Cross-Selling 101
Insurance sales opportunities are everywhere – especially right in front of you! Selling insurance to clients already in your book of business is usually more efficient than prospecting. Additionally, cross-selling also has a positive impact on your client retention goals.
Start with realistic goals
Chances are you already have sales goals; not only do sales goals give you something to aim for – but they also help provide a measurement for success. Cross-selling is just as crucial as prospecting, so it deserves the same kind of consideration. You may even want to make cross-sales a percentage of your overall goals.
Where you start
- Review historical sales data – Your past sales numbers can give you an idea of your team’s current capabilities. This gives you a baseline so you can set a realistic goal.
- Consider seasonality – Any sales goal needs to account for slow times, especially if you plan to set monthly, quarterly or biannual goals.
- Evaluate your portfolio – You may have a client in need of an ACA product, while another may need a Medicare Supplement – diversify your portfolio because each client may have a carrier or product preference, and if you don’t have that readily available it may impact the goals you set.
Analyze your client data
In addition to reviewing your sales numbers, you also want to analyze client data. Look through your database and organize your clients, or segment your clients by:
- Location – e.g., county or zip code
- Age
- Income and household size
- Profession
- Gender
That information can help you build client profiles. You can use these to identify which groups need additional insurance products and create marketing materials to target them. Segmenting your client list also makes email marketing much more manageable!
Set up your system
Sometimes a cross-selling opportunity falls in your lap, but you don’t want to rely on luck to build your book. That means you need to develop a system to make sure cross-selling happens! For instance, you might want to track every client’s renewal date. Then you can send emails to regular intervals that introduce policies they may need. As the renewal date gets closer, you can send reminders that it’s time to review their policy.
Cross-selling insurance may take more planning than you expect, but the results can be worthwhile. Luckily, you already have potential sales close at hand. Learn more about cross-selling in this training session; click here now.
