Create and Promote Commercial ‘Coverages of the Quarter’

Formalize the Cross-Selling of Business Insurance

Restaurants have specials, while stores, catalogs, and online marketers offer featured products. These time-tested retail sales methods are effective for selling to consumers. So, why can’t agencies use a similar approach to market undersold policies and options to its commercial lines client base?

Cross-selling and upselling are as essential to commercial lines as they are to personal lines. All that’s required is some impetus and motivation. Management can encourage this activity by structuring it around calendar quarters and assisting in its periodic promotion.

Formalizing commercial cross-selling, by this means or another, helps to secure accounts by closing doorways that coverage-focused rivals can enter. Plus, it trains CSRs to probe for internal sales opportunities as a matter of routine. As a result, agency revenues and retention benefit, while performing a service for insureds.

Coverages of the Quarter

An easy way to initiate commercial cross-selling is to introduce a formal “Coverage of the Quarter” (CQ) program. Management, producers, and CSRs sit down together to make the four selections for the year. Staffers then suggest the selected coverages to the clients they serve. Make your choices based on the optional protection that your commercial insureds don’t have or adequately carry. Below are 14 possibilities.

Boiler & Machinery… Business Travel Accident… Business Interruption / Income… Computer and Data Coverage… Credit Insurance… Cyber-liability… Directors & Officers Liability… Employee Benefits… Employee Dishonesty… Employment Practices Liability… Key Person Life / Disability… Non-Owned & Hired Auto… Sports Accident… Umbrella Protection.

11 Ways to Promote the CQ

Web landing page. Set up a special CQ Web landing page. Direct your internal (and external) prospects to it. It explains the benefits of the featured coverage, which changes every three months. Use a special URL address, such as www.xyzagency.com/CQ. Promote the URL through the various methods highlighted below.

Social media. Employ your agency’s Twitter account and Facebook page to tout the current CQ to your followers and fans. Include a link to the landing page [above]. Also feature it in quarterly posts on your agency’s blog.

Telephone promos. Commercial CSRs and agents can easily add a tag line to their individual voice mail messages to promote the current CQ. Messages should encourage the caller to inquire about the featured coverage. Also, feature the CQ on your on-hold message.

E-mail signatures. Add a link to the CQ landing page to each commercial agents’ and CSRs’ e-mail signature. Example: Click for important information on our featured Coverage of the Quarter.

E-mail blasts. Send single-purpose permission e-mails to your commercial insureds four times a year, announcing the current CQ, with a link to the landing page.

Newsletter. If you publish your own newsletter for commercial clients, use it to prominently promote the current CQ. If you purchase a prewritten agency newsletter, add customized text to promote your landing page.

Sales postscripts. Encourage CSRs to add a sales-driven P.S. to service memos and letters sent to commercial insureds. Example: P.S. You are only carrying $10,000 in employee dishonesty protection. I recommend that you increase your coverage. Call me or visit www.xyzagency.com/CQ for details.

Inserts. Place attractive CQ inserts in select outgoing postal mail to commercial clients. Encourage recipients to call or visit your landing page for details.

Postcards. Create and mail out quarterly postcards featuring the current CQ. Use the same general look and message as your insert.

Fax cover pages. Promote the current CQ on your fax cover page, since virtually every recipient is a business.

Imprinted giveaways. Order Post-It notes and other small giveaways for clients. Have them imprinted with your landing page URL and freely distribute them to business insureds.

Topics Commercial Lines