Are you overlooking the #1 way to attain new clients?

People believe each other more than companies

In a recent Insurance Journal poll, agencies reported that their biggest challenge was finding new customers. Growing your book can be time consuming and challenging. Cold-calling really doesn’t work anymore.  It takes effort and energy to make connections, allow people to get to know you, show them the value of what you do, and prompt them to want to do business with you.

Many people believe the answer to easily obtaining new customers lies in referrals. In other words, it lies in the hands of your current customers, who understand your business and what it can do for others. More than ever, people look through reviews online or speak to their friends and colleagues to determine who they want to do business with. Therefore, in a market as competitive as insurance, it’s more important than ever to let your happiest customers know that the best compliment they can give you is their review and/or referral.

REVIEWS

Reviews from happy customers are incredibly valuable and can be used in several locations:

1. Your agency’s Google Business page
2. Your agency’s Facebook page
3. Your professional LinkedIn page
4. Your agency’s website

Consider these very telling review statistics from brightlocal.com:

• 88% of consumers have read reviews in order to determine the quality of a business.
• 86% of consumers say that they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations.
• 72% of consumers will take action after reading a positive review.

REFERRALS

Happy customers often enjoy giving business recommendations, and do so frequently. If you’ve exceeded a client’s expectations, they’re likely to tell others very naturally. If you’re looking to get even more referrals, however, one way to encourage your clients to recommend you is to implement a referral rewards program.

Referral rewards programs have proven to be instrumental in acquiring new clientele. According to HubSpot, 1 in 3 people come to use a brand because of a recommendation, and clients who have been referred to a brand have a 37% higher retention rate, so a program to generate more of these referrals is incredibly valuable.

Check out HubSpot’s “quick tips” for building a quality customer referral program. Then, design your own and prepare to hear from prospective customers who’ve already heard great things about you and your agency.

Already have a referral program in place that is working wonders? Tell us about it below!