for anniversaries.
1. Maintain your reputation
A good reputation – online and in the “real” world – will give prospects and clients confidence in their choice to work with you for the long haul.
Pay close attention to the reputation you’re building online. That includes responding to the reviews your clients leave.
Consider these statistics:
- 80% of consumers believe that the businesses they patronize care more about them if they reply to customer reviews.
- 61% of consumers pay attention to what online reviews say when choosing an insurance producer to work with.
2. Increase your digital efforts – in the right way
Consumers are getting more and more ingrained in the digital landscape. You have to follow suit – if you want to keep serving them at the level they’re used to.
One study reports that life insurance clients have become 60% more active online over the last several years. For example, in 2017, consumers did 70% of their life insurance research and interaction via their mobile devices.
Meet your clients where they are and make digital applications a regular part of your repertoire. They’ll notice – and appreciate – your efforts to make the processes more streamlined and up-to-date with the technology they’re already using.
3. Know who your clients are and what they need
You can’t even think about client retention until you have a handle on who your customers are. Know what drives them so you can offer the right solution.
Offer products to your clients that are tailored to their specific life insurance needs.
Are they simply concerned about providing for their family if they pass away? Or do they have other financial goals that are motivating them to look into life insurance?
Understanding what drives them allows you to offer them the right products. They’re more likely to remain a client when they’re confident their needs are being met.
4. Pay close attention to referrals
Referrals play a big role in client retention. If they’ve come to you as the result of a referral, they’re more likely to stick around long-term.
The same is true of the client who does the referring.
To encourage referrals, consider establishing a program that rewards clients for bringing you new prospects.
This could be as easy and basic as a gift card or another small token of your appreciation.
Make sure whatever referral reward system you set up is well advertised so your clients are motivated to take part.
5. Excel at communication with clients
If client retention is your goal, you have to build relationships with your life insurance customers.
Regular communication is key, whether it’s through email, phone calls, or text.
A lack of connection with your clients leaves the door open for other producers to get in front of them and take their business.
Regular communication keeps you in the loop and you’ll always know if your client is happy – or if there’s an issue you need to address.
That kind of attentiveness will set you apart as a life insurance producer and make people want to continue working with you for a long time to come.
6. Set expectations for long-term relationship upfront
From the time you begin working with a life insurance client, make it known that there are a myriad of benefits for sticking around for the long haul.
You could create a customer onboarding email series that outlines the specific benefits of working with the same producer over the years.
This will make your clients aware of what you have to offer, and they’ll be more likely to continue working with you as opposed to rate-shopping at renewal time.
Whatever you decide to offer, you’ll be increasing your chances to retain clients.
7. Concentrate on clients who have multiple products
A client is more likely to cancel if they only have only purchased one life insurance product from you.
So it’s in your best interest to focus on upsell opportunities to increase the likelihood of them staying around for a while.
8. Offer an autopay option
Don’t lose clients over a mistake like forgetting to pay a bill. Often, policies lapse when this happens, and it’s a more common reason for client loss than you may think.
Once a policy lapses, people may feel that it’s too much of a hassle to go through the process to renew.
But the remedy is fairly simple – give them an option to use autopay.
9. Think about the intangibles
From the very start with a new client, make sure they understand all the benefits of working with you – especially the intangibles, like the comfort of talking to the same people when they call in with a question.
When a client feels like a number, it’s a lot easier for them to cancel their life insurance or simply let it lapse.
Providing a personalized experience makes people feel like you’re in it for the long-haul. And they’ll want to stick with you, too.
10. Be proactive about changes
As time goes on, there will be changes to policies that your clients need to know about.
Don’t make them come to you and ask.
Assure them that you’ll communicate any changes as soon as possible – and actually do it.
11. Reward renewals
Create a system for acknowledging renewals.
It could be as simple as a card with a personal message or sending a gift card to thank them for being your valued client.
This ties in with knowing who your clients are. You can personalize your approach according to what you’ve come to know about them.
Showing them that you value their business goes a long way.
12. Give gifts for anniversaries
Each year, recognize the clients who have been with you by giving them a small gift.
Like with the renewal reward, think of what you know about them and choose accordingly.
Disclaimer: Understand the rules about gift-giving for your state. Some states have laws about giving gifts to life insurance clients, as do certain securities license holders.
But once you know you’re in the clear, give your loyal customers a nice treat for their continued business.
Client retention requires effort
Turning new clients into “old” clients is the surest way to bolster your life insurance business.
But it doesn’t happen automatically. You have to put in the work.
Maintain your reputation, make the most of your online presence, know your clients, and pay attention to referrals and where they’re coming from.
Focus on relationship-building through constant communication and be upfront about the benefits of working together long-term.
When you follow these guidelines, you’ll enjoy the fruits of your labor in the form of established, happy, in-it-for-the-long-haul clients.
