Todd McIndoo is a Vice President at Speedy - National Association ...

prospectingSell 26% More Policiesby Managing Your X-DatesAllstate agencies working with leadmanagement software have pioneereda sales process to easily follow-up and marketto prospects and existing clients usingX-dates, also known as “Win-backs.”Lost opportunities are an endangeredspecies for top-performing Allstate agencies.Agency owners are bolstering theirsales processes to automatically follow-upwith leads based off X-dates. As it stands,high performing Allstate agencies todayare closing an average of 15% of the newsales leads they buy or generate throughvarious marketing channels. But what dothese agencies do with the other 85% ofsales leads they are unable to close? Theydon’t give up, as many lower performingagencies do. Most successful agents establishin-house follow-up systems of theirown or utilize cutting edge technology tofacilitate their prospect contact programs.The important thing to remember is thatleads cost money, so preserving X-dates isalways a good idea because, until the saleis made or the prospect tells you not tocontact them again, the lead can alwaysdevelop into a sale.A new analysis recently conducted bya leading management software pioneerconcluded that, on average, high performingAllstate agencies gained 26% ofnew business by nurturing prospects andcontacting them near their policy renewaldates. Successful agencies leveragedthese second, third, or fourth opportunitiesto successfully sell more policieswithout additional investment.Insurance is a commodity that mostpeople will purchase throughout theirlifetime. With insurance policies renewingevery 6-12 months, there is alwaysan opportunity to win-back business youmay have initially lost. There are manyreasons why consumers switch insurancepolicies. Reasons for switchingcompanies include rate changes, coverageneeds that the current carrier cannotfulfill, poor customer service experiences,changes in personal financial situations,or an effective advertising campaign bya competitor. There are two reasons whyAllstate agents should remain vigilant atall times. First and foremost is becauseyour customers may be on the verge ofswitching, which is why customer reviewsand other customer contact programsare vital to your retention and ALIefforts. Second, is because some of yourcompetitors’ customers are also on theverge of switching, but you’ll never knowwho they are unless you re-contact yourX-dates. Therefore, if you are not carefullytracking when these X-dates approach,you are simply turning your backon these consumers while they are in theprocess of looking for a new insurancepolicy. That is why having a lead nurturingprocess in place is key to systematicallyfollow-up with X-dates.Many consumers change insurance carriersfrequently and an even higher percentagecompare carriers on the Internet.Added together, they represent a vast numberof consumers who are actively shoppingfor insurance, typically around their policyrenewal date. It is critical for any agencyto use the right tools to ensure that theseconsumers receive timely and relevant insurancemarketing from your agency. Withthe average agency closing around 10% ofnew insurance sales leads, this leaves aneven a larger pool of leads being lost – andnever to be found again, unless proactivefollow-up measures are established.The problem most Allstate agents face,when losing a deal to competition, is thatthey do not have a sales lead managementsystem to notate the X-date, automaticallymarket to prospects aroundthis date, and prompt agents or producersto follow-up. Without knowing andleveraging this critical piece of informationand without the right lead managementsolution, it is virtually impossibleto market and communicate to such asignificant number of leads. Without theright tools, it is impractical to properlyleverage X-date information.The most successful agencies employ asimple process to win-back these deals:1. Track the X-date for every lead2. Send scheduled emails leading intothe X-date to remain front-of-mind3. Follow-up each email with a call tomaximize the success of your email communicationsHaving a lead management systemand following a rigorous X-dating processwill help the average Allstate agencysell at least 26% more insurance policieswithout buying additional sales leads.Leads360 is the market and technologyleader in Web-based sales lead managementsolutions. Leads360 currently managesmore than 20,000,000 leads and servesover 4000 clients in the most competitivebusiness-to-consumer industries. For moreinformation, visit www.leads360.com.40 — Exclusivefocus Winter 2009/2010