What is cross-selling? Simply put it is your lowest costing, highest return marketing you can ever do. They have contacted you about insurance; now why not take three extra seconds to ask them about their other lines of business?
When someone calls my insurance agency to inquire about car dealer insurance, I always ask them afterward if they live in the area and if we could take a look at their homeowner’s insurance policy as well. It beats cold calling, it beats the expense and time of flyers and postcards. It is the easiest sale you can ever make.
What is Cross-Selling?
Cross-selling is simply asking for other lines of business. It is considered the lowest hanging fruit or easiest sale you can possibly make. Think about it, everywhere you go people are always cross-selling you. If it is at McDonald’s, “do you want fries with that” or even the local Staples store tried to cross-sell me the other day on this week’s specials. You need to be cross-selling. It is free, it’s easy and it is 100% your best return on investment for your agency. Now you just need to figure out the implementation.
Who Should be Cross Selling:
Everyone and anyone in your insurance agency should be cross-selling. From your receptionist to your very best sales agent, every piece of outgoing mail should be cross-selling. You should be thinking of cross-selling as the very breath of the agency. Does everyone in the insurance agency cross-sell on every phone call? Do you know for a fact if they do? Do they have any type of tracking sheets to tell you how many people they asked today? Do your marketing pieces always mention cross-selling? How about your appointment letter you mail to your client, does it say, “do you want fries with that.” If not it should. Where Should You Be Cross-Selling? Again, everywhere all the time on every piece of marketing: envelopes, phone messages, incoming calls, banners, printed on your business cards. I know of one agent who actually put a flyer in the restroom. Her thinking was if you are in there with not much to do, why not read the flyers on the wall? Now that is what I call thinking outside the box. Be creative and think everywhere, there is no wrong place to cross-sell.
How Should You Be Cross-Selling?
Now every insurance agency is different, but you can learn a lot from how to cross-sell from other companies. Should you incentivize cross-selling? How will you track your cross-selling efforts? Is it a job requirement at the agency? Simply put, if you don’t ask you don’t work here. Think outside the box. Search the internet for ideas. Ask around from businesses you insure. Bring it up to your local chamber of commerce. But most of all you need to implement with pigheaded determination if you want cross-selling to work in your agency.
About the Author: Jim Groninger LUTC, and partner in Groninger Insurance Agency of Pennsylvania, has been selling insurance since 1985. His insurance agency specializes in used car dealership insurance and garage liability. As a second generation salesmen, Jim is dedicated to providing his clients with the best coverage and customer service.
