What is your job as an insurance agency? Naturally, your job is to provide your clients with insurance, but how you get to that point is also significant. Are you merely a salesperson? Or are you a coach, leading your clients toward the right insurance product for their needs? What is your company's role in client education?
The Company As Coach
In an era of content marketing, companies now play an expanded role. They want to sell their products, but they also want to sell them by providing customers with valuable information, not just delivering a sales pitch. Developing content related to your products makes you a trusted resource for your insurance clients.
For instance, if your customer base is wondering whether they need different auto insurance or what the implications are when they're now senior drivers, you can provide this information in an easy-to-digest manner. You might provide it online in the form of digital content such as blog posts, or you might provide information over the phone as your clients ask you questions. Providing tailored information solidifies your role as a helpful educator, assisting your clients with their decisions.
The Coaching Mentality
According to the International Coaching Community, "coaching builds awareness, empowers choice, and leads to change." A coach's role is to help people move forward thoughtfully and confidently into their future. If you take on a coaching role as an insurance agent, this could mean that you work with your clients to assess their insurance options and life choices that are related to those insurance options.
Becoming a Provider of Community Education
One type of life choice that relates to insurance education and coaching is disaster preparedness. Many insurance companies have stepped into the role of disaster preparedness educator, helping clients to make their homes and communities more disaster-proof.
For instance, Dalton Timmis provides a helpful checklist to website visitors to help people prepare for a hurricane more effectively, while W.C. Burgess Insurance brings together resources to help people survive the first 72 hours after an emergency event.
By providing this kind of helpful information to clients, insurance agencies help people protect their homes and lives. The agency itself becomes a valuable resource, known not just for selling insurance but for helping people in the community get ready for whatever they may face in their future.
Giving Advice: Liability Challenges
Are there any liability issues that you could run into when you give insurance advice? Any time you're giving out advice to clients, you need to recognize that you are an insurance professional. That means that you need to give the best, most reasoned advice possible and to let clients know if you're not qualified to give advice about a particular area.
As an insurance agency, you should have E&O insurance to protect yourself from claims against you. This will help protect you in cases where clients allege errors or omissions, such as providing incorrect information or not providing sufficient information to help them make an informed decision about a product.
Are you ready to step into your role as an insurance educator? At American Agents Alliance, we provide you with the resources that you need, such as E&O insurance to help provide peace of mind. Contact us today to learn more about our membership benefits.
